As the mystery unfolds you meet a grand array of well-developed characters both human and robotic, heroic and demonic, as well as insanely human… but not. On the trail to solve these murders, you find yourself globe-trotting: Russia, Turkey, Australia, the Swiss Alps. You will find your mind walking into philosophical questions about identity, love, duty, and peace - at what cost. Behind the flesh of the murder mystery lies the circuitry of the deeper story: That of what it is to be human. The robots brought an end to human/robot war.Įuropol has put their “best man” on the case, detective Gesicht who happens to also be a robot as well as a target. The story follows a serial killer’s killing of the seven greatest robots. The story takes place in a future where humanoid robots and humans live in a tentative coexistence. Urasawa completes his story in eight intense, well developed, and thought provoking volumes. Some manga series can reach high double digits in volume. Pluto is a manga tour-de-force in depth not breadth. Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto (inspired from Osamu Tezuka Astro Boy). He is most famous for Astro Boy, another book I’d recommend, and he has published over 500 other notable series. The godfather of modern manga is Osamu Tezuka, the author and drawer of some of the first and greatest manga to come to the U.S. has its roots in the mid-20th century during the occupation of Japan and beyond. The Kanji (word Symbol) for manga means “whimsical drawing” or “impromptu sketches.” This ancient literary form can be dated back to the 18th century (read Adam Kern’s Manga from the Floating World), but manga as we know it in the U.S.

What is this manga (mæ.) you speak of? Manga is Japanese comic book/strip/graphic novel all the “cool nerds” read these days. “When Robots Have External and Internal Software Problems: Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto”

Pluto naoki