Pluto vol 1 by naoki urasawa and takahashi nagasaki

Based on Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka
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A beloved robot and a man are murdered and have their bodies staged in similar manners, but what do they have to do with each other? Enter Geischt, one of Europol’s best detectives, who happens to also be a sentient robot. He discovers that someone or something is out to destroy the world’s seven best robots, and he’s one of them. The first target was a wilderness loving gentle giant. Another target is a fierce killing machine who has a second life as a Butler fit an eccentric movie score composer who wants nothing to do with a destructive menace. Geischt suspects another target is a robot skilled at hand-to-hand combat and adoptive father to many children. Geischt must fighter out who the remaining targets are and how to stop the killer before all of them, including himself, are destroyed.

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True to Urasawa, there are so many different pieces of the narration that don’t line up until the perfect moment. He takes so much care and time with the killer robot and eccentric composer and it isn’t clear until well into that storyline why we’re even focusing on this strange duo, but it makes the payoff so wonderfully executed. Within these first seven chapters, there is a lot of groundwork done with establishing characters and the tension between Geischt and our killer. The pacing in this story is perfect for murder-mystery fans who are used to a slower, more methodical storyline, but it might be a little bit slow for readers who enjoy fantasy and action-adventure stories. 

The illustrations are as beautiful and detailed as Urasawa's other titles. This is the first story that is futuristic that I've read from Urasawa, and I thoroughly enjoyed his robot designs and some of the city-scapes he created for this story.

With the slower pacing, and the content being centered on a murder-mystery, this is probably best suited for older readers.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

Publisher: VIZ Media
Publication Date: February 17, 2009
ISBN: 9781421519180 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: High School, Manga, Mystery, Science Fiction, ​Adaptations, Mecha, VIZ Media