And really, where else can you go? There’s only one of the seven great robots, Epsilon, left on earth, and in this volume, he has his showdown with Pluto, the grand villain of the piece. Of course, since you’re created by Naoki Urasawa, there’s a lot more to his motivation than that, and the thoughts you raise about the nature of humanity, definitions of good and evil, and which actions are “right” are thought-provoking beyond your genre and format.

Pluto Book 7
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I think, though, this time I’m most impressed by the associations you raise in my mind. For example, in the opening scene, where we see how a robot can go mad by holding six billion personalities simultaneously, you portray (in color, no less!) a series of headshots of all kinds of different people of various ages and races. I was reminded of Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” video, with its end sequence of morphing heads, a visual technology so revolutionary for the time (1991).

Professor Tenma’s prophetic words in the flashback, “We may be creating a monster,” of course remind me of Urasawa’s other work of that title. Several of the concepts and images evoke classic science fiction tropes, whether the idea of trying to replace a dead loved one with a robot or the images of the dark, pipe-lined tunnels and mechanized transports they ride. The soul chips that are used to give robots their “spirits” resemble a mutant blend of futuristic key and razor blade.

Hogan, a robot cop sent to be Epsilon’s bodyguard, has a helmet that reminds me of, yes, Robocop. Uran reads Pinocchio, another story about a creation who wanted to be human. But it’s not just movies, videos, books, and comics referenced; there’s mythology and news, too. There’s a prophetic, otherwise silent child for creepiness, and war crimes underlying it all. Epsilon’s ability to glow and channel proton energy makes him a kind of sun god, like Apollo, with undertones of a nuclear bomb in his destruction and a Christ-like striving for peace and love in his care of war orphans. (Plus, in his weakness of needing enough solar energy to recharge after a great explosion of power, I saw hints of both Superman and Green Lantern.)

Most surprising to me was when we finally see Pluto, the great robot monster — the shape of his body and the markings on his rounded helmet reminded me of Spawn. Which, since I despise Todd MacFarlane, worked quite well for me in terms of connotations. Instead of sending my thoughts wandering away, these memories and allusions, whether intentional on your author’s part or not, make you a deeper work, one that connects to a grand tapestry of art and history.

I will miss you when you’re gone, Pluto, but in the meantime, I will eagerly anticipate your conclusion and reread your other volumes. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

The Kana storyline from volume 5 continues. Britney, one of the regulars at the restaurant where Kana works, has witnessed a murder and is being sought by the police and hunted down by the killer. Kana makes arrangements for Britney to get out of town and to stay with her grandmother. However, things get complicated fast as it turns out that Britney has stumbled upon something much bigger.

20th Century Boys Book 6
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This volume also introduces us to Kakuta, a manga artist who is given life in prison for publishing a work deemed dangerous by the government. He is sent to Umihotaru Prison on a manmade island in Tokyo Bay. He ends up in solitary confinement his first day at the prison and meets The Monster, the only person to survive in solitary since the prison was opened 14 years ago.

20the Century Boys continues to be as suspenseful and well-written as the first volume. Urasawa is a master of keeping us off balance as we read the series. He does this by moving between multiple storylines that take place not only in different locations, but even in different years. Just as we settle into one narrative track and think the pieces are coming together, Urasawa shifts the series’ focus and reveals new information that scrambles up the puzzle once again.

In the hands of a less skilled writer, this would be a frustrating experience; however, Urasawa is able to keep us engaged with each new story shift and revelation. He does this by firmly grounding the series in the daily realities of the central characters. We see Kana having to attend school and not fitting in because of her beliefs about the government. We watch as she works in a restaurant struggling to get by in the shady part of town. We follow Kakuta as he goes through the embarrassingly invasive check-in and indoctrination at the prison. While this may be an epic story about saving the world, it’s not done in the “high adventure and exotic locale” style of James Bond. Our heroes have to make a living and pay rent.

As I mentioned in my review of volume four, Urasawa pulls his cast from the outskirts of society. Our unlikely heroes in this volume are a transvestite entertainer and an imprisoned manga artist. Society would write off Britney as a weird man in a dress. Kakuta would be another inmate claiming he didn’t do anything wrong. Urasawa doesn’t give us the luxury to be dismissive of these men. We spend time getting to know and care about both of them. By the end of the book, we can no longer reduce either to a simple stereotype. Urasawa demonstrates the humanity and dignity of all people regardless of their social circumstances.

Urasawa’s decompressed storytelling style gives the art room to be an equal narrative partner. To convey how dark and depressing Umihotaru Prison is, Urasawa chooses a two-page layout that takes us from outside the prison to the dungeon of solitary confinement. Also, Urasawa knows how to play to his strengths. Flipping through the book, you’ll notice there are lots of facial close-ups; this is because Urasawa knows he can portray any emotion. In a dialogue-intensive volume like this one, he uses that skill to make character emotions and personalities leap off the page and impact the reader. I can’t imagine how many paragraphs of description would be needed to convey all the interpersonal complexity of a scene that Urasawa aptly communicates in one panel.

20th Century Boys is a thoroughly satisfying read, and I anxiously look forward to each new volume. Urasawa never fails to come up with surprising new twists. I love how he always keeps me on the edge of my seat. Urasawa is one of the comic masters, making us rethink the vocabulary of novels. Where once we talked about how great novelists had command of the written language, now we have to talk about great novelists who have command of sequential art. He takes us closer to the day when graphic novels will be seen on par with their text-only brethren. Until then, he will be the secret treasure of those that don’t discriminate based on use of art.

Best New Manga

1. Pluto — Simply astounding, a meditation on the nature of what it means to be human in a time of great crisis, told through a gripping robot murder mystery.
2. Ooku: The Inner Chambers — Fumi Yoshinaga hits new heights of achievement and insight with this story of a male harem in historical Japan. Beautiful and heart-breaking.
3. 20th Century Boys — The second Naoki Urasawa work on the list (Pluto being the first), which is pretty amazing. Also amazing is how easy it is to argue over which is better, with answers varying based on which chapter of which series has most recently come out and how impressed the reader is. This series can be more wide-ranging than the other, with a weirder cast of characters.
4. Oishinbo a la Carte — Pure fun and exoticism. Learn crazy details about Japanese food and culture while salivating over how good all the dishes sound.
5. A Drifting Life — Flawed, but impressive in its massive scope. Its power and impact can’t be denied.

This was definitely Viz’s year, with outstanding releases from their Signature line, especially. Manga for adults (not porn, just mature material) seems to have found an audience, thanks to their support. This would also be my best overall list, which I find a positive sign, that so much good stuff began this year.

Best Continuing Manga

This list is very similar to last year’s. Which is nice, that series I loved continued being good. Yotsuba&! wasn’t on last year’s only because no volumes were released in 2008.

1. Nana — Always my best. Books 14-19 came out this year, exploring young women finding themselves in one of the most vibrant cities of the world. Plus, it captures on paper the power of love and rock’n'roll.
2. Yotsuba&! — As mentioned above, it came back this year from a new publisher, with books 6 and 7 coming out from Yen Press, along with reissues of the first five. Charming view of the world from a child’s perspective, full of imagination and wonder.
3. Aria — Another one that came back from uncertainty, which thrilled me. There was only one volume this year; I hope for more in the next. Reading this lovely, pastoral series about female gondoliers on another planet is a relaxing, transporting experience.
4. Hikaru no Go — I have been following this series since 2004, and I’m still enjoying it. That’s pretty impressive. Books 14-17, out this year, captured a transformative moment in the lead character’s life, as he passed from a boy to man.
5. Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei — Launched this year, but I put it here to make the numbers work. I enjoy it because of its consistent satire of culture and human nature. So much is specific to Japan, but there’s plenty more that’s universal. And I love the flat, design-y look, different from so much else, but still recognizably manga.

Best Completed Manga

Not many titles I recommend ended this year. Maybe I’m getting luckier. The first one on this list, though, will be sorely missed.

1. Emma — This was on the same list last year, as I thought book 7 ended the series. However, this year saw three move volumes, collecting short stories about the characters. This final volume (for real this time) went out on the best note possible: a glorious wedding.
2. The Color of Earth, Water, and Heaven — A bit too sanctimonious at times, but I liked it for doing something different. And kudos to graphic novel publisher First Second for explanding their line in this way.

Honorable mention: Kat & Mouse — I thought this kids’ mystery series was doomed to remain unresolved, but here, two years after the previous volume, readers were given the tying-up of loose ends, thankfully. Not really a manga, by some definitions, although published by Tokyopop, I’m still sorry to see it go.

Guilty Pleasures and Griping

Last year, this category was “Most Disappointing”, but that seemed too negative. This year, it’s a catch-all for other things I wanted to mention. Other series I’m enjoying include:

• Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs — I still love this “doggie book”, although I cringe at the every-so-often panty shot. The rest of it, though, is cute and heart-warming. The release frequency keeps decreasing (only three volumes this year, 12-14), which concerns me, but there’s at least one more volume scheduled for March.
• The Lizard Prince — Not my usual kind of story, but enjoyable in its comedy fantasy romance.
• Otomen — Wildly uneven but surprisingly enjoyable, even so. Launched this year, four books out so far.
• High School Debut — The last few volumes have been disappointing, but that’s in comparison to outstanding early installments. I think I might have liked it more, as a whole, if it had ended earlier. Six books out this year, 7-12; the last volume of the series ships in February.

My biggest change of heart would be Papillon. Last year, it was on my best new manga list, based solely on its first book. It went in a very different direction this year, so I dropped it, but then I tried again, after having first removed all expectations of seeing anything approaching normal behavior. At that point, it became somewhat enjoyable in its wackiness. Remember, reading is a balance between the material and the reader.

For comparison, here’s last year’s list and one from the year before.

The first box set of the anime version of Naoki Urasawa’s Monster will be released on Tuesday, December 8.

It’s the story of a world-famous neurosurgeon who saves the life of a little boy who turns out to be a conscienceless murderer, the monster of the title. The doctor gives up his career and life to pursue the boy, now grown to an adult, in an attempt to stop him from committing more killings.

Right now, it’s 45% off of the list price of $60 at Amazon.com, making it $33, so you may want to preorder. The set contains 15 episodes on three DVDs. The box set also includes a digitized version of the original Japanese booklet from the set.

The series ran 74 episodes, so if the sets stay this size, this should be the first of five. It’s a shame that the collections aren’t a little bigger, for that price, but I’m not that familiar with standard anime pricing.

You can also watch Naoki Urasawa’s Monster on the Ani-Monday block on Syfy.

I know Previews is different than it used to be, what with order minimum requirements, Marvel’s separate booklet, and less dependence on periodical publishing, but it still surprised me to see that this month’s catalog was under 400 pages. If you only count comic pages, there are 266. Seems more manageable, but then I remember that I find fewer and fewer items of interest to me every month.

“Big Four”

Bryan Talbot’s Tale of One Bad Rat is getting a new hardcover printing (DEC09 0034, $19.99, April 28). This book is part of my canon, a comic classic everyone should read. It’s about an abused runaway who finds inspiration in the creations of Beatrix Potter. In this edition, Neil Gaiman provides a new foreword and the background material has been updated. Since part of it is about resources for sexual abuse survivors, that’s a good thing. And the hardcover binding makes it easier to stock this as a reference in libraries and other public service locations. (I’d heard, for example, that some therapists found it helpful to have a copy available.)

Hardware: The Man in the Machine
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After dropping them as a teen, I started reading superhero comics again back in the early 90s, due to two things: the Legion of Super-Heroes and Milestone Comics. Together, the two showed me that the genre could tackle tough subjects. So I’m a sucker for Milestone Forever (DEC09 0178, $5.99, Feb 3), even though I find the two-issue miniseries a really stupid format. But they’re promising they’re going to “complete the tales told in the original runs of Static Shock, Icon, Hardware, Shadow Cabinet, and Blood Syndicate“, which I’d love to see. (Even though I know that wasn’t Static’s title. And pointing out that Milestone started 16 years ago is rubbing salt in the wound, though. I’m already feeling old enough.) I hope that 96 pages (in two issues) is enough to give everyone a satisfactory ending. There’s also a new Hardware collection (DEC09 0208, reprinting #1-8, $19.99, March 24) offered, hopefully just the first of many Milestone books to come.

I’ve been impressed by the look of Zuda series Night Owls, so I’ll be checking out their first collection (DEC09 0224, $14.99, March 24). I like their blend of period supernatural comedy.

The Lizard Prince Book 2
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I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the first Lizard Prince manga, so I’ll look for the second (and final) installment (DEC09 0294, $9.99, March 3). Fun all-ages comedy romance with a light fantasy twist: the boy turns into a lizard every so often.

This sentence should not be surprising, but Marvel doesn’t know how to write for romance fans. In amongst all the Iron Man movie tie-ins and rainbow Hulks appears Marvel Heartbreakers, a one-shot anthology promoted thusly:

This Valentine’s Day, drop that box of chocolates and satisfy the inner romantic with an oversized helping of heartache! In these four spandex-ripping tales, the fabulous femmes of Marvel discover that there’s no such thing as love without tears. … Find out in this special filled with passion, power, and pain!

Who wants to read about heartbreak on Valentine’s Day? Is Marvel playing to the stereotype of superhero fans being dateless losers by running stories that are about things not working out? Or do they think that their readers will love seeing female heroes they can fantasize consoling?

The Good Stuff

Smile
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I’ve been looking forward to seeing Raina Telgemeier’s Smile (DEC09 0873, $10.99, Feb 3) for a long while now. It’s the story of how she dealt with losing her front teeth, but it’s also about being a teen, all in her beautiful, deceptively simple style.

Scott Chantler’s Northwest Passage (DEC09 0967, $15.99, Feb 10) makes an appearance in softcover. This historical adventure was one of my Best Books of 2007 due to its accomplished cartooning.

I’m thrilled yet disappointed to see the concluding volume of Pluto offered (DEC09 1026, $12.99, March 17). Thrilled because I know it will pack quite a punch, but disappointed because it’s such a great read, I hate to see it end.

The NY Times graphic novel gift guide didn’t list any manga. This upset the manga reviewing community. In an effort to correct the oversight, several sites have agreed to put together their own manga gift guides. Posted just in time for Black Friday, here are my selections for the holiday season.

1. Pluto
2. 20th Century Boys
3. Yotsuba
4. My Mommy Is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill
5. The Art of Osamu Tezuka
6. xxxHolic
7. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
8. Starting Point: 1979-1996
9. Mushishi
10. Detroit Metal City

Most of these are pretty obvious, if you’ve been following my or Johanna’s reviews. I’ll give a brief explanation of the rest.

First, I know My Mommy isn’t manga, but it’s bound to be overlooked in most graphic novel gift-giving guides. It’s an odd stepchild, a French comic that was published by a company known for manga. This is the best kid’s book I’ve read this year and needs more recognition.

Second, The Art of Osamu Tezuka is a wonderful book by Helen McCarthy that I picked up recently. It is the best of both worlds, a gorgeous coffee table book with solid exposition into the manga of Osamu Tezuka. Plus, the DVD included is simply jaw-dropping. I hope to do a full review in the future.

Finally, I want to take a moment to recognize two book lines for overall excellent. You can’t go wrong getting any of the books from either Fanfare/Ponent Mon or the Viz Signature imprint. The Ponent Mon books are hard to find in brick-and-mortar bookstores, but Amazon has their books in stock. I’ve seen the Viz Signature items in several bookstores, so they’re easy to pick up as last-minute items. Make sure to pick up a book from both publishers for yourself and a reward for getting your holiday shopping done.

I wish everyone a safe, healthy, and joy-filled holiday season. I hope you’re surrounded by the love of family, friends, and pets (particularly cats). As a former Navy man, special holiday wishes to those who will be away from home serving our country.

For more manga gift guides, check out this list of participants. The project was inspired by David Welsh’s suggestion, and his list is one of the best.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Book 6
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* Robots demonstrating human emotions. Detective Gesicht solves the murders based on a self-described hunch.

* The horror of war. Gesicht’s visit to a Persian bazaar seeking clues introduces him to a robot child maimed during the past conflict and reduced to begging.

* Trying to survive a loss of family. Many of the professors responsible for creating advanced robots were motivated by the death of loved ones and wind up transferring their affection to self-created replacements. This also ties into a desire to influence the future and pass one’s purpose on to another generation.

* The pain of memory, and yet its necessity. Robots can have their memories erased, but few (in the scenes we’ve seen where the option was offered) have chosen to do so. In contrast, humans who have suffered express envy for that ability. When we do hear of a robot memory deletion, it was part of a government conspiracy with lasting ramifications. Memories can’t be covered up forever, and the more you try to hide them, the worse the effects when they resurface.

* The definition of humanity. When Gesicht meets Abullah, head of Persia’s Ministry of Science, Gesicht is at first confused as to whether Abullah is human or robot. Most of his body is artificial due to severe war injuries. This echoes back to the way Astro Boy crosses the same line, as does Gesicht himself.

Things move very rapidly, and you may want to reread all five of the previous volumes in order to grasp all the details and twists of the mystery. But “who did it” isn’t the point, although that question is answered here. Why they did it boils down to one of the most basic human motivations possible: revenge.

The image of the world’s most advanced robot, maintained in an unconscious state because no artificial intelligence, no matter how superior, can cope with the confusion of personalities of everyone on earth, is a mysterious, tragic picture that keeps being brought up. Only one strong emotion will wake him, and those emotions are negative — hatred, anger, sadness — because of the flaws of his creators. In the series’ core contradiction, robots truly have the potential to become human when they gain the abilities of deception and murder. Yet the robots in this series are the ones who maintain hope for the future, taking stands for pacifism and justice and dreaming of a desert blooming with flowers.

After the events of this book, not all of the world’s seven greatest robots are deceased, and due out in January is volume 7 to continue the story. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

Update: There are lots of art samples and spoilers at Matthew Brady’s writeup.

20th Century Boys Book 5
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Kenji and his friends have sent their loved ones away from Tokyo and banded together to battle the evil group of Friends. They’re convinced something will happen on New Year’s Eve 2001, and when the Diet Building (similar to the U.S. Capitol Building) is bombed, it appears that their fears are coming true.

A massive form appears, buildings are destroyed, and key cities worldwide are struck with some kind of instant-killing disease, with people visibly bleeding out. Just as the group sets out to fight, the book jumps ahead to follow Kanna, Kenji’s niece, in the year 2014. The now-seventeen-year-old is doing her best to follow his lead, fighting villainy and keeping his music alive, but we don’t know what happen to Kenji and his devoted followers.

Shades of the famous Legion of Super-Heroes “Five Years Later” moment, where we didn’t find out the true story of what happened to jump the story forward until almost, yes, five years later. I have more faith in Naoki Urasawa, though, for two reasons: The work of a single creator is a different kettle of fish from a collaborative, assembly-line American superhero comic. And this series is already concluded in Japan, after 22 volumes, and if readers were severely disappointed, I’m guessing I would have heard about that. I’m impatient to know what happened to Kenji, but for now, I’ll have to trust the author to include more flashbacks from the now-future tale he’s telling.

Also in this book, the fat twin bullies Yanbo and Mabo make a surprise reappearance. Like many villains, they have no idea why anyone would look back on their horrible actions negatively. Their new lives reveal them to be just as self-centered and obsessed with consumption as before, but in very different ways.

I was touched to note how often ramen appears. One character promises his departing son that they’ll eat ramen, their favorite dish, again together in the future. Kanna risks her life to save a beloved ramen shop where she and her uncle often ate together in the past. It’s a wonderful recognition of one of the country’s favorite dishes as well as capturing how often memories relate to food and eating together. Those moments and short sequences stick with me longer than the main plot (with its ever-increasing cast), and they’re the images I recall best.

Gesicht has been assigned to guard Adolf Haas and his family. Haas’ former colleagues have decided he’s a liability and want him dead before he can reveal too many of their secrets. But Gesicht is starting a personal crisis as buried memories begin to surface, revealing shocking details of his past.

Also in this volume, Hercules faces off against Pluto, while Uran, Professor Ochanomizu, and Professor Tenma all have to come to grips with what happened to Atom.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Book 5
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Volume five at its core is about robot psychology. It specifically focuses on how robots handle hate. This theme is first mentioned during Epsilon’s conversation with Hercules in volume three. Epsilon is worried that as robots grow closer to humans, robots will learn hatred. He’s scared of the consequences robot hatred will have. We also see this theme briefly alluded to in volume four, when Tenma tells Ochanomizu that emotions like sadness and frustration are needed for an artificial intelligence to truly mature.

Tenma’s statement in volume four is further significant because it offers a different definition of intelligence than is commonly held. Tenma believes that true intelligence is both cognitive and emotive. Robot law demands robots be built with suppressed emotions, thus robots are stunted intellectually. It’s obvious that even Ochanomizu doesn’t share this view, since he thinks Atom is a masterpiece. Tenma sees Atom as a failure because of his lack of emotional range. Further, I believe Tenma is echoing Urasawa’s own belief on the nature of intelligence, and I suspect we will see the rest of the series explore this idea.

Why does Tenma see emotion as fundamental to true intellectual development? In the West, we have a compartmentalized view of human nature. We see the cognitive and emotive sides of our beings as not just separate but in opposition to each other. Urasawa is offering a more holistic view of human beings. Reason and emotion are opposite sides of the same coin. Just as there is no such thing as a coin with one side, so too there is no such thing as pure cognitive intelligence. Pure rationality is simply machine processing. For cognition to have life there must be emotion. What fuels us to seek a cure for cancer? A well-constructed, logical argument about physical health? No. It’s compassion. It’s seeing people suffer and die from cancer and being moved emotionally to want no one else to endure the same fate.

So why does Epilson fear hatred? Because of its irrational nature. Robots are constructed with multiple levels of safeguards to prevent them from intentionally harming humans. Any strong emotion would bypass or override those safeguards. What happens when robot behavior truly becomes human and losses its predictability? Robots are stronger, faster, smarter, and more durable than humans. Robots have enjoyed civil rights because they are not seen as a threat to humanity. But what if humans can no longer trust robots? They’ll revoke robot civil rights. Imagine how the newly emotive robots will react to the loss of their civil rights. Epilson fears for the future of the Earth, if robots learn to hate.

This discussion brings to light the differences between cognitive maturity, emotional maturity, and experiential maturity. Robots have the reason and body of an adult. The difficulty comes when robots begin to develop emotions but have no experience to handle what they’re feeling. It’s obvious why they would be dangerous at this stage in their lives. In humans, the danger is mitigated by the fact we are physically developing as we begin to mature emotionally. Of course, you can’t program in emotional maturity the same way you can program in rationality. Assuming we’re as committed as Tenma in making robots holistic persons, the problem is how to safely develop emotional maturity in robots.

There is a great Tezuka moment in this book. One constant motif in the original Astro Boy series was robots teaching humans how to behave humanely. In this book, Gesicht has come to realize the anger buried deep inside himself. He confesses his anger to Haas and how it scares him. He asks Haas if the hatred ever disappears. Haas has let anger consume and define him all his life. Here, a robot who has a right to hate Haas and his brother is shamed by his anger and begs to be free of it. In that moment, a machine is teaching a human proper care for the soul. Haas sees his failure as a person and cries. It’s a powerful moment of redemption for both men.

Adding depth to the exploration of robot psychology is the chapter focusing on Uran. She is coping with the loss of her brother. We see her going through the same steps of grief as a human. It’s a heartbreaking chapter as we come to see how deeply she loved Atom, even if they didn’t always get along. Uran shows how emotionally complex robots really are. I love that the school principal understands this and advises the teachers to treat Uran like any other student coping with death of a family member. The last two pages are the most poignant. They also show us how amazingly perceptive and accurate her intuitions are.

This book introduces Professor Tenma as a major character. In the original series, Tenma was an enigma. You could understand why he created Atom, and even why he rejected Atom, but not why he went on to treat Atom the way he did. Urasawa fleshes him out more, like he does with all of Tezuka’s characters, while preserving an air of mystery around him. The conversation between Tenma and Ochanomizu is one I’ve longed to see as an Astro Boy fan, two robotic geniuses talking shop. There’s a darkness to Tenma that unfortunately skews his vision of life. He focuses on the negative emotions and thinks they are the path for robots to reach full personhood. I’m hoping in the next volume that Ochanomizu will offer a corrective, showing Tenma that robots can mature just as fully through love. Atom and Uran are the perfect examples of this.

As always, the art is amazing. One thing that struck me in this volume was the perfect pacing of each scene. Urasawa knows exactly how many panels to dedicate to each moment to produce the needed emotional impact or dramatic effect. If there is tension between two characters, he knows whether you need one or two silent reaction shots to convey the proper friction. The last scene of Uran’s chapter is amazing because each panel is a punctuated moment. Each moment increases the emotional potential of the scene. Slowly, meticulously, Urasawa progresses the narrative to the last page, where we are hit with all that stored emotion. We feel both knocked off our feet and relieved. Then brilliantly, the last two panels provide the seamless transition to the next chapter.

I want to praise Viz for their reproduction job. In the last three volumes, there are pages that can’t have been easy or cheap to get right. Viz has spent the time and effort to make sure the book you’re holding is the same quality as the series it contains. The Viz Signature line is at a slightly higher price point, but the books are worth every penny you pay.

I have to say that volume five has been my favorite book of Pluto so far. It’s an incredibly rewarding read, both cognitively and emotionally, with multiple layers of narrative. I love how Urasawa is giving new depth to older themes while bringing in new themes to explore. It’s a book that has captivated and energized my thinking for several days. Each time I think about a particular chapter or character, I get excited by all the ideas that come flooding in for me to examine and play with. Setting the imagination on fire is the hallmark of great literature.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

**Warning: This review contains spoilers.**

With this volume, the narrative jumps ahead three years to the summer of 2000. We finally discover what happened to Otcho since he disappeared twelve years ago in 1988. We also discover what happened to Professor Sikishima and his family. Remember, volume 1 opened with police investigating the Sikishima family’s disappearance.

20th Century Boys Book 4
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On a structural level, this volume is really about tying up some loose ends and reintroducing Otcho into the main storyline. In a sense, Urasawa is paying back his debt to the reader. Otcho was the red herring of the first two-and-a-half volumes. Urasawa owes us an explanation of where Otcho’s been and what he’s been doing. Especially since Otcho is the one who created the club and its distinctive symbol.

The previous three books have featured Kenji’s reluctant transformation into a hero. This volume is the story of Otcho’s metamorphosis. He starts out following the typical Japanese male life plan. He studies hard, goes to college, gets a corporate job, gets married, and has a child. All the while, he focuses more time and energy on his career than his family. It takes the death of his son for Otcho to break free of this drone mentality. After taking an honest look at his life, Otcho decides to literally leave it all behind and begin a new life in Thailand.

Otcho finds a spiritual mentor and begins the process of reshaping his life. I love Urasawa’s definition of personal strength. The strong aren’t the physically powerful, they are the ones who care so deeply for others that they will fight to the death to protect them. It’s not the Western model of the individuals forging forward in isolation. Urasawa is rejecting the Clint Eastwood/lone gunfighter concept of a hero. Here it isn’t incidental that the true hero is part of a community — it’s essential. This encapsulates what we learned watching Kenji take on the mantle of saving the world.

Reading Otcho’s back story, I couldn’t help but feel that Urasawa was making a critique of the Japanese business ethos. He finds a corporate culture that sacrifices family for profits to be morally bankrupt. We were given a glimpse of this when Kenji is told by the franchise representative that caring for Kanna is a hindrance to good sales. It becomes starkly clear when Otcho is such an absentee father that his son is killed while chasing after a business man he mistakes for Otcho. I wondered if Urasawa was indirectly implying the Japan bubble economy popped because of this fundamental flaw. That businesses, like individuals, need to be deeply connected to the community for strength and health.

Volume four also reinforces the idea that there is nobility and honor within all of us. Otcho may have given up on himself and lived in self-imposed exile, but Kenji still has faith in his childhood friend. The core members of Kenji’s resistance group are homeless men. Urasawa believes passionately that no one is beyond a second chance. The people we think are useless, broken, used up, or irrevocably fallen can still have it in them to do great things. They just need someone to believe in them and give them the opportunity to live up to their potential. It’s an encouraging message that even we the readers can still change our life and our world for the better. The only thing holding us back is our own limited self-perception.

It’s getting harder to find original ways to praise Urasawa’s artwork. And with eighteen volumes still to go, the problem’s only going to get worst. Urasawa is the consummate comics creator; he knows how to seamlessly blend the art into the storytelling. This allows him an economy of narration. He can say in a couple of panels what might take several paragraphs to convey. By illustrating it, the point or emotion comes across as more real and immediate than prose might be able to capture.

For example, the way Otcho’s world shatters at the news of his son’s accident is conveyed in just two panels, but we see and feel it all in those two pictures. Another example is when we first meet Kenji in this volume, we immediately see that he is more serious, more focused than when we last saw him. We feel the weight of those last three years on him. The visuals are truly stunning.

20th Century Boys continues to be an excellent series with a meticulously crafted plot with real depth to the story and characters. Urasawa conclusively demonstrates that comics can convey stories as dense and layered as any novel. Comic readers should be championing this as one of the series that proves graphic novels are worthy of that name and have come to full maturity. 20th Century Boys is a must read for readers of all stripes.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Samurai 7 Book 1
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Unfortunately, that’s not the case with Samurai 7, a science fiction manga based on the classic film The Seven Samurai.

The premise starts with an interstellar war wherein men with swords fight giant robots … successfully! It’s silly. It feels like the author just wanted to draw this stuff and so took someone else’s much better story to justify it. A rice-growing village will be attacked by a spaceship once the harvest comes in, so a couple of peasants come to town to recruit hungry samurai (since they can only pay in food) to protect them. They wind up with a cocky youngster, a cyborg head without a body, a leader who got most of his men killed, a big dumb guy, and others.

Surprisingly, most of the book is talking, not action. There’s one big rescue scene, in which a child is saved from a kidnapping, but I would have thought that a book about warriors and robots would have had more scenes of excitement. The book ends with the fighters just reaching the village, after another action scene in which they face down a ship. Artistically, it looks like the characters have wandered in from other, different stories.

If you already know the source material, this will likely provide nothing but a couple of cheap laughs. If you don’t, this is a pale, pointless imitation. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

One of the best manga of 2008, Naoki Urasawa’s Monster, will debut in animated form on Syfy on October 12. The former Sci-Fi Network is running “Ani-Monday“, an anime programming block. After airing on Mondays on Syfy, the episodes will re-run on Chiller (a channel focused on horror and suspense) in the following week.

The cartoon series is rated TV-MA and is promised to “remain true to the original story.” Neurosurgeon Dr. Tenma saved a child who then turned out to be the monster of the title, a cold-blooded killer with no remorse. Tenma then sets out to remedy his mistake, giving up his career and risking his life to chase the young man around the world, all while the police suspect him of the murders.

On the East Coast, two episodes will air every Monday, beginning at 11 PM. There were 74 episodes produced, which means a nine-month (or longer) run. Read the full Viz announcement for more information.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Book 4
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This first chapter is astounding in its achievement. The reader thinks they know what’s going on, that the professor is right in thinking a security detail is overkill. The world’s seven most advanced robots are being targeted for destruction, along with their creators, but no one wants to believe that they’re in that much danger. Then Urasawa twists everything with a surprise visitor with a disarming appearance.

But before that, we see the Professor’s concern and effort in trying to help a creature he has no obligations to. The work puts him back in touch with his scientific efforts from before his governmental title. The scenes humanize him quickly and introduce him as a caring person, regardless of his role and situation. This isn’t the first time character stories shed new light on the world of robots and humans living together.

That he’s not able to overcome practical matters, like the age of the robot and the lack of needed parts, keeps events feeling realistic and provides a sense of mortality, even when it comes to machines. He takes partial responsibility for it, connecting a theoretical decision to a practical, unfortunate result, echoing the bigger theme of the series plot.

And that’s only the first chapter. The meat of the book returns to the bigger question, of how robots really differ from humans once they become advanced enough. Can they kill? Might they want revenge for perceived or actual damages? Will they go beyond what’s considered acceptable to achieve their desires?

Goji, the rumored creator of the Persian robot army, threatens Ochanomizu’s grandchild in order to get Atom to face off against his tornado robot. Atom’s never seemed more real to me — Urasawa’s portrayal of him as a realistic child makes this story all the more powerful. We keep being told how advanced a robot he is, but visually, he’s an angry little boy, concerned that one of his friends is in danger.

It also makes the threat all the more over-matched. How can Atom and his sister Uran possibly defeat a robot in the form of a natural disaster, one that can create its own tsunami and bring a wall of water down on those that oppose it and its master?

More and more threads come together in this volume. Adolf (from book three) has a mission involving Gesicht (book one), who’s about to leave for a Japanese vacation with his wife. Goji (book two) makes an appearance. Uran (book three) plays more of a role. The last of the seven advanced robots, Epsilon, appears. More victims are targeted, and more plots are revealed, culminating in the appearance of Doctor Tenma (as shown on the cover), the inventor of Atom. There are plenty of events I don’t dare mention because I want readers to discover their surprise and significance for themselves.

This series has all the excitement of any cliffhanger-driven adventure series containing amazing events, but it’s the deeper theoretical concerns that make it one of the best of the year. I don’t have the words to describe how accomplished the art is in telling this story and keeping the reader involved. Another artist couldn’t explore the nature of humanity so well, because his robots wouldn’t be detailed enough in their appearance and behavior. The work is stunning and picks a huge emotional punch.

The question keeps coming up: Which is the better series, this or 20th Century Boys? I was firmly in the latter camp until reading this volume. While both are excellent, I’m beginning to think that this is the greater accomplishment.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Continuing from my previous Otakon report, here is a list of Saturday’s panels and events.

9:00 AM – 10:00 AM Lost in Translation

This was another panel where I forgot to record the moderator’s name. The essence of the panel was to discuss things that can’t be directly translated into English and look at how anime companies have handled such phrases. One thing I learned is that in Japanese the verb is usually the last element of the sentence. That means when a sentence gets cut short, all the translator has is subject and predicate, but no idea of the relationship between the two. Since a phrase like, “Jim, ball” doesn’t make sense in English, translators have to supply verbs that might fit the circumstances. So they might translate the sentence fragment as “Jim got the ball” or “Jim hit the ball” or “Jim, look, a ball!” Other topics discussed were cliches and colloquialisms, gendered pronouns, use of familial language with strangers, and spelling names in English. This was the moderator’s first time running a panel, and she did a great job.

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM Phoenix

This is the new animated TV series based on Tezuka’s manga series. The animation is gorgeous, and the story closely follows the manga. It’s on my must-see list.

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Frederick Schodt Q&A

Fred, as he likes to be called, was one of the first translators of manga. He has written several books on manga; the most famous is Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics. Currently, he is co-translating the Pluto series by Urasawa. This was an unstructured panel that allowed attendees to ask any question they desired. Mostly, Schodt endedup talking about how he got interested in Japan and manga and his experiences as a translator. Most of what he discussed can be found in this interview from Electric Ant magazine. Fred is a great speaker, and the hour flew by.

5:00 PM – 7:00 PM Ghost Slayer Ayashi

This is an animated TV series about a group of ghost/demon slayers set in Japan around the first half of the 19th century. It’s a good action series with a great cast. The animation is excellent. I will be renting this series.

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Masquerade

This is one of the main reasons I go to anime conventions. The masquerade is where fans play instruments and perform skits, dance numbers, and stand-up comedy in costume. It’s been maligned and misunderstood by the mean-spirited, but for me, it’s the quintessential fan expression of love. I adore the masquerade. What sells it for me is the sincerity of the performers. Are the jokes cheesy? Yes. The acting and writing bad? Of course. Is it wonderful? Unquestionably. If you pardon the puns, it’s awfully charming and charmingly awful. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s three parts anime, two parts video games, one part manga, one part American pop culture, a sprinkle of high school drama, a pinch of high school band, and a dash of randomness all put in a blender set on puree. One routine had a couple in costume flag twirling to a Broadway song, another routine was five girls dressed up as modern Sailor Moon Scouts singing a Spice Girls medley, and another routine was a costumed couple doing ballet. How can you not love such diversity and creativity?

I only stayed for the first two hours, which means I only saw about 2/3 of the acts. I was getting tired and knew I had just enough in me to make the drive back to where I was staying. If I had been staying in Baltimore, I would have stayed for the entire show.

Sunday Events and Panels

9:00 AM – 11:00 AM Resiklo

This was a low-budget, live-action Philippines post-apocalyptic sci-fi film about humans trying to survive after aliens have wrecked havoc on the Earth. It’s definitely a B movie, but I love B movies, so it was right up my alley. You can learn more at the official movie site.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM The Roots of Japanese Anime

This collection of pre-World War II anime shorts is almost impossible to explain. These were made before the anime industry was trying to copy American animation styles. The shorts are steeped in traditional Japanese culture and story telling. You really have to see them for yourself. You can see a trailer for the DVD set at the official site.

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, moderated by Frederick Schodt

Schodt is currently giving this presentation around the country. He begins with a short biography of Tezuka and early experiences that influenced his writing and art. Schodt then goes on to show how with Astro Boy, Tezuka founded the modern manga system. Simply put, Tezuka demonstrated that you could take a popular serialized manga, collect the stories into trade paperback books, then license the property for animation and merchandising, and finally license the series for overseas distribution. The Astro Boy manga began its run in 1952, and the anime began in 1963, the same year it was licensed for US syndication by NBC. Astro Boy was the first weekly, half-hour, animated series in Japan. Astro Boy became a national icon and a symbol of scientific knowledge and advancement.

Overall Impressions

I enjoyed this year’s Otakon tremendously. The biggest change for me was going as press and meeting lots of new people. This is also the first year that I spent more time in panels than in the anime rooms. I used to go to conventions because they were the best place to see and sample a larger variety of anime. But with Netflix and Rent Anime, I have access to everything currently on the market and a large percentage of older series. So this has allowed me to shift my focus at conventions.

The shift in focus has given me a renewed enthusiasm for convention going. Truthfully, I half went to Otakon looking for excuses not to go again, but I failed. Instead, I came away with panel ideas for Otakon and maybe myself.

The only sad part of Otakon is the fact it happened the weekend before San Diego Comic Con. Even as I’m typing this, Otakon has already been forgotten by the public. Everyone’s attention is focused on the news coming out of SDCC hourly. Hopefully, Otakon can be scheduled further from any of the other big conventions to keep it from getting lost in the crowd.

With any convention, your attitude going into it greatly determines what you can derive from the experience. Large-scale cons like Otakon really are a culture unto themselves, and you have to have an open mind to see and experience the unexpected. There really is something for everyone at Otakon, and for serious manga and anime fans on the East Coast, I suggest you go at least once. You especially have to attend the Masquerade when you’re there.

Here are links to con reports by my dining companions and a couple others.

• Anime Almanac
• Ani-Gamers
• Reverse Thieves
• Janaiblog
• Ogiue Maniax
• Publishers Weekly
• Anime News Network
• Anime Vice

SIGIKKI is the result of a partnership between the Viz Signature line (which publishes titles aimed as adults, including 20th Century Boys, Oishinbo, Detroit Metal City, and Pluto) and the monthly manga magazine IKKI. The Japanese publication is described as “the home of some of the most innovative, bold, and compelling titles in the world of contemporary manga.”

In addition to the manga chapters, the site contains interviews with creators. Here’s the full press release, with series descriptions. Depending on reader demand, print collections of the online series will follow after online serialization.

On Thursday, July 23, BOKURANO: OURS, by Mohiro Kitoh; DOROHEDORO, by Q Hayashida; SATURN APARTMENTS, by Hisae Iwaoka; and I’LL GIVE IT MY ALL…TOMORROW, by Shunju Aono will be posted. The week following brings the first chapters of KINGYO USED BOOKS, by Seimu Yoshizaki; HOUSE OF FIVE LEAVES, by Natsume Ono; AFTERSCHOOL CHARISMA, by Kumiko Suekane; and TOKYO FLOW CHART, by Eiji Miruno. David Welsh did some more research on the Japanese titles.

What a great way to build readership for manga for adults! Free samples are the way to go. That site again is sigikki.com.

20th Century Boys Book 3
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This volume is where Kenji reaches his turning point. He now understands what’s going on — someone who knew about their childhood games of saving the world is making the disasters they dreamed up come true — and he has the choice of whether to try and stop him. It’s unbelievable, both to him and the reader, and yet, though Naoki Urasawa’s skill, frighteningly plausible.

I’m really impressed by how well this series reads in collection. You can tell that it was originally serialized, because every chapter, you’re skillfully brought immediately up to date with the key items you need to know to be sucked into the latest installment. And each one ends with a powerful image, concept, or cliffhanger, driving you immediately into the next chapter. Yet as a book, it all reads smoothly, ratcheting up the excitement.

As Kenji visits with other childhood friends, attempting to find out more about the mysterious Friend cult leader, it’s interesting to notice how much kids resemble their parents. They’re replicating themselves, making the same mistakes in a new generation. Few remember anything about the games they played when they were young; they’re all caught up in current problems. They may be small, compared to thousands of people dying and the potential destruction of the world, but their concerns are important to their lives, and that’s what they’re focused on.

The art, as always, is masterful. Nothing disturbs the flow of the story, and the perfect moment is shown to capture the feeling of the scene. Urasawa is using some basic concepts, bound to affect the reader deeply — a baby in danger, one man unable to believe he can make a difference, a destiny that’s fear-inducing — but they transcend cliche due to the emotion he invests and conveys.

When Kenji makes his decision, he reaches for his old guitar and begins playing it hard until the strings break. He makes me believe in the idea that rock’n'roll can save the world. It’s an interesting idea for a group-oriented society, since rock is about individualism (although that ends up being ultimately conforming as well). During a Friend gathering, Kenji finds himself disturbed by the uniformity around him, the way they’re all reacting together. He’s a prophet trying to share the truth but ignored as an outsider. The desire to fit in, to belong, both inspired the Friend and drives his followers.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

At the end of volume two, Uran, Atom’s little sister, helped tame and recapture some loose zoo animals. This volume opens with her at police headquarters explaining how she got involved in the first place. We learn that Uran can sense strong emotional states, especially fear. A few days later, on the way to school, she senses powerful feelings of fear and confusion. She skips school to find the distressed person and help him/her. She discovers what appears to be a homeless robot suffering memory loss. He’s very disoriented and is scared to go for proper treatment. Uran visits him daily hoping to help him get well.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Book 3
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Adolf Haas is a German businessman who hates robots. In fact, he belongs to an underground organization, KR, which is seeking to repeal the International Robot Laws and to once again make robots slaves and property of humans. His brother was a criminal killed by the police during the commission of a crime. There is now evidence that it was a robot police officer that killed Adolf’s brother. KR hopes to use this evidence to prove the danger of unrestrained robots. Adolf is simply looking for revenge.

This volume is a change of pace. The Pluto investigation story arc is put on hold; instead, we are introduced to two new protagonists. The first is Adolf Haas. His story arc lets us see the other side of a world with robots. He dramatically experiences some of the negative impacts that the mass productions of robots create.

Adolf Haas’ father was a factory worker. When the factory became fully automated, he lost his job. The need for human physical laborers continually decreased, so he couldn’t find a new one. Adolf’s father was arrested for a petty thief by a robot police officer. The arrest and unemployment eventually drove him to suicide. Understandably, Adolf and his brother grew up hating robots.

Adolf’s story is a reminder that sometimes technological advances come with a human cost. It’s great that humans have been freed from simple manual labor, but there is a large segment of the population that makes its living from jobs like factory worker, housekeeping, construction worker, etc. It takes humans time to be reeducated with new job skills and to shift to a new economical model. This transition period won’t be kind to everyone. Some people and their families will find themselves left behind as the world marches on. It’s easy to see how the newly disenfranchised wouldn’t sing the praises of robots or see any benefits to mass-producing them.

Also, it would be foolish to think that everyone will readily accept robots as persons. To some humans, maybe most, a machine is a machine. The fact that humans designed and created robots is proof that they can’t be our equals. Robots have off switches, they have electrons running across circuit boards, they have to be programmed to work. True living creatures can’t be shut down, they have blood flowing through veins, and the moment they’re born they live and function by their own will. Artificial life is an oxymoron. It’s an insult to human dignity to say a sophisticated toaster has the same rights and should be treated with the same respect. Robots are tools and never anything more.

Because Urasawa is such an adept storyteller, Adolf and the KR aren’t moronic bigots. They are intelligent, successful men who refuse to acknowledge robots as equals. Adolf’s hatred of robots is tied to the devastation they brought to his father. His own experiences have shaded the way he looks at and evaluates robot actions. Adolf may not be a sympathetic character, but his actions are understandable. Unfortunately, not all writers take the time and effort to craft such well-thought-out villains.

It’s a testament to Urasawa’s skill as a world builder that he includes the dark side of this vision of the future. It further adds to the depth and realism of this series. Any radical change in society is going to naturally bring opponents of that change. Like Marvel’s X-Men, Urasawa is drawing from American civil rights history in shaping this subplot of the story. This becomes obvious when we see the KR dressed in the same ceremonial robes as the KKK. This natural human response allows him to create new dramatic tension and possibilities.

Uran is the other major cast addition. She has always been a foil to Atom. I’ll admit I’ve never been satisfied with Tezuka’s characterization of Uran. She comes across as impulsive and reckless. Atom always seemed to be annoyed at his sister, and he treats her like a child, rightfully so. Urasawa remolds Uran, making her a fully developed person in her own right. Her ability to sense strong emotions has shaped who she is. Uran has chosen to respond to such feelings with compassion and a desire to alleviate their suffering. She’s still impulsive, but for a good cause. She’s still a foil to Atom, but now it’s because of a fundamental difference in their approach to life. Atom is logical and formal. He is the typical eldest son. Uran is emotional and casual. In fact, she comes across as more human in her behavior than even Atom. She’s not afraid to stand up to her older brother for what she believes in. She still frustrates Atom, but he can no longer treat her like a child. Urasawa’s Uran is not only likable, but she’s admirable. That’s an amazing transformation of this character.

Urasawa’s art is as wonderful as always. I love the way he draws Uran, especially her facial expressions. You can see how bored and frustrated she is with the police questions. I’m glad these pages were in color. The emotional scenes really make this volume. Adolph’s anger at discovering his brother was killed by a robot jumps off the page. Pluto’s brief appearance is powerfully filled with raw emotion that just smacks you in the face.

I’m also still amazed at the amount of detail Urasawa puts into his backgrounds. They really give his art a sense of solidity and reality. The mansion where the KR meet is an incredible architectural structure. His cityscapes are some of my favorite eye candy. It’s a testament to his creativity that with each volume there is always a new backdrop that stops me in my tracks. I find myself just staring at the panel, soaking in all the marvelous details.

I also want to commend Viz on a beautiful printing job. There are some pages in here that had to be particularly difficult to get right. It’s essential to one part of the story that the pages have a particular feature. Viz does it flawlessly and creates the effect that Urasawa wants when the reader get to that section. Well done and thanks, Viz.

I will say this volume can be a little disconcerting to read. I think it’s the Uran section that causes this reaction. We are given a lot new information that doesn’t fit with anything we know so far. I trust Urasawa enough to feel that what’s revealed will play an important role in the volumes to come. I also think that once we see how this section fits into the overall story structure, these are chapters you’ll go back and reread so insights can be better understood.

At this point, I don’t know what more I can say to recommend this series to readers. Anyone who values well-written, meticulously executed comics of any genre or format should be reading this series. Urasawa is a master of the craft and will be remembered in the same breath as his idol, Tezuka.

P.S. See if you can catch the reference to Jungle Emperor Leo in this volume. Urasawa really rewards Tezuka fans who pay attention to details.

Yesterday, Deb Aoki linked to The Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Industry Awards Ballot. (The SPJA runs Anime Expo.)

Looking over the manga categories, I was unhappy with a couple of things. First, the categories were overly broad. For example, “Best Manga – Drama” means that series as diverse as 20th Century Boys, xxxHolic, and Fullmetal Alchemist could all be competing against each other. (If you think I’m exaggerating, the actual nominees are Monster, Kitchen Princess, and Ghost Talker’s Daydream Vol. 3.) I would prefer if each of these series were in a separate category.

My second problem is connected to the first. Given the breadth of these categories, there were too few choices available. Also, any ballot should have a write-in option. So instead of just cursing the darkness, I thought I would offer some light. Below is my own attempt at a sample ballot for manga awards.

Here are some explanatory notes on how I constructed this ballot.

• I wanted to create categories that would be specific enough to separate out major genres, but broad enough to allow a diversity of titles within each category.
• I wanted to keep the number of categories to a manageable size. I didn’t want a ballot of 50 categories. A dozen seems more than enough to capture the vast majority, if not all, titles being published.
• These categories are open to adjustment each year, Currently, there are enough food-related mangas to justify that category, but that may not be true in a couple of years. So that category might change to “video game adaptation” or “business-related”. Also, there should be a category in there just for the fun of it.
• The titles I put in each category are purely meant as examples. I wanted to give a feel for the diversity each category could embrace. I also tried to represent as many publishers as possible in my examples. My main concern was to nail down the categories first, then we could worry about what titles to nominate.

I offer this ballot as a jumping off point for discussion. So look it over and offer comments, criticism, and suggestions. After a while, I’ll incorporate your ideas and offer a new, improved ballot for your consideration. The idea is that next year SPJA, and others, will have a template for their own ballots that’s reflective of the entire scope of manga available.

1) Best Comedic Romance

1. Otomen
2. Happy Mania
3. Your & My Secret
4. Love*Com
5. ____________________

2) Best Dramatic Romance

1. Nana
2. Sukuza
3. High School Debut
4. Emma
5. ____________________

3) Best Urban Fantasy

1. xxxHolic
2. Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun
3. Blood +
4. Ghost Talker’s Daydream
5. ____________________

4) Best Epic Adventure

1. Fullmetal Alchemist
2. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
3. One Piece
4. Inu-Yasha
5. ____________________

5) Best Kid’s Manga

1. Dinosaur Hour
2. Leave It to PET
3. Ninja Baseball Kyuma
4. Gon
5. ____________________

6) Best Series Overall

1. Pluto
2. 20th Century Boys
3. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles
4. xxxHolic
5. ____________________

7) Best Drama (non-Romance)

1. 20th Century Boys
2. Me & the Devil Blues
3. Flat Earth/Exchange
4. Case Closed
5. ____________________

8) Best Comedy (non-Romance)

1. Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
2. Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga
3. Crayon Shinchan
4. My Heavenly Hockey Club
5. ____________________

9) Best Horror/Suspense

1. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service
2. Cat-Eyed Boy
3. Ghost Talker’s Daydream
4. Astral Project
5. ____________________

10) Best Reprint

1. Black Jack
2. Swan
3. Phoenix
4. The Drifting Life
5. ____________________

11) Best Food-Related Manga

1. Kitchen Princess
2. Yakitate! Japan
3. Oishinbo
4. Antique Bakery
5. ____________________

12) Best Light Novel

1. Another Xxxholic
2. Blood+: First Kiss
3. Moribito
4. Code Geass: Stage O Entrance
5. ____________________

Kenji is still investigating the mysterious symbol from his childhood. However, things aren’t going well at the family convenience store. The franchise’s district manager is threatening to end Kenji’s contract if sales don’t pick up. He’s also unhappy with the way Kenji runs the store and demands that baby girl Kanna be put into daycare instead of being carted around on Kenji’s back.

20th Century Boys Book 2
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A law firm, hired by family members of people who have joined the Our Friend cult, and the police seem to have uncovered the identity of Our Friend. However, both want a few more details to be completely sure. Another of Kenji’s childhood friends comes back into his life: Yukiji, the strongest girl who ever lived. She is friends with one of the lawyers and wants Kenji to help them.

This is character-driven storytelling. It would be a mistake to think the focus of this series is the Our Friend cult storyline. Instead, the focus of 20th Century Boys is Kenji’s redemption and his restoration to the hero he was meant to be. Just like another favorite manga of mine, Xxxholic, the heart of this series is the transformation of the main character. To appreciate the man Kenji will become, we have to first see the boy filled with potential and optimism who inspires his friends, then we must see how that potential is squandered. This is why Urasawa spends so much time going over Kenji’s history and the people who influenced him the most.

Kenji isn’t a rugged individualist out there forging his own destiny and changing the world single-handedly. Instead, he is a man embodied in a network of relationships and responsibilities that have shaped who he is. To understand why Kenji is so insistent on raising Kanna himself, you have to understand his relationship with his sister (her mother). To see why people put such trust in him, you have to see the ways he inspired them as a kid. Each of Kenji’s friends that we meet and each flashback to some past event are all part of getting to know Kenji fully. Urasawa reminds us that even the humblest of humans is a wonderfully complex being. We are all an alchemy of hopes, failures, friendships, beliefs, loves, duties, promises, etc. And it’s this three dimensional look at Kenji’s life that makes the series so brilliant.

One thing that impressed me with this volume was how Urasawa transformed Kenji’s sister, Kiriko, from dubious character into a sympathetic person. In the first volume, all we know about her is that she has given her baby to her mother and Kenji to raise. Kiriko offers no explanations as to why she can’t raise the child, who the father is, where she is going, or if she will ever be back. Certainly, this doesn’t create the best first impression. However, as we see the sacrifices she has made over the years for Kenji, the way she has been a surrogate mother to him, we see someone who lost a great deal of her own childhood. She is worn out from her labors. Only as an adult can Kenji understand and appreciate his sister and her sacrifices. He raises Kanna as a way to repay Kiriko for all she’s done for him and the family. When Kenji refuses to shuffle Kanna off to a daycare, it’s part of him relearning how to stand up for what he believes.

I don’t want to imply that there is no plot to this series, or that the storyline isn’t progressing from book to book. The plot focus of this volume is the identity of Our Friend. If you’ve read the first volume, then you already know who he is. Part of the fun of this book is watching how different characters are coming to the same verdict. In the process, we get to learn a lot about the past of Our Friend. I enjoy seeing how police detectives follow the trail of evidence and then piece it all together to draw their conclusion. Also, we get flashbacks to when Our Friend was a kid, so it’s interesting to see who he was and what he’s grown up to be. What’s amazing is that Kenji hasn’t pieced all of this together on his own. So it’s a relief when he is finally told and now has to come to grips with that revelation.

The artwork continues to be marvelous. Urasawa really communicates a character’s emotional states. This is best seen in baby Kanna. When I read this series, I always know if she is angry, sad, joyful, or willful. Manga may be a silent media, but her speech balloons explode with sound as I’m reading. Just flipping through the book, you can look at any face and know if it’s a sad moment or a happy moment. Urasawa’s realistic art style perfectly matches his storytelling. I do wish that Viz would reproduce the color pages for this manga. I would love to see what color palette and style he is using for this series.

I’m taking great pleasure in getting to know Kenji better with each volume. I like watching him slowly come to the point where he will have to step up and become the hero hidden within. Urasawa has populated 20th Century Boys with a cast of fascinating people, any of whom you could write a good manga about. I love a good slow-burn book. This is a deliberately paced series that builds momentum with each chapter. This series provides a template for future manga and comic authors on how to create works as rich and complex as any prose novel. 20th Century Boys is a testament to Tezuka’s faith in manga/comics as an art form and its ability to be on par with the finest literary works.

** This review contains spoilers. **

Gesicht is in Japan to warn Atom that the boy robot is one of the targets of the mysterious robot killer. Also, Gesicht has decided to ask Atom’s opinion on the case so far. Atom downloads Gesicht’s memories and agrees to help as he can. Gesicht moves on to Greece where he warns Hercules that he is also a target. Hercules, like Brando, is a fighting robot. However, unlike Brando, Hercules doesn’t feel the need to emulate humans and seems to enjoy solitude.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Book 2
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The mysterious robot killer comes for Brando. Brando broadcasts the fight to Gesicht, Hercules, and Atom, hoping to help identity his attacker and give them data to stop the killer. In the midst of all this, Gesicht and his wife discover that they are missing memories and suspect they may have false memories implanted as a coverup.

Urasawa’s genius continues in this volume. He has done the impossible. He has improved on Tezuka’s portrayal of Astro Boy. Let me begin with the standard caveat. Tezuka’s Astro Boy is in no way a cardboard character. Over the history of the series, Tezuka crafted a wonderful character with lots of depth and complexity. Astro Boy is a robot with honest emotional responses. (He even has the ability to cry.) He is guided more by compassion and idealism than logic. Often, he is the one who has to teach humans how to behave humanely. In a sense, he is Japan’s Superman. He is the hero that embodies the best of humanity, the person we all aspire to be.

Urasawa’s Atom is Astro Boy with a new dimension added that creates even greater nuances and makes the character feel so much more real. It’s like going from a painting of the Mona Lisa to actually meeting the real woman. Urasawa brings home the great conflict at the core of Atom’s existence. He is created to look and act exactly like an eight-year-old boy, and yet he is also the most advanced robot ever built. Urasawa brings out this paradox simply by juxtaposing two scenes. In the first scene, Atom is sitting at a café with Gesicht eating ice cream, discussing the case. He gets excited by a UFO toy he sees a kid playing with.

In the next scene, Atom is at police headquarters helping with a murder investigation. He is walking through a hologram of the crime scene and analyzing various pieces of evidence. He even examines the mutilated body of the victim. Atom is cold and detached as he states his observations and conclusion. He doesn’t flinch at any of the gruesome details. It’s storytelling and character exposition at its best. This is an aspect of Astro Boy’s character that Tezuka never really explored. (Partly because Tezuka was writing for a much younger audience and didn’t have as much freedom for such exposition. Partly because this facet of Astro Boy’s existence doesn’t seem to have interested him.) Perhaps the most amazing detail is that Urasawa is able to accomplish all this in just seventy-eight pages.

Urasawa also adds further depth to his characterization of robots in this book. After his fight with the mysterious murderer, Brando tries to communicate all his battle data to Gesicht, Hercules, and Atom. He is desperately trying to be detached and logical during his last moments. He is damaged beyond repair and knows it. He can’t keep his thoughts and feelings of his family from overwhelming him. This is no longer a robot trying to emulate a human, this is a true man/father/husband whose dying thoughts are of those he loves and will leave behind. It’s an emotionally devastating scene. After reading those pages, you simply can’t see robots as just machines anymore.

Urasawa also continues to add more layers of mystery to this series. This volume gives us further background on the events leading up the 39th Central Asian War, adding political intrigue to this murder mystery. There is mention of a mysterious robotic genius known only as Dr. Goji and hints of his work on creating a robot of mass destruction. Finally, there is Gesicht’s discovery of missing memories. I love the blend of both global and personal in these new twists. It adds to the world building of the series and gives this universe a more complete and tangible feel.

Urasawa’s character redesigns continue to impress me. He does a great job with Dr. Ochanomizu, although I do wish he have been more generous with the schnozola. I was really caught off guard seeing how Brando gets into his combat suit. It makes perfect sense when you think about it, but it’s still a shock to see. Also, Urasawa can’t resist teasing us at the end of this volume like he did with the first. The last page is our first look at Uran, Atom’s younger sister.

Urasawa’s artwork is dense; he is as meticulous with his art as he is with his storytelling. You can spend hours studying all the details given in the city backdrops and the splash panels. The art is a key factor in making this world and its characters so believable. Urasawa masterfully blends incredible line work and crosshatching with tone use. I don’t think I’ve seen any other artist use both so equally in manga. Usually, one is heavily preferred to the other. The line work really brings out the drama and emotions of the panel. The color pages are also beautifully done with their muted watercolors. I wish that Viz had reproduced all the color pages and not simply the ones at the beginning of the book.

Pluto is the most intellectually satisfying book I’ve read in years. Each time I finish a volume, I feel I’ve eaten a seven-course banquet. My mind is overstuffed with incredible ideas. I’m worried that Urasawa has ruined robot stories for me. It’s going to be hard reading Western sci-fi where authors are struggling with whether robots can actually be complete persons in their own right after reading a series that has so definitely shown they can be. I don’t make this comparison lightly, but Pluto can be ranked with the works of H.G. Wells or Isaac Asimov. Urasawa is really that groundbreaking and adept as a sci-fi author. It’s so exciting to read someone who is redefining the rules of the genre.