(no subject)
Okay, so between yesterday and today I have read Volume 7 of 20th Century Boys and Volume 1 of Pluto, which makes this Let's Talk About Naoki Urasawa Day over here.
In news that is unsurprising to anyone, Twentieth Century Boys continues to be my favorite Urasawa series. (Whyyyy is there only one volume every two months ;_; My life, it is tragic.) This volume did not make me shriek quite as much as the last one, but the story is pretty clearly continuing to build to awesome! elspeth_vimes, you were right, I love Kyoko KIND OF A LOT - a little bit spacy, kind of self-centered in a teenagerish way, but also clearly really smart when she puts her mind to it! And a guitarist fangirl, which is going to be really interesting in context, one suspects. I really hope she gets to meet up with Kanna in the next volume. *_* (But where was Kanna in this volume? And Little Cho? AND YUKIJI? I mean, not that The Adventures of Otcho and his Manga Artist Sidekick were not awesome as well.)
In more plot-relevant news, it was pretty obvious that Friend was not going to turn out to be Sadakiyo, not just because that would be way too early a reveal, but also because it was patently ridiculous how much Fukubei was trying to make it All About Him. "AND he got your sister pregnant, Kenji . . . BECAUSE HE WAS MAD AT ME!" The logic does not quite work there. I also facepalmed at Kenji hesitating to kill the-guy-he-thought-was-Friend because . . . HE'S KANNA'S DAD! I mean, it makes total sense for Kenji, because he's Kenji, BUT STILL. Also, I loved many aspects of the confrontation scene (Kenji and Maruo singing in the car: BEST) but I really, really wish that every character had not taken the time to stop and try to send Yukiji home. HOW MANY TIMES must she prove that she is more badass than any of them? How many times!
(Also: Mon-chan. :( :( :()
The first volume of Pluto I just finished on the subway this morning, and I am a.) really fascinated by the worldbuilding and interested to see where it is going and b.) really, really torn about whether to stop and go read the Astro Boy story it's based on, or, alternately, read all of Pluto, go find the Astro Boy story, and then read Pluto again! (It's only eight volumes or so . . . so it won't take that much time! Um.) So far, the story as I read it - completely unspoilered by any context - appears to be about a mysterious killer who is taking out famous/influential robots, and the robot detective who is investigating the case. The part that fascinates me is the range of robots we see and their integration into society - some of them look completely human and some of them don't at all, but regardless of their appearance they can marry, hold paid jobs, adopt children. (I kind of loved Prizefighter Robot and his five million adopted kids, I'm not going to lie.)
It does keep throwing me, I'll admit, how similar the character designs are to some of the designs in Monster. I don't have this problem with the art in 20th Century Boys - while it's totally recognizable Urasawa and there is some overlap in character designs (Kanna and Nina, anyone?) most of the main cast look different enough that I'm not jarred - but with Pluto I keep forgetting that I'm reading a totally non-Monster story and being like "HEY AN UNDERGROUND JAPANESE DOCTOR IS THAT - no. No, that's definitely not." It doesn't help that it's set in Germany. Though I do love the thought that Urasawa puts into drawing his futuristic cities. And also, into everything, because, let's face it, it's Naoki Urasawa.
In news that is unsurprising to anyone, Twentieth Century Boys continues to be my favorite Urasawa series. (Whyyyy is there only one volume every two months ;_; My life, it is tragic.) This volume did not make me shriek quite as much as the last one, but the story is pretty clearly continuing to build to awesome! elspeth_vimes, you were right, I love Kyoko KIND OF A LOT - a little bit spacy, kind of self-centered in a teenagerish way, but also clearly really smart when she puts her mind to it! And a guitarist fangirl, which is going to be really interesting in context, one suspects. I really hope she gets to meet up with Kanna in the next volume. *_* (But where was Kanna in this volume? And Little Cho? AND YUKIJI? I mean, not that The Adventures of Otcho and his Manga Artist Sidekick were not awesome as well.)
In more plot-relevant news, it was pretty obvious that Friend was not going to turn out to be Sadakiyo, not just because that would be way too early a reveal, but also because it was patently ridiculous how much Fukubei was trying to make it All About Him. "AND he got your sister pregnant, Kenji . . . BECAUSE HE WAS MAD AT ME!" The logic does not quite work there. I also facepalmed at Kenji hesitating to kill the-guy-he-thought-was-Friend because . . . HE'S KANNA'S DAD! I mean, it makes total sense for Kenji, because he's Kenji, BUT STILL. Also, I loved many aspects of the confrontation scene (Kenji and Maruo singing in the car: BEST) but I really, really wish that every character had not taken the time to stop and try to send Yukiji home. HOW MANY TIMES must she prove that she is more badass than any of them? How many times!
(Also: Mon-chan. :( :( :()
The first volume of Pluto I just finished on the subway this morning, and I am a.) really fascinated by the worldbuilding and interested to see where it is going and b.) really, really torn about whether to stop and go read the Astro Boy story it's based on, or, alternately, read all of Pluto, go find the Astro Boy story, and then read Pluto again! (It's only eight volumes or so . . . so it won't take that much time! Um.) So far, the story as I read it - completely unspoilered by any context - appears to be about a mysterious killer who is taking out famous/influential robots, and the robot detective who is investigating the case. The part that fascinates me is the range of robots we see and their integration into society - some of them look completely human and some of them don't at all, but regardless of their appearance they can marry, hold paid jobs, adopt children. (I kind of loved Prizefighter Robot and his five million adopted kids, I'm not going to lie.)
It does keep throwing me, I'll admit, how similar the character designs are to some of the designs in Monster. I don't have this problem with the art in 20th Century Boys - while it's totally recognizable Urasawa and there is some overlap in character designs (Kanna and Nina, anyone?) most of the main cast look different enough that I'm not jarred - but with Pluto I keep forgetting that I'm reading a totally non-Monster story and being like "HEY AN UNDERGROUND JAPANESE DOCTOR IS THAT - no. No, that's definitely not." It doesn't help that it's set in Germany. Though I do love the thought that Urasawa puts into drawing his futuristic cities. And also, into everything, because, let's face it, it's Naoki Urasawa.