The most relevant icon I have.
So, back on my birthday, my friends said they'd ordered me a Hetalia wallscroll; unfortunately, this never arrived, so they got their money back and decided to get me something else. Which turned out to be the first volume of Pluto. Because, you know, I really needed another manga to get caught up in. (Especially another Naoki Urasawa one.) But anyway! Pluto!
I had been hesitant to start reading Pluto for more than just financial reasons; from what I had heard of it, it was basically Astro Boy fanfiction, and given that I know pretty much nothing about Astro Boy, I felt like I would be missing out on a lot if I read it without doing my homework. Now that I actually have read the first volume, uh, my thoughts have not changed! Not knowing the history and context of the story means I don't understand pretty much any of the subtleties, and there are a lot of subtleties. I get the impression Pluto would be like ten times cooler if I knew where it was coming from.
Which is kind of saying something, because Pluto is awesome.
It's just. I don't even. I love these robots! I love their integration with society! I love how, for the most part, they are pretty okay with being robots, and they're treated more or less the same as humans; even the ones that don't look exactly human can get married and own apartments and have kids, and they have just as much emotion and personality as the meatbags. But they're not angsty. When they are, it is not because they are robots, it is because of things that regular humans would angst over! And as for the rest of it--let me tell you, when you can make me cry about a character I've only known for three chapters? You're doing a good job. Of course, it is Naoki Urasawa; everything he does is like Godiva chocolate dipped in gold and sprinkled with the happy tears of the Virgin Mary. But still. It's good to be reminded of that.
So now, I kind of really really want to track down the Astro Boy story this is based on, because if Pluto is this good without knowing the context behind it, going in with the knowledge will probably create a singularity of awesome. But I have no idea where to start. D: D: D: MY TROUBLES ARE GREAT.
Especially amusing is the knowledge Naoki Urasawa called up the son of the most influential and highly-respected father of manga and asked "So, can I publish some fanfiction of your dad's work?" and was basically told "Yes, because you are Naoki fucking Urasawa". My man got some respect of his own, yo.
I had been hesitant to start reading Pluto for more than just financial reasons; from what I had heard of it, it was basically Astro Boy fanfiction, and given that I know pretty much nothing about Astro Boy, I felt like I would be missing out on a lot if I read it without doing my homework. Now that I actually have read the first volume, uh, my thoughts have not changed! Not knowing the history and context of the story means I don't understand pretty much any of the subtleties, and there are a lot of subtleties. I get the impression Pluto would be like ten times cooler if I knew where it was coming from.
Which is kind of saying something, because Pluto is awesome.
It's just. I don't even. I love these robots! I love their integration with society! I love how, for the most part, they are pretty okay with being robots, and they're treated more or less the same as humans; even the ones that don't look exactly human can get married and own apartments and have kids, and they have just as much emotion and personality as the meatbags. But they're not angsty. When they are, it is not because they are robots, it is because of things that regular humans would angst over! And as for the rest of it--let me tell you, when you can make me cry about a character I've only known for three chapters? You're doing a good job. Of course, it is Naoki Urasawa; everything he does is like Godiva chocolate dipped in gold and sprinkled with the happy tears of the Virgin Mary. But still. It's good to be reminded of that.
So now, I kind of really really want to track down the Astro Boy story this is based on, because if Pluto is this good without knowing the context behind it, going in with the knowledge will probably create a singularity of awesome. But I have no idea where to start. D: D: D: MY TROUBLES ARE GREAT.
Especially amusing is the knowledge Naoki Urasawa called up the son of the most influential and highly-respected father of manga and asked "So, can I publish some fanfiction of your dad's work?" and was basically told "Yes, because you are Naoki fucking Urasawa". My man got some respect of his own, yo.