Forum - View topicJason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Pluto
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Divineking
 Posts: 1293 |
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This was a very interesting article for me considering I just got the final two volumes of Pluto a couple of weeks ago. While it's definently not perfect, it's worth a read and it does some pretty amazing storytelling.
One bit in it I found really compelling was the whole thing between Gesitch and Adolf with the whole robot racism thing. It really did a lot for Gesitch's character and I liked how that part of the story wasn't as white washed as most writers would make it. Overall I definently think it's one of the better manga purchases I've made recently and I'm glad I managed to finish it. One complaint I have is that I'm sort of surprised there's no anime for this since it would sort of seem to be a no-brainer. I do know there's some kind of live action adaption being made though so hopefully that's good. |
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danilo07
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Masao Maruyama has expressed his wishes to create Pluto anime but there are of course big financial problems with it since it would most likely take 75 episodes to adapt manga( I think ),so it will most likely not happen. |
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Sewingrose
 Posts: 579 |
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Pluto was my first Urasawa work, and I picked the entire series up for $30 when one of my Borders was first going out of business. Later I picked up volume 3 of the Dark Horse Astro boy print to get the original "World's Greatest Robot" story.
I've loaned it to several friends who all liked it, what's great about it is I can loan it to anime/manga fans by saying how it's connected to Astro Boy, and I can loan it to Sci-Fi fans by saying it's an interesting sci-fi story. I think it goes off the rails a bit towards the end, not just in how the ending was slightly less bizarre in the original Tezuka story, but adding his own details. It's definitely a good series to cut your teeth on if you're new to sci-fi manga or to Urasawa in general. The volumes have a place on by bookshelf when they're not being loaned out to friends. |
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Divineking
Posts: 1293 |
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Really? The manga's only like 70 something chapters long. It could be done in 26 episodes without needing to cut anything. |
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Soundmonkey44
 Posts: 1243 |
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Personally PLUTO is one of my favorite manga series. I may be in the minority here but I actually like it more then 20th Century Boys.
Speaking of Urasawa works...VIZ really needs to get around to re-printing Monster already! |
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malvarez1
Posts: 1660 |
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I rented the whole series form my local library last year. I really enjoyed it. Urasawa has very good story-telling skills.
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phia_one
Posts: 1657 Location: Pennsylvania |
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I remember finishing Pluto and going, "Why did it take me so long to read this?". It's a shame that when I recommend this to people (and before I can properly explain), they immediately say, "You mean Mickey's dog?" (Has this ever happened to anyone else?)
Yeah, it's definitely a series no one should miss. I was lucky enough to get all 18 volumes before they were gone. I managed to get a few volumes from the Barnes and Noble near my house. However, I had to get the rest of the series from a different store and had them shipped to my local B&N. When I went to the desk to pick it up, the cashier said, "Oh, that order." Apparently no one had ever ordered that many books at once. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3489 Location: Back stateside |
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Yeeeaah, I disagree on that, but then again, I am decidedly not a member of the Cult of Tezuka. Of what I've read of his work, I've both loved and hated it in equal proportions. He could tell great stories, but good heavens was he ever sexist, and I rarely ever find his sense of humor as funny as a lot of people do, especially when it crops up in his more serious works like Phoenix. That said, I love Buddha, got a serious kick out of MW, enjoy about half of Phoenix, and yes, really like the original story that Pluto is based on. But to me, Urasawa turned it into his own orange so that you can't quite compare it to the original apple. |
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Keichitsu0305
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I actually need to finish Pluto.
I read the first volume at my local library almost a year ago, loved it, went to Barnes & Noble and bought all eight volumes at once, and...I haven't touch them since then. 
But I'm just glad I own this series. 
I have yet to read/seen Astro Boy, so I'll try looking for it. |
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taster of pork
 Posts: 594 Location: My House |
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I recently read the first volume of Pluto and I loved it. Really looking forward to reading more.
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1355 |
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I checked the entire series out from my library last year. It was magnificent --- and I'm not really a Tezuka fan.
Jason's column motivated me to finally go buy the series. I wish Urusawa's Monster were still in print. |
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Snomaster1
 SubscriberPosts: 2796 |
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I remember reading "Pluto" a few years ago and it wasn't too bad. It's Urasawa's take on "Astro Boy." I heard it was a remake of an original "Astro Boy" story by Osamu Tezuka. I've never read the original story so I can't really comment on that. I remember a few years ago there was an American version of "Astro Boy." I've seen it a few times on cable. It wasn't too bad. I remember a review that said that the American version "tried to combine the warm and fuzzy aspects of American animation with the cold and aloof aspects of Japanese anime." Needless to say,the reviewer thought it didn't work.
I have no problem with them doing an American version of "Astro Boy." Others might. Some might say it was a good idea gone bad. While the idea was a good one,the people involved didn't handle it right. Others say the movie never should have been made in the first place. Now,I don't know how Mr. Tezuka would have felt about an American movie or tv series based on one of his characters. I'm among those who would say that an American version of "Astro Boy" was a good idea. It just wasn't handled right. If I were doing an American version of "Astro Boy,"I'd have a character there called Osamu Tezuka. He'd be the owner of one of the largest robot manufacturing companies in Japan. He'd also be a good guy. |
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belvadeer
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I finished Pluto a while back and I have to say it's one of the most interesting manga I've read. The story kept me hooked from beginning to end, and Pluto's design...was just hella scary in this. Amazing piece of published work, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes to be kept guessing in regards to the plot branching out (something I know Urusawa is famous for with his stories).
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blackmokona
Posts: 16 |
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I don't believe that a remake that's the same as the original actually *has* any merit. If it is, then what's the point? Urasawa wasn't going for that either. The best remake actively *reworks* the original; a remake can surpass the original. But of course, that's a difficult prospect if your predecessor is Tezuka. Now that I think about it, Pluto's approach to war really seemed mellow. The thing I focused on was the sentience argument, and war can bring out a lot of humanity in people. Er. Robots. Loved Brau 1589. In addition to personality he has the most striking design. |
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Soundmonkey44
Posts: 1243 |
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Glad to see more Pluto Love. But ahh on your comment on Tezuka being sexist, I would have to disagree, that may be there to a degree, but he was still fairly kinder in his treatment of women then, then most manga and anime are towards females NOW, wanna talk about sexist look at 3/4 of anime to come out over the past 8 or so years 
And arguably poor portrayal of women is one of the biggest problems in anime & mangas history in general. And i'm sure many would probably say its a problem entertainment media in general has had for decades! But ahh yeah getting back on topic, Urasawa's works are all pretty solid, I've enjoyed all of what i've read of his stuff, and I would dare to say/agree that PLUTO actually is better overall then Astro-Boy, but then again its not really fair to compare the two as Astro-Boy was an all ages manga series and PLUTO is obviously geared towards an older audience, overall both have good and bad qualities and both are AAA titles that should be read by all, well IMO anywho. And again, somebody needs to bug VIZ about re-printing Monster, I never see anything other then the first Volume in stock at Amazon!  And c'mon who wouldn't want a nice sexy boxset of all the Monster manga volumes!?
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