This series checks all the boxes for “shōnen bildungsroman/Hero's Journey tale built on a foundation of social inequity that is actually about the cool gear.”

Kuro is a slave among slaves. He's beaten and mocked by a man who claims Kuro as property, with no hope in sight, except for the very brief glimpses he gets of a light from above. Because he dares to dream, Kuro is both physically and emotionally abused by his master, with the pathological rage of a weak man with power over the powerless. There are tales of a bright fire eternally burning at the top of the Tower, but the Tower itself is designed to keep Kuro and other slaves down. After the death of his only relative, Kuro finds a pair of robotic claws and vows to escape his life.

We all know this story. Kuro has a miserable life in the literal lowest echelon of society. He's going to have to leave everything behind to climb the literal precipice of society. That's okay, because he has nothing left, and leaving is his only option. Along the way, Kuro will gather allies and enemies, as he “rises” to the pinnacle of his world. His first ally is the deeply cynical Hopper Legwing, who tells Kuro that he is using a Gizmo, known as the Gazer Claw.

At this point, we expect a Holy Grail story—something we must rise to obtain. We do get that, but this foundational quest story is the weakest element of the volume. “Rising” is an act of rebellion; it is an act of redemption. It is an act of legacy, as Kuro and Hopper have relatives who may have “risen” some 14 years ago. What became of them, we cannot say, but they successfully passed their Gizmo back down, so maybe they are alive? The rest of the tale about the upper Tower includes a vague story about unlimited energy or something else cool-sounding but not that meaningful.

When Hopper produces part of a book that has information about…things, Kuro chooses to believe that the Gazer Claw he now uses will take him to his father, who “rose” out of slavery. Hopper leads Kuro to Glass, an information broker who guides them to find their way to the next level by becoming cyberhobos on a freight train. You can feel the weight of Boys' Own Adventures for centuries behind this book as the boy without a father (echoes of Oda Eichiro saying something something about mothers having to be dead to launch adventures) heads off into the unknown to change the world and perhaps reclaim his family and their legacy.

The art is strongest when focused on the action, which is most of the time. There's a lot of action, whether it is just Kuro fighting at street level or raging against the machine. Titan's use of subtitled sound effects makes for a very crowded page, but with so many s/fx, that's probably a sensible choice.

Undoubtedly, there will be more adventure as Kuro, Hopper, and other Gizmo users band together to find the rest of the book, climb the Tower, learn the truth of the world, and what happened 14 years ago. In the attempt to be an amazing grand adventure, the narrative skips over any plot drivers to just throw plot at us. Of course, we want Kuro to “rise” and, hopefully, change the world in doing so, but the pieces feel less like clues than plot complications thrown at him to force a reaction. The story fails in Volume one to explain the “why” or “how” of any of it. Society just is. The Tower just is. Presumably, the book might explain some of what is happening. One hopes, anyway.

This book is not bad, but it is absolutely trying to do too many things at once. Kuro struggling against the shitty hand that life dealt him is relatable, and his obsessive goal to “rise,” with the aid of his Gizmo that gives him both technological advantage and physical strength, is laudable. The structure of the society is thin enough that we must simply accept that there are those at the literal top and literal bottom of society, and we're smart enough to understand that this is a broad metaphor about social mobility, societal inequity, and maybe “slavery is bad” thrown in for good measure, but that is not at all the point. And that's okay. I was just hoping for a more well-developed concept. Interestingly, there is no age rating on this book at all, so while the story feels like it's meant for tweens, the violence level says it's meant for adults.

If you're hoping for a well-developed plot, this probably isn't for you, but if you want to read an action story about a young lad who achieves despite great odds, give this manga a try.