Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Vol. 3 (3) Paperback – May 19, 2009

I doubt there's much I could say about this Manga that hasn't already been said. Pluto is a story developed out of an old Astro-Boy story called The Greatest Robot in the World which involved Astro-boy fighting off another robot named Pluto who was almost as strong as he was.In Pluto, Urasawa has developed a murder mystery centered around the seven most advanced robots in the world as one by one they are picked off by a murderous Robot that arrives in a tornado and always disfigures the bodies of its victims by arranging the corpse with antler like horns protruding from their head. The story follows the lead investigator of the murders, Geist, who is himself one of the seven robots. Themes of emerging Robot consciousness, anti-robot hate groups, world politics, and a mystery in Geist's past all meld together into possibly the finest manga series I have read to date. (Although Akira is still up there...)Action, Mystery, Robots, and an engaging story; this manga has it all!Whether you are a manga fan or if you are just interested in a great story, I cannot recommend Pluto enough!!!

Amazing manga and amazing author with amazing ideas. A must buy for anyone who loves good quality manga.

The suspense continues as we are introdice to more characters.

Great!

I love Astro, especially the couple of episodes this is based on so this series is amazing, full of noir and great characters.

Uran is a robot who looks like a little girl. She has the unique ability of being able to sense emotions, even from great distances. As she and Atom leave the police station, Atom notices an odd man heading into the station, but he can’t tell whether he is robot or human. Turns out he is Professor Abdullah. From Persia, he is considered to be Central Asia’s greatest intellect. The police requested he come in to discuss some of the people he met with on a recent visit, some of whom are now dead. As the Professor leaves the station, he requests directions to Central Park where something just happens to be emerging, something dark and sinister-looking.In Dusseldorf, a family are enjoying their breakfast. The wife reminds her husband, Adolf, that it is the three year anniversary of his brother’s death, and he needs to claim the body. When he does, he requests to see the body and is shocked by what he sees. Later he attends a clandestine meeting of people wearing hoods who all espouse the cause of death to machines, and seek to eradicate all robots. It appears his brother was practically pulverized by a particular type of weapon which few robots can wield. He is determined to find out which robots are capable. He researches reported incidents involving such a weapon and learns the only one within the last few years since the war was reported just the previous night, and that one involved Inspector Gesicht.With the help of a friend, Hercules has “borrowed” a military battle suit, knowing this is a serious offense, one that could end his career. As he is testing it out, suddenly a second sun appears in the sky. It turns out to be a robot named Epsilon, who says he had to stop Hercules before he got himself killed, like Brando and Mount Blanc. Back in Germany, Adolf takes his findings to his group, to request their help in locating and destroying Gesicht. They tell him not to take any action as this could reveal the awful things Adolf’s brother did, but let them handle the matter. Epsilon approaches Gesicht and tells him of the children he cares for since the war. One particular little boy, the sole survivor of his village, saw something terrible, and the only word he will utter now is the name Bora.In Tokyo, Uran oddly wakes to find what seems to be a tear on her pillow. Since when do robots cry? Leaving her building, she says she senses someone in emotional distress, perhaps an animal, and goes off to find it. Going into a closed park which is forbidden for anyone to enter, she finds a man inside an abandoned building who is in apparent distress. Except he isn’t a man, he’s a robot. When she asks what sort of nutrient he requires, she tells him she can’t get that one but gets the closest thing to that she can find. She helps nurse him back to health and begins to piece together his story. In the meantime, Professor Abdullah has sent out a robot on a mission… and who is Pluto?Maybe I’m late to realize this and am only stating the obvious, but it seems to me that Pluto can be seen as an allegory about the human condition, even though it involves robots. It has themes of prejudice and hate, which of course are reflected in our everyday lives with people who hate others based solely on the basis of their skin color, sexual identification, religions, etc. People fear what they don’t understand. They also fear people who know more than they do (whether they are willing to admit to it or not) So robots are a double threat in that regard. And these robots are eerily human as well, some of them. That hooded hate group looks remarkably like the KKK – imagine that. Now it seems that Gesicht has a target on his back, assuming he didn’t already just because of who he is. How many more robots have to die before this menace is stopped? Who or what is Pluto?Another great volume, looking forward to the next one!

In the first two volumes of "PLUTO", we learned about a world where robots and humans work together alongside with each other. In this world, robots are treated (by most) like sentient beings comes a world where the planet has robotic heroes and even police squadrons of human and robot partners. Of course, it's not an all perfect world as there are humans who rather not co-exist with the robots. And someone makes their agenda known when someone has decided to disrupt that peaceful coexistence by destroying the great robots and possibly murdering those who protect the rights for robots.This is the basis of the story "PLUTO", a reimagining of "Astro Boy - The Greatest Robot on Earth" written by manga great Naoki Urasawa ("Yawara", "Monster", "20th Century Boys" and many more titles) and co-authored by Takashi Nagasaki. The Astro Boy or Tetsuwan Atom stories are based on the popular works of Osamu Tezuka and with cooperation from Tezuka Productions, this manga project is managed by Makoto Tezuka.The first volume showed us how the great Mont Blanc and the North No. 2, two of the seven powerful robots in the world were destroyed by an unknown force. We also learned that several scientists were murdered. All of them were found dead with antlers next or stuck to their heads.In the second volume of "PLUTO", another great robot is destroyed and Gesicht, the investigation robot is racing to find out who is doing the killings. But this time he has shared his memories with the boy super robot known as Atom.In this third volume of "PLUTO", we are introduced to Atom's sister Uran, another great robot who is much different than Atom (who tends to like being treated like a regular boy and has emotions that the other great robots do not have). Uran is able to feel the pain of animals and so she is always trying to save them and is often scolded by Atom for missing class, because she walks on the beat of her own drum.Here is a brief summary of each chapter in vol. 3 (short summaries, no spoilers):ACT 16 - URAN - We learn more about Atom's sister Uran and learn how different the brother and sister robots are. We are also introduced to the mysterious Professor Abullah, Central Asia's greatest intellect.ACT 17 - DEATH TO MACHINES! - We are introduced to a group similar to the Ku Klux Klan but known as KR who want death to the machines. We are introduced to Adolf.ACT 19 - EPSILON - The great robot fighter Hercules wants to take action after his fellow great robot counterparts have been destroyed but another great robot named Epsilon makes his appearance.ACT 20 - ROBOT HATERS - We learn a little about the past between Adolf and his relationship with his brother.ACT 21 - URAN'S SEARCH - Uran's sense is working in overtime once again and this time it's not an animal that is in need but a man.ACT 22 - PLUTO - The robot hating group KR has hired an assassin to eliminate a great robot.ACT 23 - WANDERING SOUL - The man that Uran is helping out may be not a kind man but something worse.JUDGMENT CALL:"PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka" vol. 03 unlike the first two volumes focuses less on the battles between the great robots and focuses on character development of Uran and also a new side of humans who have harbored a hatred towards the robots.This side of humanity has never been explored in the previous volumes and now we are getting a much clearer picture in this volume of people who are very much against the peaceful co-existence between man and robot.The volume also quickly gets into introducing the reader of who may be responsible for the deaths of the great robots and how unstable this character truly is.Overall, "PLUTO: Urasawa x Tezuka" is another enjoyable volume that definitely is setting up for major repercussions between the peaceful co-existence of man and robot, so I definitely can't wait for volume 4.If you are looking for a manga series that is well-written, you can't go wrong with this reimagining of the "Atom Boy" series. Darker, dramatic and overall captivating!

yup this manga is v good