Compelling, engrossing story that one can lose oneself in. Hard to put down. Such expressive and clean art. An amazing series. ( )

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

“Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 005” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki is the fifth book in an eight-book science fiction manga series Pluto. The whole series is based on “The Greatest Robot on Earth,” the most popular story arc in Astro Boy series by a legendary manga master Osamu Tezuka.

In “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 005,” a new assignment helps detective Gesicht to unlock a harrowing memory, the source of his unsettling nightmares, and to discover what he is truly capable of. Meanwhile, Hercules, one of the seven great robots of the world, challenges the powerful, mysterious villain that so far has been unstoppable.

THUMBS UP:

1) My favorite volume so far.
Pluto series just keeps getting better and better. The fifth volume has it all: it is action packed, thrilling and suspenseful with plot twists and revelations, but at the same time it is thought-provoking and emotionally powerful with complex and realistic characters. The story kept me on my toes throughout the whole book and I understood and truly cared about the main characters (well, maybe except for Epsilon). Oh, and the artwork is very realistic and simply gorgeous.

2) Things make sense!
As the authors continue to tie loose ends together, the events and characters’ motives make more and more sense. This volume also offers a very sound explanation behind the “perfect robot” idea and why such a robot might be disastrous, making the story more logically explainable and thus much more realistic.

3) Postscripts.
Although each volume has a postscript written by a different person, I especially liked the commentary at the end of the fifth book, in which Tomohiko Murakami, a manga critic and lecturer, describes Pluto series as “Naoki Urasawa’s dissertation on Osamu Tezuka.” This and the previous postscripts are interesting and informative, helping the reader to understand and appreciate Pluto series as well as Urasawa’s work in general.

COULD BE BETTER:

1) Lack of color.
I mentioned this in all my previous Pluto reviews, but I really prefer the colored first few pages over the rest of the book, which is in black and white. I think I would be fine with the colorless illustrations as well, but the colored pages always remind me that the book can be even better.

VERDICT: 4 out of 5

“Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 005” by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki is my favorite volume so far. Here you can find everything: action, suspense, depth, multidimensional characters… Plus, the story keeps getting more logical and realistic. Finally, a very interesting and informative postscript at the end of the book helps to understand and appreciate the series even more.

POST SCRIPTUM:

Check out my reviews of the previous four volumes:
1) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 001;”
2) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 002;”
3) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 003;”
4) “Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka, Volume 004.” ( )