The Greatest Robot on Earth. Vol. 3 of Astro Boy by Tezuka OsamuPluto. Vols. 1-7 (of 8) by Urasawa Naoki, Tezuka Osamu
2010; University of Oklahoma; Volume: 84; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/wlt.2010.0213
ISSN1945-8134
Autores Tópico(s)Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
Resumo? Tezuka Osamu.TheGreatest Roboton Earth. Vol.3 ofAstroBoy.Frederik L JfljfljHlj^^H Schodt, tr. Milwaukie, Oregon, Dark Horse. 2002.187pages,HI. $9.95.tssN 978-1WFfl i^^m^S^B^H w Urasawa Naoki & Tezuka Osamu. Pluto. Vols. 1-7 (of8). JaredCook & Frederik L ^3uu??H^^H t? Schodt, tr. San Francisco.Viz. 2009. $12.99/ea. isbn 978-1-42151-918-6,919-4,920-8, ^3mBHM8^^B ~ "Manga wouldn'texist without Tezuka Osamu.He isthe Leonardo daVinci, ^^B^^?j^^^^/^^^^B the Goethe,the Dostoevsky of the mangaworld" (Nagasaki Takashi).It is ^^ iJ|r^3aE^f / /)^H ^ nearlyimpossible t?writeajnything aboutmanga pioneer TezukaOsamu ^^ ^ 8n jk I ij^H without opening with an escalating series of superlative statements about ^^?^^^BjP ?/ theprofundity of his impact on not only the manga industrybut also on the ^HL^ jVwTV v ^ culture of post-World War II Japan as a whole. His early forays into science ^^mSOI^^^h'AI fiction may have begun as one man's speculation on the futureof humanity ^H^^^^ ^^^^Js 1 t? but,through thevehicle ofcultural influence, wound up shapingthe nature V^tfaj?jn^^0 Q 11 ofthefuture uponwhichTezukawas speculating. I j /j^BifflH &m| ^ TheGreatest Robot onEarth, originally publishedin1965, finds himat the I 1IIB?tfiMR^^IilI creative peak of his Astro Boy (TetsuwanAtom) material. This one storyvisits all of the most important themes thatTezuka explored in theseries as a whole, including theuse of science fictionas a means tohave a conversation about inequities inhuman relationships,utilizing robotsas ametaphor for human slavery j and diseniranchisement, and his general concern for the inherentdangers in relyingupon technology to solve human , problems. The structure is ideal fora storyoriginally intended foran audience of children?simple tounderstand and q dynamic in itsexecution. One robot,Pluto, is created todestroy the seven most powerful robots in theworld, and another, Bora, is secretly created todestroy him. The horrifying truthlying inwait at thecenter of thisepic tale is that our hero,Astro Boy, isone of those seven robots. With his opponent empirically strongerand all toowilling tokillother robots, itseems impossible thatAstro Boy would be able todefeat him. Many aspects ofTezuka's science-fictionwork focusoptimistically on theeffectthatemerging technologies could have on society. Trained as a doctor before choosing a career as a mangaka (orcartoonist), Tezuka became thevoice for a generation ofpeople who placed theirfaithinscience to liftJapanout of thehardships thatfollowed theend of World War .Readers, includingmembers of theoriginal audience, cling so desperately to thisebullient theme inTezuka's work that they miss his regularmeditations on the limitationsof technology and itsnegative effectson human behav ior.The GreatestRobot on Earth isperhaps theverybest and bleakest of thoseworks, as the seven highest technological achievements of robotics are reduced, one afteranother, to functionlesspiles of scrap. Whatever we make of itnow, thestoryhad a profound impact on one ofmanga's most powerful contemporary storytellers, Urasawa Naoki. Urasawa might be thought of as a sortof Cormac McCarthy ofmanga. He specializes in approaching genre with a naturalism and sophistication thatblurs the linebetween literatureand popular entertain ment. This impulsemay be seen nowhere clearer that inhis Pluto series takingTezuka's GreatestRoboton Earth (which pidgin English as well as her own background?she is an accomp lished spoken-word artist. Some of the more percussive phrasing can make you uneasy, but that is the challenge of short-story col lections. Most of the stories were composed and published in isola tion. (And several in this collection won awards.) Yanique also tends todeliberately hide the climaxes of scenes?extramarital affairs, inter racial sex, or sodomy?in order to underscore their taboo nature. But they are so prevalent in these stories that it would be nice, on occasion, to be given voyeuristic access. Demetria Mart?nez recently stated that "young people in the slam and spoken-word traditions are crossing the border that has divided poetry from activism" (WLT, Sept. 2009, 27). Tiphanie Yanique has done much more in this collection: spanned islands, conti nents, and peoples with bridges of stories. Deji Olukotun Brooklyn iiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim 72 World Literature Today ^?I^P^//lk\^^ clockedinjust undertwo hundred pages)and re-envisioning itfor thetimes = HHMI Bw?rlL. ?H|utt\ about whichthe original story was speculating.= H^Hj Urasawa would have been about fiveyears old when The GreatestRobot = H^SlH^^^^^BI^^^P onFart h was...
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