Astro Boy Omnibus Volume 7 (Astro Boy Omnibus, 7)

When last we left Astro Boy he was lost in the Mekong River in 1979 drained of all power. As volume 7 opens it’s 24 years later and Astro is being dredged up from the water. He is sent to Shingo Yamahaka whom Astro had met in the previous book back when Shingo was a begger boy. Shingo is now the president of a large corporation and with his wealth he’s able to give Astro enough power to activate him again but power is a lot costlier in 1993 than in Astro Boy’s time and even with Shingo’s considerable wealth he can’t afford to maintain Astro’s power. Astro meets Shingo’ daughter Surume who is quite taken with Astro and by taken I do literally mean romantically and yes she does realize he is a robot. He ends up getting involved in helping a robot falsely accused of robbing a bank but by the end of the story he has again run out of power. The story then flashes forward in time to when Dr. Tenma’s son Tobio was still alive and the story essentially moves into an extended origin story.Volume 7 spans December 1967 to September 1968 and it’s perhaps the most shocking volume I’ve yet to read. It’s no secret that Osamu Tezuka was greatly influenced by Disney and you can see it in his artwork. As a westerner, experience has taught me to have certain expectations as far as storylines go when I see Disney like artwork so in can be a jolt when Tezuka does something dramatically un-Disney like. For instance, if the story introduces a sympathetic character, even if it is just a sentient robot, you would expect that in his moment of greatest victory he would be torn to pieces by an angry mob. Also wouldn’t expect in the retelling of Astro Boy’s origin to see a horrifying image of Tobio’s flattened car. Perhaps the most shocking event in the book is the eventual fate of the future Astro Boy. I was wondering how Tezuka would handle having two Astro Boys’ in the same time period but I was not expecting what happened.This volume is more than shocking; it’s kind of a downer. Throughout the series Tezuka stresses the idea of robots rights but there is no joy for the Robot’s in this volume. If you’re a fan of happy endings this may not be the book for you. One of the saddest parts is the relationship between Astro and Tobio’s mother who comes to love Astro as her own son but as anyone who knows the origin of Astro knows he’s eventually rejected by his creator, Dr. Tenma. Tenma isn’t so much a villain as he is just a deeply flawed man.Despite the whimsical art style this really isn’t a book I could recommend for young children. Astro starts the book being pulled from the Mekong River and he ends in an even worse position if that seems possible. As if Astro’s life couldn’t be any worse after being rejected by his creator and sold to a sadistic robot circus owner an even greater tragedy strikes. Imagine the movie Dumbo if Dumbo’s life were 10 times worse and these are only the tragedies heaped on Astro Boy. There are no happy endings for anyone. Lord, I hope things improve for Astro Boy in volume 8 because this is getting painful to read. Despite the pathos this to me was one of stronger volumes and it sure was one of the most emotional.

Tezuka Osamu shows Atom (Astroboy) in an alternate origin. Here, much more detail is given than in volume #1, and sub plots abound. In volume six, Atom found himself thrown through a time warp, and in mid twentieth century Japan, a time before the rise of robots. His dilemma is that he cannot be refueled by the then current technology. Adventures abound, both tragic and comic. As time-travel was introduced in the previous volume, it should come as no surprise that the origin of Astroboy does not occur until the middle of this one, when the date finally reaches 2003. A tear-jerking version of his creator/papa's rejection is within these pages, for while volume 1 made Dr. Tenma single, divorced, or widowed, here he has a wife. Her presence adds an element of tragedy that was absent in volume 1's version of Atom's origin.Tezuka Osamu shows his talent for addressing serious cultural issues while keeping a light touch. The robot vs. human rights issue mirrors the black vs. white conflict that was prevalent during the early 1960s when Tezuka wrote this story. Although he lived in Japan, one can ascertain that there was class trouble there too, or perhaps he was aware of the trouble in other nations. Here, in the twenty-first century, intelligent robots are common, but they are treated as mere property of the humans, and lack even the most basic freedoms. Humans merely scrap them when they wear out.Scara, an insect person from a distant plant, who was introduced in volume 6, has become much wiser in the 40 years since she arrived on earth. Not only that, but she has been shrunken to insect size, and has now become Atom's Jiminy Cricket. She now advises the bewildered young robot, just as the cricket advised Pinocchio. This would confirm Disney's influence on Tezuka, for in Collodi's novel, Pinocchio killed the cricket that tried to point the finger at his errors.NOTE: The story in this volume started in volume 6, and continues into volume eight.

SO ADORABLE AND UPLIFTING

Top quality great for gifts or collectors

Q: Do you have a male preteen, who likes Pokemon, Yugioh, cartoons, owns at least two game systems (handhelds count) and knows what anime is?A: Yes.Stop here and buy the series. Don't ask why, or is it valuable, beneficial or even engage in the debate about the academic merits of comic books, or graphic novels. I could tell you it is a Japanese classic, on par with Superman, that it may be a collectors item in the future or it is an engaging series with complex subplots for this age group.That doesn't matter.You only need to know that if you buy it:1. He is reading2. He is reading3. He is not playing a video game4. He is reading5. He is not arguing or fighting with a sibling6. He is not watching TV like a mindless drone7. He is reading8. He will want to read other graphic novels.

What I like about Astro Boy Omnibus 7 is that it concludes the Astro Boy Omnibus series. There are over 20 black and white Astro Boy stories in this omnibus.Anyway, as someone who will have read Astro Boy Omnibus 1-7, I can say that in my opinion it was well worth the money to read all 7 books.Fun and great entertainment.