Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Atom: The Beginning 05 opens with the first of several shocks for our heroes Hiroshi Ochanomizu and his partner Umataro Tenma. In a meeting of the whole engineering faculty, the president tells them they – and their robot, A106 – have been selected to represent the university at the world’s first robot fighting tournament, to be held in Australia. Although the other labs have more sophisticated robots like the three beautiful humanoid girls under development at Lab 1, Six’s performance at the robot wrestling last month has been noted by The Ministry of Science for his combat ability. What’s more, Lab 7 will be given all the funding earmarked for Labs 1 to 6 plus extra staff to help them get ready for the contest. How can they refuse?

The discussion that follows is both funny and pointed as Ochanomizu and Tenma decry the sexism of making “mobile mannequins” as “insulting not just to robot design …but also to human dignity.” Professor Naoka pushes back on their mix of naivety and pompousness by reminding them of the profit potential for beautiful obedient robots that can sing and dance, attracting lots of media attention. “Appealing projects get funded,” she says. The boys take the advice, and grab an extra staff member: the third year student Motoko Tsutsumi, sister to their nemesis Moriya Tsutsumi of Lab 1. But they aren’t entering Six for the contest. They have developed a new prototype fitted with a more advanced version of their ‘Bewusstsein’ A.I. and by their calculations A107 will be three times more powerful than A106.

The mix of stylish robot designs, amusing dialogue, inventive concepts, logic problems and quirky character interaction finally gels in this issue into a blend that genuinely feels like it has captured the Tezuka spirit. It’s particularly apparent in the interaction between Six and his ‘sister’ robot A107 who has been nicknamed ‘U-Ran’ after Ran Ochanomizu. U-Ran’s instant advantages over Six in strength, speed and access to a core of human-like emotions make her a formidable and unpredictable force who pushes Ochanomizu and Tenma to think quickly about how they teach her to understand the world she is now part of. U-Ran also pushes Six’s emotional responses to evolve too in a brilliant sequence of action and consequences that has the kind of heart and bittersweet humour we expect from an Astro Boy adventure.

Arriving in Australia to prepare for the World Robot Battle, the team wonder what they have got themselves into as an array of military combat robots are unveiled, including formidable new versions of the foes Six has faced in previous issues. “I think… we’ve arrived somewhere… where we’re very out of place…” says an overwhelmed Ochanomizu. It’s too late for second thoughts now and battle will commence in Atom: The Beginning 06. Ominous or what?