Review by Woodrow Phoenix
The new character on the cover of this 13th volume looks like an upgraded cyber version of a Blue Meanie, the villain from the 1960s Yellow Submarine film starring The Beatles in animated form. His name is Jupiter, and in a test battle against military Balt robots he seems to have been programmed with a similarly gleeful attitude to destruction as he unleashes a variety of weapons on his adversaries. Maybe Haido, the developer from Nerima University Laboratory 1 is a fan of anime deep cuts, but it’s not an interest shared by the Ministry of Defence.
“They want robots that can operate existing defense equipment, guns and weapons on behalf of humans. In other words, supplementary soldiers. And Haido’s weird design decisions like the cape and funny beard, didn’t go down well either,” says third year student Motoko Tsutsumi, describing the latest developments in Laboratory 1 to her brother Moriya Tsutsumi. He is still in Laboratory 7, hiding from his displeased former employers at Project-T who tried to have him killed after the failure of his Mars robot. When Ochanomizu and Tenma allowed him under their wing back in Atom: The Beginning 11, Moriya vowed to build “the most powerful robot in the world…Again!!” to get his revenge on Project-T. It’s a little something to bear in mind as you read Atom: The Beginning 13.
The creative team of Masami Yuuki and Tetsuro Kasahara continue to craft an excellently involving series of events in this volume, beginning with the arrival of out-of-place schoolgirl Hoshie Saruta, granddaughter of Professor Saruta, who develops an instant infatuation with Tenma. Kasahara’s beautifully detailed linework makes all the characterful soap-operaesque elements as good to look at as the high-tech science-fiction with attractive, strong designs for everyone, however small a part they might have. That said, his array of leggy, wide-eyed young women tend to become variations on a single type and when five of them are all together at Lab 7 it’s challenging to identify exactly who is who. Otherwise the artwork gets better and better. The action scenes are now as clearly and vividly staged as you could want for this point in the proceedings as the stakes increase with the introduction of A108, the culmination of Ochanomizu and Tenma’s ‘Bewusstsein’ A.I., codenamed ‘Bewusstsein Omega’.
“He won’t break easily!” Tenma announces proudly, “Blue’s skeletal structure is zeronium alloy …and he’s got Dalton Skin..” With 20,000 HP compared to U-Ran’s 3,000 HP, the new model is overwhelmingly more powerful than his predecessors, and his idoru-style human appearance is far more advanced too. So advanced that he makes Ochanomizu cry tears of joy. “Our ideals have borne fruit…” he weeps as he regards their creation. “OUR ideals, my ass,” comments a less starry-eyed Tenma. And perhaps he’s right to be cautious. An unwelcome development is going to wipe the smile off everybody’s faces. If you’ve been following the story so far this volume’s ending is such a cliffhanger, worthy of Osama Tezuka himself. You will be spending some time till Atom: The Beginning 14 trying to guess what will happen next.
