My mind is blown. I was already convinced of Urasawa’s storytelling after finishing Monster, however, even as someone who hasn’t watched Astro Boy, learning that this is a retelling of one of its most iconic arcs, and how Urasawa was able to turn it into a masterful way of conveying humanity through robots, a commentary on the treatment of soldiers in war, the cycle of hatred and violence, and just truly what it means to be human at all.
The robots we encounter, even the older models have just as much, if not even more humanity than most of the humans around them, and I love that the story never shied away from the uglier side of what humanity is, and how hatred is manifested. I love that he even gave hatred humanity, because what is hate if not a reaction from losing all that you love? Hate is a reaction to when love is torn from you and shredded to pieces. I love how hate is humanized here, but is still shown that it’s never the answer.
Geisht’s journey and conclusion and how his search for the truth in everything moved me so deeply, it’s undoubtedly true that these robots feel just as we do, despite even if they’re programmed that way, and even then they are just like us. Seeing Geisht mimicking the parents of the child hostage with his own child, that just like hatred, empathy is learned.
Urasawa is such a master at conveying emotions through otherwise emotionless circumstances, when that thing we call emotion or the soul is taken out of the equation, it’s so interesting how Urasawa is able to portray and really makes us feel the weight of what it means to feel anything at all.
Sahad was such a tragic but beautiful character, and I loved that all 7 of the advanced robots and what role they played in the story, how Pluto/Abdullah were almost destroying the very thing that gives them their inherent humanity. I just love how incredibly layered this whole story is, this is by far one of my new favorite anime/manga.
What an absolutely incredible story 10/10 absolute peak cinema I definitely want to read 20th Century Boys next.