Podcast VI: Urasawa x Tezuka = Pluto!

Professor Irony

Professor Irony

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Podcast the 6th: Urasawa x Tezuka = Pluto!

Brace yourself for some bad pronounciation, because this time we're tackling the seinen manga adventures of Gesicht, Germany's premier android detective, as he attempts to unravel the mystery of a serial killer targeting the world's greatest robots. Apparently some kid called Astro Boy turns up as well.

Every effort has been made to keep this episode free of spoilers, but be aware that it's more of an extended discussion than a straightforward review.

00.00 – Preamble (Yakitori – Yoko Kanno)

01.06 – Part A (Tetsuwan Atom - Kamitakada Shounen Gasshoudan)

41.29 – Part B (For the Love of Life – David Sylvian)

1.35.19 - Epilogue (Mirai ni Mukatte – Anku & Forces – Susumu Hirasawa)

Thanks as ever to Daichi383 for help with the edit.

iTunes link available shortly.
 
Nice! I've been wanting to read Pluto for ages now..and hopefully plan to at some point, so I'm not sure if I'll listen now or not. I'm sure it'll be yet another audio orgasm though!
 
Fair does. Pluto's definitely worth a go though. It's not every day that someone can look at a kids' manga from the 1960s and see a way to rework it into a neo-noir detective story about a serial killer, while also shoehorning in blatant reference to the second Gulf War.
 
Downloading now to listen to later. I read Pluto last year and enjoyed it a lot, totally unsubtle Iraq war parallels and all. I'm hoping I still remember enough of it to be able to nod along to your musings.
 
Awesome. Give us a shout and tell us what you think when you're done. We always appreciate constructive feedback, people, positive and negative!
 
Interesting discussion. Makes me want to get back into reading Pluto since I have only read volume 1 so far. Does the episode skip back 30 seconds or so whenever it is paused for anyone else?
 
Listened to the first half an hour and wanted to comment on something while it's still relatively fresh in my memory.

I was interested about what you said about the unambiguous ambiguity surrounding the question of whether robots have the capacity to feel human emotion, because I agree that Urasawa was quite obviously leading the audience to the conclusion that they do.

A lack of subtlety is something I've noticed with Urasawa's work. I remember reading the first volume of Monster and being surprised at how clumsily all of the surgeons except Tenma were portrayed as heartless, contemptible individuals more interested in furthering their own careers than saving people's lives. Maybe it's just me, but I expected a little more from such a highly regarded storyteller.

This is probably why 20th Century Boys is my favourite work of his. It's gleefully OTT and more concerned with being entertaining than anything else.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
A lack of subtlety is something I've noticed with Urasawa's work.
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That's a fair point. I didn't notice it so much with the surgeons in Monster, but my main gripe with the story is that Tenma seems to go from being a good man with human failings before the time skip, to being Jesus Christ incarnate afterwards.

I think we ought to do another Urasawa episode somewhere down the line...
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
A lack of subtlety is something I've noticed with Urasawa's work. I remember reading the first volume of Monster and being surprised at how clumsily all of the surgeons except Tenma were portrayed as heartless, contemptible individuals more interested in furthering their own careers than saving people's lives. Maybe it's just me, but I expected a little more from such a highly regarded storyteller.
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I don't think complaining about those surgeons being OTT is justified when you don't even mention how ridiculous the notion of brainwashing orphans to be the next Hitler is. There's a lot of stuff in Monster that is OTT and part of the appeal. Just roll with it.
 
I didn't mention that (or Tenma's transformation into Jesus, ha) because I only read about half the series, and I don't remember too much of the plot. What you wrote doesn't invalidate the point I was making, which was that Urasawa often isn't subtle. If anything, it reinforces that point.

The sometimes OTT nature of Urasawa's storytelling doesn't bother me as much as those forced moments like the portrayal of the surgeons and their contrast with Tenma, and the racism against the Turkish community. At times in Monster I felt Urasawa got preachy, but he's less so in Pluto and much less so in 20th Century Boys.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
I didn't mention that (or Tenma's transformation into Jesus, ha) because I only read about half the series, and I don't remember too much of the plot. What you wrote doesn't invalidate the point I was making, which was that Urasawa often isn't subtle. If anything, it reinforces that point.

The sometimes OTT nature of Urasawa's storytelling doesn't bother me as much as those forced moments like the portrayal of the surgeons and their contrast with Tenma, and the racism against the Turkish community. At times in Monster I felt Urasawa got preachy, but he's less so in Pluto and much less so in 20th Century Boys.
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Urasawa is dramatic where he needs to be and subtle where he needs to be. The point is that he's 99% nuanced. For instance, when Monster begins, he needs to make a contrast between doctors who are careerist and doctors who start from a point of principle, and I have a feeling too much subtlety would have stalled the plot at birth. As the plot moves from its premise, its threads become ever more complex and the individual roles in the mystery become a lot less obvious. Eva Heinemann is one of the golden nuggets of the plot for that reason - I adore how ****** up she is and yet also sympathetic, and how she develops from straightforward spoiled bitch into a multifaceted human being with some green shoots of confidence. I agree with the criticism of Tenma, by the way, although it makes sense that he is the troubled Jesus Christ figure because he needs to be a contrast to the sympathetic Satanic Johann.

Finally, racism against the Turkish community is a big issue in Germany, especially in the 1990s. It's slightly analgous to the situation of Latin Americans in the US - massive minority population and growing and pretty much the only reason the demography is remaining stable. Getting highly integrated through time but still some extreme right-wing parts of the German population worried about an 'invasion'. We learned just yesterday in class about arson attacks on Turkish communities during the 1990s. Here is some wikipedia info on discrimination against the Turkish in Germany: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turks_in_Germany

For Turks in German society, patterns of discrimination maintain disadvantages of low economic and social status, whilst also restraining social advancement. Despite their long-term residency, Turks continue to face hostility, which has intensified since the mid 1970s. In Germany today, there is an undercurrent of xenophobia in public opinion and an open emphasis on xenophobia in right-wing and neo-Nazi organisations. The wave of xenophobic violence that saw offences treble between 1991 and 1993, claimed several Turkish lives and revealed how excluded and vulnerable non-Germans have remained in German society.[95]

The number of violent acts by right-wing extremists in Germany increased dramatically between 1990 and 1992.[96] On November 25, 1992, three Turkish residents were killed in a firebombing in Mölln (Western Germany).[97] The attack prompted even further perplexity since the victims were neither refugees nor lived in a hostel.[98] The same was true for the incident in a Westphalian town on May 29, 1993; where another arson attack took place in Solingen on a Turkish family that had resided in Germany for twenty-three years, five of whom were burnt to death.[99] Several neighbours heard someone shout Heil Hitler! before dousing the front porch and door with gasoline and setting the fire to the home.[100] However, most Germans condemned these attacks on foreigners and many marched in candlelight processions.[101]
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Thanks for the detailed reply. You raise some interesting points, particularly about the discrimination faced by Germany's Turkish population in the 1990s - I never realised the situation was that bad. I wish I could discuss Monster in more detail but I really don't remember enough about the volumes I read. I do however maintain that Urasawa could use a lighter touch at times, so we'll have to agree to disagree on that :p
 
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