Akira Himekawa's Blue Knight

[F-Man]

Just found out they serialized this to commemorate the release of the movie:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%9D%92%E9%A8 ... 385&sr=1-7

It's from the same duo team that made the 2003 Astro Boy manga. Would be nice to see a translated edition to complement the other 3 volumes.

[Jeffbert]

I agree; but the Blue Knight, though revived in the 2003 anime, simply lacks the popularity of Greatest Robot. In fact, if this manga is anything like the 2003 version, & I think it might be, I will be disappointed with it, because the '03 anime was essentially all about the conflict between robots & humans, centering on the Blue Knight.

[F-Man]

[Jeffbert]

Somewhat, but more that they had already milked the BK story for all it was worth. While the manga & B&W series both had episodes about the class Vs. class struggle, these were few, given the sheer number of episodes about other things. The '03 was all about it, from the first few episodes, that series was permeated with the robots' mistreatment by humans, humans framing robots, etc. With only 50 episodes, other topics were the exception.

The '03 manga, with only 3 volumes spread itself too thin, covering too many stories, but with too little depth. GREATEST ROBOT fills nearly volume 3 of the Dark Horse entirely. I believe only MAD MACHINE was also there, & with fewer than 1/4th of the pages. Its animated versions, except episode 3 of J Mars, all spanned two episodes. Yet, in the '03 manga, Himakawa gives it only about 20 pages. While there are things I like about the '03 manga that I like, overall, I think it was little more than a 2nd rate attempt to cash-in on the revived popularity of TETSUWAN ATOM.

Yet, I might buy the Japanese manga anyway, hoping that I can at least understand the basics through the images.

[Xenops]

Pardon my ignorance, but is Blue Knight a work inspired by Tezuka? I have not heard of it.

[F-Man]