#0 man

[otakween]

0-Man - Volume 4 (Final volume!)

Woooo this was a wild ride. Kind of a repetitive, hard to read ride, but wild nonetheless. This was probably a bizarre choice for my first Tezuka manga, but it was first alphabetically so that's just the way the cookie crumbles! Overall it was a fun concept, the art was great and I love Ricky a lot. He's adorable and I want a plushie. Just look at this awesome animation of him I found on YouTube!

Ch. 36

So now Liz is just buddy buddy with her dad again because "he's my only father!" Filial piety has its limits lady!

There was a weird bit of exposition this chapter that appeared to be Tezuka speaking directly to the reader. Like there was just a random paragraph thrown in between panels. That's one way to do things I suppose.

The 0 Man origin story was like a mix of the Bible story with Adam and Eve and the story of the first pilgrims that came to America lol. I wonder how much time has passed since the first Venus residents traveled to Earth?

There's a new human character named Charcoal Black...gratefully he's not Black lol

Ch. 37

Ah, I was fooled. Ricky did not crash land on Mars, it was Japan all along! Dun dun dunnn...Apparently most of Earth is just a big ball of rocks at the moment, no countries, towns or roads. It's kinda giving Dr. Stone vibes. They gotta start again from scratch!

Ricky goes all "shaggy dog" in this chapter when...absurdly...a sheepdog provides him with a dog suit so he can disguise himself around humans who want him dead. Sure, why not? Seeing the dog emote was really cute, I wouldn't mind reading a Tezuka manga with dogs as the main characters.

The current bad guy's plan is to use the ice machine left behind by the 0 men to rule the world. The 0 man universe sure has a lot of megalomaniacs in it.

Ch. 38

Pete just immediately accepting that talking dogs are real was cute

Once again the spears are OP as heck.

Did Pete really fly from America to Japan in like 2 seconds? Man, why do SciFi people get all the fun? 😭

This chapter was really short, but essentially Pete found out about the evil dude's plan to take over the world and came to Japan to reunite with Ricky and meet Tanigawa (the other human dude that I mentioned).

Ch. 39

Charcoal Grey returns and we find out he was helping the grand priest hide. I swear this series has had like 15 random, generic villain dudes. I haven't cared about a single one of them lol

It was nice having some happy, peaceful panels at the end. Very "Disney movie-esque." I didn't even really realize how little plant life there's been in the past volumes until Ricky got so excited to see grass. Wholesome but sad.

Ch. 40

Liz fights with her dad and eventually blows up the ice machine when he threatens to use it again. (She continued to be quite badass in this chapter, we stan).

I enjoyed the little detail that the climate change has stimulated some new plant species to evolve. I doubt things would happen that quickly, but it's still a fun concept.

Ch. 41

I guess it's all happy fun times from here on? Let's see what happens in the final 4 chapters...This one was short and cute. Ricky and his 0 man friend/adopted brother (never figured his name out lol) become peace ambassadors and bring messages from humanity to 0-man country

This is it's 2nd appearance but I like the "spicalia" tool that the 0-men use. I takes words as input and outputs images. I hate to say it...but we've sort of reached that future with the advent of AI image generators. (Too bad they suck).

Ch. 42

Lol I knew the happy fun times were too good to be true. We immediately get too more deaths in this chapter (Professor Royal and Crazy Cats...yeah, that's a character's name). If this wasn't a kids manga, Ricky would be a basket case riddled with PTSD by this point with all the shit he's been through!

I can't believe the frickin' high priest and Liz survived. Did that bomb actually do anything at all? Ugh, I hate pointless fake outs like that. Okay, let's see how they actually defeat him for real for real this time...

Ch. 43

To be honest, every chapter is starting to feel the same at this point. "Ah, we're finally safe...just kidding we're under attack!!!"

For some reason they thought it would be a good idea to introduce a random side character 3 chapters from the end of this series. He's the stereotypical dumb fat guy character who just eats a lot. Speaking of offensive stereotypes...

This was like the racism chapter. First we have Tezuka's racist stereotypes of Black, Chinese, Inuit ("Eskimo") which I suppose is "well intentioned" by 1960s standards (but come on, he basically had the Black person and the Inuit say "Oonga boonga" gibberish) and then we have racism between bad guys. One of them calls Japan a backwards country and basically says that "yellow" people are inferior. It just felt ironic to have Tezuka's racism (portrayed as inspirational) and then his character's racism (portrayed as bad) back to back, the irony!

Damn, will all these villains just die already!?

Ch. 44

Lol well egg on my face, that guy that was "introduced" last chapter was actually a character (Donpei) from like volume 1, chapter 1 that I completely forgot existed. To be fair, he hasn't been relevant in a very long time. I don't think I even acknowledged him in my old posts and I tend to not remember stuff I don't write down. (Blogging is great for improving memory, kids!)

And the final battle ends...by the bad guys just disappearing?? Unfortunately the explanation was too kanji heavy for me to grasp, but my headcanon is that the laser that Charcoal Grey was trying to use caused some kind of quantum event and he got sucked into another universe (I have been playing a lot of Steins;Gate though...) Either that or it was just a total bullshit, Deus ex machina moment ending lol.

Ricky comforting Liz when her dad died was super sweet. Low key wanna see them grow old together.

Ch. 45

LMAOOO they really just said "eff dis shit" and moved to Venus LOL. So much for "ally to humanity!" Even Ricky was like "nah...humans suck." Based ending.

No but for real, the ending for this was so dark and cynical. They literally said "we're going to bide our time on Venus until humanity inevitably offs itself out of stupidity, then we'll come back to Earth." Sheesh.

So I'm not sure what the deeper meaning behind this ending is other than "violence and greed = bad." The message about "the weak and kindhearted will always eventually overcome the strong and terrible" seemed like a metaphor for something specific (like an IRL war) but no other English speaker in existence has read this (I'm being hyperbolic) so I have no one to analyze it for me lol.

I kind of wonder if the 0-Man will even be welcome on Venus. They've been away for so long that the squirrel people on Venus are basically a different species. I wonder if they would actually come across as colonizers? That might make an interesting sequel manga...

(Love his expression in this panel. RICKY DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ANYMORE.)

Pete reading the goodbye letter from Ricky's mom was so touching 😭. She's like "I consider you my son and I love you" and he calls her mom in his mind. Poor Pete got the short end of the stick with this ending honestly, being stuck on Earth.

[otakween]

0-Man - Volume 3

I can't really tell what's going on on this cover. Is Ricky shirtless and if so, does that mean he has a stripe on his back? (I guess that could just be his shirt). Also...he still has his tail? Did they do that to avoid spoiling things?

Ch. 26

Okay wtf I don't remember Ricky's spear being THAT OP. It's like absurdly OP all of the sudden. Stops dozens of bullets instantly, melts metal, propels the gang out of any dangerous situation. That really messes with the stakes.

I was very confused by the space of this chapter. The characters kinda seemed to teleport from scene to scene without a smooth transition/explanation.

The creative use of speech bubbles was on point again. At one point the bad dude (Lamp? Ranpu?) starts shooting his gun out of rage and instead of words his speech bubble just has bullet holes.

I spotted the little Tezuka cameo. Super cute. He's like Where's Waldo lol

Ch. 27

Dang, it feels like we're entering a new arc rn. Lamp died (presumably). The humans blasted off into space (except for professor Royal) and the 0 men stayed behind on Earth. The humans are trying to find a livable planet and the remnants are planning on fighting the 0 men, turning off the ice machine, and saving the Earth. There are only 18 chapters left and honestly that plot line could take up all of that. Let's see where this goes...

Why'd I feel kinda bad for Lamp when he was dying? It doesn't matter how evil a character is, if they get all desperate and plead for their lives I still kinda feel a lil bit of pity every time.

Ch. 28

So Ricky does end up getting a prosthetic tail (as I accidentally predicted in a previous post). Kinda just feels as if he didn't lose his tail at all now, but it looks cute, so I'm okay with it.

I have no idea what to call Ricky's female 0 man friend. Her name in katakana is リーズ (obviously a play on the Japanese word for squirrel) which my brain is interpreting as "Liz" but it could also be "Lise" I guess? Either way, she's really cute :)

I had no idea what was going on for half this chapter. I understand that Professor Royal is trying (and failing) to negotiate with the 0 men but why is there suddenly an "Earth army?" (Complete with a Native American soldier named Geronimo). I totally thought everyone evacuated but the 0 men and Professor Royal, but I guess not.

Ch. 29

Not much to say about this one. Liz's plan to use a clone of her dad to end the war flops but the main gang's plan to use Liz as a hostage to get negotiations going seemingly works.

Ch. 30

Another action packed chapter! I've been reading the 1960s Iron Man comics and I guess the vibe of that era was just to make every chapter/issue contain an entire movie plot basically. Every chapter has a huge conflict/fight that gets resolved by the end. Each one feels more like a self contained experience than a small part of a whole, slow burn story. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's a lot more tiring for me to read. Cyborg 009 was like this too.

Another thing about this manga being older is that the hero often uses violence as the answer lol. In this chapter Ricky solves his problems by threatening to shoot the bad guy in the butt. I guess since it's just a threat it's okay for kids?

Ch. 31

So the story gets split between characters once more. Plot A is Ricky being thrown into a pit for attacking the grand priest and being rescued by another pit prisoner Mormo (Molmo?) Mormo looks a little more feral than the other 0 men, probably due to living in a pit for awhile lol.

Plot B is the humans being attack by the 0 men in their rocket and crash landing to escape being killed by a device that causes humans to bump heads to death (one of the weirdest weapons to come out of this manga lol). Professor Royal is about to accept his death when he realizes the effects of the ice age seem to be going in reverse as the ice is melting rapidly. The fate of the humans other than professor Royal is left vague, so they're probably fine.

I kinda thought Mormo was Ricky's dad at first. He has darker fur than him but I thought maybe he was disguised or something. Cool to see another 0 man on the good guys' side.

Ch. 32

Meanwhile, while Ricky's in the pit. His dad saves Liz from being executed by the Grand Priest's men. Liz looked pretty badass when she thought she was going to die. She faced it with dignity.

Now that the ice machine has stopped will the humans in space turn around and come back? How will they know that it stopped? (Maybe you can just tell by looking at the planet lol Edit: yes, that's exactly what happens).

Ch. 33

I feel like 50 different things happened in this chapter including the introduction of more random 0 men characters who may or may not be important later. More importantly tho, Ricky reunites with his dad and Liz. (Only for her to run away like two seconds later. These characters just can't stay together!)

So apparently the Earth's temperature is just going back to normal naturally? How the heck does that work? Is the sun just more powerful than the 0 man ice machine? Also, is no one concerned that the temperature will go too far in the opposite direction (too hot)?

Suddenly there's an uprising in the 0 man country. Maybe the manga will end with Ricky becoming the new ruler lol

Ch. 34

Annnd yet again, Ricky is separated from the group. Every time! I'm getting sick of reunions at this point lol.

This chapter ended with Ricky on Mars which means that 0 men apparently have the ability to survive in outer space. What are they water bears!?

What ever happened to Ricky's spear? Is that just gone for good now?

Ch. 35

The humans land in Venus and find the "missing link" between squirrels and 0 men. In other words, squirrel people that are way more anthro lol. Apparently 0 men were originally from Venus and when they came to Earth they evolved to be more like humans. I guess this explains why Ricky can breath on Mars?

I'm glad they came to the conclusion that they probably shouldn't be colonists and take over Venus. Pretty progressive of them honestly.

;-; seriously? Ending the volume with Ricky dying of thirst on Mars? Brutal. Okay, he doesn't actually die, but he's struggling.

[fehyesvintagemanga]

Tezuka Osamu

[fehyesvintagemanga]

Tezuka Osamu