Urasawa Boys

After taking a quick video detour with our extremely serious and scientific RANKING OF ROBOTS - the Urasawa Boys are back to wrap up this season on Pluto! We spend some time talking about our final feelings on the comic before getting into some of the neat stuff from the afterwards of each volume, which Matt admits, he should have been reading the whole time! After that we get into a few quick questions, and then talk a little bit about what's coming down the road - a brief hiatus, and then the start of a new season on Master Keaton! Thanks for sticking with us through the ups-and-downs of our journey through Pluto, please enjoy this final episode of us getting into it on Tezuka, Urasawa, and all those dang robots! Folks, it's a good one! Links to the supplemental content mentioned: Bartkira - A collaborative rewrite/redraw of Akira inspired by The Simpsons The Anime Business - Documentary series by AnimEigo How to Read Nancy - A book-length essay on "The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels" by Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden Dinosaur Comics - A truly classic webcomic by Ryan North Jon - Garfield mini-comic by Gale Galligan The D*lbert Project - Blog post and post-modern D*lbert cutup comic(?) by Kaleb Horton Material Covered: Wrap-up / Listener Questions / Final Discussion Next Time: Master Keaton (Chapter 1-8) Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war, civilian and child casualties, war related trauma, the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, bugs, child abandonment, and parental trauma. Please proceed with caution!

A quick announcement! In lieu of the traditional wrap-up episode, Matt put together a tournament style bracket to determine which of the robots that appeared in PLUTO was The Greatest Robot on Earth! The full video is available now on our NEW YouTube channel, please go check it out - like and subscribe and all that jazz - and we will be back very soon with the promised wrap-up! Have a great Tuesday, and enjoy that video, because folks - it's a good one! Material Covered: Pluto: Ranking of Robots Next Time: Wrap-up / Listener Questions / Final Discussion Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war, civilian and child casualties, war related trauma, the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, bugs, child abandonment, and parental trauma. Please proceed with caution!

Ah, Montblanc... Ah, North No. 2... Ah, Brando... Ah, Hercules... Ah, Gesicht... Ah, Epsilon... Ah, Pluto... You lived the live given you without hesitation, self-doubt, shame, or resentment... You carried out your duty, and then you were gone... When will they sit in judgment of the humans who created temporary life, out of a limitless lust for power and control, and then destroyed it? And just like that - only 18 full months after we began, we've reached the end of our journey with PLUTO. It's been a long weird trek through Urasawa's adaptation of one of the most famous Astro Boy stories of all time - who would have thought that it would take us through the Iraq War, a global financial crisis, and the crushing realization that we're facing a climate apocalypse? Who would have thought that this decade-old comic would still be so relevant today? Join Matt and Quinn for a 5-star runtime discussion of PLUTO's finale - with all the things we love about its plot payoffs, its emotional beats, its cinematic fights, and its incredible artistic restraint and characteristically Urasawa simultaneous metaphoric excess. (Speaking of excess, what is Matt on in this episode description!) Thank you for joining us on this science-fiction odyssey, please enjoy this final outing - folks, it's a good one! Material Covered: Pluto (Chapter 56 - 65) Next Time: Pluto - Wrap-up / Listener Questions / Final Discussion Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war, civilian and child casualties, war related trauma, the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, bugs, child abandonment, and parental trauma. Please proceed with caution!

Urasawa Boys is BACK and there's no time to mourn for Gesicht! Just like that, we're in Australia! Tune in for some heated discussion of the story's pivot to Epsilon's turn in the spotlight, and all of its ups-and-downs. We tackle an opening flashback that may be one of the best to ever do it, and then dig into a volume full of loaded metaphors on queerness (Happy Pride!) along with some pretty sick robot fights. What's that? A typo in the episode description? No no no, you're mistaken, we just had to re-award the title of Best Boy with the sudden arrival of Hogan - who is definitely not a Poochie! Join us for what is somehow the penultimate reading for our season on Pluto, as we bask in the splendor of Epsilon's dying light! Folks, it's a good one! Material Covered: Pluto (Chapter 48-55) Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 56 - 65) - FINAL READING! Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war, civilian and child casualties, war related trauma, the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, bugs, child abandonment, and parental trauma. Please proceed with caution!

And we're back! Here to welcome in the summer season after a nice 3-day weekend here in the US, Matt and Quinn re-convene for another episode of Urasawa Boys, to discuss the doomed, thrilling, and seemingly climactic reading that was volume 6 of Pluto! This one's got it all! New locales, dense discussions of orientalism and the loaded idea of saying "at least we got Democracy," classic investigatory chapters, a 3 chapter 90s action movie extravaganza, and a fittingly tragic end for our favorite robot detective. Also - we talk about dads! It turns out this adaptation of a work by the father of modern manga has a lot to say about dads! Who would have thought? The thrilling conclusion of Pluto draws closer every week, and who knows how this will all shake out! All I can say for certain is that folks - this is a good one! Material Covered: Pluto (Chapter 40-47) Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 48-55) Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war, civilian and child casualties, war related trauma, the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, bugs, child abandonment, and parental trauma. Please proceed with caution!

Flashbacks, revelations, symbolism, religion, history, and incredible robot battles - all of these things and more are here, in this month's groundbreaking episode of URASAWA BOYS! (Note from Matt - It's groundbreaking because we've switched to a MUCH more sustainable monthly release schedule!) Join us after 4 weeks of patient anticipation for a lively discussion of all the arcs in this next chunk of Pluto, as we tackle Hercules + Epsilon, Gesicht + Adolf's Horrible Brother, and Ochanomizu + Tenma (ft. Science + Philosophy). Additionally, there are some important notes from the Matt + Quinn arc, including apartment disaster updates and a thorough explanation of regional sodas and barbecue. Folks, it's a good one! Material Covered: Pluto (Chapter 32-39) Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 40-47) Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war, civilian and child casualties, war related trauma, the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, bugs, child abandonment, sexual assualt, and parental trauma. Please proceed with caution!

Seminars on software to replace paperwork - a massive workplace machine disassembled into Ikea-esque pieces - newspaper interviews of a local heroic pizza parlor employee - a closet somehow collapsing with a deafening BANG! These are the forces that conspired to delay the release of this month's episode of Urasawa Boys: Pluto, which finally brings us across the halfway point, and many many steps closer to solving the mystery of The Greatest Robot on Earth! Join us for a discussion of the nature of man, fatherly robot professors (good and bad), the perils of extended metaphors for racism, huge water-based tornado demons, a tightening neo-noir plot with Jason Bourne-like action sequences, incredible comedic chapters, and a little bit of theorizing from Matt about how this could all shake out! Folks, it's a good one! A quick note from Matt here - when we started this season on Pluto, we underestimated how much we'd have to say about this story. As a result, the reading, note-taking, and production of each episode has been taking significantly longer than it did for our season on Monster. For the remainder of our time with Pluto (4 more episodes) we'll be switching to a monthly release schedule, with episodes coming out on the last Tuesday of the month. Our hope is that this will better allow us to get everything out on time for you (which is always our goal) while still giving it all the care it deserves! Thank you so much for your patience, thank you for listening, and thank you for being a friend! Material Covered: Pluto (Chapter 24-31) Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 32-39) Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war, civilian and child casualties (and other war related trauma), the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, and bugs. Please proceed with caution!

Move over THE BRUTALIST - Urasawa Boys is back with episode 3 of our season on Pluto! Just as long (three and a half hours) but also featuring powerful robots who understand abstract art! (Take that Adrien Brody!) On a more serious note - thank you for your patience during our delay, this week's episode features incredible exposition, classic Urasawa chapters on a shocking racist mystery-conspiracy in the suburbs, and a top-tier lanky disheveled mystery man with wet clothes and greasy hair. All the stars are here! Join us as we dig into how Urasawa adapts the Uran plotline, and marvel at how great the use of color pages are - folks, it's a good one! Material Covered: Pluto (Chapter 16-23) Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 24-31) Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war and war related trauma, the Ku Klux Klan, modern US politics, and bugs. Please proceed with caution!

Whoops! We accidentally recorded a 4-hour podcast on this week's reading. Matt has to teach a class at work today and tomorrow, so he couldn't finish the edit on time, but it will be here before you know it! And folks - it's a good one! Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 16-23) Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war and war related trauma. Please proceed with caution!

Woah! Two in a row? We're BACK! This time, Urasawa Boys delves deep into the second volume of Pluto, and we talk about how maybe this comic about giant robots fighting (with not a lot of giant robots fighting?) isn't quite working for us? But never fear - there's still a whole lot of good stuff here - Hercules, Brando, robot wrestling, the fictional war in Central Asia, the real war in Iraq, and giant metallic dream statues from the Bible! There's a lot going on in Naoki Urasawa's adaptation of Astro Boy - and you don't want to miss even a minute of us digging in! Folks - it's a good one! Material Covered: Pluto (Chapter 8-15) Next Time: Pluto (Chapter 16-23) Urasawa Boys is a podcast hosted by S. Quinn Morris and Matt Fennell covering the collected works of Naoki Urasawa. You can follow the show on BlueSky and support us on Patreon. The theme music for this season is the track "Clues to the Truth" from the official soundtrack to the anime, composed by Yugo Kanno. Thanks for listening! CONTENT WARNINGS We're currently reading Pluto, which contains scenes of gore, violence, bodily fluids, racism, terrorism, death, suicide, weapons/guns, war and war related trauma. Please proceed with caution!