Robot Volume 4

Robot #4

by Range Murata, Yoshitoshi Abe, Kōji Ogata

Suzuhito Yasuda offers us another experimental (mostly) black and white story with a dabbling of color. The Wasteland characters discover even more problems about their situation. Not only do they have no food, water or a way out of the labyrinth, but it seems they are the results of some major medical experimentation. Pez and Dekosuke look for food in a collapsed pizzeria, but the trapped owner will only let them eat if they do it his way. Mitsuko and Tomoe explore a bit into the world of Tokyo's urban legends. Rico Wada dabbles in a childhood fear and how to defeat it. In "Dragon Fly," we get more back story as to what started the Great War, and how involved Sara has been in history. Suzume Robo once again "protects" the hapless girl from animal impregnation, this time in the form of a giant flying squid. Princess Sasara reaches what seems to be a safe haven in Sedouka, but this is soon shown not to be so safe after all. Kei Sanbe once again delves into the realm of human sexuality and emotion, this time exploring forbidden love between a student and teacher, and the dire consequences which can result. Finally, we get a new entry, taking place in the U.S. and about two childhood friends who are reunited by a chance meeting between flights in an airport.

Genres: Manga, Art, Comics, Graphic Novels

164 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2006

About the author

Range Murata (村田 蓮爾 Murata Renji, born October 2, 1968, in Osaka) is a Japanese artist and designer, known for his unique style combining Dieselpunk and Japanese anime elements. He is best known for his conceptual design work on anime series Last Exile and Blue Submarine No. 6.

He began his career in the early 1990s doing design work for video games, including having done the character designs for the 2003 PlayStation 2 game Spy Fiction.

He has published more than a dozen books of his work, some of the most notable being rule and futurhythm. He is also voted "Best Artist of the Year" 2006 in the Seiun Award.