Transformers: The Manga, Vol. 1

Transformers: The Manga #1

by Masumi Kaneda, Ban Magami

Originally serialized in Japan’s TV Magazine, these classic stories from the Generation 1 era of Transformers are now available in English for the first time!

The Autobots and Decepticons have been locked in a brutal civil war for eons, and now their battle has come to Earth! The Autobots seek peace and coexistence, while the Decepticons seek power and control. Earth and its populace are caught between the two as these mighty factions go head-to-head. Transformers took the world by storm shortly after their debut, and these previously uncollected stories were a vital part of that takeover!

In this collector's volume, the Autobots and their young friend Kenji must stand tall against the Decepticons in an interplanetary conflict! These classic stories are from the dawn of the Transformers, and this volume contains thrilling tales such as "The Great Transformer War" and "Fight! Super Robot Life-Form Transformers!"—plus an extensive art gallery!

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Manga, Fiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published March 10, 2020

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome artwork a light story wise. The format for the book is imagine a 20 minute episode condensed into a 5 minute read. 7 chapters for the original arrival from Cybertron era, then 4 chapters from post Transformers the movie (original animated movie) era, then then 4 chapters at the start of the Headmaster are. Then the book finishes with a illustration, and sceans from different Transformers stories.

This is an action packed quick read. I do like that fact that when the Transformers fight they are smashing and cracking each other. Lots of dents and damage. My favourite is the transforming high speed uppercut right out of the game. The only downsides are the story is cut down because of action, and action so tightly packed it is almost going from one fight scene to the next.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is strictly for one of two audiences: people who are nostalgic about the 1980s Transformers TV show and little kids who like robots and trucks. That's more a statement on the lackluster but serviceable storytelling than anything, and the book itself is gorgeous. I probably would have been more excited by it if my memories of Transformers weren't "The show that comes on after 'Mysterious Cities of Gold' and before 'Thundercats'."


Full review eventually appearing on ANN.

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of Transformers comics that I wished were the ones Marvel made when they had the license a generation ago. Although those seminal Marvel issues are considered to be classics, its depiction of Transformers as blocky figures left something to be desired. Although the Marvel design reflected truly the blocky nature of those first generation toys, the Japanese comics took the sleeker animation designs and ran with them.

This book is a nostalgic trip. The book design and cover even emulate the original boxes the toys came in. The stories aren't exactly the main draw since these were targeted at children, but the art is just the way I wanted the Transformers to be depicted on print.

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

VIDEO REVIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/Qa7NMmVMODE

This was so much fun to read!

I really liked Transformers growing up and my oldest wanted me to read this after him and it honestly felt I was embracing my inner kid again. I liked Kenji and how the Autobots took him under their wing and made him a “human Autobot.” I feel if I had been a kid reading this, it would be super awe-inspiring.

The art is INCREDIBLE! Let me repeat that again. The art is incredibleeeeee. WOW! I could not get over the amount of detail into bringing these Transformers to life on page. The transforming, the battles, the sound effects. It was amazing and extremely well done. And I love how as reader I got that extra bonus of seeing individual illustrations! It really brought the Transformers to life in a new way I have not experienced before.

The "story" itself is very episodic. There are a lot of time jumps and I at times quickly got loss and realized I just needed to “let time go” so to speak and just enjoy the individual chapter. However, I will say that the illustrations sections really helped fill in the gaps and what was going on, so definitely don't skip on reading what the illustrations are about at the end!

I LOVED Rodimus Prime! The Story of the Super Robot Life-Forms: The * Transformers was my favorite. It gave me such strong Voltron vibes which made me happy! While Bumble Bee will still always be a favorite for me, I really liked the chapters that highlighted Rodimus trying to fill Optimus shoes’. It really stirred compassion for him and liked him a lot because of it.

I think the hardest part for me is that sometimes I had zero idea who-was-who outside of their symbols. You meet A LOT of Transformers and I’m not sure if I remember all who is in this volume, but it was still fun nonetheless. You see the Transformers in interesting situations on Earth that made me want to keep reading regardless.

Overall, this was a fun read! I would definitely recommend it just for the art alone because it's some of the best I've ever seen, but also if you want to have "a blast to the past" of Transformers in manga form. My oldest is wanting to get the volume and have to say I would be curious to read more too!

[Ryder Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this book was an amazing Manga for anyone to read. I say this because this book includes many action scenes, funny moments, and commentary. Before I read this book, I have always been a fan of the Transformers franchise of books, movies, TV shows, and toys. And after my buddy found this book, I knew I must read this. In the beginning of the book, I loved that it included the intro of The Transformers TV show and how they are described and how they came to Earth. Also, I loved how they included the Decepticons and Autobots main goals from the TV show. The Decepticons wanted to steal all of the energy from Earth dry, and the Autobots wanted to protect Earth from the Decepticons. I also like how they went to Japan and interacted with the people there. I also liked how they included some different characters from other seasons and movies to the book like Buticus, Menasor, Galvatron, and many more. I just think this book was amazing for anyone to read.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is dumb, and obviously for kids, but it's good enough. It really feels like Japan didn't want to make their own Transformers Saturday morning cartoon show so they just got some people with a cursory knowledge of the show to write a weekly transformers story about combiners and the power of friendship. Unless you're into Transformers you can probably skip this one.

[Corby H · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a silly fun Japanese version of the G1 cartoon seasons 2-3.
Worth a read for TF fans.

[Josh Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really dig the art but the plot lines are really random. Sometimes the random weirdness works, but don't go into this expecting some sort of Deep Lore.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the art, but the writing is akin to the way the kids talk in the early Transformers commercials, or like my fan fiction when I was eight years old (which, sadly, my parents discarded). I know when an animated series and a toy come out at the same time, the TV is derided as a half-hour commercial, but they certainly aren't written like commercials the way this is.

I really had to force myself to finish it because the writing is that bad. It's basically "let's introduce a new threat, and a new character combat it." The stories are extremely short, and there is so little thought to the order that humans confuse the Stunticons for Autobots after they've already been introduced. In the Marvel comic, unlike the Marvel animated series, few people knew or cared about the different factions of Cybertronians and didn't like any of them (in fact, in the G.I. Joe and the Transformers mini-series, the Decepticons main reason for collaborating with Cobra was because the Autobots kept being caught on video helping people, which they were concerned would cause them to with the propaganda war. Here, as in the animated series, people accept the Autobots as good guys without much question until this story. The stories tend to be flat-out embarrassing to read. In one story, Rodimus Prime and Galvatron have to team-up to defeat a being called Goliar, who is a combination of Optimus Prime and Megatron. They defeat him with simultaneous "Rodimus kick" and "Galvatron kick," reflective of a "Bumblebee kick" earlier on.

The first human supporting cast goes away in favor of Spike and Daniel once they move to 2010 (not 2005-6 as in the American version), but at least we get a better explanation of the suit Daniel wears in season 4, The best story is the last before leaving the then-present, in which the Decepticons attempt to use dogs as part of their war effort. It's not particularly pleasant, but comparted to the other material in the volume, it's an actual story and not just an advertisement.

It's amusing how much this volume puts so much emphasis on the combiner teams (Aerialbots, Stunticons, Protectobots, Comabticons, and later the Predacons, Technobots, and Terrorcons--the Constructicons also appear, but not to the same extent as the others). One suspects this was done because the teams are interdependent on each other but were primarily sold separately (although gift set versions were also released), so pushing to get the kids to buy all of them was important. Of course, these lack character development entirely, but they show off action features like Silverbolt working as a launchpad for the other Aerialbots and the ability for each team's field commander to dock to the city (Metroplex or Trypticon), but key character traits such as Silverbolt's fear of heights were completely ignored. These are advertisements, not stories.

It's good that these have been collected, but seriously, unless you're a completist or just really like the artwork, this is one to avoid. Kaneda is a horrible writer.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

The three Manga series collected in this volume were originally directed towards an audience of TV-watching Japanese children between the ages of 5 and 10 in the 1980s, and it shows. There is no valuable plot information found in this manga that you were missing if you only watched the Transformers anime. This particular volume in this series is completely skippable. Still, for what it is, it is very charming. This is a high quality reproduction of the original stories. Every chapter ends with a silly power-rangers-esque finishing move. The book itself ends with an extensive art gallery, which I enjoyed.

[Stephen Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best story about the Autobots and the bad guys!!

[Bradley]

Very juvenile sort of stories. All in black and white so the action gets a bit confusing. With an odd addition of a young kid pitted in the middle of all the action and even providing leadership... which ultimately leads me to this conclusion: These are stories made up by this kid as he's playing with his transformer toys. Just like Calvin and his Spaceman Spiff alias only far less amusing for adults.

This goes in the abandoned bin sadly.

[mAAAAAnga · Rating 3 out of 5]

Transformers is a franchise that is mostly known for their blockbuster movies and toys. However, the major name wasn't big in only the West, it was a huge hit in Japan too - the whole franchise is actually a collaboration between a Japanese and American firm!

It also makes sense. Anime/Manga always had Mechs as a genre itself, so Transformers fit into the group with ease. While the cartoon was the most popular part of the franchise in the 80s (it even ran for longer in Japan than in the US), there was also an episodic manga, made by Masumi Kaneda and Ban Magami.

It ran in "TV magazine", and was never collected or translated - until now.

Instantly, I can say that no one should come into this title with expectations of a story with deep lore that's captivating and full of tension. I mean, it's a children's manga from the 80s! The stories are simple, predictable, and cheesy. The authors knew their audience well.

However, the art is mostly a gem. It has the style that was common for manga in the 80s when it looked more like a comic book rather than what we see nowadays as 'Manga'. It's especially clear that Ban Magami had extensive knowledge when it came to vehicles - from the model names to precise replication of their details, you can tell Magami was the right fit to draw a Transformers manga. The only drawback was how similar the robots looked themselves. Since the most iconic ones are defined by their color, seeing them all in B&W is confusing.

The plots themselves are essentially "Bad guys attack again, good guys defend", with some minor twists here and there. To be completely honest, some of the lore that was introduced in this volume was genuinely interesting. It's easy to see that in terms of world-building, the series had a lot to offer.

All in all, I would not recommend this manga to the average reader. However, if you're a collector, a diehard Transformers fan, or you enjoy the simplicity of retro manga, then this collector's item is for you.

[Doc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Transform and Roll Out!

A classic from 1985-86 brought to us from Viz Media and entertainment juggernaut Hasbro with nice hardcovers, extras illustrations on glossy paper at the end of the volume, and all of the product endorsing robot action you can hope for. In fact I find the first set of Transformer manga set of the volume to be a bit amusing thanks to them the young Kenji who might possibly be a power fantasy for Japanese kids of the time considering he is not only made an official Autobot but often gives them (who have already been fighting the Decepticons for ages) strategic advise, can call upon them with his gadgets, and seemingly is parentless considering how he keeps getting involved in the war between the robot factions.

Sadly with the possibility that these manga were (like many cartoons in the 80s) designed not only simple for younger consumers but also in a way to show kids what amazing robots were available as toys so they don't expect every story will be anything more than good robot fights bad robot and saves the day. In fact one of the stories involving several giant robots (created from 5 smaller robots each so you need all five toys to make the bigger one like Voltron) not only talks about the secrets of the giant robots but from what I understand it seems you can combine parts from other robot sets as opposed to just the normal sets when the Autobots shoot out the legs of their opponents and take over the legs by combining where the previous bots were previously connected to force the bad guys to retreat. Still, as a nostalgia book or a book for younger readers (considering it is rated for all ages) this book is a fine example of manga before they became popular in the United States or before the many tropes that are often common these days.

[HowardtheDuck95 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a real mixed bag. The art by Ban Megami here is the real draw; excellent renderings of the transformers that are worth gawking at. However, the storytelling by Masumi Kaneda is…spotty.

The first chunk of it, based around the first two seasons of the original show, is honestly a solidly fun ride if very juvenile. That said it is a *very* blatant toy ad, in a way even the cartoon was a little less on the nose of. But what makes it fascinating is that while the tone is arguably as light as the 80s cartoon if not lighter but because of differing cultural standards it’s a lot more open and cavalier about death. (There’s also Decepticon Klansmen, it’s hilarious.) It’s a really neat peek at a type of manga we don’t see a lot over here.

There’s also a bunch of little things of note with how it does stuff with the “scramble city” combiners that the cartoon never did (and aside from the obscure Scramble City OVA, not elsewhere) like having cross team and cross faction combinations. Stuff that’s fascinating to a hardcore Transformers fan, but not many others.

The later two chunks, of post-Movie season 3 era stuff, feel completely rudderless without the Japanese human protagonist from the earlier chunk. Fun fights but the story is absolute mush. It really makes you miss the cohesion of the earlier parts. And again, and even more so, if you don’t know pretty much all of the lore from that era of Transformers, you will be lost.

There’s an art gallery at the end, and while it’s nothing flashy, it’s got some fun stuff to look at.

Overall a fun book but hard to recommend to anyone who isn’t a G1 Transformers die-hard who’s interested in how things were on the other side of the pond.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars (rounded up to 4)

As a kid who absolutely loved Transformers, I knew I had to give this a shot! For the most part, I thought it was pretty enjoyable!

First of all, I loved the art! It was stunning! At times, I did have some trouble telling a few of the characters apart, but that was mostly due to the black & white. I also loved that there were colored illustrations included in the back!

The plot was good, but it wasn't super interesting. I didn't go into this expecting an impressive or intricate story, but I still thought it would be a little better than it was. But I still enjoyed seeing the battles between Autobots and Decepticons!

I was also happy to see Rodimus Prime in this volume! As much as I love Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and the others of the main cast, Rodimus Prime, Springer, and their team hold a special place in my heart (I watched the 1986 movie many, many times...)

Overall, this was a nostalgic read for me and I really enjoyed these stories! While the plot wasn't anything spectacular, it was still fun! I think other Transformers fans would enjoy this, or maybe fans of the mecha genre in general.

Content: clean

[Tia Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I don't think anyone will deny the artwork for this book is absolutely gorgeous, the storytelling is a bit lackluster. There isn't so much of a coherent storyline as there is a series of lighthearted shorts starring nearly all the Transformers of the Generation One continuity. Unless you're a fan already, I wouldn't say this is a good jumping on point to the series as say the IDW Comics, and even as a fan unless you just want something fluffy and light, almost diet-Generation One, I wouldn't exactly say you're missing out on anything. I wish I could say more, but there isn't honestly much to say about the book when the stories themselves are so short, you could probably read them in about 5 minutes.

Once again, brilliant artwork, I just wish the stories had more substance to them, though it was definately a cute book. I would probably give this to my kids as an introduction to Manga.

[Martin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely more of a curio than a story to get engrossed in. The most interesting section is the early Japan-centric one, presenting a weird, alternate spin on the early G1 template. After that, it starts to hew more closely to the cartoon and becomes much less interesting for it. It does offer a bridge between season 3 and Headmasters that seems to be in lockstep with the latter’s TV continuity, which is an interesting prospect for future volumes, as it moves into the Takara series era.

The backmatter of magazine illustrations definitely adds value, as there’s some utterly gorgeous mech illustrations of alt modes in there.

[Laura (ローラ) · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for nostalgia and publishing quality. The art is great, particularly the use of speed lines. But, the writing is lackluster at best. Comics for kids are so much more sophisticated now than they were back in the 80s. Really intended for the uber-fan of the franchise. Or, that kid whose brothers had Transformers that wouldn't let her play with them, so her parents bought her her own Transformer so she wouldn't feel left out... I mean, it wasn't awesome, but I grinned like an idiot the whole time I was reading it!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art and reproduction are mostly very good. The stories are lacking, but it's hard to fault the creators entirely - each story is only maybe ten pages. These stories originally appeared in TV Magazine and were clearly targeted at the very young viewers of the Transformers cartoon in Japan. I think my kids are gonna dig it (a family friend gave it to the older one for his 7th, so I took the opportunity to read it for myself), but there's not much meat on these bones if you're someone who grew up with this franchise and you have a mild nostalgic curiosity about this book.

[Shadow Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was at a local Dymocks store for a look around the other day just to help keep calm from my anxiety - walking around is the only thing I could ever think of like a shopping malls op shops and out on the street - and as I got to the manga book section I noticed there's a hardcover manga book... and that was Transformers The Manga vol 1. I didn't realise there are 3 Transformers manga volumes translated and licensed by VIZ Media

The illustrations on the Autobots Decepticons are great the action is just incredible and I just enjoyed it

Feel free to give it a go

[Chadwyck Byer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not good. Huge Transformers fan and have read all of the Marvel books and a ton of the modern IDW stories. This was just a mishmash of leaflet stories used to sell the toys. The stories weren’t even connected really and we went from G1 to Headmasters in one book. The art was not even that good. The best part was the illustration gallery which is in color and more refined than the manga itself along with having historical snippets. Glad I saw this at the library and didn’t pay for it.

[FruityPeacock · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's great to see this being brought to the US finally in an officially translated form. This is a must for any Transformer fan, especially just to see how the fandom was portrayed over in Japan when compared to the Marvel comics here in the US. I will be looking forward to adding this to my collection and getting a better look at this interpretation of the Transformers lore.

[Jack Harrison-Quintana]

This volume represents the first time any of the Transformers manga have been translated and published in English. Of course, it’s not like the stories are actually very complex; the primary joy here is getting to see familiar characters drawn in a different national style, particularly one that has such a strong tradition of mech art.

[Anthony Wendel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting to see the manga stories of the Transformers. There isn't much depth with the stories but the action and designs are very impressive. I look forward to seeing more of these installments coming in the future.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank to the give-a-ways for this one! My 8yr old grandson and I had some much fun reading this together! He loves transformer! He is always making up his own scenes with them. He rebuilds them with legos (not from kits). Being able to read about them was so much better than watching them.

[I.D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is nice but the writing is clearly meant for 5 year olds, so unless you really need to see Bumblebee shouting “bumble kick!” Then you’re probably better off skipping this. For hardcores only.

[Stacey Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Transformers battling decepticons throughout this book. No story other than they're enemies and they fight. New bots at every turn, lots of constant action, battles....the same over and over. Fine to read but disappointing.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was amazing. The tone of the TV series is captured brilliantly and condensed down into manga chapter format. I especially loved that the Autobots could be fighting the Decepticons in the US but immediately pop up in Japan at a moments notice if they were needed there instead.

Fantastic stuff.

[Nigel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only for hardcore Transformers fans.