Cosmoralia's Prince Ithaca is about to wed Princess Lilia of Ayodoya and be crowned Astralta III. The apparently favorable celestial bearings mean he will be no mere monarch but holy king of a new "papacy". Alas, the peaceful inhabitants of Planet Astria have no clue that they're next in line for invasion by a ruthless machine force--a threat that seems to metaphorize the inherent perils of politics and desire in this multilayered saga. The tension slowly mounts to an unbearable pitch in this ominous first volume of three.
Following the conclusion of her award-winning and epochal To Terra..., Keiko Takemiya paired up with science fiction legend Ryu Mitsuse to create yet another milestone that was shortly made into an animated TV feature. Andromeda Stories is comics pioneer Takemiya's second work to appear in English.
Takemiya Keiko has a knack for making sci-fi accessible to non-sci-fi fans. The first volume of Andromeda Stories adequately injects intrigue and introduces plot points without giving much away. The classic manga art style (given that it's from the early 80s) is a nice change up from today's current art trends.
The only fault I give to this first volume is Vertical's translation. The dialogue is really clunky, as if they did direct translation rather than trying to make it make sense in English. Lines like "So many madmen. They wreak havoc..." and "It must be due to the sandstorms. The winds never die down. Sand invades the city," really kill the flow of conversation and seem really out of place. Particularly with casual language floating in as well. There's only a translator listed and not an editor or localization editor, so that might be part of the problem.
Even with the flaws, I'm eager to read the second volume. Although this is likely due to my personal bias towards 70s and 80s manga.
Strap on your rocket boots, fellow manga explorers, because "Andromeda Stories, Vol. 1" takes us on a retro space adventure with an art style so old-school it practically has its own vintage shop.
Pros: 👾 The nostalgia hit harder than a pixelated asteroid – kudos to the creators for embracing the charm of older manga and its unique art style. 😂 Enjoyable read, like finding a classic video game in your grandma's basement. It's a blast from the past, with intergalactic twists and turns that kept me flipping those pages.
Cons: 🤔 The story is like a puzzle missing a few pieces. Confusion levels higher than trying to assemble IKEA furniture without the manual. 💬 The dialogue occasionally played hide and seek, leaving me more puzzled than a cat in a room full of laser pointers. Blame it on the translation, not the intergalactic linguistics. ⏭️ Going to one scene to the next was more abrupt than a spaceship hitting warp speed. I had whiplash from the cosmic travel.
In conclusion, "Andromeda Stories, Vol. 1" is a 3-star journey through the manga galaxy. Enjoy the retro vibes, but keep a translator droid on standby for those dialogue glitches. 🌠📚
Una historia muy ochentera, tanto en el dibujo como en la historia llena de historias del espacio y otros planetas, crianza selectiva, incesto, etcétera.
La premisa es interesante, me ha recordado a Mass Effect con todo eso de máquinas sintientes que quieren exterminar la civilización. No obstante, la historia en sí no me parece buena. Los tiempos están muy mal distribuidos, por ejemplo, al principio se gasta mucho tiempo en la la boda real, que no aporta nada realmente y luego hay eventos importantes que se resumen en un segundo. Hay bastantes agujeros de guion que nunca se explican (en Mass Effect te explicaban por que the Reapers atacaban, aquí no hay razón para nada de lo que pasa) y transiciones abruptas que te dejan preguntándote qué ha pasado.
Loved the old school artwork in this and found the story engaging (tho it might just be the beautiful and mysterious swordswoman keeping me interested!). Definitely gonna check out the rest as well as the animated version.
Space opera manga about a peaceful planet being surreptitiously taken over by malevolent machine invaders. The first volume has me very intrigued about where the story's going, so I'm glad I already have volumes two and three out from the library.
While interesting, the story does not age well. Likely serialised originally, the lack of separating chapters don't lend well to a collected volume. Scene shifts are abrupt, and major jumps in the timeline of the story are poorly represented. I picked up volumes 1 and 2, so will definitely keep reading, but things have to improve greatly in the next volume for me to be a completist and round out the set.