Ranked #38

Hotel (One Shot)

It's very rare that you come across a one-shot that tells a tale so much more poignant, so much deeper and thought-provoking that manga with dozens of volumes could ever hope to accomplish in telling.

Hotel tells the story of a world that is being ravaged by mankind. Humanity has done its worst, and now must pay the price: the world is ending. The story is unique in that it is actually very informative without being boring when the explanations of how Man has destroyed the world are given. It certainly does pick up as the plot progresses and we see exactly how the world ends.

The art is excellent. Sweeping landscapes, hailstorms, wind storms, metal and dust--the apocalypse is very well-drawn. You'll just want to sit back and admire the destruction, almost.

And here's where it gets interesting. The main character of this one-shot is a computer, not human beings, not animals. It sort of makes you feel very saddened that the one thing that would survive is artificial intelligence (as we have clearly been shown that human intelligence has completely failed the earth). But the computer's AI actually has a personality, if you can believe. It has hopes, dreams, aspirations. You can boil it down to its programming, and it probably is, but I do think that the computer genuinely learned something more than just new ways to be efficient.

I loved Hotel. The whole concept, the plot, the conclusion--it was all unique and very brilliant. I think I may have even cried a bit at the end.

I definitely recommend this to anyone who likes science fiction, apocalyptic themes, or just good manga on the whole. Hotel may change the way you think about the future. read more

One word: fantastic
It shows exactly what humankind is doing with the world: destroying it. Maybe our generation won´t see it, but this day will certainly come if we keep this behavior. The story is about this days, when the destruction or Earth is inevitable some people departs to another planet and, at the same time, builds a "hotel", a tower controled by a super-computer with DNA from all beings , except the man. Its mission is wait to Earth becames liveable again to restore all the plants and animals, the manga shows the records of this computer through the years.
The story is told in a very "realistic" way, beautiful art, hopefully it will make us think about what we are doing to our own house. read more