This is a perfect melding of hard scifi, classic scifi, classic manga and new manga.
Like all great stories, the plot, characters and themes are universal. The setting and media are one that appeal to comic readers, but could easily be modified to reflect any era.
I always like stories that take us off the beaten track a little, and let's face it - the most popular series tend to get into formulas as they stretch out longer and longer. Which is why using a secondary character as the main protaganist resonates with me - we get to explore the universe of astroboy from a different angle, and being a newer title, it is from a bit of a more adult perspective.
I also found myself really thinking about the impact of robots on human society- unlike some early scifi themes, robots slip into society as people, not pure objects or servants. I found myself questioning why I thought about certain robots certain ways - I cheered for the human looking ones and felt apathetic towards the mechanical looking ones. Obvious - and yet I had to ask myself why.
All the potrayals of charcters seemed natural and real from the emotion they felt to why they felt that way. And the supporting society was believable. I didn't even need existing countries from today to think it was a real place.
The end of volume 6 also brought about a radical change in the series - one I always wanted to see/do in a story, but rarely have seen - and never so naturally.
The manga focuses more on drama than action - which I thought worked well. The action sequences were looked forward to without being so prevelant that they became the entire story.
If you haven't - check it out. One of the best in my short manga reading career - and I am already looking forward to rereading it!
