Reviews

People who enjoy vintage sci-fi will enjoy this. I'm not saying this is the greatest or even the most entertaining manga ever, but it is one that feels quintessential of the time period. One of those things where reading it almost transports you back to the 70s. I can hear Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Aerosmith, AC/DC and The Rolling Stones in these pages. I can imagine being a child reading this and going in line to see Star Wars. As it is about 50 years old, there are some things that don't necessarily age well in that it has a simple good guys vs. bad guys with nothing really complex about it. I was also caught a bit off guard when this manga also felt more like a pilot for the mega franchise it spawned in particularly in its non-ending. The pacing doesn't give the audience any room to breathe and kind of jumps around. Nonetheless I enjoy the characters. They are mostly archetypes of 70s sci fi characters and some don't quite standout but the main cast is iconic. The best aspect is the art. Where Leiji Matsumoto feels limited in his writing, he more than makes up in his art. Some battles a little difficult to make heads or tails of, but he knows how to make the universe seem big. He draws space as more than just a black background. He also presents interesting concepts of space travel such as warping which puts the ship through portals to weave through showcasing more world building. People who only follow the trendy manga like Chainsaw Man and My Hero Academia may not find much of value here, but the ones who like studying the history of manga and reading the foundationals such as Astro Boy, Golgo 13 or Lupin III will also enjoy checking this out.