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Review: ROBOT×LASERBEAM 1

ROBOT×LASERBEAM 1 ROBOT×LASERBEAM 1 by Tadatoshi Fujimaki
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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When I first heard of this series, this is the first thing I wrote down in my notes: "Well this manga has got to have the worst title I have ever seen in my life. Also: Boo, golf." All that being said, I was still excited for this series because I had trust in Tadatoshi Fujimaki's ability to write a good sports manga, having been the author behind Kuroko's Basketball and all. Well, this manga's not bad. Or boring. It's good. It's just that there's not much that's really good or interesting or exciting about it. Yet.

It's about a seemingly autistic high school aged kid named Robato (nicknamed Robo because of his mechanical qualities and apparent lack of emotions). Because of reasons that are explained later in the volume, he has absolute accuracy when shooting golf balls, and they fly so perfectly and straight that they resemble laserbeams. (Do you get the title now?)

Robo's only friend, Tomoya, spends the majority of the volume trying to convince him to join the golf club. Because of this they end up in an encounter with the best teenage golf prodigy, Youzan.

It was nice and all, all this that happened. The characters and their motivations were set up, and by the end of the volume a couple plots were introduced. But like I already said, nothing too too special happened. Though I do see potential.

Once more characters started getting introduced is when things began to pick up for me. It brought in different character dynamics and interactions, and because of this it also helped develop and meld the plot into something more interesting, and set up a compelling goal for the main character. This is why despite the middle-of-the-road feeling this first volume gave me, I'm still excited for what more this manga will bring.

I also just like the types of characters in general. There's no one who's just an outright asshole just to be the outright asshole character. If anyone is mean at any point, it's because they have motivations and reasons behind it, not just because they're some mindless dick. (view spoiler)

Art-wise, this manga is a bit conflicting for me. On the one hand, Tadatoshi Fujimaki is a good artist and so this is a nice manga to look at. He makes golf look and feel cool with the way he draws the golf outfits and how the characters hit the shots. On the other hand, the man needs to learn how to draw different characters/faces. There is a character who looks exactly like Aomine with long hair, Robo has dead eyes like Kuroko, there's a Midorima clone, and a guy with Kise eyes (these are all characters from Kuroko's Basketball). That said, there are also other characters who do look unique, so those are nice.

The more personal thing for me is that Tadatoshi Fujimaki is the man who created my husbando. That gives me a bit of a connection with him. And it's really unnerving that the main rival in this series looks EXACTLY like my husbando (with long hair, if you get my drift). So that's... Weird. I would have greatly preferred if this was not the case and if he would have chosen a different clone to be the rival, or even better, NOT MAKE HIM A CLONE AT ALL! Ahem.

Good, not great, stuff overall, but with great things hopefully coming soon.


Read all of my reviews for Tadatoshi Fujimaki's books:
✪ Kuroko's Basketball: Extra Game
✪ Kuroko's Basketball -Replace-
✪ Vanguard of Archer
✪ ROBOT×LASERBEAM 1

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