I haven't read Astro Boy or seen the series. So, none of the characters were new to me before I started the series.

The story gets off to a strong start. A murder mystery in a robot dominated world. Cool! But unexpectedly, it is also full of pathos, regret and deep sadness. Just in the first 2 volumes, there are several scenes which are incredibly emotional and gut-wrenchingly tragic. And then from the third volume, the story expands. There is a war, a dictator is overthrown, there is an anti-AI league, a horticulturalist goes missing, there is a mysterious teddy bear, apocalyptic earthquakes occur, a traumatized orphan is introduced, a melancholic scientist is pursued for his research etc. etc. So many things happen simultaneously that even with attentive reading, there are over 8-9 subplots going on simultaneously. All the while as the plot lines progresses – themes of hatred, love, sadness, forgiveness etc. are bandied about like a ball in a game of soccer. By volume 5, any sense of the original mystery has long been abandoned.

The last three volumes are such that you just want to know what the hell is going on and get the story over with. The main characters Geischt and Atom are still likable but amongst all the various plot lines spread across various chapters, the story gets cumbersome and (at least for me) ends up losing all of its charm and whatever the edge-of-the-seat feeling it once evoked.

When I started the series, by the 15th chapter I was asking myself again and again: why has this not been adapted to a 24 episode anime? Now I know why: the author tries to do too much, in too less of a space, in a very convoluted manner. And that’s disappointing since this manga had great potential which was sadly never realized.