Detroit: Become Human – Tokyo Stories – Volume 2 Review
A quick note before we dive into the review; like Volume 1, this book is printed in the left-to-right format, NOT the usual right-to-left manga format. Also this is the second, and last, volume of this series, and as before, it takes place at (roughly) the same time as the video game, so please don’t go into this without prior knowledge of the games.
Set in the far future, where androids (created by Cyberlife) are commonplace, doing jobs from janitor to doctor, a change is set in motion. Some androids are becoming ‘deviant’, going off programme and experiencing feelings and free will for the first time. One such android, idol Reina, is currently on the run with her human companion Suzune, but other androids are waking up too. In one hospital, Seiji feels the multiple stresses and emotional hardships of the labour ward, leading to a difficult choice that could save the life of a unborn child or their mother. On the other side of the country, Tazumi, a low-budget model, is helping Nakamura with temp work (shovelling snow) when an unexpected visitor rocks both their worlds.
Volume 2 covers the second half of the story of Seiji (medical android in the maternity ward) with the final third covering the temp worker android Tazumi, but there are a few panels in the middle, and also at the very end, that reveals that all three android stories are actually connected by a single person. I won’t spoil who it is, but when the penny dropped, I was unsure of how I felt about the twist. On one hand it makes sense, as all three of the androids we follow in the original Detroit: Become Human game were connected in some way (Connor and Marcus are the most obvious, as Connor is assigned to track down and eliminate the deviants, and Marcus can become their leader, with Kara’s fate being directly affected by how successful the android revolution is). But in this book the connection felt a bit of a stretch, especially as the connection actually lasts over several years, with one android (seemingly) being on the run for that length of time. On one hand it allows the ‘deviant’ plotline to have been seeded many years prior to the game, making it feel more organic and growing over time, unlike the games where it (unbelievably) takes place over a few days. But at the same time, making it all hinge on one person is bordering on plot-breaking, but I can see what they were going for.
Aside from that though, the volume is still enjoyable. Seiji’s story is the strongest of the three androids: he started off strong in Volume 1 and ends on a powerful note in Volume 2. As he’s on the maternity ward, looking after women at all stages of pregnancy, it exposes him to all sorts of emotions and stresses from humans. One day he can have a soon-to-be-mum with all the check-ups being OK and signs of a healthy baby, only for the next patient to suddenly have something seriously wrong with the baby, and it’s that whiplash that not only makes you feel sorry for Seiji but also the horrific reality that this future would rather have a robot tell a person that tragic news, than have a human with empathy. All this comes to a head when one heavily pregnant woman comes in on the edge of death and Seiji must find a way to save her life and that of her unborn child. When he does finally deviate, it feels similar to Connor in the game: a result of a combination of events that opened up their world to complex emotions, and the injustices of the world, rather than just the one trigger. The emotional through-line and his arc are really strong in his story, and the fact that we learn his arc happened FIRST in the timeline is an interesting angle, however what about his injury that we see on the cover? It’s never explained how he got it. I understand the mangaka wanted to show how time has passed and has not been kind to an android on the run, but that significant injury is too large to go unexplained.
Last, we have the story of Takumi (ST400, the low-budget model with limited expressions) and Nakamura, both working in a lodge in the middle of nowhere, with their daily job being to shovel snow and maintain the lodge until winter is over. However, with a visit from a certain human girl named Suzune and Reina, the idol android on the run, everything changes. It’s kinda hard to discuss this story because I want to avoid spoilers, but also not a lot happens in it. Nakamura is a victim of the android world circumstances, having his original job robbed by machinery and forced to take this current job to make ends meet. His emotional development with Suzune is the core part of his arc, but the two don’t really develop a relationship until the very end, only for the story to cut to Reina to wrap matters up. Nakamura and Suzune’s relationship hinges on storytelling tropes, rather than giving us reasons within the story to care. Sadly, it’s not outweighed by Takumi’s arc, although I do appreciate the use of a ‘less slick’/cheaper model in this story. It makes sense that you get a less intelligent model (by machine standards) to do grunt work, and you wouldn’t fork out for one that can express emotions, because all it’s built for is manual labour, so who cares what it looks like, right? As with Nakamura, I feel like Takumi’s arc is over just as it’s beginning. I do, however, like that we never really see him deviate on page, that it’s mostly something hinted at in the final pages. A quiet revelation, rather than a violent or urgent one that the other androids we’ve seen experience.
John Neal concludes his translation for this series. There are no translation notes but I did like the afterword by the writer and artist at the end as it’s nice to see their love for the original game shine through.
As someone who really enjoyed the Detroit: Become Human video game, and is always happy to see more material from its fascinating world, I did appreciate this manga spin-off. I don’t think it’s perfect, with a few missed opportunities and odd choices made here and there, but I love the opportunity to explore deeper into this world. If you like the game, this two-volume mini series is worth ‘deviating’ to your local store to pick up your copy.
Our review copy was supplied by Yen Press.
