kalechipskid

Started Tetsuji 28 go 2004 with my sister and it's been a startlingly good time. I say "startlingly" because the emotions running through the series are very strong, it deals with the complicated feelings of the Japanese people fresh out of WW2. Should a weapon as powerful as Tetsujin really exist in this world? What did it take to get here? Was it really all worth it..?
Most of the characters are manipulating each other and the war crimes committed by the cast are nothing to scoff at. Shotaro, the plucky boy detective himself, is called a child detective by everyone around him but still forced to pull the trigger. Tetsujin, the beast which actually shares a name with Shotaro, is a monsterous chunky boi who has some pretty generic powers by current mecha standards, but his impact feels incredibly real with the destruction he causes simply by existing. Even if he is being used for good, his steps create holes in the earth and his arms obliterate entire neighborhoods. Shotaro's frustration with Tetsujin ends up being a projection of his own self worth.
At the end of one of the arcs, the war criminal Dr.Franken seeks to reunite with his son, a corpse he twisted into a lumbering monster. Kenji, a friend to this monster and lover of peace, is horrified to see Shotaro block the way with his robot. At first it looks to be nothing more than petty cruelty. But the reality is that the two meeting would be the worst thing possible, and Shotaro knows that more than anyone present. The plan fails. The two meet. And in an act of love and tearful hatred, they end each others lives.
I was struck by this moment because Shotaro understood this better than anyone. His own father created a robot of destruction that should've never existed and named it after him. Shotaro and his robot are the same, and you see him referring to himself as a monster, something that should've never been born. If Shotaro met his father, what would he do? There was originally such a reverence for the man but at the story continues and his self-image muddies, that affection twists into something different entirely.
🤖 thank you yasuhiro imagawa for mai life