CYBER Blue

CYBER Blue (サイバーブルー) is a science fiction manga drawn by Tetsuo Hara (原哲夫), based on an original work by BOB with a script by Mitsui Ryuichi, serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump between 1988 and 1989. Hara's first major project after Hokuto no Ken, this science fiction story, violent and steeped in cyberpunk imagery, marks a radical departure from the post-apocalyptic universe that made him famous.

Synopsis

In 2305, humanity has spread across the galaxy. The most distant of its colonies, Tynos, is a hostile planet; the sky is dark and freezing above a desert-like, scorching ground, swept by interstellar winds that bring a daily rain of meteorites crashing down. Abandoned, Tynos has become a refuge for the downtrodden, as only the rich and powerful can afford a ticket to Earth. Violence and crime rule unchallenged.

Blue, a boy from this planet, is trapped and then killed by a corrupt police officer. But his friend Fatts, an old construction robot, brings him back to life by grafting his three-hundred-year-old electronic brain onto him. Now an invincible superman, Blue rises up against the bandits who control Tynos.

A radical shift after Hokuto no Ken

Launched in 1988, shortly after the end of Hokuto no Ken, Cyber Blue marks Hara's desire to change genre, leaving behind the post-apocalyptic world and martial arts for a science-fiction story set in a dystopian future blending firearms and hand-to-hand combat. The influence of American science-fiction cinema of the era, Terminator and RoboCop foremost among them, is clearly perceptible, along with an unapologetic graphic violence that extends the darkness of his previous work. Hara only handles the art here; the original work is credited to BOB and the script is by Mitsui Ryuichi.

A canceled series but a renewal

Despite a highly anticipated launch, Cyber Blue was discontinued after about thirty chapters, roughly half a year of serialization, and spans four volumes. Hara then turned to Hana no Keiji. The work would nonetheless enjoy a second life, reissued in an affordable edition in two volumes in 2006, then in three volumes in the Zenon Comic DX collection in 2011, eventually reaching a new readership. In France, it was translated by Kazé in 2012, in three volumes.

The Cyber Blue universe was furthermore extended much later, in the form of a spin-off. While Hara no longer holds the pencil, he remains credited as the author of the original work. In Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Zenon, artist Yoshihara Motoki first drew Cyber Blue: les enfants perdus (2011-2012, four volumes), a modernized retelling of the story, then its direct sequel, Cross Battlers: Cyber Blue the Last Stand (2012-2014, three volumes). These extensions, with reworked storylines and characters, attest to the lasting attachment to this science-fiction interlude in Hara's body of work.

An action figure adaptation

The hero of Cyber Blue was the subject, in May 2024, of an official articulated action figure released by Storm Collectibles. Faithful to the manga down to his arsenal, including the Salamander submachine gun.