Saturn Apartments Vol. 1 (Manga)
Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: May 2010
Price: $12.99
Creator: Hisae Iwaoka
Format: 190 pgs.; B&W
ISBN: 978-1-42153-364-3
Age Rating: Teens and older
ICv2 Rating: 4 stars out of 5
This is a modest little science fiction manga with a very unusual premise. The Earth has been evacuated, apparently to turn it into a nature preserve. All the people have moved upstairs into an artificial ring that now circles the planet in the upper stratosphere. All residences, factories, schools and other facilities are within this ring. Even though this is a truly remarkable feat of engineering, the story is about washing windows. Because this orbiting structure is still within the outer edges of Earth’s atmosphere, the windows get dirty. Cleaning them from the outside is a difficult and hazardous task. The central character is a young teen who has taken the job because his late father once did the same work and died on the job.
The author has made no effort to convince the reader that anything in the story is actually possible, so you will have to check any knowledge of physics at the door. The overall story is about a strange enclosed culture and the people within it, a place where natural light is a luxury. Segments are about the reasons that people would pay a large sum of money for clean windows.
This is not an action-adventure story. The pace is slow and deliberate, and the revelations come at that same speed. The emotional content is high, and the story is interesting--plus, there’s a cute dog in a space suit.
For teens and up. Younger readers will not appreciate the pace or the story.
--Nick Smith: Librarian Technician, Community Services, for the
