Shounen Robot x Laserbeam Hangout Thread

[Kaoz]

New manga to Weekly Shonen Jump
Robot x Laserbeam

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(source AnimeNewsNetwork)
Mangaka - Tadatoshi Fujimaki
Demographic - Shonen
Category - School, Sports
Premise - The high school golfing manga centers on a boy whose nickname is "Robot" who encounters golf for the first time..

The manga launches in the 16th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump on March 18th, 2017. The first three chapters will be published in English in VIZ Media's digital Weekly Shonen Jump on the same day as the Japanese release.

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Thread Polls

Spoiler: Which of the golf club regulars will be Robo's first opponent?

1. Hiiragi Shintarou - 0 votes (0.0%)
N/A

2. Kuroda Gen - 2 votes (28.6%)
@Asia Run @Darky

3. Osanai Rion - 4 votes (57.1%)
@Kaoz @Holt @Brandish @WithYouInSpirit

4. Karasuma Souta - 1 vote (14.3%)
@goldb

5. None of them will accept his challenge. - 0 votes (0.0%)
N/A

 

[Kaoz]

Chapter 1 is on MS.

Was a pretty decent start I think. Nothing groundbreaking, but not bad either. The characters bear a strong resemblance to some of the Kuroko ones which doesn't bother me personally, but I guess it might be weird for some people. As far as the plot goes, Robo is like an improved Kuroko in the sense that Kuroko was talented, but still needed support from his team mates. But since golf is an individual sport, ability wise Robo seems more like Midorima.

Not sure how the school competitions are going to work out, but right now I'm more expecting Youzan and co. to be in the focus where skill improvement is concerned and Robo will be more of a comical relief character and measurement stick. Of course that could change depending on what kinda skills the other players have.

 

[Spirit]

Fujimaki did such a great job with KnB, one of the only sports manga I've ever liked so I had to check this one out. I think you're right in pinning Robo as the Comic Relief Overpowered character that others will always use to measure their progress. Looking forward to the meeting between Robo and the College Star Player.

 

[Kaoz]

I wonder though if Robo is just gonna dominate until he faces someone who has his level of control combined with the predominant power play or whatever. Given Robo's personality, he might somehow get into his own way by being overly perfectionist or not knowing the rules well or something. I'm also not sure how the practice range he was at compares to actual courses. Like, he was able to get on the green perfectly here, but what if the courses are longer? Will extra power other players probably have outweigh his control-based style then?

For that matter, any idea what playstyle there are in golf? Because I sure don't, so not really sure what to expect outside of the power vs control theme that's been introduced in chapter 1.

 

[Spirit]

I've played a bit of Golf here and there back in Junior Highschool I think It's mainly Power/Control as you say but Control can be split up into a whole lot of subsystems to pay attention to such as Terrain, Wind Resistance and Weather.

I can see this manga going towards a classic rivalry between two different play styles. Power and Sense (Youzan) versus Perfect Control (Robo).

 

[Kaoz]

I see. I wonder in which way Fujimaki's gonna diversify the cast then. Or if the story is centered around the conflict between Robo and Youzan specifically and most of the rest will be support, maybe he could mix team and individual competitions or something, then you wouldn't need that many different characters. I also wonder if Robo's father apparently being a golfer will be relevant down the line. Maybe Robo had never really tried golf himself outside of that one time, but if his father was a really good player Robo might've watched him practice and understood some stuff without knowing any of the theoretical background.

 

[goldb]

Chapter 1 is on MS.

Was a pretty decent start I think. Nothing groundbreaking, but not bad either. The characters bear a strong resemblance to some of the Kuroko ones which doesn't bother me personally, but I guess it might be weird for some people. As far as the plot goes, Robo is like an improved Kuroko in the sense that Kuroko was talented, but still needed support from his team mates. But since golf is an individual sport, ability wise Robo seems more like Midorima.

Not sure how the school competitions are going to work out, but right now I'm more expecting Youzan and co. to be in the focus where skill improvement is concerned and Robo will be more of a comical relief character and measurement stick. Of course that could change depending on what kinda skills the other players have.

Thanks for the recommendation.

I enjoyed this but it's pretty obvious to any Kuroko fans that Robo and Youzan bear very strong similarity to Aomine and Kuroko himself; which in itself is fine, there's plenty of mangaka that borrow elements from previous works, as long it doesn't become a copy and paste of everything.

Regarding school competitions, I'm guessing besides the regular singles tournaments (stroke play) we'll get some team events(match play) where teams or in this case schools play against each other like in the Ryder Cup and points are points are awarded to the team that wins each hole and tallied in the end. I see this happening with Robo teaming up with the captain of the golf club Shintaro against Youzan and whoever the captain is at his golf club somewhere down the line.

 

[Kaoz]

Regarding school competitions, I'm guessing besides the regular singles tournaments (stroke play) we'll get some team events(match play) where teams or in this case schools play against each other like in the Ryder Cup and points are points are awarded to the team that wins each hole and tallied in the end. I see this happening with Robo teaming up with the captain of the golf club Shintaro against Youzan and whoever the captain is at his golf club somewhere down the line.

Yeah, I could see that happening. I actually bought an old golf game to get a slightly better understanding of how this whole thing works and match play is the format I'm expecting to see the most I guess with the occasional singles thrown in. I'm not sure if Robo is gonna team up with Shintaro though. I almost think Tomoya is the more likely partner because (1) it'll be a greater handicap for Robo and (2) Tomoya is, next to Youzan, probably the character that's gonna grow the most over the course of the series (judging by the current cast), so he should get a fair bit of screentime.

The match play format also kind of perfects Fujimaki's KnB formula I think. In KnB you usually had the Miracle of each team and their supporting character being the main focus and the other three players were a bit neglected I felt. But if there's only gonna be two characters per team you'll have all of the good with none of the bad, so I'm looking forward to that.

 

[goldb]

Yeah, I could see that happening. I actually bought an old golf game to get a slightly better understanding of how this whole thing works and match play is the format I'm expecting to see the most I guess with the occasional singles thrown in. I'm not sure if Robo is gonna team up with Shintaro though. I almost think Tomoya is the more likely partner because (1) it'll be a greater handicap for Robo and (2) Tomoya is, next to Youzan, probably the character that's gonna grow the most over the course of the series (judging by the current cast), so he should get a fair bit of screentime.

The match play format also kind of perfects Fujimaki's KnB formula I think. In KnB you usually had the Miracle of each team and their supporting character being the main focus and the other three players were a bit neglected I felt. But if there's only gonna be two characters per team you'll have all of the good with none of the bad, so I'm looking forward to that.

Ah yes, that is indeed true; thats why I said "somewhere down the line" as I don't expect that team up to happen any time soon. I did though overlook Tomoya a little. The way I see the character's growth being portrayed is that of the hardworking boy wanting to catch up to his friend with superior natural ability, which I wouldn't actually mind as long as it remains fairly amicable in their competitiveness.

I see there being some sort of "invitational tournament" where Robo would team up with Shintaro to face Youzan and partner. Basically an event beyond the regular school/golf club tournaments we're likely to get a lot of.

Unless it turns into a "boy excels at sport and gains friends" sorta thing, I think what you say there will be happening and be pretty ideal. I don't mind the introduction of a few classmates by name and showing up here and there but I hope the main cast of characters that the story focuses on will be those involved in the golf side of things.

You know, I misread the information about his parentage and so now the theory I had about his innate abilities are redundant. I thought that it was his father that was scottish and maybe a former golf player who retired young and under bad circumstances so his son doesn't know about his professional past. But as it turns out, it's the mother that's scottish. Though we could still get something about maybe someone in his scottish lineage being a skilled golfer. Who knows at this point.

 

[Spirit]

I'm hesitant to believe that Robo's Golfing expertise isn't just hereditary. In fact, I'm more incline to believe that it's his Perfect Control of every physical aspect required to hit the golf ball.

 

[Kaoz]

Ah yes, that is indeed true; thats why I said "somewhere down the line" as I don't expect that team up to happen any time soon. I did though overlook Tomoya a little. The way I see the character's growth being portrayed is that of the hardworking boy wanting to catch up to his friend with superior natural ability, which I wouldn't actually mind as long as it remains fairly amicable in their competitiveness.

I don't think they'll be too competitive given that they're from the same school. I was actually thinking about it more from Robo's point of view though. I imagine Shintaro or another high-ranking player will offer to pair up with him and Tomoya will feel dejected over it. Since Robo felt the necessity to defend Tomoya against those bullies, I think he'd prefer to team up with him in that kind of situation as well.

Also, not sure if I'm understanding you correctly - do you mean Robo and Shintaro will only pair up somewhere down the line or was that about match play in general. If it was the former I could certainly see it happen at some point, but if it was the latter I disagree I think. Robo is way too strong to play a bunch of competitions by himself, so I think after one stroke play at most the focus will switch to match play for the majority of the series.

I see there being some sort of "invitational tournament" where Robo would team up with Shintaro to face Youzan and partner. Basically an event beyond the regular school/golf club tournaments we're likely to get a lot of.

Oh yeah, that's an interesting idea. Although it would also open the possibility for a Robo/Youzan team. Of course this would work really well later on, but even at the beginning it might be neat, so that Youzan can observe Robo's abilities from close-up. We also know that Youzan already has an unnamed rival of some sort, so maybe that same person can beat out Robo too. Then they'd both have someone to aim for.

Unless it turns into a "boy excels at sport and gains friends" sorta thing, I think what you say there will be happening and be pretty ideal. I don't mind the introduction of a few classmates by name and showing up here and there but I hope the main cast of characters that the story focuses on will be those involved in the golf side of things.

I mean, I doubt it? Chances are he'll make some friends inside the golf club, but I don't see regular classmates being much of a factor outside of comic relief when Robo doesn't know how to handle any popularity he might get.

You know, I misread the information about his parentage and so now the theory I had about his innate abilities are redundant. I thought that it was his father that was scottish and maybe a former golf player who retired young and under bad circumstances so his son doesn't know about his professional past. But as it turns out, it's the mother that's scottish. Though we could still get something about maybe someone in his scottish lineage being a skilled golfer. Who knows at this point.

I was actually thinking something similar, although from the other direction. Maybe his father toured the world as a pro and that's how he got to meet Robo's mother. Then when Robo was born he figured he should settle down etc., retired and only played golf for recreational purposes. Robo went with him once, but presumably didn't think golf was very interesting, and that's why he only ever borrowed the clubs once. Something like that.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 20, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 20, 2017 ---

I'm hesitant to believe that Robo's Golfing expertise isn't just hereditary. In fact, I'm more incline to believe that it's his Perfect Control of every physical aspect required to hit the golf ball.

Well, sure, Robo's meticulousness is probably the reason why he was able to hit like that right off the bat. But do you think his father being mentioned at all in that context was just a throwaway line?

 

[Spirit]

I don't think they'll be too competitive given that they're from the same school. I was actually thinking about it more from Robo's point of view though. I imagine Shintaro or another high-ranking player will offer to pair up with him and Tomoya will feel dejected over it. Since Robo felt the necessity to defend Tomoya against those bullies, I think he'd prefer to team up with him in that kind of situation as well.

Also, not sure if I'm understanding you correctly - do you mean Robo and Shintaro will only pair up somewhere down the line or was that about match play in general. If it was the former I could certainly see it happen at some point, but if it was the latter I disagree I think. Robo is way too strong to play a bunch of competitions by himself, so I think after one stroke play at most the focus will switch to match play for the majority of the series.



Oh yeah, that's an interesting idea. Although it would also open the possibility for a Robo/Youzan team. Of course this would work really well later on, but even at the beginning it might be neat, so that Youzan can observe Robo's abilities from close-up. We also know that Youzan already has an unnamed rival of some sort, so maybe that same person can beat out Robo goes too. Then they'd both have someone to aim for.



I mean, I doubt it? Chances are he'll make some friends inside the golf club, but I don't see regular classmates being much of a factor outside of comic relief when Robo doesn't know how to handle any popularity he might get.



I was actually thinking something similar, although from the other direction. Maybe his father toured the world as a pro and that's how he got to meet Robo's mother. Then when Robo was born he figured he should settle down etc., retired and only played golf for recreational purposes. Robo went with him once, but presumably didn't think golf was very interesting, and that's why he only ever borrowed the clubs once. Something like that.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 20, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 20, 2017 ---

Well, sure, Robo's meticulousness is probably the reason why he was able to hit like that right off the bat. But do you think his father being mentioned at all in that context was just a throwaway line?

No, but I do think that it may be... almost unnecessary. I get that one of his parents could be Scottish considering his bright red hair, but I've seen this kind of plot device time and time again. I was hoping for something new this time. Don't get me wrong, I think it would be kind of cool to have his father being a world-famous Golfer but at the same time my reaction is more like "Eh. He's the son of a great golf player. That explains his ability perfectly. How convenient".

 

[Kaoz]

The Scottish part was explicitly confirmed. That aside though, even if his father was a pro it doesn't mean he was successful for instance. For all we know he could've plateaued at some point after lots of hard work and failed to break into the top ranks because he was lacking talent. There's numerous possibilities, really.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 21, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 20, 2017 ---

Oh yeah, the other thing I've been wondering about is what's gonna happen to that Mizuno club Tomoya bought. He clearly can't use it right now, so the obvious assumption is that he's gonna give it to Robo I suppose, but do you think that's permanent or only temporary? In other words, do you expect Tomoya to master that club eventually, probably more towards the end of the series?

 

[goldb]

Oh yeah, the other thing I've been wondering about is what's gonna happen to that Mizuno club Tomoya bought. He clearly can't use it right now, so the obvious assumption is that he's gonna give it to Robo I suppose, but do you think that's permanent or only temporary? In other words, do you expect Tomoya to master that club eventually, probably more towards the end of the series?

I see Tomoya giving Robo the club for a while at least, as I don't imagine Tomoya developping the proper skills to use it anytime soon. That or he'll gift it to him, since Robo doesn't have any clubs of his own and he recognises that he can make much better use of it than Tomoya himself.

I don't think they'll be too competitive given that they're from the same school. I was actually thinking about it more from Robo's point of view though. I imagine Shintaro or another high-ranking player will offer to pair up with him and Tomoya will feel dejected over it. Since Robo felt the necessity to defend Tomoya against those bullies, I think he'd prefer to team up with him in that kind of situation as well.

Also, not sure if I'm understanding you correctly - do you mean Robo and Shintaro will only pair up somewhere down the line or was that about match play in general. If it was the former I could certainly see it happen at some point, but if it was the latter I disagree I think. Robo is way too strong to play a bunch of competitions by himself, so I think after one stroke play at most the focus will switch to match play for the majority of the series.

I definitely see this happening, with Robo maybe rejecting them and choosing to play with Tomoya regardless of his level because he'll see how dejected he felt being overlooked by the high ranking players.

No no, it was about the former; Robo and Shintaro pairing up somewhere down the line. Right now though, despite his clear genius Robo has a fair bit to learn and get some experience before participating in the sort of match play events I imagine Shintaro would take part in.

Oh yeah, that's an interesting idea. Although it would also open the possibility for a Robo/Youzan team. Of course this would work really well later on, but even at the beginning it might be neat, so that Youzan can observe Robo's abilities from close-up. We also know that Youzan already has an unnamed rival of some sort, so maybe that same person can beat out Robo too. Then they'd both have someone to aim for.

I do wonder under what circumstances Robo will meet Youzan. From what we know the former is not interested in besting others or in games where one has to defeat another to feel superior, whereas Youzan is clearly looking to be the best and now in search of his rival. So will the meeting be one where Robo is clueless about who Youzan is and not interested in rivalries or will something spark within him in their meeting?

Also looking forward to the comedic elements in their relationship/interactions; there's a lot of potential from even the little we've seen of their personalities.
Forgot about the other player who was hitting downstairs from Youzan. At first I thought it might be Robo and the ending narration was sort of ambiguous about that, or was that just me? As I thought that maybe it was Robo.

I was actually thinking something similar, although from the other direction. Maybe his father toured the world as a pro and that's how he got to meet Robo's mother. Then when Robo was born he figured he should settle down etc., retired and only played golf for recreational purposes. Robo went with him once, but presumably didn't think golf was very interesting, and that's why he only ever borrowed the clubs once. Something like that.

Yeah that actually works; it could play out that way for sure. As you said, there's definitely a lot of ways in which they could go with this.

 

[Kaoz]

No no, it was about the former; Robo and Shintaro pairing up somewhere down the line. Right now though, despite his clear genius Robo has a fair bit to learn and get some experience before participating in the sort of match play events I imagine Shintaro would take part in.

True. I'm not sure how long it'll take him to learn that stuff though once he gets into it. He seems like the guy who'd have the rules and a bunch of the technical aspects down in half a day, so the one thing he's really lacking that he can't learn from books is on-course experience I guess. Like, while he hit the cup on his 9th or 10th attempt, he was still off for a few shots. So chances are he has to get used to other stuff too and unlike in practice you can't keep hitting from the same spot over and over in a match.

Also, what level are you estimating Shintaro at? Do you think he's anywhere near Youzan or much lower level (considering Youzan can keep up with pros)?

I do wonder under what circumstances Robo will meet Youzan. From what we know the former is not interested in besting others or in games where one has to defeat another to feel superior, whereas Youzan is clearly looking to be the best and now in search of his rival. So will the meeting be one where Robo is clueless about who Youzan is and not interested in rivalries or will something spark within him in their meeting?

Well, Tomoya told him about Youzan, but I guess Robo won't know what he looks like. I think it'd be more interesting if they met without Robo recognizing Youzan. I could also see Youzan being a factor in sparking Robo's competitive spirit. Like you noted, Robo isn't interested in competitions, so maybe he'll start "playing" golf, but only in the sense that he tries to hit a specific target, but not with the intention of competing or beating anyone. If Youzan sees that he might challenge Robo to a 1-on-1 match and it could go from there.

The other possibility is that they won't meet for quite a while, but given that they're the two main characters, I think that's unlikely.

Forgot about the other player who was hitting downstairs from Youzan. At first I thought it might be Robo and the ending narration was sort of ambiguous about that, or was that just me? As I thought that maybe it was Robo.

I couldn't tell either. The way the scenes played out and the fact that the guy only had one club with him points towards him being Robo in my eyes. This would mean that the narration was a bit out of order though, obviously. I wasn't just thinking about this guy though, but also the person who placed ahead of Youzan at that tournament. Youzan said he was just one shot away from winning, but the actual winner still seems like he could be a stepping stone, at least in the short term.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 24, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 21, 2017 ---

Apparently this is the ch 2 cover:

Spoiler

Source.

The same user also posted about where the karaoke place from ch 1 is located. I can't think of anything this piece of information would be relevant for, but maybe someone here is interested.

 

[goldb]

I was just looking at that Tumblr page and I found something that was more interesting for me:

Characters from Robot x Laserbeam with their kanji names: (Surnames first)

Hatohara Robato (Nicknamed Robo) - 鳩原 呂羽人
1st year Eiai Academy, half-Japanese half-Scottish [ 鳩 is the kanji for pigeon/dove and 羽 is the kanji for feather]

Nakata Tomoya- 中田 トモヤ
1st year Eiai Academy, member of the golf club

Hiiragi Shintarou- 柊 慎太郎
3rd year Eiai Academy, captain of the golf club

Miura Youzan -三浦 鷹山
1st year Seiou University Affiliated High School, member of the golf club [ 鷹 is the kanji for falcon/hawk]

I feel that this might become a recurring thing for potential rivals and/or just other prominent characters in the series. Unless the mangaka wants to keep it between these two guys to signify an ongoing rivalry.

--- Double Post Merged, Mar 24, 2017, Original Post Date: Mar 24, 2017 ---

Found some spoiler images for this chapter:

source: spoiler.net

Spoiler: Chapter 2

More pics available on their website.

 

[Kaoz]

Spoiler: Chapter 2

So from the third spoiler page it looks like the color pages from last time were indeed foreshadowing of sorts and this second chapter ties them into the actual storyline. Also, looks like Youzan mistakes Tomoya for Robo and challenges him to a match instead. I wonder how quickly this gets cleared up or if Youzan is gonna end up thinking "Robo" is playing badly on purpose or something.

I feel that this might become a recurring thing for potential rivals and/or just other prominent characters in the series. Unless the mangaka wants to keep it between these two guys to signify an ongoing rivalry.

That's a nice catch, I hadn't seen that before. I reckon the theme will be kept for characters strongly tied to Robo, similar to the color theme the miracles had going. There's probably gonna be a couple more, but not that many.

 

[Brandish μ]

Chapter 1 was very funny. There were several laugh out loud moments. My pick would be the bit where Robo says "they're carrying golf clubs, which must mean... they're a part of a golf club, I assume"

It's the perfect sport for him since he said it himself he didn't see the point of competition... but in golf he can 'amend discrepancies'.

Completely understand the sweet spot thing you always look up 'who hit that' at the driving range. Maybe not to Miura's level though xD.

I think they'll have all kinds of competitions in the school tournaments. Stroke, stableford etc.

 

[Kaoz]

I think they'll have all kinds of competitions in the school tournaments. Stroke, stableford etc.

Do you think Robo is particularly well-suited or ill-suited for a specific format?

Your post reminds me of another thing from chapter 1 we haven't talked about yet too: what about those two guys from Takazawa? Do you guys reckon they're particularly good and were just caught off-guard by Robo or do they seem more like common pushovers to you? Also, do you feel them meeting Robo here will have any consequences in the future, either them training specifically against him in some way or reporting to a stronger player in their club?

And if we're doing best lines, my vote's going to: "What do you mean 'Why'? I aimed before I hit it, so it flew in the direction I aimed at."

 

[Brandish μ]

Do you think Robo is particularly well-suited or badly-suited for a specific format?

Not atm, and I'm not familiar with many competition types. Assuming they're individual games he'd be fine on his own. We need to see him drive yet. The chapter made a few points about 'power' and accuracy vs distance, perhaps this is where Robo will need some time to develop. Can already see him being a great putter.

If he can't work in a team for some reason he might not be good for some of the formats (there is one where you alternate shots with your teammate for example).

Your post reminds me of another thing from chapter 1 we haven't talked about yet too: what about those two guys from Takazawa? Do you guys reckon they're particularly good and were just caught off-guard by Robo or do they seem more like common pushovers to you? Also, do you feel them meeting Robo here will have any consequences in the future, either them training specifically against him in some way or reporting to a stronger player in their club?

Those guys were barely memorable to Hiragi, so my guess is they're not particularly amazing (perhaps only their bad manners were memorable). It's possible they re-appear in the future, but I feel they won't be significant players in the story. Maybe they do tell a stronger player about Robo, especially since they think they were hustled.

And if we're doing best lines, my vote's going to: "What do you mean 'Why'? I aimed before I hit it, so it flew in the direction I aimed at."

Yea that one was great.