Quantic Dream’s 2018 sci-fi action-adventure game, Detroit: Become Human is getting a spin-off manga.
Detroit: Become Human Tokyo Stories is written (under the supervision of Quantic Dream) by Saruwatari Kazami and drawn by Moto Sumida, according to Dengeki Online.
Contrasted with the “anti-android forces in the United States” we see in the game, Japan’s androids are viewed as a positive direction for the future of the country–especially the popular android idol and main character of the manga, Reina, according to Famitsu. However, much like its source material, unrest begins to bubble over as citizens become increasingly agitated by androids replacing them in the workforce. This, in turn, leads to an android revolution in Japan.
“Detroit: Become Human is one of my favorite games I’ve ever played,” Sumida said in a Tweet. “I’m glad to be involved [in] this. This comic [will] be a story about how androids are in Japan while the story goes on in Detroit. I hope you enjoy this.”
Read More: Detroit: Become Human: The Kotaku Review
It should come as no surprise that Detroit: Become Human is getting its own manga given how well the game performed in Japan. According to Gematsu, Detroit: Become Human sold 7,043 units on the PlayStation 4, topping The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Oddyssey’s sales. Detroit: Become Human even outsold Heavy Rain’s PlayStation 3 lifetime sales within the first few days of its release in Japan.
Despite the game’s critical success both in Japan and the U.S., Detroit: Become Human’s lasting legacy is largely driven by critique of its ham-fisted parallels to slavery and racism in America. While game director David Cage told Kotaku after Detroit’s 2017 E3 demo that he was making a game about androids without an overtly political message drawing from real world politics, the end result was quite the opposite. This obviously didn’t stop players from finding the game’s abject references of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. and thinly-veiled allegory for racism unintentionally hilarious and awkward to play through.
And for those wondering why the very obvious title “Tokyo: Become Human” wasn’t chosen, that name was already used four years ago for the nine-minute live-action Japanese promotional video for the game. Shame, that.
The premise of an android idol leading to a robo-revolution in the Detroit: Become Human universe sounds pretty on the money. The concept has worked before with similar stories like Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song, and it’s hard not to find its artist’s enthusiasm endearing. My only gripe is that Quantic Dream is not licensing a manga series following the misadventures of Hank, the millennial detective, and his sidekick Connor. Hell, it could’ve even ventured into it being a Boys Love manga…but I’m just thinking out loud.
Detroit: Become Human Tokyo Stories is expected to release on July 22 in Japan and will be available to purchase on Comic Bridge.