"Sansuu-kun. It is not just good and bad people that fight. Sometimes good people will fight good people, and even die. Justice is... not a singular thing. There are many sorts of justice in society. And when justice collides with justice, blood will flow."
— Baron Ma-Ma
In the mountains, a group of nine schoolchildren come across an enormous robot called "The Moon". Its creator, a man who introduces himself as Baron Ma-Ma, offers it over to them, explaining vaguely that it is a Superweapon designed to move only when all nine kids combine their power. "God is dead", says Ma-Ma. The world overflows with wickedness, and so he has decided to invent justice.
The Moon is a Shounen manga by George Akiyama, famous for controversial Seinen works like Asura, which ran in Shonen Sunday from 1972-1973.
See Bokurano for a 2000s manga heavily inspired by this series (down to its main robot, Zearth/The Earth, being named after The Moon In-Universe, and having a character named Dung Beetle).
Provides Examples Of:
- Alien Kudzu: In the final arc, the Kennelians become disgusted by humanity's warlike nature and unleash a mould which corrodes flesh and metal, capable of wiping out all life on Earth within a year. By sheer luck, the heroes find the machine which generates the mould but all of them get infected by mould and die before they can get close enough to shut it down.
- Central Theme: God is dead, but that only means his seat is vacant; who will take His place and impose their own justice?
- Chest Blaster: In the first arc, when the crescent moon on Moon's body aligns with the moon in the sky, it can transform into a full moon which fires devastating rings of energy.
- Children Are Innocent: The reason Baron Ma-Ma hands The Moon to a group of children is because he thinks that adults - himself included - lack hearts pure enough to distinguish good and evil properly.
- Crimefighting with Cash: This exchange between the kids and Baron Ma-Ma in their first meeting:"Are you a scientist?"
"Not at all, in fact I know nothing of science."
"Then who built this robot?"
"I did."
"But how, if you don't know any science?!"
"With this. *makes an O gesture with one hand* You can achieve anything with money. The Moon costs as much as America spends annually on space research." - Cut and Paste Comic: There's a particular drawing of a United Justice Army agent on his bike which is reused constantly, to the point where multiple scenes have crowds composed entirely of this picture.
- Downer Ending: The kids all die in a failed attempt to stop the Kennelian mould weapon, which is implied to wipe out all life on Earth. The final two panels are The Moon crying, and then a Fade to Black.
- Evil Old Folks: Count Haruaki, an elderly man who robs and murders for his amusement, justifying his actions as simply things he's entitled to do because he's old. His minions are also revealed to be Brainwashed and Crazy old people, who have been falling into despair en masse after being called parasites by their own families.
- First Church of Mecha: The Moon is frequently compared to a "god of justice", or to the giant metal Buddha statues of old (though one character cynically points out that those statues, which inspired so much religious devotion, were ultimately built by humans for political reasons). Sansuu expresses a wish that it will be able to stay immobile, with no one needing its power. The ending also juxtaposes The Moon with a quote from Romain Rolland:"God was fighting. God was suffering. Fighting and suffering with all who fight and for all who suffer. For God was life, the drop of light fallen into the darkness, spreading out, reaching out, drinking up the night..."
- Humongous Mecha: The Moon itself, the Fabul created by Count Haruaki, and Ki-no-Kuniya's Black Dragon.
- Imagine Spot: After learning that the United Justice Army have an atomic bomb, Sansuu looks into history books on the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombings, including photographs of the victims. This results in him having nightmarish hallucinations of his friends melting to death, accompanied by narration from the memorial poem Ningen wo Kaese
. - Intelligent Gerbil: The Kennelians, a race of advanced aliens resembling talking dogs. Ki-no-Kuniya points out that to them, humans must seem like talking monkeys.
- Madness Mantra: When active, The Moon produces a sound like the wailing of "Moon! Moon! Moon!", sometimes accompanied by tears rolling down its cheeks.
- Malevolent Masked Men:
- The members of the United Justice Army conceal their faces behind identical masks with slit-like, crying features, resembling the helmet of Iron Man's first armour.
- The "iron humans" serving Count Haruaki wear masks with sinister grins.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: There are some situations which hint that The Moon is in some way sapient or feels empathy towards human suffering. See also First Church of Mecha above.
- The Moon's strange "tears" seem to flow strongest in situations that could cause emotional distress, such as when it's under a villain's control and attempting to kill one of the kids.
- In the first arc, after colliding with power lines, Moon suddenly begins crying and acting without commands - grabbing the hydrogen bomb and running into the sea to get it as far away from civilisation as possible.
- Merchant Prince: Shouemon Ki-no-Kuniya, one of the antagonists of the final arc, is a wealthy merchant who seeks to cause chaos and destruction so that he can further increase his influence, with the ultimate goal of reorganising Japan into a corporation led by himself.
- Might Makes Right: A recurring theme, with various forces (The Moon, hydrogen bombs, and Kennelian technology) presented as absolute powers which allow the holder to decide the meaning of justice.
- Mysterious Backer: Baron Ma-Ma is very supportive of the kids, but he also talks like a Nietzsche Wannabe, is weirdly abusive to his servant Dung Beetle, and admits that he may have created The Moon simply because he was angry at the world.
- Ninja: Baron Ma-Ma's Gonk assistant, Dung Beetle, who assists the kids from the shadows.
- No Place for Me There: After devastating Japan and placing their leader in charge, the United Justice Army plan to commit mass suicide as atonement for the innocents they killed.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: "Popeye", a reporter in the final arc who looks like, well, Popeye.
- Psychic Powers: When The Moon is being overwhelmed by the flying Humongous Mecha Fabul, the kids manage to telekinetically lift it into the sky. They can do this only while their thoughts are perfectly aligned, which they normally achieve by chanting a sutra together. Baron Ma-Ma explains in a Flash Back that everyone has the potential for such powers, which he demonstrates by telekinetically influencing the roll of a dice.
- Punny Name: The kids' names are based on school subjects.
- Robeast: Moon fights a giant apelike creature created by the United Justice Army, which is later revealed to be filled with cybernetic implants.
- Strange Secret Entrance: Count Haruaki's mansion is built into a hill, with a driveway that can be tilted to connect to one of three possible entrances. The top level is a "normal" mansion, complete with separate garden, which he uses to conceal his activities.
- Tears from a Stone: The Moon sometimes appears to cry, though the kids dismiss it as just oil leaking.
- Uncertain Doom: The fates of Baron Ma-Ma and Dung Beetle are never revealed in the final arc, though given the nature of the ending, it's safe to assume they're dead.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: The United Justice Army, a group of masked bikers who plan to unify Japan by dropping a H-bomb on it during the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombings.
- Vertical Mecha Fins: The Moon sports an exaggerated pair, stylized to look like a giant crescent moon on its chest and shoulders.
- Vigilante Man: The United Justice Army are introduced in this way, with one of their members saving people from muggers and housefires.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: When the kids show up with The Moon to confront Count Haruaki, he pulls a handgun out of his coat and points out that he can stop the robot permanently just by shooting one of them. However, he then has a Freak Out in which he sees The Moon as a "god of justice", and immediately surrenders.
- Wonder Twin Powers: Exaggerated. The Moon is completely immobile unless all nine of the kids are sending it mental commands at the same time, indicated by nine lights around its head. This makes it useless whenever one of their number is absent, or unable to concentrate, or disagrees about how to use Moon's power, or dies from alien mould.
