There are a lot of cute robots out there (Wall-E from the movie, BB-8 from Star Wars, the little toy Cozmo), and Asimov is certainly one of them. Asumi, the girl he is escorting, may be the true protagonist, but it’s Asimov who guides Asumi more than her memories of Miku.
I said before that Hatsune Miku: Future Delivery is not only for Vocaloid fans. My opinion hasn’t changed; in fact, it’s even stronger than before. Unlike the first volume where the duo met a variety of Mikus, Volume 2 is incredibly low on Miku-ness. In fact, outside of a storyline involving Rin and Len and a projection of Miku, there is little visual evidence that this is a Vocaloid-inspired manga.
Anyway, since this is the final volume, the episodic nature of the first is halted as the story shifts into discovering Asumi’s identity. This is important, of course, but I have a feeling if you read it right after the first volume, it will seem like a sudden shift. Well, maybe not too sudden — after all, first Asumi helps prodigy Ren try to realize what is truly important in life. Drugs are an important part of this storyline, so this is a warning if you are uncomfortable with seeing pills and needles.
The mysterious figure who has been chasing Asumi continues his pursuit, and he reveals the truth about Asumi. Her backstory is fairly predictable considering the sci-fi world she lives in. The truth does come as a horrible shock to her, and the manga does a good job at capturing her emotions as she learns the truth.
Ultimately, Asumi must face a choice on what to do, and the “Future Delivery” part of the title comes full circle. The ending is overall moving, but I wish it had just a couple more pages. The author’s notes explains what happened to Asimov, but it would have moved from a nice ending to a immensely beautiful one if we had seen everything and not just read it in a quick author note. Asimov is such an important character, and I wanted to get a proper chance to bid farewell like we did with Asumi. It would have made for a smoother transition from Asumi deciding between moving forward and going back.
The art remains the same, with a lot of focus on the robots and the spaceships they use. The faces of the human characters still are a bit flat, but I still like the softness of the art style in general. The adaptation also is unchanged from the first volume, but since Asumi and Asimov aren’t visiting a bunch of worlds, the original text would appear to be straightforward and rather simple for a sci-fi story.
If you enjoyed the first volume of Hatsune Miku: Future Delivery, it’s an easy call to add this second and final volume to your collection. It’s a simple and heartwarming enough manga that anyone can enjoy, and it also provides a simple introduction to the kind of stories Vocaloid music can tell. But more than that, if you want to see a cute robot, make sure you check in with Asimov in Future Delivery volume 2.