By Toshimi Nigoshi
CMX, 201 pp.
Rating: Teen+ for Older Teen

People just want to feel a connection with each other, even in a futuristic world where people are all androids. That’s one of the underlying themes of The Flat Earth/Exchange, which goes for an epic feel with a large cast, beautifully-rendered landscapes, multiple perspectives and big emotions. Now if only there had been more of a plot for all those aforementioned things to swirl around, the first volume might have felt like we were being introduced to a science fiction story, not just a well-conceived backdrop.

The Flat Earth/Exchange is told, for the most part, from the perspectives of two characters: Kotaro, a human who had been in cryogenic sleep for an undetermined amount of time, during which civilization underwent dramatic upheaval; and Ree, an android ex-soldier. Both meet when Ree visits the “Sanctuary,” the ruins of a major metropolis, seeking wisdom from a wise man who is really Kotaro. In the stand-off that ensues, Kotaro, who has only known the company of R2D2-ish robots since his awakening, asks the human-looking Ree to have dinner with him. Then the mysterious Lord Wildeniss steals Kotaro away, spurring what should be a high-octane pursuit, but instead becomes the cue for writer/artist Toshimi Nigoshi to expand his canvas, introducing various subplots that take the two protagonists away before bringing them back together at volume’s end.

Among those subplots, Kotaro tries to find out why he was put into suspended animation in the first place, and why he is the only one to wake up so far. Ree, meanwhile, is on a quest to figure out why androids—who now dominate the planet and call themselves “people”—only remember 22 years into the past, and if there’s any way to extend those memories. As for Lord Wildeniss, he might have something to do with the cryogenic sleep experiment, and could also be the rightful king of the world. And let’s not forget the terrorism subplot.

If this sounds like a lot of ideas to juggle, it reads that way, too. Nigoshi, whose art features nice backgrounds and expressive faces throughout, might have been better off spreading things across more than one volume. As it is, the middle section feels like an endless cutting back-and-forth from Kotaro to Ree, Ree to Kotaro, fleshing out this brave new world, but seemingly stuck in a holding pattern. That’s true in more ways than one: a lot of physical touching occurs between Kotaro and Wildeness, which could be Nigoshi’s way of demonstrating how people need to relate to one another (similarly, Ree has frequent conversations with a child named Ath), yet occasionally comes across as homoeroticism.

Again, this could all be interesting, but doesn’t necessarily drive the series forward. What ultimately keeps The Flat Earth/Exchange from imploding is Kotaro and Ree’s storylines both share the same theme: being alive means living for the present, as opposed to dwelling on the past. To that end, Nigoshi makes sure to have his main protagonists reach similar epiphanies near-simultaneously.

“I kind of feel like I understand why humans are always so determined. It’s because tomorrow isn’t today,” says Ree, who had been bearing the heartbreaking loss of a friend. Just a few pages later, Kotaro, who was constantly having flashbacks to his pre-cryogenic life, also makes up his mind to leave history where it lays. “I had a normal life and then, all of a sudden the rug gets pulled out from under me! Well, now I’m standin’ up,” he says, leading to a surprisingly satisfying end to what had not been a particularly compelling first volume.

Volume one of The Flat Earth/Exchange is available now.