Karakuridoji Ultimo is a unique team-up between Stan Lee (Spider-Man etc) and Hiroyuki Takei (Shaman King). Yamato, a young Japanese teenager, is broke, he's worried about his relationship with his wannabe girlfriend Sayama; the usual stuff. Then he finds a mechanical boy named Ultimo; the embodiment of good. Before he knows it, he's caught in a war that goes back generations to know the true nature of mankind. Each Karakuridoji has a human master to learn from; what's inside a human heart? It's comedy and action, and frankly, kind of weird. The doji's goal is to learn about humanity, apparently by causing as much property damage as physically possible.

 

Highlights

I read that Hiroyuki Takei said he likes his characters to be immediately recognizable by their silhouette; this is extremely clear in Ultimo. Everyone from Ultimo to Yamato's friend Rune is distinctive and flashly looking (In fact, Rune has some of that short smart guy thing Manta had going on in Shaman King, except more girly). I'm particularly fond of the antagonist, K. He's the master of Vice, the doji of pure Evil. He wears a long scarf, a cool black coat ("His name's written on his coat.." thinks Rune) but he has big dorky glasses and huge buck teeth, making him a study in contrasts.  However, my favorite character design has to be the creator of the Doji themselves, Dr. Dunstan. He's dressed in a spider yukata, wearing large shade-like sunglasses and resmembles nothing so much as Stan Lee himself. Hilarious.
 

One thing I have to say is particularly cool is that  Ultimo was actually first discovered by one of Yamato's ancestors (conveniently also named Yamato). Bandit Yamato and his group of bandits were fighting against corrupt Japanese aristocracy, and their portions of the story (which we get some flashbacks to here and there) are arguably even more intense than the present so far. They're so much more so, that the art is even censored a bit (Vice really tears into them and even toned-down you see a number of bandits get diced). The change in setting between the present and past is handled quite well artistically; in fact, the art is detailed enough that I find Ultimo himself somewhat unsettling. The "pact" between the humans and doji that unleashes their power makes Ultimo call him "master" and treat him with a kind of deference that's a bit off-putting due to his looking kind of like a half-dressed little boy (maybe it's just me).
 

There's certainly a lot to work with here, as Takei introduces a lot of concepts and characters in a single volume; including multiple versions of reincarnated characters from the old times. I'm hoping that Takei goes more in depth into how humans may or may not have changed over the centuries.
 

Overall

The war of the Doji is an ambitious concept; two robots that represent good and evil battling all throughout time! Wow! Vice cuts an entire city bus in half (I liked this when it happened in Shaman King  too)! The Doji turn into huge monsters and battle it out with spontaneous and random attacks like turning their hands into huge lions! It's all sound and fury, however. Some of it seems a little random; K just happens to be on a walk that day and runs into Ultimo, some old guy just happens to find Ultimo in the mountains so Yamato can find him, etc. Not to mention Dunstan's going about distributing robots like candy; near the volume's end you meet another Doji, Jealousy, and discover there's a hundred more where that one came from. The "Hundred Machine Funeral", some super awesome battle, is going to happen and I can't help but feel like it's suddenly become Digimon meets Shaman King.
 

Not to mention reducing the personalities of the robots to good or evil essentially limits both characters. While the book implies that perhaps good and evil are more fluid concepts than we imagine them to be (a useful thing for the target audience of young boys to consider) this still means it's far more about Yamato than it is about Ultimo. It's a shame then, that Yamato in the present isn't nearly as interesting as Bandit Yamato; he's getting into mostly cliche girl problems, his mother is a typically nutty manga parent, etc.
It's still volume one, so all of these problems could be addressed, and there's far more time to develop the complexity of the actually interesting question; "Why do people do the things they do?".
 

The first volume of Ultimo has really gotten the professional touch in presentation. The cover is of a glossy, higher quality material than most manga volumes in the US, not to mention we get an interview with Stan Lee and a full color cover page (the back has Stan Lee posing in his Spider Yukata). Stan Lee himself has been quoted as saying he wants it to be "the next Spider-Man" and no corners have been cut in putting the book together. Although, personally, I'd suggest reading a few Essential Spider-Man or Fantastic Four Omnibus volumes for your Stan Lee fix; despite what the interview suggests, it's hard to tell how much of the story itself is Lee's work. To my eye, it has a lot more in common with Takei's style than Lee's.

So far, the series has started kind of slow; a lot has happened, but little of it is hitting on all cylinders. The revelation of the other doji however, should probably get things going more. Many of the characters are unusual, and I like both Takei and Lee a hell of a lot, so I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt. The start isn't as important as what's done with it, where it goes. For now however, read with care. It's a bit of a rocky start in a series that, admitttedly, is still quirky enough to give a look. Without a doubt, seeing Stan Lee in a manga was nearly worth the price of admission for me alone. However, the off-kilter storyline and peculiar designs on the robots may make this title a little more niche than Lee anticipated.
 

ComicsOnline gives Karakuridoji Ultimo vol 1, 2.5 out of 5 duty bandits.