Beatless
Beatless is a Japanese science fiction serial novel written by Satoshi Hase and illustrated by Redjuice. The series has inspired three spin-off manga series and a 24-episode anime television series by Diomedéa, which aired from January to September 2018 in the Animeism programming block on MBS.
Plot
In 2105, with the large scale advancement of technology, hIE's are human-like-robots invented in the year 2057. hIEs are used as public and personal servants for society. One person, a high school student named Arato Endo, treats hIEs like humans and sees them as equals, and though he wished to buy one, his financial situation hinders him from doing so. In the middle of the night, while returning home from a grocery store run, he is violently attacked by a hIE. Seconds from death, Lacia, an abnormal hIE equipped with a weaponized coffin, comes to his aid and saves his life. In the chaos that follows, a hacked electric car threatens to run them over, and Lacia makes a deal with Arato, to assume ownership of her in exchange for her saving his life. The deal requires him to take full responsibility for her actions, to which he reluctantly agrees. Lacia warns the entranced Arato she, like all hIE's, doesn't have a soul. After owning Lacia, and bringing her home, Lacia enjoys her new, peaceful lifestyle, while Arato is dragged into a series of major events; from being hired by a company that hosts an online fashion modeling audition, to being dragged into the fighting between other escaped hIE's from Memeframe.Characters
;Arato Endo;Lacia
;Kouka
;Snowdrop
;Saturnus / Mariage
;Methode
;Ryo Kaidai
;Kengo Suguri
;Yuka Endo
;Shiori Kaidai
;Olga Suguri
;Erica Burrows
;Higgins
;Eliza
;Astraia
;Kirino
Media
The novel has inspired three separate manga series. Kagura Uguisu published the two-volume manga series Beatless: Dystopia in Kadokawa's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace between 2012 and 2013. A single-volume four-panel spin-off manga, titled Beatless, was published by Kila. Ptolemy's Singularity, a spin-off manga series written by Gun Snark and illustrated by Mitsuru Ohsaki, was launched on Kadokawa's Famitsu Comic Clear website on April 11, 2014, with a preview chapter having been published on March 14. It has been compiled into eight volumes.
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