Hakata Soy's past life as the leader of a futuristic super team won¹t stay in the past!
The former space hero is doing his best to k... read full description
reviews
Jan 01, 2012
Bruce
rated it: 
It can be tough being a student in outer space, even if you have really cool hair, because someone might hit it with a sonic fireball and burn it all off. Even if you’re the richest and most pretty girl at Astronaut Academy, your arch rival might get to the cute new boy in school before you have a chance to introduce yourself. And even if you’re the cute new boy in school you might get stuck with a stuck up roommate, and no one will care that you were part of a Meta-Team that can transform into
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Feb 19, 2012
Scruffy
rated it: 
Hakata Soy is a young former space hero just starting out at the space based Astronaut Academy. Starting with this simple premise we are introduced to a large cast of characters and many inter-weaving plot lines. The book is made up of lots of short stories told from alternating perspectives all of which are connected to tell a larger story. Because of the structure of the book I found it best to be read in short bursts rather than straight through.
Astronaut Academy is very funny. I More...
Astronaut Academy is very funny. I More...
Nov 04, 2011
Western Humanities Book review
Paragraph One: plot summary
My book takes place in the future where kids will go to school in space and learn about future things such as wearing cute hats, zero gravity gymnastics, and also run-on sentences. The main character in this book is Hakata Soy, a new student to Astronaut Academy, was a I guess you could say “space ranger” fighting these bird like people that are constantly terrorizing someone. As the plot develops new people join i More...
Paragraph One: plot summary
My book takes place in the future where kids will go to school in space and learn about future things such as wearing cute hats, zero gravity gymnastics, and also run-on sentences. The main character in this book is Hakata Soy, a new student to Astronaut Academy, was a I guess you could say “space ranger” fighting these bird like people that are constantly terrorizing someone. As the plot develops new people join i More...
Oct 22, 2011
Patrice
rated it:
A group of students are in space at the Astronaut Academy, learning about science, math, how to properly float in space and (for at least one student) how to throw a fireball that could save your life. Each short chapter focuses on one character's perspective, and through the course of the book we become familiar with many residents at Astronaut Academy. The main one is Hakata Soy, who truly does sport a fantastic hair-do, which leads some of the girls to swoon. Some flashbacks from Hakata's pre
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Sep 18, 2011
Wandering
rated it: 
Welcome to Astronaut Academy, a boarding where students learn important skills such as anti-gravity gymnastics, fire throwing, advanced heart studies and Spanish. It's also where Hakata Soy, former space hero, has been sent by his parents. Unfortunately, his enemies won't leave him alone! With the help of his new friend Miyumi San, he'll try to make it through his first semester.
This was pretty silly. It was also very tongue and cheek in a way I enjoyed but I think More...
This was pretty silly. It was also very tongue and cheek in a way I enjoyed but I think More...
Sep 18, 2011
Arianna
rated it:
Welcome to Astronaut Academy, a boarding where students learn important skills such as anti-gravity gymnastics, fire throwing, advanced heart studies and Spanish. It's also where Hakata Soy, former space hero, has been sent by his parents. Unfortunately, his enemies won't leave him alone! With the help of his new friend Miyumi San, he'll try to make it through his first semester.
This was pretty silly. It was also very tongue and cheek in a way I enjoyed but I think mos More...
This was pretty silly. It was also very tongue and cheek in a way I enjoyed but I think mos More...
Jul 25, 2011
Jerzy
rated it:
I picked up his book while Dave was in town for Kids Read Comics, and I’ve been reading it over and over ever since. It’s one of those rare comics aimed at young people written and drawn by a guy who actually remembers what it’s like to be a kid. The comic is filled with an exuberant sincerity, the characters are super fun, and the jokes have that rascally sweetness that you rarely find outside of a Muppets special back when Jim Henson was alive.
The story is about a group of students attend More...
The story is about a group of students attend More...
Jul 02, 2011
Nicola
rated it:
Reason for Reading: It sounded like a lot of fun.
This tells of the happenings of first semester at Astronaut Academy. Opening with the official promotional guide the principal shows off the school and then we start off with the main character Hakata Soy arriving at the school a month late due to his former status as a space hero. Then in a unique way, each short "chapter" starts off with "My name is ...." and is told from the point of view of various different cla More...
This tells of the happenings of first semester at Astronaut Academy. Opening with the official promotional guide the principal shows off the school and then we start off with the main character Hakata Soy arriving at the school a month late due to his former status as a space hero. Then in a unique way, each short "chapter" starts off with "My name is ...." and is told from the point of view of various different cla More...
May 12, 2011
Andrew Shuping
rated it:
I got this through Goodreads Giveaway program (yay!)
Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity is the first of at least two planned books (the sequel probably coming out next year). It tells the story of Hakata Soy as the new kid at Astronaut Academy as he settles into the school and gets used to his classmates (who honestly, are just a wee bit weird) and tries to catch up to his classwork (he was held captive by his archenemies for a few weeks so was late to the start of school.) And as he se More...
Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity is the first of at least two planned books (the sequel probably coming out next year). It tells the story of Hakata Soy as the new kid at Astronaut Academy as he settles into the school and gets used to his classmates (who honestly, are just a wee bit weird) and tries to catch up to his classwork (he was held captive by his archenemies for a few weeks so was late to the start of school.) And as he se More...
Jan 01, 2011
Reader
rated it:
Wow! You ain't never seen anything quite like this before. On the surface this is a graphic novel tale of Hakata Soy, former space superhero, now a regular kid attending Astronaut Academy like a bunch of his fellows. Unfortunately for Soy, his past is sneaking up on him and he's going to have to work through a lot of his own issues before he can truly be happy with his fellow (rather crazy) classmates. That's the basic story as it stands, but Dave Roman has added some truly bizarre elements
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Sep 28, 2011
Nick
rated it:
This grapic novel is made up of a wide range of short vignettes, most of which are very goofy. Once in a while, something serious sneaks in. Really, the book would be about a 3 1/2 star rating, but the format of the stories kept me from giving it 4. The goofiness sometimes takes over at the wrong point in a story, and gets distracting at a few wrong moments. Still, the overall book is fun.
The premise is that the characters are attending school on a space station, for reasons that made sens More...
The premise is that the characters are attending school on a space station, for reasons that made sens More...
May 11, 2011
Tiffany
rated it:
I received my copy of this book as an advance read through the first reads program.
I must say, while I am a sixteen year old girl with little interest in the majority of young adult books, this graphic novel for 10-14 year old boys took me by surprise. The humor was witty, the illustrations were adorable, the story was easy to relate to and I quickly fell in love with the quirky dialogue. Bravo.
The story of Astronaut Academy primarily revolves around Hakata Soy. Though Ha More...
I must say, while I am a sixteen year old girl with little interest in the majority of young adult books, this graphic novel for 10-14 year old boys took me by surprise. The humor was witty, the illustrations were adorable, the story was easy to relate to and I quickly fell in love with the quirky dialogue. Bravo.
The story of Astronaut Academy primarily revolves around Hakata Soy. Though Ha More...
Dec 13, 2011
Ms.
rated it:
Hakata Soy is the mysterious new boy at Astronaut Academy. He arrived about a month into the semester and isn't willing to share much about himself. Hakata finds himself amidst an eclectic group of students, including a spoiled rich girl with a crush on him, a roommate only interested in sports, a girl with an affinity for always showing up at the right time, and a robot out to destroy him.
The story starts off extremely entertaining and somewhat humorous, but about 100 pages into it, More...
The story starts off extremely entertaining and somewhat humorous, but about 100 pages into it, More...
Jul 15, 2011
Meredith
rated it:
Astronaut Academy, I'm still not sure how I feel about you.
I want to be all kinds in love with this GN, and it was definitely funny at times, but something just seemed "off" about it--like it wasn't quite ready for the presses yet. I'm not sure that kids or teens will understand the jokes the characters make, or the references they drop. I also thought the plot was too scattered to easily follow. Frequently, I found myself thinking, "I don't even know what's going on More...
I want to be all kinds in love with this GN, and it was definitely funny at times, but something just seemed "off" about it--like it wasn't quite ready for the presses yet. I'm not sure that kids or teens will understand the jokes the characters make, or the references they drop. I also thought the plot was too scattered to easily follow. Frequently, I found myself thinking, "I don't even know what's going on More...
Jul 06, 2011
John
rated it:
Graphic novel set in an orbiting middle school and with a cast of manga-style preteens. Though maybe a little too long, and with some heterdox spelling that might or might not have been intentional, it's hip and funny---sprinkled with lines like:
"It looks as if the Gotcha Birds have TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGY OF THEIR OWN! Which means we must stop them before they use it for EVIL instead of community service!"
"Take this medallion. Any time you need our help just More...
"It looks as if the Gotcha Birds have TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGY OF THEIR OWN! Which means we must stop them before they use it for EVIL instead of community service!"
"Take this medallion. Any time you need our help just More...
Nov 07, 2011
Raina
rated it:
I warmed up to this a lot as I went. At first, I didn't really get it - it feels like a homage to manga, not only in style, but in vocabulary and speech patterns. I'm not a reader of manga, so I kept trying to figure out if it was actually a rough translation of something from Japan, or something. But after a while, I got mostly used to the affectation.
This is a series of slices of life and/or character studies of the students and employees at Astronaut Academy. As we went along, More...
This is a series of slices of life and/or character studies of the students and employees at Astronaut Academy. As we went along, More...
Jul 13, 2011
Gretchen
rated it:
I believe the target audience for this comic-style book is probably pre-teens, but I enjoyed it. It's fun and a fast read. It tells the stories of a bunch of kids in school at the astronaut academy, and how a couple of them have to fight off an evil robot. It is told from different kids' perspectives and I really liked several of the kids, and there is some good humor in the book. Though, not sure if this is because it was an advanced edition or not, but some of the writing seemed to be not corr
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Aug 03, 2011
Tony
rated it:
This is, bar none, one of the most charming, delightful comic books (or "graphic novels", if you prefer) that I have ever read. I have a soft spot for clever, self-referential humour and "breaking the fourth wall". This book does those things without being cynical, contrived, or bitter. It is just simply quality comic-making. It is even (at one point in particular) unexpectedly moving. I'm tempted to say that if you buy this book and are not won over by its charms, come see m
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May 12, 2011
Kjersti
rated it:
This is a fun book geared towards preteens, but it can easily be enjoyed by older age groups as well, especially when read together with younger kids. This is due to there being plenty of cultural parody type humor references in this book.
Overall this is a great book about a super hero's past catching up to him at Astronaut Academy. The plot flow is odd with different chapters being from the perspective of different characters, but it works pretty well. Only the first semester is co More...
Overall this is a great book about a super hero's past catching up to him at Astronaut Academy. The plot flow is odd with different chapters being from the perspective of different characters, but it works pretty well. Only the first semester is co More...
May 18, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity is a science fiction graphic novel for the middle school audience. Hakata Soy arrives at the academy a month after the start of fall semester. On his first day he finds himself paired with an unsympathetic roommate and narrowly avoids giving his origins story in class. He stumbles into the ongoing feud between dissatisfied ultra-rich Mirabelle Melonberry and Miyumi San. The adults are often illogical and the students melodramatic in this light-hearted fare. The ch
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Jun 07, 2011
Beth
rated it:
My 11 year old son read this book and here is his review:
"I liked the book because it was funny, interesting, and odd at the same time. My favorite character is Hakata Soy because he was in like a team of super hero robots, and he saved the bunny planet from the evil bird people. I actually laughed out loud a little bit reading this book. I thought it was a fairly quick read and I'm a slow reader. The book actually kept my atention and I usually don't really like to read. I More...
"I liked the book because it was funny, interesting, and odd at the same time. My favorite character is Hakata Soy because he was in like a team of super hero robots, and he saved the bunny planet from the evil bird people. I actually laughed out loud a little bit reading this book. I thought it was a fairly quick read and I'm a slow reader. The book actually kept my atention and I usually don't really like to read. I More...
May 21, 2011
Mary
rated it:
I won Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity from First Reads. I look forward to reading it now that its arrived. I really like the metallic cover. I'll preread this and then pass it along to one of my nephews. This looks like the sort of thing they enjoy.
It took, me a while to get into the rhythm of this book and I never quite got all the way into the storylines. But I think that was because I'm not the target audience for this graphic novel. I"m going to pass this along eventuall More...
It took, me a while to get into the rhythm of this book and I never quite got all the way into the storylines. But I think that was because I'm not the target audience for this graphic novel. I"m going to pass this along eventuall More...
May 10, 2011
Kelsey
rated it:
To be honest, this graphic novel completely took me by surprise, but in a good way. Since the target demographic is 10-14 (and I'm assuming boys), I thought that there wouldn't be much interest for me while reading it.
Dave Roman has a certain deadpan humor, and it definitely shows in this book. I loved it! There were many instances where he poked fun at our society, and the education system in particular. Sure, most of this would be lost on young boys, but I certainly appreciated it. H More...
Dave Roman has a certain deadpan humor, and it definitely shows in this book. I loved it! There were many instances where he poked fun at our society, and the education system in particular. Sure, most of this would be lost on young boys, but I certainly appreciated it. H More...
Mar 13, 2011
Myers
rated it:
I loved this comic. I have never seen anything like it- each chapter introduces a new adorable character who adds a different dimension to the story. Through each character we learn a little more about life at Astronaut Academy and about the mysterious new student with sharp hair, Hakata Soy. This comic was hilarious- there were so many quirky and funny lines throughout that I found myself laughing during much of the book. Kids are going to love this one- I can't wait to share it with my stu
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May 25, 2011
Donna
rated it:
I received this book through the GoodReads First Reads program.
Astronaut academy had a very cute story and was a fun read. I enjoyed the art and the style of it. I think premise was interesting and intriguing.
However, as an avid comic reader, I definitely felt that it lacked depth and came off as somewhat dry. It did not feel like the story really went anywhere even though it had a great premise and was adorable. I enjoyed the nerdy references in it and very much enjoyed the More...
Astronaut academy had a very cute story and was a fun read. I enjoyed the art and the style of it. I think premise was interesting and intriguing.
However, as an avid comic reader, I definitely felt that it lacked depth and came off as somewhat dry. It did not feel like the story really went anywhere even though it had a great premise and was adorable. I enjoyed the nerdy references in it and very much enjoyed the More...
Mar 17, 2011
Cute comic about a space elementary school. There is a former hero (he was the head part of a multi-person giant robot), a cyborg, cute girls, an elf teacher, a panda secret agent...
It's cute but there are a lot of one page gags and the melange of cliches (mean rich girl, etc.) are still just cliches. My 8 year old said it was "okay" but didn't have enough action.
It's cute but there are a lot of one page gags and the melange of cliches (mean rich girl, etc.) are still just cliches. My 8 year old said it was "okay" but didn't have enough action.
Aug 07, 2011
Tim
rated it:
It took me a while to get used to the deliberately stilted voice of the characters but the cuteness factor of the graphics and the quirk factor kept me turning the pages until I finally got into a groove and really enjoyed the story and felt something for the characters. My favorites were Doug Hiro and Maribelle Mellonbelly. I definitely want to read the next episode!
Sep 07, 2011
Sandy
rated it:
Meh. The writing in this book is really weird, kind of like a bad translation from another language. Unfortunately the book was written by a (presumably) English-speaking American, so I don't know what's going on there. The story is light and fun enough if you can muddle through the language.
May 10, 2011
Tiruba
rated it:
I received this book from Goodreads Giveaway It is an Advanced Reader copy. While I am no longer into graphic novels, my kids are. They have all been fighting over who got to read it and all three of them say they liked it. My kids range in age from 8 to 16 so it certainly appeals to a wide range and not just teens like the cover says.
Jul 14, 2011
Alexa
rated it:
Definitely bizarre, but also funny with more complex storylines than I expected. I loved the way the introductions and re-introductions of each character reminded you of who people were and made it feel like compiled comics. The cover is sooo shiny!
