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Supercute Futures

Martin Millar (Goodreads Author)

3.52 · Rating details · 82 ratings · 15 reviews

Mox and Mitsu are Supercute. They founded the global business Supercute Enterprises as teenagers, armed only with a phone, a collection of their favourite cuddly toys and a love of all things kawaii. Thanks to them, the Supercute aesthetic is now a way of life.

In a world dominated by massive conglomerates, Supercute has continued to grow bigger and more powerful, morphing ...more

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Kindle Edition, 240 pages

Published August 30th 2018 by Piatkus

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Aug 31, 2018 Tania rated it really liked it

Shelves: humour, science-fiction

So much fun.

Mox and Mitsu were two child prodigies with a love of all things cute, Kawaii and Japanese. They started the Supercute Show on YouTube with their Iphones. While the world fell apart, with impacts, nuclear wars and other disasters, their popularity grew and they branched out getting into Desalination just as the world runs out of fresh water. Now they are one of the world's top conglomerates. More powerful than most governments and others want to destroy their empire.
They now have ...more

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Sep 17, 2018 Nicholas Smeaton rated it really liked it

I have long regarded Cyberpunk as a sub-genre that had done it's dash but this book shows that there is still plenty of life in Cyberpunk still, all that was needed was a fresh approach and here the author has done it with a two pronged approach; first the story is about people at the top of the pile instead of the bottom and as the story progresses it becomes clear that they are in their own way slaves to the system as much as everyone else, the second is that he's created a setting I'll call I have long regarded Cyberpunk as a sub-genre that had done it's dash but this book shows that there is still plenty of life in Cyberpunk still, all that was needed was a fresh approach and here the author has done it with a two pronged approach; first the story is about people at the top of the pile instead of the bottom and as the story progresses it becomes clear that they are in their own way slaves to the system as much as everyone else, the second is that he's created a setting I'll call Fluffypunk - outwardly cute and inviting but underneath it's as grim and nasty as any traditional Cyberpunk setting and with all the traditional cyberpunk tropes; body augmentation, virtual and augmented reality, extraterritorial corporations, massive social divides. The story revolves around the Mitsu and Mox founders of the Mega corporation Supercute a Media conglomerate with divisions in desalination (Necessary in a world ravaged by natural disasters) and weapons technology, when a rival corporation tries to steal their corporation out from under them via some hacking they're forced to recruit some highly unlikely allies in order to fight back. Things I particularly liked about this book were the moral ambiguity of most of the characters, you have good people doing bad things to advance their worthy cause because that's the only way to achieve their goals and the setting of a world that's been ravaged by natural disasters (It's never spelt out exactly what happened as that would have derailed the flow of the narrative but it appears the Earth was hit by multiple asteroids which triggered earthquakes, tsunami and volcanic eruptions including the Yellowstone super volcano). The author managers to include some black humour and astute observations about the nature of capitalism and society but again not at the expense of the narrative. If I have one criticism it's that the book is a little light on descriptions of characters and locations, it doesn't need to be pages of detailed description but a few more adjectives would have been nice. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in Cyberpunk as it acts as a good entry point to new readers and a refreshing change in perspective to hardcore fans.
...more

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Nov 26, 2018 Carolyn rated it really liked it

A delightfully silly, bonkers sci-fi that doesn't take itself too seriously but with some real bite beneath the cute, and humour as black as treacle beneath all the pastels and rainbow. It can be difficult to decide whether Mox and Mitsu are emotionally stunted due to the trauma and tragedy in their lives or are just calculating (maybe borderline sociopathic) women-children but either way they're supremely entertaining, leading to plenty of moments of inappropriate hilarity as well as moments of ...more

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Nov 19, 2018 Carmen Austin rated it it was amazing

This Book Is For Martin Millar SuperSuperFans Everywhere

I was rooting for Mox and Mitsu the whole time, but should I have been? Martin Millar does it again with his lovable, but f****d up characters.

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Oct 04, 2018 Martin Willoughby rated it did not like it

I wish I had the hardback version. It would burn longer.

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Oct 26, 2018 Bek Macee rated it it was amazing

This is quite like manga in the form of a novel. I'm a manga fan and I really enjoyed it. I liked the kawaii elements in the Supercute Empire and I also liked that it's not mocked in the book. The nature of kawaii is not made to look ridiculous, and nor are its followers. The joint heroines, Mox and Mitsu, are presented as frivolous in public, but efficient and even deadly behind the scenes. As a cyberpunk adventure, the story moves along swiftly. It seems light but there are some notably darker ...more

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Apr 16, 2019 Kazima rated it liked it · review of another edition

Supercute, Superfun and surprisingly Superdark at times. A fun little read!

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Dec 02, 2018 David Harris rated it liked it

I'm grateful to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

In a near future where the earth has been blighted by a series of disasters - human caused and natural - corporate culture dominates, with the top 19 conglomerates - the "C19" - at the top of the pile. Among these is Supercute, the empire founded by teenagers Mox and Mitsu in their bedroom, using an iPhone to create their own show which would feature not only fashion and music but maths, science and philosophy.

But that was decades ago. I'm grateful to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

In a near future where the earth has been blighted by a series of disasters - human caused and natural - corporate culture dominates, with the top 19 conglomerates - the "C19" - at the top of the pile. Among these is Supercute, the empire founded by teenagers Mox and Mitsu in their bedroom, using an iPhone to create their own show which would feature not only fashion and music but maths, science and philosophy.

But that was decades ago. While Mox and Mitsu still present their show they're now at the head of an enterprise that not only provides clean water to near starving population, but makes arms. That doesn't just project an image of CGI "cuteness" but builds over nature reserves. That has virtually dropped its educational mission, and even has reserves of troops.

And the Supercute girls are barely human, having received augmentation after augmentation.

This was a grim view of the future indeed, and yet - in the obsession with marketing, glamour and image - rather plausible. In particular I found it didn't take a lot of imagination to accept the enfeebled governments, impoverished public realm and corporate chicanery. The latter is a key ingredient of the book, as a rival corporation, led by the ridiculous Moe Bennie, essentially hacks into Supercute to stage a hostile takeover. "Hostile", in the work, meaning something ultimately enforced by private armies, drones and missiles. Mox and Mitsu are challenged as never before by this, thrown onto the ropes and having to fight back for everything they've built.

That makes for a story which is essentially one drawn out chase and revenge sequence, mainly taking part in the abandoned, radioactive tunnels of the London Underground and in the various virtual "spaces" where Supercute and the other corporations hang out. The girls have to recruit some VERY disgruntled ex employees to help them, as well as some of the legion of Supercute Superfans around the world.

This was where the story got a bit squirmy for me, as I didn't really get the motivation of the ex-employees - Mox and Mitsu aren't, and don't really try to be, very persuasive to those who already have reason to distrust them - and the idea of billionaires recruiting help from the impoverished teenage girls living in refugee camps who seem to be Supercute's key demographic isn't really a very nice one. But I think that's possibly the point. When I first started reading the book I felt that M&M (sorry, I can't help that) were a bland and characterless pair, but I think what the book reveals is that's just a (cute) front. Underneath - and once out of the studio - they have bags of character, it's just they're not very nice at all.

Indeed, if you knew at the start what you learn by the end, you probably wouldn't care at all what became of them. The Supercute empire, which started with a commitment to real good - relief of suffering, empowerment, an educational purpose - has become nothing more than part of the corporatist apparat keeping the struggling masses down. Despite the intermittent attempt of the girls or of others to excuse themselves, it's clear there's been no real attempt to stand against this and I fairly quickly began to ask why should I care about them at all. But by then a VERY hectic chase was under way with it's own momentum.

The other difficulty I had with the story was the unlikely sequence of disasters which seemed to have befallen Earth to make everyone so miserable. Apart from understable things like global warming, and wars, we hear of a dramatic collapse in the ozone layer, numerous volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, accidents involving nuclear waste which have left much of the Thames Estuary irradiated and even a supernova. There is also talk of several "impacts" which I took to be meteorites or the like. I was waiting for some kind of rationalisation of this - have Supercute and the other corporations taken advantage of all these calamities, or did they somehow cause them? It seems too much, and too varied, for coincidence, and actually I think the global prognosis from what we already know is grim enough to motivate this future without the need for extra disasters.

So I do have some reservations. (I was also rather gobsmacked by the ending - Millar delivers a truly "WTF happened there?" moment which will I think annoy those who think they're going to get a neat, clear conclusion. But I don't mind that, though I am still puzzled. I won't spoiler by saying what I think the ending meant, but if anyone out there has any ideas, I'd be happy to discuss).

That said, though, it's not a bad read, it has terrific pace, it is short (I can imagine some authors making this two or three times as long, which wouldn't work at all) and, in its own terms, plausible. ...more

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Dec 08, 2018 Alicia Gadi rated it liked it

I don't know where to start. I really liked it because I didn't expect this kind of cute cyberpunk, but I didn't find it 'funny' as people say. I'd rather consider it a very experimental novel that looks into further elements of science fiction.

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Oct 02, 2019 Jack Deighton rated it it was ok

Welcome to the realm of Mox and Mitsu, stars of the Supercute Show, the world’s most popular entertainment. Starting as teenage girls in a bedroom in London with only an iPhone and a collection of cuddly toys, using their own skills, software assistance and enhanced bodies - only thirty percent of their brains is still organic, about the only original body parts left - they have parlayed their following into the mammoth Supercute Enterprises, one of the world’s top nineteen conglomerates, with Welcome to the realm of Mox and Mitsu, stars of the Supercute Show, the world’s most popular entertainment. Starting as teenage girls in a bedroom in London with only an iPhone and a collection of cuddly toys, using their own skills, software assistance and enhanced bodies - only thirty percent of their brains is still organic, about the only original body parts left - they have parlayed their following into the mammoth Supercute Enterprises, one of the world’s top nineteen conglomerates, with fingers in every pie (including weapons production) but particularly desalination. Their trade-marks are multi – but never clashing – colours, always having twelve centimetres of skin showing between their skirts/shorts and stockings (they are not unaware of older male followers) and Big Colour Super V-hair. Not color, note. Mox insists. Civilisation may be having a difficult time but it’s not yet ended. The Supercute Show can be accessed via what reads like “normal” television but also through Supercute space, in effect a virtual reality zone, a kaleidoscopic cyberspace, entry to which is mediated through purchases and brand enthusiasm.
The outside world is in the wake of an unspecified set of disasters alluded to but not described in the text. Large areas lie derelict and deserted at best, irradiated at worst, with government regulation of the C19 virtually non-existent and its members subject to fierce competition. “‘When you get to a certain size you can’t stop.’” Investors want growth. If you stand still you get swallowed up. Hence Mox and Mitsu are there to be shot at.
Enter Moe Bennie at Lark 3 Media with his offer to Supercute’s desalination rivals RK Enviro. He plans to exploit a flaw in Mox’s and Mitsu’s android Artificial Intelligence Forecast Unit, Aifu, to gain control of the company’s shares and consign Mox and Mitsu to oblivion. Literally. Members of the C19 deploy lethal force vigorously to protect their interests. Premises are guarded by “ag-scans” which detect hostile intent.
It does then seem a little odd that Millar puts into Bennie’s mouth the thought, “‘Most people don’t care about the super-rich. They’re struggling through life, worrying how they’re going to pay the rent while politicians tell them it’s time to make sacrifices. Meanwhile some guy on a yacht had just made 100 million with his AI investment software. The same day my first hedge fund reached ten billion, the government cut child benefit in half.’” The text offers no other trace of conscience on his part. Rather the opposite.
Not that Mox and Mitsu are innocent themselves. As things progress we learn more about how their success was achieved, how much potentially reputation damaging information they have suppressed. Their rise was in part propelled by confrontationalism, until their edge was blunted by the necessity to placate advertisers, their educational intent watered down so as not to baffle consumers unduly. Happy Little Science Pixie, anyone? In this, Millar’s dystopia is depressingly familiar.
Bennie’s strategy begins to succeed and the Supercute Show falls off air but he has reckoned without Mox and Mitsu’s determination and their devoted followers. Two of these, Amowie in Igboland and Raquel in South America, all but pre-teenagers, are the most engaging and (a little conveniently?) resourceful characters in the book.
The final confrontation - in shoot-em-up style - is enabled by a pair of time-limited Mox and Mitsu clones quickly computer-printed in a back-street laboratory.
The comparison to Vonnegut which is blazoned on the back cover is to my mind totally misplaced and does Millar no favours. There is a certain tonal similarity but in matters of execution Millar falls way behind, especially as regards information dumping. It is obtrusive enough elsewhere but it sometimes appears that the only purpose of a Mox and Mitsu conversation is so that a piece of background can follow immediately. Plus no matter how true it is I don’t recall a Vonnegut protagonist ever displaying cynicism of the order of, “‘As for confidence. If you don’t have enough you can fake it.... tell the world it’s lucky to have you ... after you’ve faked it for a while, you’ll start to believe it.’” He was more for the underdog.
Supercute Futures isn’t high art nor a rigorous exposure of corporate (lack of) ethics. It’s a bit too broad brush for that and its intention different. But if you don’t take it too seriously, it’s a pleasant enough ride.
...more

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Dec 29, 2019 Ian Mccausland rated it really liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 09, 2019 Pennie Malone rated it really liked it

Not sure what I just read. I think I liked it (even loved it perhaps?) but utterly confused and bewildered. My vision is very pastel coloured now

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Nov 26, 2018 Lauren rated it it was ok

I looked forward to this one, and I found it fine but nothing special.

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Jan 27, 2019 Bob Hanks rated it it was ok

Kinda cyberpunky

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Dec 14, 2018 Daniel Logan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Incredible!

Martin Millar is my favourite author of all time. Supercute Futures is funny, creepy, sad, and crazy. Just read it.

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About Martin Millar

Martin Millar

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Martin Millar is a critically acclaimed Scottish writer from Glasgow, now resident in London. He also writes the Thraxas series of fantasy novels under the pseudonym Martin Scott.

The novels he writes as Martin Millar dwell on urban decay and British sub-cultures, and the impact this has on a range of characters, both realistic and supernatural. There are elements of magical realism, and the ...more