Pluto Review: An Eyeopening Portrayal Of The Everlasting Conflict Between Humans And Robots

Pluto Review: Being an avid fan of Osamu Tezuka, Naoki Urasawa, whom one might know as the creator of Monster, reimagined an arc from Osamu’s Astro Boy and created Pluto. The arc that Urasawa used is called “The Greatest Robot on Earth”, and the name “Pluto” comes from the chief villain of it. 

The manga ran from September 2003 to April 2009, serialized by the Seinen magazine Big Comic Original. The anime version of Pluto is produced by Genco and Tezuka Productions and animated by Studio M2. 

The director of this series (プルートウ) is Kawaguchi Toshio, who also previously worked on Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akira, Mononoke Hime, etc. The series has 8 episodes, with each spanning for almost 60 minutes. You can watch Pluto on Netflix. 

– Pluto Review Contains Minor Spoilers –

Pluto Review: Discussion

Usually, when two geniuses come together, a clash can happen in the output of their work; thankfully, that is not the case for Pluto. From the get-go, you will feel both Tezuka’s and Urasawa’s styles throughout the themes and the storyline.

The story takes place in a futuristic world that has completely or almost perfectly accepted robots and artificial intelligence in its society. The robots here are so advanced that you can’t even differentiate some of them from the humans. Our very own protagonist Gesicht, works as a detective, leads a normal life with his wife, ensures peace and even dreams about things that are a puzzle to him.

But everything goes haywire when Mont Blanc, a mountain guide robot, is fully damaged by an unknown entity. And Mont Blanc is not just an ordinary robot but one of the most famous and beloved ones, who is hailed a hero for its services in the 39th Central Asian War. 

The assailant is unknown, and he is targeting his victims according to their association with robot laws and robots. Now, the seven most powerful robots in the world, including Gesicht and Atom or Astro Boy, are in danger as they are targeted by this killer.

If you are like me, who prefers to read the manga than watch the anime, I will suggest you do the opposite. Rarely do we see an adaptation so fine that it portrays the characters and the situations better than its source material. And that is exactly what happened with Pluto. 

The animation is simply perfect, emulating the signature art style of Naoki Urasawa flawlessly. The background scores and the music used are breathtaking, and they showcase the stories really well. I especially loved the score used in the part where we see North No. 2 interacting with his music genius master.

The anime also portrays stories about the seven robots and their experiences with humans and clubs them together as a part of the bigger picture of finding the killer. We also witness their views on topics like war, death and hatred. 

The mystery here is great and will keep you on the edge of your seat as you would have practically no idea where the narrative is going to go. Now, we all know that Naoki Urasawa will not write something without any deep meaning. So yes, the psychological and philosophical aspect of this anime is thought-provoking and very apt for the current scenarios of our world, where we also fear the upcoming rise of artificial intelligence.

The questions this anime asks are what we, as humans, enquire about ourselves. Are robots dangerous? If they become sentient like humans, will they feel the need to wipe us out? But what if they are good and selfless? Or what if, just like humans, we get a mixture of both good and bad robots? 

Whatever the answer is, it is not simple, as we witness from the conclusion of this series itself. It was pretty unexpected and sad yet hopeful. The characters are very likeable, and maybe that is why it is hard even to hate the villains who are ultimately victims of greed and ambition. 

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Pluto Review: Verdict

If you like anime like Monster, Akira, etc, you will love this anime as much as I did. This really needed an animation adaptation for anime fans to enjoy it fully. Yes, prior knowledge about Astro Boy helps, but it is not at all needed. 

I do not really have a criticism against this show. It might not be the best anime ever for me, but it is still a great watch with an interesting plot, complex characters and inspiring themes.  

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