Pluto
Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka

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Naoki Urasawa, now an established author of pot-boiling epic thrillers such as Monster and 20th Century Boys, delivers again with Pluto, a sci-fi mash-up of Osamu Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atom.

This excellent sci-fi revolves around AI robots and dispenses with the explanation of Asimov's Law of Robotics for Dummies and just gets right on with entertaining your brain with explorations of the theme of sentient life born from humanity's hands. You're either a sci-fi reader and will immediately swim in the narrative, or new to all this and thrash around unknown waters because Urasawa is not interested in holding your hand, he just wants to tell ... the bold story using the 'World's Strongest Robot' story arc of Tetsuwan Atom as a jumping point.

Urasawa even takes a supporting character of the original manga and turns them into the main protagonist, rendering Astro Boy himself into a supporting high profile cameo, and a great one at that. This entire concept of one artist dipping into another's world is fascinating and full of wild possibilities. Tezuka's imaginative universe coupled with Urasawa's tension-filled narrative is a joy to read, especially after a few volumes when crisis after crisis befalls characters pushing them to the limit.

Blade Runner, I, Robot, Ghost in the Shell, The Animatrix, to name a paltry few, the list is long and varied. All of sci-fi's greatest literature and movies play with these ideas of the relationship between AI/robots and humans, as did Tezuka and as does Urasawa. But with Pluto there is no vague posturing of whether they can fit into human society, these ideas are already established by the time the story starts.

A brilliant decision as there are already many stories about the border between acceptance and antagonism of robots, the threat of their uprising against humanity culminating in apocalyptic war, but not as many stories about robots being treated as valid citizens of countries, with jobs and families of their own, some of them even revered and idolised by the masses while others are disliked for their metallic bodies. Yes it’s an allegory for race relations, but so is all sci-fi an allegory for something, at least it’s not hackneyed in the hands of a seasoned writer like Urasawa. (uh, except for a robot-hating character called Adolf, but anyway...)

The backdrop to Pluto is great future-retro design. Skyscrapers with inexplicable tubes for commuters flowing around and between them, sleek efficient cars wrapped in glass, long roads swirling around cities. It’s a heightened fantastical futurescape full of idealism. Urasawa's characters are distinguished by their noses as usual, with different races differentiated easily, you dont ususally ever get confused with who is who in his tales.

What kick-starts this story is when a major robotic figure, loved by all, is murdered brutally. Fans of Urasawa rejoice, we have yet another exciting mystery with procedural investigation, a cast of many witnesses, suspects, criminals and cameos. This manga began publication the same year a certain country was attacked and occupied by another, and that event permeates this story, for better or worse is up to you, but its integrated well by tying many threads together into the whole mystery. The first robot victim that opens the story was one of 7 of the most powerful robots in the world. Someone is going round bumping them off. Europol detective Gesicht is on the case.

A methodical man troubled by nightmares, he is as brooding as Urasawa's previous protagonists yet having the added depth of being a robot himself. This main character is so great because there is that classic dichotomy and juxtaposition of man and robot, the constant questioning of motive and intent, the internal conflict of the character and the external conflict of his work life and private life. By robot law instilled into every AI, robots aren’t allowed to take human life, yet all surface evidence of the crimes in the story point that they could not have been perpetrated by a human, so our detective has his work cut out for him to solve the mystery while resolving the issues in his mind.

At heart Pluto is a mystery/crime thriller, and there are great intriguing cliffhangers to each chapter. We follow Gesicht as he investigates crime scenes, questions people and we also get the occasional and obligatory “regret to inform you” scene which is turned on its head. You don’t know if you're meant to laugh at the blocky metal robot in a kitchen apron being told her husband's been killed, but the pathos through dialogue and composition ends up with gravitas.

You shouldn’t be laughing at our metallic friends; they've got intelligence and emotion as much as their creators. As is amply demonstrated through many chapters with robots attempting to attain the higher level of consciousness lived by their creators. When some of them die, in their last moments they're perplexed by how much humanity they show in death and it’s poignant.

So when Gesicht gives his chapter-one ending statement with steely determination, we're firmly in the passenger seat, riding shotgun for some great sci-fi thrills.

"I will search for the killer. Whether he is robot or human, he is possessed by a demon."

A coupling of brilliant acumen can evoke undertones of approval, or of apprehension. But all can rest assured that in the case of Pluto, the pairing of manga suspense master Urasawa and legendary cartoonist Tezuka is an exceptional good stroke of fortune. From the creators of anime giants Monster and Astroboy, the multiple-award winning manga Pluto gives first impression as a high-tension thriller that befits the reputation of its creators.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide,
No escape from reality.

Once in a couple of years, a great manga that differentiates itself from the rest of the horde, overcoming stereotypes of near-sighted ... librarians, perverted high school boys, and female fighters with huge chests and short skirts – at the same time unusual and ludicrous. No, Pluto does not possess any of these indiscretions. Instead, this novel offers characteristics apparent in great anime classics that moved our hearts back during the turn of the century; a robot impersonating humans and striving to acquire emotions, a tear straining allegory of an old director with music as his only memory his homeland, a child genius that can impress even the smartest of doctors, a series of robot murders, and a detective giving all he has to solve the case – all in the style of novel classics such as Akira and Monster. This is the kind of manga that we have come to love, that we have become used to during the golden age at the turn of the century.

Taking inspiration from Isaac Asimov, arguably the greatest author of robot fiction, we are presented with a retro-futuristic world, the exact prototype of envisioned by Verne, Bradbury, and Huxley. Taking insight from Tezuka, we are again presented with old characters of renown that inundates one with vast pangs of nostalgia. An entirely new universe is born from the remnants of the old. An entire world envisioned to perfection where robots coexist with humans besides building and on sidewalks, a world in which, instead of Ku Klux Klan and Jim Crow laws, we are presented with anti-robot organizations and the trashing and replacing of machines without sympathy. A world where those who fight for the rights of robots are killed mercilessly.

The strength of the story comes from its impenetrable plot. The setting is based on a police state of a society in the near future, where the moral dilemmas of ethical treatment of machines arose after the invention and development of the robots; as such, the plot is cleverly woven, and the issues brought up subtly. We are presented with big pictures. Head of departments screaming at their officials because they are robots, criminals kept alive in order to undergo extensive examination; we are also presented with insiders. In the homes of the denizens of the city, we see families mistreating robots who have worked for them without complaints over their short life-span when they are unfit for work. Although the characterization is arguably equally important, the minor characters, the ones that Urasawa is famed for focusing in order to develop the plot, are the ones that should receive the most attention.

Regardless of whatever accepted norms in which one writes a story, Urasawa breaks expectations and brings plot progression not through the introduction of characters, not through their deaths, but through the conversations between the main character and minor characters in the story. Through the conversation with a common household robot maid – whose husband is directly involved in a robot death, the reader is reveled with insight into the emotional threshold which robots are envisioned to develop in the story, and thus, have been perfected into beings which crossed the fine line between the living and the dead; the conversation with a robot who is locked up as a psychotic human killer – introducing events happening long before the story, creating the story’s back drop without excessive filler; through the dialogue uttered by father of the greatest robot ever built Atom – another character with only rare appearances in the novel, we are introduced to new ideas through subtle means. What better way to deftly progress the plot than to use minor characters instead of the protagonists from whom we expect change? So we’d better pay attention, because seemingly unrelated allegory to a musician can explain volumes.

A great skill that Urasawa possesses is the ability to keep suspense in animation for the entire duration of the manga. Unlike its more relaxed cousins, Pluto brings the suspense permeating through the entire cast of the characters. No matter from what angle one views the purpose of the protagonist, the mood is felt throughout the manga that he is on the edge of being blown into bits or slaughtered mercilessly. There is no moment when the reader ceases to worry for Gesicht as well as his compatriot androids; they seem at once invaluable to the plot, and disposable at any moment, a large boon to casting most of the characters as robots who can be seen as more things than persons, which brings up a main motif of the novel: if robots are so close to the real thing that they may be seen to have a conscience, then are they still animated objects? Humans originate from silt, and animate through the electrical signals sent by nerve endings, a description essentially identical to that of robots; so why are we held in higher regard?

As contrasted from thoughtless stories, the presence of these aforementioned reoccurring motifs provides the opportunity for thought, adding flavor to the plot through personal interaction. In this respect, Pluto proves itself as not merely a juxtaposed series of events for entertainment, though it provides a plethora in tow, but rather, an insightful reflection towards the allegory of life’s purpose. The addendum of these motifs also serves to bind the story together by providing a central theme as well as benchmark topics that work as threads connecting one parcel to another, forming the overall sphere of plot from the background.

The jewel in Pluto’s crown is its pantheon of characters, as well as Urasawa’s use of characterization on the antagonist. Wielding dexterous bouts of diction and plot devices, Urasawa molded the villain into a constant force lurking in the shadows; albeit having few appearances, we are left with a deep impression of the deep dangers threatening the main character. There is no place that is not influenced by the darkness; even in the mildest of settings, the central conflict is unconsciously understood through symbolic harbingers. A ride in the peaceful woods can turn into an explosive battle and insinuating sabotage. What to expect? What will happen next? We are kept at the edge of our seat as we turn page after page of insidious ploys and puzzling mysteries.

Without attention grabbing action and music adding a flourish, manga is rarely preferred over anime in this community. However, belonging to part of a minority does not mean that it does not have anything valuable to offer. On the contrary, manga works such as Pluto provide an interesting alternative to much of the tasteless cash reapers debuting on adult swim. Immobile graphics burst into life with the help of our imagination, each person envisioning a different world in the mind, with glorious music fitting perfectly into the background. That is the beauty of manga. To animate the imagination.

Any way the wind blows~

There’s something repetitive about how Naoki Urasawa draws. His skill at faces is arguably unmatched, in design and caricaturization. He captures real peoples’ features more than most mangaka even try to, yet his characters still feel completely at home in a comic. But when you read more than one of his stories, you start to notice the similarities. The same exaggerated noses and large foreheads, the same folds in skin and shapes of jaws. Rarely will he completely copy and paste a single design, but he’ll happily reuse the building blocks. It’s like picking random in a game’s character creator — the combination may be ... unique, but none of the pieces are truly new.

The same, unfortunately, can be said for his stories.

You might not have read Pluto before. But if you’ve read Monster and 20th Century Boys, and perhaps the various Tezuka works that Pluto draws from, then there is little new for it to offer you. Urasawa does not push himself to new places here. He repeats concepts he’s already done, and all he adds is an ode to his favorite things from his childhood.

That’s not to say he is lacking in skill. He may be the most well-rounded, competent mangaka in the industry, in both art and storytelling. His style is easy to read yet complex to analyze. The grounded-ness and western movie inspiration make him an easy choice for those who “don’t like anime.” That mature mass appeal makes it obvious why he’s so highly regarded, and if you quantify how many things he does right, it’s easy to agree he’s one of the best. But the more I read his works and try to qualify them, the more I find myself bothered by the underlying issues.

There’s always the detective. And the villain, whose presence looms over the story, yet is always hiding in the background. You feel the tension that the villain is going to do something next, and that it will be bad, but it’s up to the detective to figure out just what that thing is before they can even consider trying to stop it. Story progression is driven by the key questions — who is the culprit, what is their goal, what motivates that goal, and what history gave them that motivation.

It’s not saying much to point out these similarities between Urasawa’s works. Yes, they’re mystery stories. How insightful of me, to point out that they all do things mystery stories do.

But you could draw all these same comparisons between Monster and 20th Century Boys. Doing so, I find that 20th Century Boys feels like it attempts to innovate upon what Monster did, to go beyond Urasawa’s bread and butter and add some new spices. Its plot structure gave constant surprises, even if believability was stretched thin as it went on. Pluto’s plot structure feels reminiscent to the point of repetitiveness. Gesicht, the detective, goes from place to place, meeting with people that give him nuggets of information that slowly point him toward the answers. Again, it’s standard detective fare. But so many scenes filled me with the worst kind of deja vu. Doesn’t this scene feel exactly the same as something I’ve already read? Then why am I reading it at all?

One of Urasawa’s bread and butter techniques is the episodic focus on side characters, exploring their emotions before they tie into the main plot (often by dying). I don’t have a problem with him bringing this one back — but yet again, I wish he did new things with it.

One of these, early in the story, is emblematic of his writing style. A blind composer spends his aging days playing piano for himself, not for the world. His robotic butler, a robot soldier, wants nothing more than to create music, so he can appreciate beauty for himself. The composer believes a robot couldn’t never do such a thing. Real music is analog and comes from the heart.

It’s a perfect setup. Too perfect. If something like this can make you care and cry, then I’m happy for you, and I wish I could feel the same. I find it to be lacking something, and I’m not sure if I can truly explain what. It’s far too predictable, to begin with — as soon as it begins, you know that the robot will not give up, the composer will get angrier, but they will eventually understand each other better, before the robot dies in combat with the villain of the story. In theory, the concept of this story is strong, even if it completely fails to surprise me. But conforms too closely to that concept, riding on the idea of it alone, and feels like it embodies a generic idea of what a “good story” is rather than doing anything interesting. Perhaps because it plays its hand too early, makes it immediately obvious what it’s going for rather than play with what kind of story the reader should expect. I feel as much emotion reading a summary of that arc as I do from the arc in the manga itself. The execution of the concept is so clean that it’s sterile.

The characters occupy a similar space. They’re crafted well. They do everything right. But I can’t help but find them hard to care about. Gesicht is an interesting man, in the skillset you see him employ to solve the mystery, and his underlying character struggles with the traumatic secret he keeps, and whether he can truly feel things as a robot. There’s no easy mistake to point to, nothing that’s blatant bad writing. But it fails to do anything truly acceptable. Certainly not as interesting as 20th Century Boys’ Kenji, much less Monster’s Tenma.

It might be easier to see in some of the side characters. The ones it actually wants you to care about, at least. Two of them are former soldiers now working as robotic strongman wrestlers. They care about their families, and giving their audiences joy, but as the villainous threat of a robot killing the strongest robots in the world grows, they stake their pride on trying to take it down. They fail, of course. But you already knew that before I said it. And will you really care when their tragedies occur, or will it just feel like going through the motions?

Well, maybe you cared. I’m just trying to explain how I didn’t. It’s okay for us to feel differently.

Where Pluto succeeds is with its inspiration’s titular character, Atom. As well as his sister Uran, who shares many of his ethereally positive qualities. There, Urasawa feels like he captures something genuinely greater than just the sum of tropes. A iconic, archetypal, larger-than-life goodness you see in paragons like Superman. Atom feels like he’s the main character, not of Pluto’s narrative, but of Pluto’s world. I never read Astro Boy, yet Pluto felt like it communicated to me why Atom was such a big deal anyway. All of the robots, when you look closely, are as human and feeling as their biological counterparts. Just in their own way. But Atom, in truth, felt even moreso.

Atom is the focus of the final stretch of the story, and this isn’t quite a good thing. Gesicht exits the narrative in an uninteresting way. If the casualness was the point, if it was meant to be incidental in an unexpected and unavoidable way, then I don’t think it worked very well. He doesn’t leave much of a legacy, even if it does lead to one key plot development that the story needed. And then, yes, Atom is the focus, and it’s no longer a detective story. Now it’s closer to a standard action story. Not quite the cliche battle shonen, but generic all the same. It feels disjoint from the first half. Urasawa finally does something new in Pluto, but it’s simply him doing his take on another author’s work rather than innovating. But I’ll get to that later.

What I do like about the final stretch of Pluto is how well it ties together the themes. I normally hate cycle of hatred themes. So often, they’re forced, hamfisted, and never quite justify their supposed depth. If a character is so consumed by hatred, then don’t make it so easy to change their mind!

Pluto does it right. The hatred feels justified in how extreme it is, and expressed in powerful ways. It’s tied to other themes in a genius way — that hatred that gets passed on and cycled in response to atrocities is the same strong emotion required to properly focus an activate an overly-complicated AI, which is the same hatred that is testament to how in the right circumstances, a robot truly does feel as much emotion as a human. It seemingly falls for one of my pet peeves — when a character consumed by hatred is convinced too easily — but the circumstances do make sense, and Atom is the one who convinces him. The quality with which he is written makes me believe it.

Part of the reason the cycle of hatred themes work is the source of that hatred. Pluto grounds it in one of the few things it feels like Urasawa was genuinely passionate about in this story: The Iraq War. Not the real-life one, but we have the United States analogue making false claims of the Iraq analogue having weapons of mass destruction — I mean robots of mass destruction — and invading and devastating the nation. Children are killed, chances of replacing the desert with flowers are destroyed, and the invaders continue to occupy and oppress the land. It’s not subtle, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s an expression of how strongly Urasawa feels about what the US did. It conveys the horror of an unjust war, and in doing so it fully explains the anger and desires for vengeance the villain feels.

Unfortunately, there’s a major misstep in this I have to address. The story doesn’t just show the unjust war. It explains it, with the not-US President and teddy bear hyperintelligent AI. Supposedly, they orchestrated everything the main villain did. Narratively, this already makes no sense, feels entirely vestigial and tangential to the plot, and is so unsatisfying that I don’t even care that I’m spoiling it. How did they actually manipulate anything? What was their goal in doing so? It’s never explored. The villain easily could have done everything on his own, and is only less interesting because of this explanation.

But it’s even worse when you consider the political implications, and get to the reveal that the teddy bear AI was manipulating the President as well. It set up everything, going back to the war itself, because it somehow knew it would lead to the villain’s plan, which would lead to most of humanity dying so robots could take control. Again, this is already an unsatisfying, stupid reveal. But to take the fantastic commentary on a real-life war, and explain its origin with a nonsense rogue AI plot cheapens everything the story was saying. It could have challenged the true reasons behind the war, or something parallel to it. The evils of real life are evil enough without needing to fabricate a false one. Or, it could have just not included this at all, leaving it implicit, as the commentary would have worked fine without needing to explain everything. Some things are better left implicit than half-assed.

Perhaps the reason it went for the cartoonish explanation for war is that the more realistic, darker reasons would not have fit in a story tonally adjacent to Astro Boy. As I mentioned before, that’s what the final arc is — Pluto truly trying to be Astro Boy, rather than another Urasawa mystery. It does not do a bad job, but it fails to feel cohesive with what it had been before.

It’s in that recreation of Astro Boy, and Tezuka’s general bibliography, that Urasawa did truly accomplish something. For everything I think it retreads, and everything I think it fails to make interesting as an independent narrative, Pluto was never meant to be independent. It’s Urasawa revisiting his childhood, the childhood of his generation, and bringing it new life. I imagine it must be like going from Final Fantasy 7 to that game’s remake — taking something that was brisk, faster-paced, with more minimal dialogue, and filling in everything you had imagined in between as a child, to let you spend so much more time living with the characters.

And Urasawa doesn’t just bring to life the central Astro Boy arc. He draws from many Astro Boy stories and unrelated Tezuka manga, and does an astoundingly good job of weaving them together into a coherent narrative. It does not feel like the story takes breaks to tackle some other plot. It does not feel like a collection of disparate narratives, or like it makes out of place references. Pluto is as self-consistent and believable as if it had been entirely original, and I think someone would think it was, if they read it without knowing its origin story. Everything fits in the setting. I have to wonder if the reason Pluto feels so by-the-books and repetitive of Urasawa’s prior works is that he had his hands entirely full trying to make a hodgepodge tapestry feel cohesive at all. He succeeded.

But that reverence for the past is what bothers me about Urasawa’s style. His skills are undeniable, but he’s the ultimate boomer mangaka. He loves the good old days, the culture of his childhood. It’s not a bad thing to want to explore those themes — 20th Century Boys did something interesting with those ideas, by contrasting the dreams of his generation, growing up believing anything was possible, with modern cynicism. But as 20CB went on, its narrative developments grew unsatisfying and unearned, while its reverence for the magical power of rock and roll grew larger. Eventually, it just felt like it was idealizing that culture without purpose.

As talked about in a fantastic essay included in Pluto’s volumes, 20th Century Boys was telling men of Urasawa’s generation not to forget their dreams. Pluto is telling people a few things. Some of them are solid — anti-Iraq war, and some themes of robothood that are blatantly Asimovian but add a few interesting notes. But at its core, Pluto is Urasawa musing on how much he loves Tezuka. To the right people, that’s a good thing. The feat of tying so many Tezuka stories into a single narrative is, again, an impressive one. If anything similar exists in fiction as a whole, it’s certainly rare. But I’m hesitant to say that accomplishment actually makes Pluto a better story. To some, to those who grew up with Tezuka’s work, I’m sure it does. I can never read it from that perspective, and without it, the achievement does not detract, but it does not add either.

It’s not a bad thing for homage to exist in art, but this homage led to a story that felt blander than what Urasawa had written before, ripped between retreading his own work and retreading someone else’s. It might not have been possible for tributing Tezuka to have been done better than this, but I think the Tezuka tribute could have existed in a better story.

I’ve found it easier to respect Urasawa’s manga than to love them. Monster was technically well executed, but I found it hard to care about. 20th Century Boys hooked me, and had true potential that I wish it didn’t squander. It at least felt like Urasawa was still polishing his craft, and I almost love that manga, in spite of its failures. In Pluto, he stagnated. He fell back on old patterns so he could focus on recreating what someone else did, and ended up with something that didn’t do anything unique.

Pluto by Naoki Urasawa and Osamu Tezuka. The overall base of Pluto is taken from (according to Anime news network) a story arc of Astro Boy and uses some of its characters. Naoki's touch comes in with the main character detective Gesicht (almost a reincarnation of detective Lunge, from Monster, with more emotion), in the art and in the thriller suspense that comes in at the beginning followed by the intricate plot depth that continues throughout the manga.

Story: At the beginning the story starts off as a mystery/thriller with the series of robot murders and then slowly turns into ... more of an action/mystery. The interesting part with Pluto is that it touches a bit on the psychology of robots while having the horrors of war to begin a cycle of hatred that plays a major role throughout the story affecting the characters deeply.

Characters: For those of you who have read Astro Boy or is just familiar with the cast of characters will realize that Atom is "Astro Boy" and notice the return of Dr. Ochanomizu and Tenma Umatarou also as I mention above that detective Gesicht is very similar to the of Monster's detective Lunge with some alterations. The characters do a very good job of following the story and are very well developed.

Content: One of the things that surprised me about Pluto was the content, it has (I believe) no blood or language (being that half the characters are robots). Absolutely no nudity or anything like it. Mainly anything content wise would be all the lives lost in the war talked about and some of the crimes committed that are mentioned. Overall probably one of the cleanest mangas i have read so far.

Art: The art is (if you are familiar with any Urasawa's other works) easily recognizable. Being somewhat similar to Death Note's having a very realistic portrayal of people versus some of your mainstream art leaving out the real detail of human features allowing Urasawa to really capture the full impact of human emotions.

Conclusion: I having watched the animated version of Monster am already a fan of Urasawa and if you are likewise you will really enjoy Pluto also. Urasawa starts off by sucking you into the story right alongside the characters all the way to the end.

Should you happen to be new to any of Urasawa's works Pluto in and by itself is a very good manga and I also suggest you check out some Urasawa's other works such-as Monster anime or manga (the anime directly follows the manga), 20th Century Boys or any of his other works.

Pluto is a sci-fi manga by Naoki Urasawa, the creator of such beloved series as Monster and 20th Century Boys, like the 2 works before it Pluto is a dark psychologically driven mystery revolving around themes of hatred, revenge, and death. Pluto is a remake of the late Osamu Tezuka's manga Astro Boy, specifically the "Greatest robot on earth" arc. Despite for the most part following its source material Naoki Urasawea's interpretations takes risks and adds more depth to both the setting, the implications behind the story, and most notably its characters all whilst giving the overall picture a much darker than grittier feel to ... it both in looks as well as the story itself ultimately resulting in an emotionally powerful and intense story that has stuck in my mind even after finishing it.

Pluto's story revolves around A europol detective named Gesicht, one of the worlds 7 most advanced robots, as hes brought in to investigate the murder of one of the creators of said 7 robots, at the crime scene there is a suspicious pair of horns brutally attached to the victim's head, suddenly more deaths of creators and even a couple of the 7 robots alike all with a pair of horns somewhere near the body, Now with Gesicht at the helm of the mystery as well as him being in direct danger its up to him to discover who is doing this and why. The Story of pluto may not have as many twists as the previous stories by Urasawa had but its none the less intriguing, it manages to throw in a new aspect of world building, back-story, or a interesting new development to the plotline whenever it feels like it may become predictable and thanks to the liberties naoki urasawa takes with his own interpretation it provides a very different and more unpredictable story than the original source material.

The characters are easily the strongest aspect of Pluto, The amount of depth given to the characters is truly a masterful example of story telling, with the 7 robots in particular even with the short screen time given to a few of them the manga provides an in depth look into their motivations, Their relationships with others, what makes them happy, what torments them, as well as giving them unique and believable personalities that only helps strengthen the theme of humanity in robotic beings that Pluto uses as a main crutch to its story. The main character Geischt in particular was a compelling character and the story arcs dealing with his control over hatred and the emotional connections he feels to others most notably his wife was easily one of the highlights of the series for me, we are consistently teased with hints of tragedy in his past and uncovering what happened in the past is one of the more minor but none the less intriguing mysteries behind pluto. Gesicht is a smart and well written character with a load of depth and even some development in him, from start to finish he was a compelling and often times tragic character that really helped carry the themes the manga tries to convey. On top of these characters is the character Atom, or as you may know him astro boy, Atom is a much different character than in the source material being a much less care free and more mature to the point character. Atom like the other robots was given a strong look into what makes the character tick and does act as a strong lead alongside Gesicht. Alongside the robots there are human characters like the much more gritty Dr Tenma, the vengeful Adolf Haas, and the more serious Dr. Ochanomizu whom add alot of depth to the story as the series progresses though I will refrain from mentioning much about them as they are best left to see from your own eyes rather than a synopsis. The depth given to the robot characters makes pluto stand out to me as one of the best examples of a story using the humanity given to robots premise done right.

As the story progresses and more of the mysteries unravel the series does transition from a mystery to more of a drama/thriller, sadly even though the last 2 are still strong the series does reach a peak with volume 4 which provides a intense and emotion filler story full of revelations and intrigue all packed with a shocking ending that left me speechless, the final pages of volume 4 with the help of the phenomenal and detailed art is one of the most powerful and saddest images i have seen in story telling. What comes after is still a tear jerking tragedy but mainly in the final volume the series it begins to feel a bit rushed mainly in some explanations, while there are no lose ends the series does require you to use your head to fill in a few of the blanks, though this comes off more as rushed and poorly written in that aspect but not enough to really hurt the series too much as it was just trying to stay true to the source material and had to take a hit as a result, though the extremely abrupt ending of the final pages is disappointing none the less. Even giving it the handicap the final volume of Pluto is its greatest weakness, but isn't so weak to undermine the story pluto masterfully told up until that point.

Pluto is an emotionally powerful series that never left me feeling bored, despite its considerably shorter length than Urasawa stories are usually it still had so much depth to its writing, characters, and themes that its becomes hard to tell its as relatively short as it it. Its a phenomenal series more than worth a read despite its hiccups near the end. Osamu Tezuka would have been proud.

This is more theory crafting than reviewing and it may have some mild spoilers.
This is an amazing manga and you should read it no matter what, don't even hesitate.
So I've just finished re-reading Pluto by Naoki Urasawa which the first ever manga I've read, about 5 years ago. I was about 14 when I first read it so I didn't understand much of it, I was a huge astro boy fan as a child so I was quite mesmerized by Pluto, even though at the time I had no idea what manga and anime was, but it still was an amazing introduction to this ... world even though I was quite disappointed when I found out that not all manga were as amazing amd mesmerizing as Naoki Urasawa's and Jiro Taniguchi's works, but then again that was to be expected since those works were in the adult section of the french library in my city.
But after reading it again, I was even more surprised at how amazing and well written Pluto was. I had forgotten most of what happened aside from the fact that Gesight dies and that his hatered is what revived Atom, and that Epsilon is without a doubt one of the coolest robots ever. But what I didn't catch with my first reading was how this manga was way too relevant to what happened and is still happening in this world. And beyond its final message about how hatred can't solve anything, the final pannel with the evil teddy bear made me realize something I didn't expect Urasawa to do. The manga started serialization on 2003 which is the same year that a certain country invaded a certain other cpuntry under the excuse of dictatorship and making of weapons of "mass destruction" yet they found nothing in the end if we analyze some of the bs excuses flying around and understand the real reason they started the war, and what was the reason why Pluto was created? United states of Athracia attacked Persia under the exuse of manufacturing robots of "mass destruction" when in reality they were making robots to solve the problem of deforestation. Just look at the names and the clothes of the inhabitants of Persia to understand, and not only that look at how all 7 robots from different countries all went in the aid of the Athracia, which organization does that? And at last that teddy bear that was pulling all the strings from the shadows, a weak teddy bear yet who has the help of the president of the strongest nation and even asked him to be his slave in order to protect him, I have a theory about that, just think about that certain country that's been creating problems yet is protected fiercely. I don't want to go into details as discussing my political views will just turn into an ugly sight and it's not worth it.
Those may be just speculation of my part of course, but if I'm right, then damn Urasawa is a freaking genius. I've only given three manga I've read so far 9.5 or 10/10 which are A Distant Neighborhood, Onanie Master Kurasawa and Pluto. But Pluto is without a doubt the best manga I've read in the last five years. I've always said it's my favorite even though I had almost forgotten everything about but its greatness stayed fixed in my mind. I'm really grateful that this was my introduction to manga.
For those who read the manga, I would love to hear some of youd theories and your thoughts on mine.

Spoilers ahead

Osamu Tezuka was a veritable giant within the manga/anime industry and left an equivalent legacy behind when he passed in 89’, but his most iconic work to this day remains Astro boy. Pluto is a seinen adaptation of the aforementioned Astro boy, written primarily by Naoki Urasawa and despite having to live up to one of the mostly widely known manga of all time, it not only accomplishes it, but surpasses it with ease. In Pluto, Urasawa wields Astro boy’s world to create a thematically profound tale that encompasses themes of war, race, human nature and its central theme, Hope vs Hate. In 65 ... short chapters, Urasawa achieves what most manga can’t in 150, with a stellar cast, an interesting and engaging mystery and consistently amazing art that feels so nonchalant its almost laughable.

The story starts off with the destruction of one of the 7 most powerful robots in the world and the murder of a human, both of which, it is soon discovered, could have only been done by a robot. However, due to the 3 laws of robotics that govern the robots in this world, its nigh-impossible for a robot to kill a human and has only happened once in recorded history. And as such, we have the central mystery of the story, which spans the entirety of the manga. Like most of Urasawa’s works, Pluto has a habit of shortly detouring to explore characters and ideas before tying them back in to the central storyline, often switching protagonists by doing so. This can be a double-edged sword, as switching to a less interesting protagonist then the central one can lower one’s engagement with the story, especially within a story like Pluto, with an amazing protagonist already within there. Pluto pulls it off regardless. Without spending to long on the characters, Pluto uses this style of storytelling to great effect to keep the story fresh and flesh out the characters when needed, but without overstaying its welcome within these side plot points. Overall, this tight narrative allows the story to explore everything it wants to, but without ever wasting your time.

The characters of Pluto are nothing short of the amazing. Our central protagonist, Gesicht, has proven to be one of my favourite protagonists of all time and remains in my personal top 10 characters to this day. His journey is a thematically profound and emotionally resonant piece that really brings the story to a whole new level. Even without an amazing supporting cast, Gesicht alone would carry the character section for me. However, he’s not alone. The rest of the main cast includes Atom, Pluto, and Abdullah. All of which are amazing characters in their own right. One thing that binds the main cast is hate. As mentioned before, hope vs hate is a central theme of Pluto and these ideas can be found in each of the main cast, and drives much of their actions. However, this hate isn’t just from anywhere, each character has his own past, usually tying into the emotional catalyst of this story, the war between U.S. of Tharcia and Persia. War is hell, and Pluto drives this idea home, showing just how deeply the war affected not only our main cast, but much of the side cast as well, specifically the other 5 strongest robots in the world. Outside of the robot cast, we find two of our most important characters, Dr. Tenma and Dr. Ochanomizu, who once again embody this duality of hope and hate. Dr. Tenma is an especially interesting characters whose self-loathing and hatred corrupts his mindset into the belief that to be human is to hate. Dr. Ochanomizu offsets this, and after the war has set his mind to trying to make the world a better place, even if the kindness is as small as fixing an abandoned robot dog. These character, plus plenty more, such as Brau-1589, Uran and Adolf Haas make this cast one of Urasawa’s best and one of the best in manga full stop.

Urasawa’s art and panelling has always been at least consistently strong, and Pluto is no exception. His panelling remains consistent and easy to follow, even if its not especially inventive or unique. In fact, one criticism that can be levied towards Urasawa’s art is, while consistently good, it hardly ever peaks in the same way other stories do. However, Pluto offsets this trend and allows Urasawa to really flex his creative muscles, producing some of his absolute peaks for his art. One such aspect is Urasawa’s architectural panels. With the futuristic cities in Astro boy, Urasawa’s talent is really let loose on the panels of different cities. It also can’t be ignored just how unique and effective his style of character art is. Their slightly exaggerated features give them a sense of realism, but also uniqueness that immediately allows you to recognise them as one of the Urasawa’s characters and drive home the idea that these are real people.

However, the themes of Pluto are really where this manga shines. In a 65-chapter manga, you can only do so much. You don’t have the endless content to explore characters in the same way other stories do, so you need to create impact in another way, and the perfect way to do this is through thematic execution. And Pluto doesn’t even slightly miss. Human nature, war, race conflict and most importantly, hope vs hate. Every character and theme serve to enforce this hope vs hate conflict, which crescendos in the final chapter. There is no fix all solution here, there’s just the faint hope. That maybe, just maybe, by one person’s decision at a time, we can overcome our own hatred.

Overall, I adore this manga. It hits every note it needs to and never really misses. And that's why you should go read it. Even if it doesn't live up to the hype i've given here, it's only 65 chapters, you'll be done in no time.

I haven't read Astro Boy or seen the series. So, none of the characters were new to me before I started the series.

The story gets off to a strong start. A murder mystery in a robot dominated world. Cool! But unexpectedly, it is also full of pathos, regret and deep sadness. Just in the first 2 volumes, there are several scenes which are incredibly emotional and gut-wrenchingly tragic. And then from the third volume, the story expands. There is a war, a dictator is overthrown, there is an anti-AI league, a horticulturalist goes missing, there is a mysterious teddy bear, apocalyptic earthquakes occur, a ... traumatized orphan is introduced, a melancholic scientist is pursued for his research etc. etc. So many things happen simultaneously that even with attentive reading, there are over 8-9 subplots going on simultaneously. All the while as the plot lines progresses – themes of hatred, love, sadness, forgiveness etc. are bandied about like a ball in a game of soccer. By volume 5, any sense of the original mystery has long been abandoned.

The last three volumes are such that you just want to know what the hell is going on and get the story over with. The main characters Geischt and Atom are still likable but amongst all the various plot lines spread across various chapters, the story gets cumbersome and (at least for me) ends up losing all of its charm and whatever the edge-of-the-seat feeling it once evoked.

When I started the series, by the 15th chapter I was asking myself again and again: why has this not been adapted to a 24 episode anime? Now I know why: the author tries to do too much, in too less of a space, in a very convoluted manner. And that’s disappointing since this manga had great potential which was sadly never realized.

General reviews overall a 10, but the art is a little too fluid for my liking. Still good art, but not perfect from my perspective. It in no way detracted from the story, but I can't give the art a perfect score.
This is a perfect melding of hard scifi, classic scifi, classic manga and new manga.
Like all great stories, the plot, characters and themes are universal. The setting and media are one that appeal to comic readers, but could easily be modified to reflect any era.
I always like stories that take us off the beaten track a little, and let's face it - the most ... popular series tend to get into formulas as they stretch out longer and longer. Which is why using a secondary character as the main protaganist resonates with me - we get to explore the universe of astroboy from a different angle, and being a newer title, it is from a bit of a more adult perspective.
I also found myself really thinking about the impact of robots on human society- unlike some early scifi themes, robots slip into society as people, not pure objects or servants. I found myself questioning why I thought about certain robots certain ways - I cheered for the human looking ones and felt apathetic towards the mechanical looking ones. Obvious - and yet I had to ask myself why.
All the potrayals of charcters seemed natural and real from the emotion they felt to why they felt that way. And the supporting society was believable. I didn't even need existing countries from today to think it was a real place.
The end of volume 6 also brought about a radical change in the series - one I always wanted to see/do in a story, but rarely have seen - and never so naturally.
The manga focuses more on drama than action - which I thought worked well. The action sequences were looked forward to without being so prevelant that they became the entire story.

If you haven't - check it out. One of the best in my short manga reading career - and I am already looking forward to rereading it!

When I first heard about Pluto, I wasnt eager to read it. "Its just a retelling of an arc in Astro Boy," I thought to myself, "cant be that good." Eventually I caved and read it. I was blown away. The story is suspenseful and addictive, as expected of Urasawa. The characters are deep and interesting, and the art style is very fitting. Naoki Urasawa is a two time winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. The first time was for his masterpiece, Monster. The second time was for Pluto, and now I see why. However, for all the brilliance in this masterpiece, there is ... a rather large flaw. I never read the original "world's strongest robot" arc of Astro Boy, so this didnt apply to me, but the fact remains that this is a retelling. In other words, to all of those that read the original arc, it is a foregone conclusion. Since one of the pillars of a suspense plot is not knowing what will happen next, this is an unfortunate problem. Thankfully, its so good that even with this flaw, It is nothing short of a masterpiece.

The beauty of science fiction, in my opinion, is how it uses tales of a distant future to explore themes that are relevant to our modern society, and tackle some of the bigger questions that life has to offer. Going through Naoki Urasawa's oeuvre, you are likely to come across more than a few shining gems dealing with these kinds of heavy ideas and concepts. It becomes clear after going through a few of his works that he loves his giant robots and advanced technology. His take on one of the best arcs of 'Astro Boy' is not only his best work of pure ... sci-fi, but one of the best stories that discusses what it means to be human in any medium. That work is, of course, 'Pluto'.

'Pluto' follows Gesicht, a robot detective working for Europol, on his mission to solve one of the most puzzling cases of his career. The case involves a string of murders, of both humans and robots, where all the victims have been discovered to have objects protruding from their heads which are shaped like horns, or to have such an object positioned by their head. Moreover, the killer seems to have two major targets: the seven most advanced robots in the world and humans who have some connection to preserving the robot laws that govern their civilisation.

Although the plot itself is interesting, what really makes the series special is how Urasawa explores his characters. It's an odd thing to say, but the robots feel very 'human' in their portrayal, and have fleshed-out personalities, instead of just serving as mechanical backdrops to the plot. They have their own quirks, interests, lifestyles and philosophies that distinguish each from the other. The point is, they rarely ever feel stale.

To say any more would be to rob you of a one-of-a-kind experience. 'Pluto' does not waste any time in making its point. At only 65 chapters, it is a relatively short series that just about anyone can spare the time to read. This makes it a great jumping-off point for new readers of Urasawa's work. In fact, this is a series that I regularly recommend to anybody who is interested in manga. So, let's cut to the chase, shall we? Stop reading this, and start reading 'Pluto'.

Yeah tens across the board this manga us just that good ill keep it short but man this Manga is just absurdly good

Story: As a big fan of debate this manga really pushes some ideas about themes such as what it means to be human the philosophy behind murder and the meaning of free will. It does it brilliantly =.

Art: I mean I think its really good definitely Naoki's best artwork

Character: Every single main and side character all have there own motives and backstory no side character outshines the mains in importance there ideologies al clash at one point or another Its just genius!

Enjoyment: YEAH ... I ENJOYED IT its also only 65 chapters

OVERALL: Probably my favorite manga ever I have others ranked above it quality wise nothing is quite like Pluto

Quick story summary: There is a robot(?) that is killing the 7 strongest robots in the world, as well as select human robot experts. Gesicht, a renowned detective, is in charge of finding out who, or what, is causing all the murders.

Naoki Urasawa is often called one of the best storytellers to ever exist, throughout any medium. His most notable works include Monster, 20th Century Boys, and Pluto, which are all seen as some of the best stories ever to be created in manga if not in any medium, including cinema or literature.

But personally, having read all of the aftermentioned three series, I have to ... admit that although I didn't really enjoy Monster or 20th Century Boys as much as everyone else seems to, I believe that Pluto deserves all of the hype it gets.

I have a lot of problems with Monster and 20th Century Boys. They both seem to share similar faults: while the beginning is great, the middle starts to get drawn out far too long and the ending, for some reason, gets rushed and doesn't feel satisfying. (Huge spoilers for 20th Century Boys: How the HELL did Kenji survive? It literally makes no sense, and it also the makes no sense for him to just be fucking around for years after magically surviving Bloody New Year's Eve)

That isn't to say that I can't understand why Urasawa's works are so often praised, however. He is very good at making every chapter suspenseful, and also keeping crucial details hidden from you until the last minute. All of his manga that I have consumed so far (Pluto, Monster, and 20th Century), are prime examples of manga that you physically can't put down. In Pluto, I think this aspect of his storytelling really shines through. It is 60 chapters, but it'll be over before you know it.

I believe the biggest asset of this manga is it's length. Pluto is only 60 chapters long, which is good because unlike his other series, Pluto doesn't feel stretched out at all, and the ending actually makes sense and is satisfying. It is also a remake of another existing series, so the world makes more sense because many things already feel established. (Spoilers for 20th Century Boys: unlike, for example, in 20th Century where the dream world thing is randomly added, and never properly explained).

Another reason why Urasawa is praised so often is because of the attention to detail. I can't give too many examples out because of spoilers, but I'll say that this is a series definitely worth re-reading, if not just because of all the details you'll notice.

If you love suspenseful, mystery-driven stories that will be impossible to put down, then Pluto is definitely a great choice. If you want to check out Urasawa, then Pluto is a great choice. If you just want a masterpiece of a manga to read, then Pluto is a great choice. If you really love this, then it might be worth to also go read Monster and 20th Century Boys, although, in my humble opinion, I do think that they are overrated. (Only slightly in Monster's case, but very very overrated in 20th Century's case.)

Remaking Tezuka is a tall order. Urasawa's execution was flawless.

Dr. Tezuka himself introduced "The Greatest Robot on Earth" as being one of the more popular chapters from the Tetsuwan Atom series. The robot Pluto was a more complex character. Tezuka went on to say how upset readers were when it was all said and done; they wanted more - and fortunately Urasawa gave us more and then some.

The characters in the original work, the seven strongest robots in the world, had very simple substance and short existences within the original 180 page story (aside from Atom of course). Urasawa takes the blinks of life they ... had within Tezuka's work and stretches them out giving them so much more depth. Especially evident in his portrayal of Gesicht, who he reframes as the main character.

Some might say an "unfortunate flaw" in this remake is that it is a remake. The thought being that those who read the original story wouldn't enjoy the suspense of Pluto as much because they would already know the outcome. In spite of having read the original first, however, and with Urasawa being a master of suspense, Pluto still left me without a clue of what would happen next.

In order to truly appreciate Urasawa's take on Pluto, you should read the original Astro Boy chapter "The Greatest Robot on Earth." You must see for yourself how he was able to take Tezuka's work and, not necessarily make it better, but make it an amazingly good and different thing all on it's own, just as Doctor Tenma revived his Tobio.

(P.S. You might also want to read the "Blue Knight" arc from Astro Boy too. Our Tezuka fan-boy managed to weave that one in as well with his Brau-1589.)

Naoki Urasawa is frequently considered one of the greatest authors in modern manga. His plotting is incredibly tight and densely packed, his characters feel grounded and have complexities not afforded to most characters in manga and anime, and overall his stories since Monster have felt very adult in their themes and ideas without falling into the pitfalls common of seinen manga, who abuse the narrative freedom afforded to them by packing their stories with an excess of gore and sexual content to make their stories "edgy". For many anime and manga fans who want to show the best the medium has to offer, many will ... frequently point to his works.

So years back, after being blown away by Monster, when I found out he had actually penned this story, a retelling of an arc from Astro Boy, I was pretty damn excited to see what he had come up with. I was familiar with the franchise and some of Tezuka's other work, having watched several episodes of the 2003 Astro Boy anime and played the Omega Factor videogame years back, so there was an actual investment here that went beyond just reading another Urasawa story.

Needless to say, I was completely blown away by what I read.

Pluto is, at its core, a work of science fiction in the tradition of Ghost In the Shell and Blade Runner, i.e it is primarily concerned with the question of makes someone "human", and what point the line between a sufficiently advanced machine and a human actually is. Like Ghost in the Shell, the world that the story takes has had robots integrated into society for quite a while, so the story is not about them as an emerging force but rather what kind of society would exist where these beings who are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from humans, and how that grey area creates a lot of problems and interesting implications.

What makes Pluto not only work, but work very well, is two things.

The first is that it is actually reasonably intelligent. When it comes to a work like this, it can be hard to have new or interesting insights into what is essentially a very speculative future at best where many ideas have already been shown and articulated in a smart fashion in other works.

As with basically any story that deals with this "what makes a human?" theme there is some ground that is retread, but Pluto has some pretty great compelling ideas of its own to offer. It has an understanding of what it is like to live as a minority and a second-class citizen, and shows how simply because that group might be protected by the laws doesn't automatically mean everyone will accept them, because hatred simply doesn't work that way. Even when hatred is not present, contempt and indifference can be just as harmful, with many of the human characters displaying a casual disregard for any robots' well-being despite them having rights and being ostensibly their own people.

Hatred is in fact one of the central themes of the story, and it shows itself again and again as a force that cannot create anything positive or meaningful. Some people in the story hate robots so thoroughly and hold them in such contempt that they have formed explicit hate groups dedicated to maintaining human supremacy (in one of the more on-the-nose parallels they are basically the KKK for robots). But ultimately, hatred is one of the main things that define humanity and we can't simply not feel it; the point is made that any succifiently advanced robot will someday have to come to terms with experiencing it. That is one of the story's more laudable accomplishments, portraying crimes of passion, something we condemn in our regular society, as one of the spiritual rites of passage that makes a robot truly enlightened.

Secondly, Pluto has amazing narrative economy and is able to provide compelling characterization and development for characters who honestly aren't around for all that long. The mystery of the story and the way it unfolds is extremely captivating, making for a great page turner as things become more and more tangled in past political and social events. Urasawa employs a very "Steven Spielberg"-esque sentimentality to the writing, where it could have very easily felt mawkish and banal if not the compelling sincerity with which it is delivered and the general intelligence and imagination that went into the setting and ideas of the story. When the characters suffer, you will really feel for them, these Pinocchios who play at being human so well that you can't help but cry with them. The manga's cast is immensely likable and interesting, with the standout being Gesicht who is probably one of the best main characters of manga to date. They embody by far one of the most interesting aspects of the work, which is the dichotomy that comes from humans who have shut themselves away emotionally and become much more machine-like as time goes on, versus the advanced robots whose kindness, sincerity and empathy make for a fascinating contrast.

While the manga ends up losing some steam and its ending comes across as a bit anticlimactic, it ties up pretty much all its loose ends and is generally an engrossing read. While it can be easily argued that it is overly optimistic and sentimental, it has enough substance to be able to get away with most of it, similar to a smart person whose opinions you disagree with. The story can be a bit on-the-nose sometimes (it actualy references Pinocchio itself once, which I found unnecessary), but its heart is in the right place.

A final note is whether familiarity with Astro Boy or Tezuka's other work is necessary, since the series does have shout-outs and references to other works in his canon.

I think that the story is strong and does enough of a good job of explaining itself to stand on its own, but I do think that yes, you will get more out of it if you are familiar with Astro Boy in some way, whether it be the manga or one of the anime adaptations. Seeing Urasawa's take on these characters is one of the main pleasures of the series, for sure, and not one you'll be able to appreciate if you weren't already introduced to them beforehand.

So,hello guys it's my first review. I was going to upload a video on Pluto manga but bcuz I don't have enough confidence of doing a voiceover and also cuz im shitty at editing I thought of posting a review on Pluto instead of uploading a video on utube.I'll try to keep the review short.Lets start

So if ur one of those guys who love sci-fi genre and also like suspense thriller then congrats I have a manga for u ~ Pluto. But if u ask why pluto then this review is for u my friend......

Art - 9/10
Art of this manga is consistent. But sometimes ... the action panels are hard to understand. But hey who cares of the art when u have got the top class story.

Story - 10/10
The story is sure a mystery/thriller ride. If u wanna binge read a manga then try Pluto. The suspense of this manga is dope. U wont stop reading it till u get all the answers of ur questions. In short nicely done.

Characters - 8/10
My favourite character is gesicht. And other characters are also good but sometimes u wanna see other characters story instead of them. Sometimes urasawa shows the life of some characters after giving a cliff hangered chapter. I was like fu*k it imma skip this chapter but then I remembered the days when I first watched monster this cliff hanger thing happened in monster too. But after completing 74 eps I found out every thing is connected so if I skipped some part I wont be able to understand the story. That's why 8/10.

Enjoyment - 9/10
I enjoyed the manga but some parts were kinda boring.

Overall -
I wanna give this manga 8/10 rating cuz of some boring chapters and some characters.This manga can easily take a spot in my top 10s cuz of amazing storyline.

"Who killed Mont Blanc?"

The story starts off with a simple enough question, typical to every murder mystery out there. But through its twists and turns, Urosawa delivers a masterful commentary on what it really means to be human and the cyclical nature of hatred. It is only 65 chapters long but it uses its time perfectly and not a single moment is wasted. I was also impressed by how Pluto was able to deliver so many poignant and powerful moments in such a short time. Pluto is a very exciting and short read that I was delighted by, I definitively recommend it.

"Even if the world ends, I won't let you go."

At first when I started reading this manga I assumed it was going to take a generic Blade Runner theme of "What does it mean to be Human? Are the robots any different than us?" and while it did incorporate some elements of those themes those are more so a side point to some bigger and more important themes; that being what is born from hatred, why do we hate, and from such unspeakable malice are we able to forgive?

I will be alluding to some spoilers involving characters later on in this review so I will ... be going into my issues/praises now.

Issues:

The ending was kind of abrupt, and will go into more detail in the spoiler section later, but that was really the only problem I had. I can understand why someone would be disappointed with the fights as the majority of them you aren't able to see and are over in an instant but I feel like that helps the stories mystery and will be much more of a personal preference. I also feel like this was one of the "less visually impressive" Naoki stories, but that's because it doesn't really try and be a visual masterpiece and knows when to flex it's muscles while still restraining itself; it's minimalist but but solid.

Prasies:

Uhh, all of it. But to be exact with my praises, the mystery of Pluto is fascinating and one of its strongest suits and I commend the reveal. Not only that but I respect Naoki-san for not sticking with a generic Blade Runner plot, and while he definitely used some of those elements like with the anti robot KKK but it only uses those as a means to a much greater end with the mystery of Pluto being much more akin to the mystery of what it means to forgive when all you love has been destroyed.

All in all I highly recommend this manga. It's short and sweet, it doesn't drag it's feet and make you feel like an idiot because you couldn't see the twists but with enough information you're able to piece the information together alongside detective Gesicht. Clocking in at only 65 chapters it never feels like it's being rushed to meet deadlines and it feels like the perfect length for such an impactful manga.



"It filled my Heart with emotion... My robot heart..."






SPOILER SECTION AHEAD





Of the two main antagonists I thoroughly enjoy Abras story, but I feel like the Teddy A.I. wasn't given much room to be a particularly interesting enemy and while they were present the entire time it didn't exactly make sense why it was so infatuated with killing the 7 most advanced robots while seeking to the destruction of the Human race. Maybe this is something that just went over my head and the Teddy A.I. was actually in cahoots with Abra? I kind of get the President wanting them gone since he wanted Thracia to be the most powerful country but I don't really think Teddy was written the best he could've been, but oh well. He received a fitting end at the hands of the infamous human killing robot Brau who sacrificed himself to kill the secondary antagonist; but I still feel like it was just a little TOO abrupt and if anything needed maybe one more chapter.

Can robots make mistakes even though they are not programmed too.
Thats one of many questions pluto goes in too.

This Story simply said: Pluto is about the mystery behind the deaths of the most highly intelligent robots and their creators.

Story: 10
The mystery in Pluto is great. As we get more revealed about the crimes, the more questions arise. its not like everything gets revealed and thats it. No the Mystery remains untiil the very end. How Urasawa present his story is very unique and everything is somehow woven together. there is nothing wasted in pluto. One of my favorite parts is the whole part with North ... nr.2. it was simple yet touching and heartwarming.

Characters:10
Every character is in their own wy interisting and well characterised. Even the robots feel alive. My favorites are Uran and Atom.

Art: 7
The arts isn't really special but good enough. the panels in each chapter are well pased and there is never a moment where i felt it was dragging. it was always thrilling and enjoyable.

Enjoyment:10
I really enjoyed Plutp. The mystery was great and there was always this whiff of suspense throughout the whole story.

Overall, Pluto gets a 9/10

Pluto! A Manga that is based on the story of The Legendary Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy.

(***The review may have some minor spoilers to Major ones, but I'll make it sure that I mark them differently***)

Well... I never read Astro Boy nor I know a bit about its story. As far as I know from the Pluto's front & back cover & its forward pages, it's clear that Naoki Urasawa, The Manga Artist of Pluto, tried to give a Tribute to the Legendary Osamu Tezuka.

Firstly, let me give my take on the main points of the review.

•Story(10/10):

As I told earlier, I don't know about its ... link to the original Astro Boy, what I could only notice was that some of the characters in both mangas are common... Not similar but Common(I'll tell about them further).

The story is told to us in 65 chapters, divided in 8 volumes, average chapter length is 24 pages... The first & the last chapter of each volume contain some more pages than average.

The story in simple words is given in brief in the first Volume's starting pages... And that flows throughout the whole Manga, Each new volume tells a bit what it is gonna proceed with, in it.

The beginning tells that "There are 7 Most Advanced Robots in the world" & the story takes place in a world ideal for the coexistence of the Robots with A.I. & The Humans.

The story begins in typical Naoki Urasawa style, yes it starts with a Mysterious case, a murder... No, two murders, this time. The murder of one of the 7 most advanced robots in the world... Mont Blanc of Switzerland. The thing about this Manga's story is that all these 7 robots belong to the different countries, one from Switzerland, One from Turkey, Greece, 2 of them are from Asian Countries... And so.

Well these are the things anyone would notice as he/she will go along with the chapters. But here I am to tell the key things, that makes it a special manga.

The one of the most prettiest things in this manga had been that when it introduced any of these 7 robots... It had a story of it that makes you know about that character a lot and it even attaches you to the character. For instance, The 2nd robot... "North No. 2" got only few chapters but his story is very deep.
What makes it even more unique is that "How a Robot can make you feel". We know robots don't run like our brains, with emotional bias, but still the robots here, especially these 7 most advanced ones seemed to have experienced evolution.

The Story mostly runs around "Gesicht", the robot detective & the main character of the Manga along with "Atom", one of those 7 robots.

Well, Some of you might even be confused because of the title of the manga, which is Pluto... Well I will make it clear, It has nothing to do with the Planet Pluto in any way.

Pluto is the Antagonist, whether Robot or Human, It is better if I don't spoil it cz that's the mystery which will make you go through all these 6 volumes to finally get to know who or what is "Pluto".

Overall If I try to conclude how was the story, I would say, it nails in the genres it belongs to, which are Suspense-Mystery-Psychological as main. The psychological mind game is so much that it will make you have a lot of interest in what is gonna happen next. The Suspense & Mystery is all you can actually get to know from the "Synopsis" that There are 2 murders in the very beginning of the story, so a mystery, a big one, already starts from the very first chapter & continues.

I personally got shocked to experience such kind of story, as something like this comes to the experience maybe in a year or two. The way in which Naoki adjusts to simplify the complex stories, as many small stories go along but after sometimes they join each other & start to make a lot of sense. Each & Every chapter had something in it to offer, I personally enjoyed reading probably every single chapter, maybe there were some chapters which were little boring but probably not more than 5.

Well, what can I actually say about it more, the "Hatred" emotion is described in it in such a way that probably none other anime or manga stories might have offered before.
The best thing about it which I noticed is that, It doesn't need anything else to move the story further, the Characters do 100% work, they carry all the chapters, the whole story through each chapter. The presence of the Main character, Gesicht is not there in very few chapters like 8-10 at max, but mostly he is shown, which is a good sign for the people who love the presence of the main character.

One more thing I would like to add is that Naoki Urasawa's Political sense is of very high quality. I never saw any story from other artists who represent political scenerios in the most realistic way. The existence of "Far Right" groups is always in his stories & those who have good political understanding about America, UN & other bodies that pretend to protect human rights while they themselves are the biggest institutions to undo the contributions of so many great persons who dedicated their whole lives in it, would seriously find this one lovable. All of this knowledge of Practical Politics is always present in Naoki Urasawa's works and being a political enthusiast I love it everytime.

Now, I think it's time to move on to the next aspect.


•Characters(10/10):

Yes, For most part of the manga you'll find it that the characters are the base of this manga, I think I can't actually tell about Pluto without taking the name of any single character.

The manga showed what a character development should be like. The characters are so well written & also so well matched to their figures as of their dialogues, I mean who could actually do it better, Naoki Urasawa is perfect to match it.

My most favorite character from the whole manga has been "Gesicht" without a doubt... And He is a Robot. That's how mesmerising this manga was, that you would even love a robot. Well starting from Gesicht, he is the nicest guy, the hero & the key role player. His nature is more of a professional person, he always gives more attention to his work over any other thing, which is being an Inspector Robot, solving most difficult cases.

He is so busy always that he couldn't even visit Japan with his Robot Wife, Helena, they planned but over and over again, some work came up and they had to cancel it everytime but I won't spoil whether they eventually had a chance to go there or not.

He is the kind of guy I would talk about whole day but still there might be some good things that would be left off to tell. He is a kind of a guy one admires, always brave & obedient and never takes a minute to even doubt himself of being the evil at some points. That's a rare of a character to find in the stories not only of nowadays but even in classic ones.

Moving to the other characters, I should first appreciate the Human Characters, the ones that helped so much in the development of the story. Be it Gesicht's Personal Maintenance Scientist, Professor Hoffman or Dr. Ochanomizu or Dr. Tenma.

Well yes, it has a Dr. Tenma too as of Monster... Another Manga of Naoki. But here the Tenma is the creator of the Second Main Character, Atom. And he is also responsible for the creation of the most advanced AI which is a mix of 6 billion personalities or i.e. the AI chooses the best of the best personality for itself.

Back to the Professor Hoffman, he is a loving guy, you will not be able to hate him. He is a peace-loving guy & the care taker of Gesicht.
While The other Human Character whom I liked is "Adolf Haas" who performed a significant role in the middle chapters, around 30 or so. He is a bad guy with some grudge against Gesicht, who's again, A Robot.
But as the story proceeds, his character develops very well.

Now, the 7 advanced Robots, Already done with Gesicht Part, Hercules & Epsilon are the most amazing, Hercules had been the robot who always is so confident & even when he couldn't do anything to his enemy, he did the most damage to it. Epsilon is the character I found out very late that he too is a Guy Robot, lol. As you can see in the MAL's Character Info, His image seems to be like "Female Johan Liebert." He did a great job, the guy who dislike war & always wanted to help the innocent humans.

Atom & Uran are brother-sister... Uran is kind of an extroverted girl, who won't listen to others cz she believes in her ability to "Feel Grief". Atom remains till the very end, and is the character who seems to know little but actually has the most advanced AI among all the 7 robots. The twist that comes in the last volume, is where you'll love Atom more.

Now, the most impressing character throughout the whole story, for me was "Brau 1589" ... The first Robot to ever kill a human, which is banned & is a criminal offence as per the robot laws.
That guy was not the enemy of any, nor the friend but was the one who lived, till the very end, on his own... ***And as to spoil a bit, Brau ended the manga, and also ended himself. He just seems to be the guy who goes around confusing everybody but still gives the true info, but in a way the other characters would know later.***

Now comes the three characters, but stop here if you don't wanna get spoiled, cz these characters are the ones whom you can't describe without revealing some important parts of the manga.
***
Professor Abullah, whom I read as "Abdullah" for about 10-15 chapters without even getting that it is Abullah, lol. He is the guy from Persia, as the name suggests itself. He lost his family in the war & also lost himself in the very end, but in the manga the other Character, Dr. Abra is shown as Abullah; Dr. Abra is the robot whom Tenma created as the most advanced AI(after Atom). When Abullah Died, Tenma, who earlier even told Abullah that the robot with 6 billion personalities won't wake up as the AI won't be able to choose one personality out of all, adding that there is only one way to do so, which is introducing an emotional bias to the AI, which is Hatred & Anger, made that robot wake up, and the shocking thing was that the robot took the personality of Professor Abullah out of 6 billion. Why? Cz In the very end of his life, Professor Abullah felt hate, and so much hate that he even wanted to destroy the whole world.
Now Dr. Tenma places the chip of Abullah in the robot, he wakes up as Abullah. Now, how did Abullah got a chip being a human, is due to him being badly injured in the war that most of his body parts were substituted with machines.

Now, Goji, who is in Abullah... Abullah who is Dr. Abra, now the two personalities make two robots, Dr. Abra creates Pluto, which has Sahad, another existing robot who wanted to turn Desert into Fertile land, & Goji creates Bora. Bora is the robot which is the ultimate weapon of Mass destruction while Pluto still has Sahad inside it, who helps save the earth along with Atom in the very end of the series.
Now, the question, why the manga is named Pluto is also solved. Cz Pluto is the guy, who did all the murders, to reach this final stage so that Bora can destroy the earth, eventually destroyed himself so that Earth is saved... Why? Cz it has Sahad who wanted to make the Earth environmentally sustainable again.

Pluto is the last Robot who dies, & eventually the ultimate saviour of the Earth.
***

Now The spoiler section has ended. It comes the turn of Another aspect.

•Art(10/10):

Now some will think I am biased, as I rated all the three main aspects in the manga as 10/10. But I can't help it cz I didn't find anything which I'll complain about in the art direction of the manga. The characters are designed so well, the climax scenes are perfectly well crafted, also the manga is from 2004 so the art is as usually very classic. But I think its art is quiet better than Monster Manga as it's very old as compared to Pluto.

Only Epsilon's character design I didn't understand why was that like it. I mean, Naoki could have shown Epsilon as "her" but showed it has "him". Also, the nature of him seemed quite girl like, very kind and generous, emotional towards small kids & so.

What I really find unique in Naoki Urasawa Art is that the emotions flow perfectly through the art. Even if there are no dialogues, you'll feel the mood of the scene. He is probably the best mangaka for Suspense & Mystery as the characters of him are very serious & you won't find like their nature has changed even for a bit... It seems very humanlike.

Well there is nothing much to talk about the Art section, it's just perfect for the story & it gives justice to it. It's not something like nobody could've drawn better but the thing is, it just suits the mood of the story perfectly. If any other artist would've drawn this, he/she had to do only one thing with focus, not disturbing the mood of the story, the emotions must seem real, the characters must seem to have a voice, they must sound in your mind when you read a dialogue.

Well That's enough for this section. Moving to the next part... Which I think most of the people, probably nobody talks about, But I think I will as I want to do a kind of experiment with this review, whether this section fits in & there is really something to talk about this section. And the section is -

•Dialogues(10/10):

This is something you can't probably rate. But I thought I would do cz I literally find it very unique that how some series have so many great dialogues while some don't even have one. This one, probably had tons of impressive dialogues, not only impressive, but inspiring too.

The life changing philosophy that it portrayed through the dialogues, the character development, everything with dialogues were perfect.

As per My rating style, I think this manga gave some very key dialogues which describe that yes, this is from Pluto. Like In Monster, the Johan's dialogue in the very ending scene is so relevant to the whole Monster series, there are similarly many in Pluto too.

Not only that, How was the language, whether there were any abusive words used, was the language suitable to all age groups & so many questions.
Pluto is suitable for all age groups, None of the scenes were there which will be of any harm to any child, but yeah the concepts & ideas it talks about, you must be having a mind that understands the importance of the Earth & the life & stuff like that, Cz someone who reads manga only for fun purpose might not get the full of what this masterpiece offers.

Now, one of the most repeated dialogues in the manga is "500 Zeus A Body." It literally will make you feel why the heck it is there always almost in every chapter but when you'll get the answer of it, you are gonna probably have a good smile on your face but You'll also be sad if You literally got connected to the character with whom it is related.

"Nothing Comes of Hatred" is another very favorite dialogue from it.
"What I've always feared the most is myself" and so many others. The emotions are flowing straight from the dialogues.

Now, I would like to move on to the final aspect.

•Enjoyment(10/10):

I should probably say that I enjoyed Pluto a bit more than Monster, which I actually saw and not read. Well Pluto is not that lengthy but still not like less than 50 chapters, so I enjoyed reading almost every single one, I can surely rate it 10/10... There is not much to say cz Maybe some people enjoy it more or less as per their taste but if You are someone who loves Suspense, Mystery & Psychological with some philosophical scenerios, I would highly recommend it.

I completed it within 2 weeks or so... And those who binge read, I think it would be very enjoyable for them, Go through Volume to Volume instead of marking chapters in the middle cz Every single Volume has something new & different to show plus it also develops the story further with more connect to it, in each volume some mysteries get solved while some new ones emerge or it might happen that the already established mystery gets even tougher to solve, but it catches your interest even more then.

If I talk about the ending, It was satisfying for me... The Snail scene with Atom which you'll see somewhere in 3rd or 4th volume, when repeated in the last one, makes it so ironical & I really loved that scene; Also, The final scenes were chilling, absolutely one of the best Manga or Anime Endings.

Anyway, I would say I enjoyed it so much that It has become one of my most favorites, The story was so inspiring, the characters & everything fall so well in place... Just loved it.

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Concluding all this... I would recommend you this manga if you have already read or watched any of Urasawa's other works and enjoyed it, and even if you didn't enjoy it, I would say try this one.

Those who love Psychological, Philosophical & Mystery-Suspense... It's highly recommended but wait, There are a lot of action scenes too, And as I am not an action fan, Still I loved action scenes in this manga somehow. Well it's a Sci-Fi afterall so anybody can get the most out of it even if you don't have much interest in the core genres, I talked about that above.

I really think it's more than enough now, Most of you might have not even read it half but it's okay, Cz It is my responsibility If I take a Manga or Anime to review it, I must discuss it in detail or otherwise there is no need to do it. I might have forgot many things which could've been even more helpful to the people but You know, We write and then remember something, we edit and then again remember something, it's never ending, As what I talked here, I think it's still very much of a detail to the people who actually want to read this manga & have got stuck on the review section that only if they find it impressive then they will give it a try. So I hope I could help anyone out there who just had some doubts about it & also I hope You didn't read the spoilers, you know it's for those who have already read the manga and want some good points to appreciate or criticise.

Just don't mind the silly mistakes if I made some, It took a hard time to write this one cz I literally loved this series and couldn't help without appreciating it & sharing it to others the mesmerising experience that I got.

Thank You to Naoki Urasawa at first!
And then, Thank you to all the people who considered my review worth their time... Thank You very much!