Pluto (manga)

***Pluto*** (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was serialized in Shogakukan's *seinen* manga magazine *Big Comic Original* from September 2003 to April 2009, with its chapters collected into eight *tankōbon* volumes. The series is based on Osamu Tezuka's *Astro Boy*, specifically "The Greatest Robot on Earth" (地上最大のロボット, *Chijō Saidai no Robotto*) story arc, and named after the arc's chief villain. Urasawa reinterprets the story as a suspenseful murder mystery starring Gesicht, a Europol robot detective trying to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths. Takashi Nagasaki is credited as the series' co-author. Macoto Tezka, Osamu Tezuka's son, supervised the series, and Tezuka Productions is listed as having given cooperation.

The series was licensed and released in English in North America by Viz Media under the name *Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka*. An original net anime series, produced by Genco with animation production services by Studio M2, premiered on Netflix in October 2023.

*Pluto* was a critical and commercial success, winning several awards, including the ninth Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and selling over 8.5 million copies.

## Plot

*Pluto* follows the Europol robot detective Gesicht in his attempts to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths around the world where all the victims have objects shoved into or positioned by their heads, imitating horns. The case becomes more puzzling when evidence suggests a robot is responsible for the murders, which would make it the first time a robot has killed a human in eight years. All seven of the great robots of the world (the most scientifically advanced which have the potential to become weapons of mass destruction) seem to be the killer's targets, and the murdered humans are connected to preserving the International Robot Laws which grant robots equal rights.

## Characters

Gesicht (ゲジヒト, *Gejihito*, German for "face")
Voiced by: Shinshū Fuji (Japanese); Jason Vande Brake (English)
A German robot inspector working for Europol. His body is made out of an alloy called "zeronium", and he is capable of firing a devastating blast using the alloy as shell. He and his wife, Helena, both have a human appearance.
Mont Blanc (モンブラン, *Mon Buran*)
Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese); Keythe Farley (English)
A Swiss mountain guide robot that is killed at the beginning of the story. He fought in the 39th Central Asian War. Loved by humans, many mourned for him.
North No. 2 (ノース2号, *Nōsu Ni-gō*)
Voiced by: Koichi Yamadera (Japanese); Patrick Seitz (English)
A Scottish robot with six mechanical armed arms, formerly one of the most powerful fighting robots during the 39th Central Asian War. He prefers not to fight, choosing instead to work as the butler of Paul Duncan, a blind renowned composer.
Brando (ブランド, *Burando*)
Voiced by: Hidenobu Kiuchi (Japanese); Adrian Pasdar (English)
A Turkish robot pankration wrestler with a great devotion to his robot wife and his five human children. He fought alongside Mont Blanc and Hercules in the 39th Central Asian War.
Hercules (ヘラクレス, *Herakuresu*)
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese); Richard Epcar (English)
A Greek robot pankration wrestler with a high sense of honor and bravery. He and Brando have been rivals and friends since the 39th Central Asian War.
Epsilon (エプシロン, *Epushiron*)
Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese); Keith Silverstein (English)
An Australian photon-powered gentle and sensitive robot with a pacifist outlook. He runs an orphanage to take care of war orphans. Epsilon chose not to fight during the 39th Central Asian War.
Atom (アトム, *Atomu*)
Voiced by: Yoko Hikasa (Japanese); Laura Stahl (English)
A Japanese boy robot who was formerly the peace ambassador toward the end of the 39th Central Asian War. His artificial intelligence and sensors are more advanced than the other seven great robots of the world.
Uran (ウラン)
Voiced by: Minori Suzuki (Japanese); Lisa Reimold (English)
Atom's robot younger sister who can sense human, animal, and robot emotions.
Brau 1589 (ブラウ1589, *Burau 1589*)
Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese); SungWon Cho (English)
The robot that killed a human eight years prior to the story. He is imprisoned in an artificial intelligence correctional facility, where Gesicht visits him to get an idea of the killer he is trying to track down.
Helena (ヘレナ, *Herena*)
Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese); Mara Junot (English)
Gesicht's wife; like him, she is also a human-presenting robot.
Professor Tenma (天馬博士, *Tenma-hakase*)
Voiced by: Eizou Tsuda (Japanese); Keith David (English)
A genius robotics scientist and former head of Japan's Ministry of Science. He created Atom and is the authority on artificial intelligence.
Professor Ochanomizu (お茶の水博士, *Ochanomizu-hakase*)
Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese); Mike Pollock (English)
A Japanese robotics scientist and current head of Japan's Ministry of Science. He is the creator of Uran and also looks after Atom. He was a member of the Bora Survey Group, a UN-dispatched group of inspectors sent to Persia to look for robots of mass destruction.
Paul Duncan (ポール・ダンカン)
Voiced by: Michio Hazama (Japanese); Ron Bottitta (English)
The blind musician who North No. 2 serves as his butler.
Professor Hoffman (ホフマン博士, *Hofuman-hakase*)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka (Japanese); Michael Sinterniklaas (English)
The creator of zeronium and Gesicht.
Professor Abullah (アブラー博士, *Aburā-hakase*)
Voiced by: Kazuhiro Yamaji (Japanese); Kamran Nikhad (English)
The head of the Persian Ministry of Science, he lost most of his body and his family in the 39th Central Asian War, with most of his body now being robotic replacements.
Dr. Roosevelt (Dr. ルーズベルト, *Dokutā Rūzuberuto*)
Voiced by: Marina Inoue (Japanese); Melissa Hutchison (English)
A powerful sentient supercomputer, belonging to the United States of Thracia, whose only avatar to the outside world is a teddy bear.
Adolf Haas (アドルフ・ハース, *Adorufu Hāsu*)
Voiced by: Masafumi Kimura (Japanese); Nolan North (English)
A German trader who is a member of the anti-robot group, KR, and suspects that Gesicht killed his brother.
President Alexander (アレクサンダー大統領, *Arekusandā-daitōryō*)
Voiced by: Kenyu Horiuchi (Japanese); Kiff VandenHeuvel (English)
A president of the United States of Thracia.
Pluto (プルートウ, *Purūto*)
Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Fred Tatasciore (English)
An extremely powerful robot created by Professor Abullah.
Inspector Tawashi (田鷲警部, *Tawashi-keibu*)
Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (Japanese); Michael Sorich (English)
Inspector Nakamura (中村警部, *Nakamura-keibu*)
Voiced by: Yutaka Aoyama (Japanese); Bill Chott (English)
Schelling (シュリング, *Sheringu*)
Voiced by: Kiyomitsu Mizuuchi (Japanese); Kirk Thornton (English)
Becker (ベッカー, *Bekkā*)
Voiced by: Tsuguo Mogami (Japanese); Keythe Farley (English)
Ilsa Hass (イルサ・ハス, *Irusa Hāsu*)
Voiced by: Chika Fujimura (Japanese); Erica Schroeder (English)
Adolf's wife who despised her brother in-law for being serial killer of robot children.
Hans Hass (ハンス・ハス, *Hansu Hāsu*)
Voiced by: Arisa Sekine (Japanese); Greg Vinciguerra (English)
Principal Ban (伴校長先生, *Ban–kōchō sensei*)
Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (Japanese); Paul St. Peter (English)
Arnold (アーノルド, *Ānorudo*)
Voiced by: Yuuki Hoshi (Japanese); Eric Bauza (English)
A robot assistant.
Sahad (サハド, *Sahado*)
Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Sean Rohani (English)
A robot created by Professor Abullah and treated as his own son after the death of his whole family.
Darius XIV (ダリウス14世, *Dariusu 14-sei*)
Voiced by: Shōzō Iizuka (episodes 4–5), Yasuhiro Mamiya (episode 8) (Japanese); Zuhair Haddad (English)
The last king of Persia who face war crimes in 39th Central Asian war.
Inspector Wallace (ワラス警部, *Warasu-keibu*)
Voiced by: Jiro Saito (Japanese); Jamieson Price (English)
Professor Reinhardt (ラインハルト教授, *Rainharuto-hakase*)
Voiced by: Ikkyu Juku (Japanese); John Snyder (English)
Dr. Schiller (シラー博士, *Shirā-hakase*)
Voiced by: Yasuhiko Kawazu (Japanese); Paul St. Peter (English)
Fersen (フェルゼン, *Feruzen*)
Voiced by: Daichi Endo (Japanese); Jason Marnocha (English)
Goji (ゴジ)
Voiced by: Masami Iwasaki (Japanese); Cam Clarke (English)
Yujiro (裕次郎)
Voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese); Isaac Robinson-Smith (English)
Detective Lieman (リーマン刑事, *Rīman-deka*)
Voiced by: Kengo Tsujii (Japanese); Paul St. Peter (English)
Takashi (たかし)
Voiced by: Mariko Nagai (Japanese); Jessica DiCicco (English)
Ochanomizu's grandson who had robot dog named Bobby.
Yamagishi (山岸)
Voiced by: Masamichi Kitada (Japanese); Elias Toufexis (English)
Colonel Armstrong (アームストロング大佐, *Āmusutorongu-taisa*)
Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese); Christopher Sabat (English)
Meyer (マイヤー, *Maiyā*)
Voiced by: Takeshi Hirabayashi (Japanese); Marc Thompson (English)
Muhammed Ali (モハメド・アリ, *Mohamedo Ari*)
Voiced by: Wakana Minami (Japanese); Christina Costello (English)
A low level robot who sells flowers and follows Gesicht.
Hogan (ホーガン)
Voiced by: Kōsuke Takaguchi (Japanese); Imari Williams (English)
General Scott (スコット将軍, *Sukotto shōgun*)
Voiced by: Kenichiro Matsuda (Japanese); Jamieson Price (English)
Kurt (カート, *Kāto*)
Voiced by: Yuna Ogata (Japanese); Colleen O'Shaughnessey (English)
Simon (サイモン, *Saimon*)
Voiced by: Mitsuru Ogata (Japanese); Joe Ochman (English)
Johansen (ヨハンセン, *Yohansen*)
Voiced by: Zenki Kitajima (Japanese); Robert Clotworthy (English)
A man ordered by Professor Abullah to retrieve Wasilly from foster care.
## Production

Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki began *Pluto* after over a year of negotiating to get the rights to adapt Osamu Tezuka's *Astro Boy*. With Astro/Atom's official birth date of April 7, 2003 approaching, Urasawa was initially going to do a limited or one-off manga in celebration. But due to the character's importance, he suggested a long-term "serious" take on "The Greatest Robot on Earth" arc, which is his favorite. After re-reading it, he felt that some scenes were missing or different than he remembered, before realizing that he had created his own version of the story in his head. Initially, Urasawa had pitched the idea as if someone else would create it. After many people, including Nagasaki, told him he should be the one to do it, Urasawa said the idea that resulted from story discussions seemed "too good to let anybody else do." Urasawa, Nagasaki, and an editor from Shogakukan approached Tezuka Productions with the idea. Tezuka's son Macoto Tezka was informed of the idea in winter 2002. But with a new anime adaptation and other events already in the works, he did not want it to feel as if they were capitalizing on the special occasion. He felt there would be plenty of opportunity to have other artists do it at a later date and politely turned Urasawa down. However, Urasawa persisted and asked for a meeting where he would show rough sketches and explain what kind of story he wanted to create. Macoto met with Urasawa, Nagasaki and others on March 28, 2003. Macoto made Urasawa promise not to imitate his father but make the story in his own style, and even asked him to rethink the character designs.

While working on *20th Century Boys* (1999–2006), Urasawa injured his shoulder and even considered retiring from drawing manga. Because he was unsure if his body would be able to handle it, *Pluto* was published once a month in the semimonthly *Big Comic Original*. Fusanosuke Natsume pointed out that in *Pluto* Urasawa included references not only to other *Astro Boy* arcs, but to other works by Tezuka as well, such as the characters Tawashi and Nakamura; the police car designed to look like a dog; Uran's encounter with animals; and an obsolete robot maid. He suspects the last is a reference to the "Future" volume of *Phoenix*.

Although people often call *Pluto* a dark take on a children's classic, Urasawa feels that the idea that Tezuka's work is lighthearted is a common misconception. He described "The Greatest Robot on Earth" arc as not being "about a righteous robot that took down bad robots, it was about the emptiness of war. When I read that when I was about 4, I felt like I had been told a very deep story, something meant for adults. I think everyone felt that way when they read it. It was never actually meant for kids." He additionally explained that through its anime and various adaptations it has been "reimagined as very wholesome and safe content, but if you really look at Tezuka's work on a deeper level, it's very dark. If you aim to properly adapt or remake any of Tezuka's work, you will naturally end up with a very dark story."

When asked in 2019 what advice he would give to an artist who wanted to adapt one of his own works like he did *Astro Boy*, Urasawa replied "Don't do it!" He explained that even though he understood the responsibility of the undertaking, the pressure and intense struggle was so much that he will never do it again and would advise a young artist to avoid it as well. Similarly, Nagasaki has also said he will not do it again.

## Media

### Manga

Written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, while also writing *20th Century Boys*, *Pluto* was serialized in Shogakukan's *seinen* manga magazine *Big Comic Original* from September 5, 2003, to April 4, 2009. The 65 individual chapters were collected and published into eight *tankōbon* volumes, each of which had a deluxe edition that includes the color pages from the chapters' original magazine run released before the normal version; the first volume was published on September 30, 2004, and the last on June 19, 2009. Takashi Nagasaki, who would later go on to work with Urasawa on *Billy Bat* and *Master Keaton Remaster*, is credited as the series' co-author. Macoto Tezka, Osamu Tezuka's son, supervised the series and Tezuka Productions is listed as having given cooperation.

It was licensed and released in English in North America by Viz Media, under the name *Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka*.

### Film

Universal Pictures and Illumination acquired the rights to *Pluto* in 2010 for a live-action/CGI film. No news has emerged since.

### Stage play

A play adaptation of *Pluto* that incorporated 3D imagery via projection mapping opened at Tokyo's Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon on January 9, 2015. Directed and choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, it starred Mirai Moriyama as Atom, Yasufumi Terawaki as Gesicht, Hiromi Nagasaku as both Uran and Helena, Akira Emoto as both Professor Tenma and Blau 1589, Kazutoyo Yoshimi as both Professor Ochanomizu and Dr. Roosevelt, and Yutaka Matsushige as Abullah. A new production of the play was performed in Tokyo, England, the Netherlands, Belgium and Osaka between January 6 and March 14, 2018. New cast members included Tao Tsuchiya as both Uran and Helena, Shunsuke Daitō as Gesicht, and Mitsuru Fukikoshi as Abullah. A performance of the play was broadcast on WOWOW Prime on June 23, 2018.

### Anime

An anime adaptation by Studio M2 was announced to be in production at the 2017 Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June. In May 2022, the adaptation was confirmed to still be in production by Studio M2 founder Masao Maruyama. Toshio Kawaguchi is the series' director, with Urasawa as creative advisor, Shigeru Fujita designed the characters and serves as supervising animation director, and Yugo Kanno composing the music. The series made its premiere exclusively on Netflix on October 26, 2023, and consisted of eight episodes. Each episode was produced with assistance from another studio.

## Reception

### Manga

*Pluto* has sold over 8.5 million volumes and has won and been nominated for numerous awards. It was awarded the ninth Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and an Excellence Prize at the seventh Japan Media Arts Festival, both in 2005. Marking Urasawa's second and third time receiving those honors respectively. Also in 2005, *Pluto* topped the first *Kono Manga ga Sugoi!* list for male readers, which surveyed people in the manga and publishing industry. In 2010, the series was given the 41st Seiun Award for Best Comic and won Best Series at Italy's Lucca Comics Awards. In France, the manga won the 2010 Prix Asie-ACBD award at Japan Expo and the 2011 Intergenerational Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

The American Young Adult Library Services Association named *Pluto* of their Top Ten Graphic Novels for Teens of 2009, likewise, the *School Library Journal* nominated the series as one of the Best Comics for Teens. At the 2010 Eisner Awards, Viz's English edition was nominated for Best Limited Series or Story Arc and Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia, additionally, Urasawa was nominated for the Best Writer/Artist award for both *Pluto* and *20th Century Boys*. Viz's edition was also nominated for the Harvey Award in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category.

Joseph Luster of *Otaku USA* called *Pluto* "flat-out incredible" and felt it should be required reading, "not just for fans of comics, but for fans of solid, absorbing stories." He said that, as a reimagining of another work, it "goes above and beyond the call of duty, and there aren't many other series out there that can get me clamoring for the next set of chapters like this one does." In her review, Deb Aoki of *About.com* claimed *Pluto* "will suck you in with its masterful storytelling, and will break your heart with its uncommon emotional depth." and gave the first volume a five out of five rating. She also stated that the series conjures up "thought-provoking questions about robots and what it means to be human." Manga critic Jason Thompson pointed out the series' obvious allusions to the real-life Iraq War; the United States of Thracia (United States of America) invaded Persia (Iraq) after falsely claiming they had robots of mass destruction (weapons of mass destruction). Reviewing volume seven, *Anime News Network'*s Carlo Santos felt the story got a lot more enjoyable with all the loose ends tied up and said Urasawa does a fine job of integrating Tezuka's design with his own style. However, he wrote that "Urasawa continues to add pointless little flourishes to the story: references to Pinocchio, a creepy little children's song, a symbolic crack in a wall. It probably all has some kind of thematic unity in his head". Santos strongly praised the final volume, saying it works on every level; with philosophical points of war and humanity and artificial intelligence, and feelings of love, hate, hope, and despair that tug at the heart.

### Stage play adaptation

*The Guardian* theater critic Michael Billington called the set and visuals of the stage adaptation of *Pluto* "spectacular" and gave the 2018 London performance 3 out of 5 stars. He finished by writing "The show may appeal to manga devotees and is clearly on the side of good in its plea for a world free from hate. But, for all its technical skill, it never engages us emotionally and never explains how we create a world in which humans and robots usefully coexist. This is comic-book theatre executed with great panache but to little real purpose."

### Anime adaptation

The 2023 Netflix anime adaptation received positive reviews from critics. Digital Spy said, "*Pluto* sets a new gold standard for Netflix original anime." Slashfilm compared the complexity and characters to the celebrated graphic novel *Watchmen*. *Paste* magazine applauded the story's fresh takes on themes first introduced in Isaac Asimov's laws of robotics. Polygon called *Pluto* "one of the best sci-fi murder mysteries you can watch this year".