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Veteran anime lovers would be familiar with the Astro Boy manga, which went on to be a popular animated Television series. It was also the inspiration behind the Pluto manga. Osamu Tezuka, often called the godfather of manga, is popularly known as the man who put Japanese comics and animations on the map. He is also the creator of the Astro Boy manga.
Pluto is a 2000s manga that completely revamped the Astro Boy story, putting the boy robot in a background filled with thrilling murder mysteries. Naoki Urasawa is the genius author of the Pluto manga. He is well known for his other titles, Monster, Yawara, and 20th Century Boys.
The Pluto manga took inspiration from one of the world's brightest and most hopeful anime stories and turned it into a dark and gritty story. Like Astro Boy, Pluto takes place in a world where humanity and robots coexist. Pluto is finally getting an anime adaptation on Netflix on October 26, 2023, 14 years after the manga series ended.
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Disclaimer: This article may contain spoilers.
Here is why you should read the Pluto manga before its anime adaptation
Having gotten their inspiration from Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, you would expect more of a happy-go-lucky kind of feel to the manga. However, Naoki Urasawa offers a different perspective on Astro Boy while taking major inspiration and characters from the series.
Pluto begins as a murder mystery. The Europol detective Gesicht, a robot, is investigating a possible serial killer targeting humans and robots. The case becomes more complicated when evidence suggests that the killer could be a robot, which hadn’t been seen in eight years. The plot thickens when Gesicht realizes that the killer could also be targeting the seven great robots of the world, including Gesicht himself.
The Pluto manga also features Astro Boy, aka Atom, as a prominent character. However, he isn’t the same happy robot fans know and love from Tezuka’s comics. His signature spiky hair has now been tamed, and he now wears a complete outfit rather than his usual black underwear and red boots - allowing him to fit better into Urasawa’s dark and perfect world. The series also features his robot sister Uran.
Despite its dark and edgy feel, the natural beauty of the series is not its action. Still, Tezuka’s philosophy was brought into the series to convey that violence and war are never the answer, and the only route left is peace.
Why it is the right time for the Pluto anime
The Pluto manga is an award-winner and bestseller, a series that redefined Tezuka’s story. With over 8.5 million volumes sold, it is nothing short of a masterpiece. The manga series ran from September 2003 to April 2009, publicized by the magazine Big Comic Original.
Masao Maruyama, the producer of the Pluto anime, said now is the perfect time for the Pluto manga to get its anime adaptation because of how technology and artificial Intelligence have evolved. They are even surpassing some machinations in the Pluto manga.
Maruyama is an industry legend who helped found renowned animation studios like Mappa, Studio M2, and Madhouse. He has also collaborated with Urawasa on several projects like Monster and Yawara. All this makes him the perfect person to try and capture what both authors had in mind while creating the series.
The anime will be based on the Pluto manga and will be credited as Naoki Urasawa X Osamu Tezuka. It will be co-authored with Takashi Nagasaki and supervised by Macoto Tezka, along with the assistance of Tezuka Productions. The animation Production will be handled by Studio M2 and GENCO.
Final thoughts
Pluto is the real deal; besides being Urasawa’s latest work, this is also a Tezuka manga, making fans eagerly anticipate the anime's release. That respect also translates to choosing to use Netflix as a platform and go beyond the traditional 30-minute episode length. The series will have eight episodes with a runtime of one hour per episode.
Pluto stands above the rest in how thoughtfully, carefully, and compellingly it’s executed. It’s a tribute to one of the greatest cartoon robots ever and an essential entry into the robot story canon.
Stay tuned for more anime and manga updates as 2023 progresses.
