Pluto (manga)

Pluto: Urasawa × Tezuka (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic Original from September 2003 to April 2009, with its chapters collected into eight  volumes. The series is based on Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, specifically "The Greatest Robot on Earth" 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, 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 × Tezuka. A play adaptation directed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui opened in January 2015 and has been performed internationally. An original net animation (ONA) 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 10 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)
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * Atom (アトム)
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * Epsilon (エプシロン)
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * Hercules (ヘラクレス)
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * Brando (ブランド)
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * North No. 2 (ノース2号)
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * Mont Blanc (モンブラン)
 * 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.
 * 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.


 * Uran (ウラン)
 * Ochanomizu's masterpiece and Atom's robot younger sister who can sense human, animal, and robot emotions.
 * Ochanomizu's masterpiece and Atom's robot younger sister who can sense human, animal, and robot emotions.


 * Brau 1589 (ブラウ1589)
 * 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.
 * 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)
 * Gesicht's wife; like him, she is also a human-presenting robot.
 * Gesicht's wife; like him, she is also a human-presenting robot.


 * Professor Tenma (天馬博士)
 * A genius robotics scientist and former head of Japan's Ministry of Science. He created Atom and is the authority on artificial intelligence.
 * A genius robotics scientist and former head of Japan's Ministry of Science. He created Atom and is the authority on artificial intelligence.


 * Professor Ozhanomizu (お茶の水博士)
 * 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.
 * 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)
 * The blind musician who North No. 2 serves as his butler.
 * The blind musician who North No. 2 serves as his butler.


 * Professor Hoffman (ホフマン博士)
 * The creator of zeronium and Gesicht.
 * The creator of zeronium and Gesicht.


 * Professor Abullah (アブラー博士)
 * The head of the Persian Ministry of Science, who lost most of his body and his family in the 39th Central Asian War, with most of his body now being robotic replacements.
 * The head of the Persian Ministry of Science, who 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)
 * A powerful sentient supercomputer, belonging to the United States of Thracia, whose only avatar to the outside world is a teddy bear.
 * 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)
 * A German trader who is a member of the anti-robot group, KR, and suspects that Gesicht killed his brother.
 * 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)
 * The president of the United States of Thracia.
 * The president of the United States of Thracia.


 * Pluto (プルートウ)
 * An extremely powerful robot created to destroy the seven robots classified as weapons of mass destruction.
 * An extremely powerful robot created to destroy the seven robots classified as weapons of mass destruction.


 * Inspector Tawashi (田鷲警部)
 * A bald Japanese inspector who works with Atom.
 * A bald Japanese inspector who works with Atom.


 * Inspector Nakamura (中村警部)
 * A Japanese inspector who works with Atom.
 * A Japanese inspector who works with Atom.


 * Schelling (シュリング)
 * Hoffman's boss and by proxy, Gesicht's.
 * Hoffman's boss and by proxy, Gesicht's.


 * Wassily (ワシリー)
 * A child orphaned by the 39th Central Asian War, who is taken in by Epsilon.
 * A child orphaned by the 39th Central Asian War, who is taken in by Epsilon.


 * Mine (ミネ)


 * Becker (ベッカー)
 * A German police captain and Gesicht's supervisor on the field.
 * A German police captain and Gesicht's supervisor on the field.


 * Ilsa Haas (イルサ・ハス)
 * Adolf's wife who despised her brother in-law for being serial killer of robot children.
 * Adolf's wife who despised her brother in-law for being serial killer of robot children.


 * Hans Haas (ハンス・ハス)
 * Adolf's son who is fascinated with robots.
 * Adolf's son who is fascinated with robots.


 * Principal Ban (伴校長先生)
 * The principal at Uran's school and confidant to her.
 * The principal at Uran's school and confidant to her.


 * Arnold (アーノルド)
 * A robot working as a meteorologist and an acquaintance to Epsilon.
 * A robot working as a meteorologist and an acquaintance to Epsilon.


 * Sahad (サハド)
 * A robot created by Professor Abullah and treated as his own son after the death of his whole family.
 * 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)
 * The last king of Persia who is charged with war crimes in 39th Central Asian war.
 * The last king of Persia who is charged with war crimes in 39th Central Asian war.


 * Inspector Wallace (ワラス警部)


 * Professor Reinhardt (ラインハルト教授)
 * Mont Blanc's kind hearted elderly creator.
 * Mont Blanc's kind hearted elderly creator.


 * Dr. Schiller (シラー博士)


 * Fersen (フェルゼン)


 * Goji (ゴジ)
 * A Persian genius scientist, whose entire existence is questionable.
 * A Persian genius scientist, whose entire existence is questionable.


 * Yujiro (裕次郎)
 * A police officer robot assigned to guard Ochanomizu.
 * A police officer robot assigned to guard Ochanomizu.


 * Detective Lieman (リーマン刑事)


 * Takashi (たかし)
 * Ochanomizu's grandson who had robot dog named Bobby.
 * Ochanomizu's grandson who had robot dog named Bobby.


 * Yamagishi (山岸)


 * Colonel Armstrong (アームストロング大佐)


 * Meyer (マイヤー)


 * Muhammed Ali (モハメド・アリ)
 * A low level robot in Persia who sells flowers and follows Gesicht.
 * A low level robot in Persia who sells flowers and follows Gesicht.


 * Hogan (ホーガン)
 * A robot assigned to be Epsilon's bodyguard.
 * A robot assigned to be Epsilon's bodyguard.


 * General Scott (スコット将軍)
 * An army general who worked with Epsilon to cleanse the remains of robots felled in the war.
 * An army general who worked with Epsilon to cleanse the remains of robots felled in the war.


 * Kurt (カート)
 * A young child rescued by Gesicht during a case.
 * A young child rescued by Gesicht during a case.


 * Simon (サイモン)
 * A board member at Epsilon's orphanage.
 * A board member at Epsilon's orphanage.


 * Johansen (ヨハンセン)
 * A man ordered by Professor Abullah to retrieve Wassily from foster care.
 * A man ordered by Professor Abullah to retrieve Wassily 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" (地上最大のロボット) 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.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, while also working on 20th Century Boys, Pluto was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine Big Comic Original from September 5, 2003, to April 4, 2009. The 65 individual chapters were collected and published into eight 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 × Tezuka.

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 and adapts one of the manga volumes.

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

Manga
Pluto has sold over 10 million copies. It 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 one 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. Ali Griffiths of Digital Spy said, "Pluto sets a new gold standard for Netflix original anime." Devin Meenan of Slashfilm compared the complexity and characters to the graphic novel Watchmen. Elijah Gonzalez of Paste magazine applauded the story's fresh takes on themes first introduced in Isaac Asimov's laws of robotics. Joshua Rivera of Polygon called Pluto "one of the best sci-fi murder mysteries you can watch this year". In 2024, Pluto has been nominated for Best Anime Series at the 4th Astra TV Awards.