I CAN SPLIT my life into two distinct phases - before and after senior year of high school. There’ve been many other splits since then, and, of course, thinking about ANY time that wasn’t yesterday makes me want to curl up into a ball and die. But high school, senior year: That’s when life began to change!
In a twist of fate, I had managed to not only squeeze into two of my most yearned-for classes (journalism & creative writing), but had gotten them one after the other, and a free period after those...which means, EXTENDED LUNCH, BABY!! Where I ended up spending most of that extra time was the school library. That's where my friend Ethan had his free hour, too, and we spent hours talking about the latest anime, games, or the whatnot. Come to think of it...The library was, really, my first big exposure to Japanese media. See, I had dabbled in anime at this point, but hadn’t really doubled down - I was only just coming off the heels of Death Note the winter previous, and was pretty directionless. But I was so intrigued by this entire wacky new medium! So, over the course of senior year, I went through every manga they had on that little shelf in the corner, and poured over every single one of the few Japanese authors. That’s how I discovered Murakami, Mishima, and…Pluto!
Pluto, for the uninitiated, is a manga penned by Naoki Urasawa, and is loosely based off the Astro Boy comic that the LEGENDARY Osamu Tezuka made back in ‘52! Unknowingly, I had consumed a metric ton of Tezuka's work as a kid, from Princess Knight to Astro Boy, and loved all of them! But Pluto takes Tezuka’s silly style and exchanges it for Urasawa’s more methodical, plotting storytelling, up-scaling a simple superhero work to a complex political thriller. It follows the interpol agent Geischt, a robot detective assigned to a globetrotting ‘whodunnit’, attempting to hunt down a killer who seems hellbent on destroying key political activists and the seven greatest robots in the world. Which is a problem for Geischt…Because he’s one of them. Thus begins a swirling case of madness, complexities, and encounters which might just bring the world to destruction.
When I saw this manga was a retelling of a cartoon I knew and loved, my interest was piqued, no, beyond piqued! AT ITS MAXIMUM! Here is something that felt like it was made for me - a sci-fi noir set in the near future, with one of my childhood heroes at the forefront of it all. Oh, it wasn’t what I expected at all…But it was exactly what I needed. I remember kneeling over, reading the first volume’s substory about a piano-playing robot, and crying right then and there. I was so embarrassed! That’s how hard it hit me, though. Now, I cry in public all the time. But I digress!
An anime adaptation of Pluto was announced to be in production the year before, and I was ecstatic, as the manga skyrocketed to the top of my very inexperienced favourite manga list! Every season, I would scroll through the charts and check for any mention of it. Nothing. Radio silence. It went on like this for several years, and eventually got to the point somewhere in 2020/21 where I resigned myself to its cancellation. But no! It was merely in production hell! A couple years after my Doubting Thomas denial, here I stand, having watched the Pluto anime. It is real and the dream hath come true. So, well…How was it?! My iPod shuffle days of YouTubeToMP3’d anime openings could only wish for this day! Did it live up to all those dreams and more? Well, first of all, let’s tamper our expectations here! How can anything live up to five years of build-up?! But the short answer is - yes, it’s great, it’s SOLID. Not without its flaws! But Pluto is a solid adaptation of a fantastic manga. Let’s bite into how.
Pluto’s ‘whodunnit’ nature lends itself well to the television format, and I adore how they extended the episodes to an hour in length! Urasawa’s manga was so densely packed, I was afraid on how they were going to split this into twenty-five minute episodes, as is typical for anime, but I’m glad they did what they did. It lets the mystery naturally play out, as stories come and go as they please. What was really interesting to me was how they kept the story of North No. 2, the aforementioned piano-playing robot, and let that side story play itself out until its natural conclusion to really sell the show’s soul. I kind of touched upon it in my near-unintelligible write-up earlier last month, but it was damn impressive!
Though Pluto’s problems rear their ugly head as early as the first episode, too. Studio M2 may have done great in adaptating Urasawa’s varily-nosed characters to the screen, but where it lacks is the overuse of computer-generated imagery. Whenever it cut to a driving sequence, I groaned, wishing there was a still instead because of how poor the scene looked. Thank God, these scenes are few and far far between, but it doesn’t stop there. There are some baffling choices when it comes to the particle effects. Though the drawn effects look fine on their own, superimposed over them is this puzzling PlayStation-like effect, causing this jarring movement to clash with the wonderful character work happening on screen. This is Pluto’s biggest detriment. According to some dissenting animators, two different sects of the production studios worked on Pluto pre- and post-COVID, resulting in these sequences which feel like two different worlds never meant to meet. To use the turn of phrase, ‘uncanny valley’ - it completely threw me out of Pluto’s wonderful world and back into reality, which is the worst possible thing that a show can do - take you out of itself. This is far and away my biggest complaint with the anime. Which is so, so, frustrating, because in terms of everything else, Pluto looks absolutely gorgeous! One of the best, most consistent productions of our day! But it’s interspersed with this awful, no-good, amateurish specs riddling the screen like cockroaches; Impossible to ignore and impossible to whisk away. I’d say because of this alone the comic is the superior adaptation, because Urasawa’s world is more visually realised within the confines of the comic.
However, this isn’t to say the adaptation isn’t superior in many ways! Pluto is an auditory heaven. Yugo Kanno (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure) heads the score, and this may be his best to date! Though not his most iconic, Kanno makes up for it with style and with range. I keep coming back to it in its entirety, which is something I can’t say for a lot of Jojo soundtracks, even if there are some fantastic tracks! For Pluto, Yugo Kanno goes from a smooth jazz club theme (‘Clues To The Truth’) to a light, flute-led ballad (‘Restless Period’), and even dialing it up for harsh, intimidating ambiance (‘People On The Diagonal’) or tense orchestral themes (‘Panic Sense’)! He’s really flexing nuts here, leaning into his cinematic side to GRAND effect! You gotta hear this score, man.
There are so many standout performances here, I could damn well list the entire cast and still be missing a few background characters. The first ones that come to mind are Shinshu Fuji as Geicht, encompassing such a wide range of emotions, from unemphatic stoicism to cracking screams! As Pluto’s story unfolds, so does Geicht, and we really see his human side start to come through as the show goes on and on. Fuji does an impeccable job here. And even though this next character’s not in it for much, Youko Hikasa’s Astro Boy (Atom, here) puts on such a good show she nearly steals it! Astro goes through the damn ringer in this story, and thus, Hikasa had to do a lot, but pulled every inflection off to great effect! I could really believe in every emotion Astro felt, whether it be his regular staunch optimism or the lower-ranged sadness. Short shout-out to a couple of my favourite English actors, as well - Mike Pollock (Dr. Ochanamizu) and Keith David (Dr. Tenma). It was worth switching to the dub just to hear these two interact, and listening to their personalities bouncing off each other is something my ears could do for eternity! Made the constant language-switching alright, even if it was a hassle!
Of course, the narrative goes without mention - that’s why it took so long to get here! We don’t get a lot of detective mysteries in anime. I should know, they’re my favourite genre in everything (See: Death Note)! So it was cool seeing a high-production anime get so much love and care poured into it like this. With minimal trimming, Pluto’s story quickly splinters off into pieces, with Geicht handling the bulk of the screentime, while other characters, such as other super-robots, lead scientists, or political figures deal with the onslaught of this mysterious killer. You’ll see this in a lot of mainstream television, the introduction of multiple plotlines to cut to throughout the course of an episode, and that keeps the pace lean & tight, making each episode a breeze to watch! There’s always something going on, no, there’s always two or three things going on, and when they coalesce, it pays off to great effect! The stakes stack on top of each other higher and higher until it culminates into the grand climax it built itself up to! That’s something television DOESN’T do - end - but Pluto concludes and a wave of relief washes over the viewer. It’s. Over.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: It’s HILARIOUS skimming through MyAnimeList reviews and seeing just how many useres are baffled by the use of multiple plotlines - they’re as confused as a mouse in a maze! For example:
“Flash backs are very poorly inserted that you often don't even realize you're in one until ten minutes later because you're constantly jumping around between characters who are robots with rockets for legs” - Mr_Popeo
“Pluto has so many subplots and side characters all happening at the same time that it’s very hard to tell what even is the point of it all beyond finding who Pluto is…with characters coming in and out with no rhyme or reason.” - Ionliosite2
I sure hope these guys don’t watch Breaking Bad!!
What’s so interesting about Urasawa’s writing is his intense focus on an ensemble cast. He does jump around from character to character, yes, and from A-plot to B-plot to…You get the picture. However, each character has their own motivations, both internal and external, to continue. Whether it’s to do with their rights as a robot citizen or hating the robots, Pluto’s cast boasts a large variety of complex characters with contradictions, schemes, and mistakes, making each of them, robot or not, feel irrevocably human. And just like humanity, Pluto deals with it all - hate groups, prejudices, and unforgivable crimes, but still comes out at the end with a positive light to shine on it all.
God, is that everything?! There was a lot to cover! Five years is a hell of a wait, so I had a hell of a lot to say! Well, finally let’s bring that anticipation to a close.
In just eight episodes, Pluto accomplishes what many shows cannot in six seasons: A fully-developed cast, a complete narrative, and bombastic quality to back it all up. It out-steps other anime with ease, thanks to its methodical pacing, standout performances, and incredible world. It’s a testament to Pluto’s quality that even piss-poor computer-generated effects can’t bring it down much - This is anime at its near-finest.
I cried, by the way.
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