PLUTO: 6 lesser-known facts about Netflix's popular sci-fi anime that's making waves

Acclaimed Japanese Mangaka Naoki Urasawa’s beloved manga series PLUTO received an anime adaptation produced by Genco, which premiered on Netflix on October 26, 2023. The series is inspired by Astro Boy, one of the pioneering works in the history of Japanese manga and anime by Osamu Tezuka. The series follows Gesicht, an AI detective who attempts to uncover the identity of Pluto — a serial killer targeting the most advanced robots in the world, including the iconic Astro Boy Atom himself, in his quest to become the pinnacle of all machine life-forms. Things keep escalating as Gesicht also understands that he himself might be in danger. The show has been created by Naoki Urasawa and directed by Toshio Kawaguchi, with stellar voice-acting performances by Shinshu Fuji, Yoko Hikasa, Minori Suzuki, Hiroki Yasumoto, and Koichi Yamadera among others. So on today's edition of  Now You Know, we take a closer look at some lesser-known facts about Pluto.

1. With PLUTO, Urasawa reimagines one of the most important story arcs in Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, also dubbed "The Greatest Robot on Earth", with the show even being named after the chief villain of the arc. Urasawa reinterprets the tale as a sci-fi murder mystery, which is no small feat when it becomes apparent that he adapts and builds upon the works of Osamu Tezuka himself. Notably, with the Astro Boy manga, also known as Mighty Atom in Japan, the series plays a pivotal role in the development of Japanese Manga and Anime following its introduction in 1952.
2. Osamu Tezuka’s own animation studio — Tezuka Productions, which was founded in 1968, is also credited for its cooperation and contributions, with Osamu Tezuka’s son Macoto Tezuka supervising the series. Tezuka Productions is also known for adapting the Astro Boy manga into its 1980 and 2003 anime series.
3. The voice acting performances in the series have garnered much acclaim, with the protagonist detective Gesicht being voiced by Shinshu Fuji, who received much love for his performance in Blade Runner: Black Lotus. Yoko Hikasa, who is known for her role as Rias Gremory in the hit anime series High School DxD voices Atom a.k.a Astro Boy and Minori Suzuki, who plays Liko in Pokémon Horizons: The Series, voices Atom's sister Uran.
4. The show is praised for the anti-war philosophy it shares, a timeless message which had its worth exemplified by the fact that the show had a stage adaptation in 2015. The stage adaptation returned in 2018 and toured across Europe and Japan owing to popular demand.
5. The anime adaptation of PLUTO was announced in 2017, only for production to take six years to complete until its eventual release on Netflix in 2023. The 6-year long production is quite often attributed to how particular Urasawa was about the presentation and visual aesthetics of the anime.
6. The creator of the show, Naoki Urasawa is also the creator of other acclaimed manga series such as 20th Century Boys, but his thriller manga series Monster is the one that brought him to the forefront of the medium, with its anime adaptation of the same name. The anime adaptation of Monster is ranked 126th on IMDB’s Top 250 TV Shows of all time, and it is available to stream on Netflix.

Well, that's all for this episode and I'm your host Nikhil signing out. Stay tuned for more on OTTPlay.

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• Written by Sidharth A R