Announcing Mecha March 2024
Surprise, Mecha March 2024 is on its way here once again. It's an annual event where I mostly ignore Gundam and look at, depending on how much you dig into the world of mecha, more obscure titles that need more attention. You can kind of tell some idea of what the general theme I am going for is even if it's a bit more chaotic. A post about Mecha March will appear on Friday with even more details and some more serious announcements about it. I also need this month to prepare for Mecha Madness 2024.
Astro Boy Grown Up?
Astro Boy is not the first anime, but it is the first anime to get popular around the world. All with Astro Boy being the localized name of the series North America and around the world. The real name is Tetsuwan Atom after all, but the fact that a lot of us think about the localization before anything else. One of the most famous works in the entire anime sphere. One flying robot boy changed the entire world of anime and it's amazing and also a bit horrifying.
Pluto is what happens when Naoki Urasawa takes something he was influenced by and puts his own twists into it. If you don't know Urasawa, he's only the most cinematic mangaka and one of the best mystery writers that exists right now. This series is taking The Greatest Robot on Earth arc of astro boy and turning it into a murder mystery. This means a lot of the ideas and themes of Astro Boy are aged up or modernized. A lot of the themes and ideas that appear in Pluto are in Astro Boy, but they are handled in a way that isn't just in an episodic television series if that makes sense.
Pluto's Main Plot
This show takes place after a very thinly veiled Iraq War considering how the manga started appearing in the world 20 years ago. In this show, the United States of Thracia invades Persia in the 39th Central Asian War looking for robots of mass destruction. That war happened, in this show's timeline, 4 years ago. That war is still on everyone's mind because every major character had something to do with that war. Those being doctors that created robots and the 7 great robots of the world which were involved with that war and were shaped by it.
Pluto starts with one of the seven great robots of the world, Mont Blanc, dead. One of the most powerful robots that also works in the swiss alps as a forest service and mountaineering robot. One pushes for peace after his war efforts and he and his professor, Professor Reinhert, are both dead with horns placed on them specifically. Enter Europol robot agent Gesicht being on the case to investigate his murder. From that point on, Gesicht searches for who could have murdered the slow continuous string of robots that die. Also, Astro Boy/Atom does play a role in it because it is in his universe after all.
A whole lot of things from explorations of hatred and revenge. Mostly from characters that are robots who are exploring their feelings. As in, the robots actually discover their programming are actually true feelings. Those are feelings of sadness, happiness, and anger. Lying is also a major thing for robots because they aren't programmed to lie. Classic what makes us human stuff that I kind of dig. All while being a very actiony show with a good mystery behind it from a detective character we all learn to love. The finale is really heartbreaking because all the factors tie into it together.
What Pluto Carries Over From Astro Boy
So let's get to the immediate obvious thing right out of the gate. The first ones being that, once again, this is an adaptation and/or reinterpretation of an Astro Boy arc "The Greatest Robot on Earth''. So obviously, that is the plot with a lot of Urasawa twists. That means that Astro Boy/Atom is a prevalent character in this as much as professor Tenma and Ochanomizu are. Astro Boy was sold to a circus after doctor Tenma dropped him off and Ochanomizu rescued him. Uran, Astro/Atom's sister, also plays a pivotal role in Pluto.
The main thing that I wanted to use this section for was to mention the politics that are in Astro Boy. Yes, every single bit of political issues based on the robot vs human relationship in Pluto were in Astro Boy first. That weird relationship of so many humans struggling to grasp that robots aren't just machines to make human lives easier, but their own people is an inherent thing throughout all of Astro Boy, so anime has been political since the beginning. Same with ring wing sorts of hate groups that refuse to let robots gain any headway in society. Urasawa captured the feeling of Astro Boy's world very well.
Hatred, Cycles of Hatred, and the Trauma of War
This is the story of Pluto itself. A major war, the 39th Persian war, happened a short time ago and it is something that affected and possibly damaged an untold amount of people. Even those who didn't even fight in it got caught in it in some way. Mont Black, North No 2, Hercules, Brando, Epsilon, Gesicht, and Atom got involved in the war that destroyed Persia in their own way. Most of them killed tons of Persian robots, Epsilon was a part of the clean up crew after the war because he didn't want to fight. Atom didn't fight and was used for political reasons after the war ended.
The mystery of Pluto, which is more of a political thriller, as things get unveiled is revenge for Persia for what happened after the war occurred. There is a challenge of the 7 great robots of the world being hunted down and destroyed for their hypocrisy of trying to live a peaceful life after ruining someone else's. There is also the ironic nature of the anime where some things meant for peace and bringing prosperity to countries are used to destroy the world itself. A very good Astro Boy plot built around so many high levels of human emotions.
Robots and what it means to be perfect
Robots in Pluto's universe are stereotyped down or dialed down to being the robots you would expect them to be. They don't feel empathy for themselves or others, they cannot kill humans, they don't feel hatred, they don't form families, and so many other things. It's very classic sorts of sci-fi things that have been done multiple times over, but Pluto does all of these in ways that makes you feel like you haven't seen them before. Mainly because the execution is good.
Gesicht is the focus character and what makes him compelling is how so much of his past, which is important to this question, is unveiled in such a satisfying way as the mystery itself is being revealed. There is a hidden part of his life locked away because he isn't meant to remember it. Until it is revealed and it shows Gesicht did feel hate and kill a human after his adopted daughter was murdered by a horrible human being. Atom/Astro also learns how to lie, Uran feels emotions so easily and can express them, and so many robots find families that imitate human lives until they become real. The perfect robot is one that is imperfect in the ways humans are.
Robots and Conclusions
Pluto genuinely looks great, is directed well, and has some excellent bits of animation for the fights when they occur and we are allowed to see them. Most of the time until later episodes, the fights are characters disappearing into a mysterious vortex and them coming up totally annihilated. The fights we see are completely exceptional. I also love the Urasawa character designs for these AStro Boy characters because they are easily recognizable in both senses of the word. Also, so many great environments and locations because this is a series that is a story that takes place across the world for better or for worse.
I think that it's impossible for me to say that much negative about this show because I loved it on almost every level. That's why you don't see much of that here. If I had to say a negative, the show does slow down from this very well written character study and mystery plot at episode 6 and becomes a lot more Astro Boy in nature in the last two episodes as well as focusing on different characters. That's about all the complaints I have because I love those last two episodes as well. Mainly because I really like Astro Boy and I know that Urasawa really likes Astro Boy too. This is possibly my favorite show that appeared in 2023 and I'm so glad it did.
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