News
Netflix Confirms Pluto Anime Series in 2023 With Sneak Peek Video
posted on by Egan Loo
Netflix confirmed in a "sneak peek" video on Tuesday that it will present the animated series of Naoki Urasawa's Pluto manga this year, and it also confirmed the project's main Japanese voice cast and studio:
The Japanese cast members are:
- Shinshū Fuji as Gesicht
- Yōko Hikasa as Atom
- Minori Suzuki as Uran
GENCO is still producing the series in collaboration with Tezuka Productions with animation production by M2.
In a quote provided by Netflix, Urasawa said, “I applaud the courage of everyone that has taken on the challenge of making an anime based on PLUTO. I am excited about the birth of this new series to win over people's hearts. I hope that now more than ever, Osamu Tezuka's message reaches the world.” Co-author Takashi Nagasaki added, “PLUTO inherits the philosophy of Tezuka and does not merely convey a message of anti-war, but reminds us that there is suffering on both sides… but still, the only remaining answer is peace.” Supervisor Macoto Tezka, a son of the late Osamu Tezuka, said, “The animated PLUTO is the real deal, and in addition to this being Urasawa's latest work, this is also a new Tezuka anime. I can hardly wait to see how this new generation of anime turns out.”
The Pluto manga is Urasawa and producer Takashi Nagasaki's seinen drama re-imagining of the world depicted in Osamu Tezuka's manga Astro Boy. The series ran in Shogakukan's Big Comic Original magazine from 2003 to 2009, and it has eight compiled book volumes. The manga has been translated and published in 20 countries including France and the United States. Viz Media, which released the manga in North America, describes the story:
In a distant future where sentient humanoid robots pass for human, someone or something is out to destroy the seven great robots of the world. Europol's top detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate these mysterious robot serial murders - the only catch is that he himself is one of the seven targets.
GENCO's booth at the MIFA film market at the 2017 Annecy International Animation Film Festival had listed that the manga was getting an anime adaptation, but the anime was not officially announced at the time. According to GENCO then, Studio M2 was producing the anime. Masao Maruyama, who is the representative director at M2, served as producer for anime adaptations of Urasawa's Monster, Master Keaton, and Yawara! manga when he worked at Madhouse Studios.
Actor Mirai Moriyama starred in a stage play adaptation of the manga in 2015. A second stage play adaptation ran in Japan in 2018, and then had an international run in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Belgium later that year.
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment acquired the film rights from Tezuka Productions for a planned live-action/computer-graphics (CG) hybrid film of Pluto in 2010.
Source: Press release
