Pluto

Episode 1

The long-awaited anime adaptation of Naoki Urasawa's Pluto manga is finally here after six years of anticipation. Originally revealed at GENCO's booth at the MIFA film market at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2017, the project was not ready for announcement. In an interview with Studio M2 founder and Pluto executive producer Masao Maruyama, the reveal was characterized as a "leak." Regardless, fans of Urasawa and his earlier works like Monster and 20th Century Boys have eagerly awaited Pluto's premiere.

The densely packed opener effortlessly integrates the audience into the near-future world where technology has evolved by leaps and bounds, but much of humanity stagnates. War is still a fresh wound for robots and humans alike, and the aftermath of the 39th Central Asian War looms heavy over the cast, whether they're a Europol detective or a reinvented Paul Bunyan. For the seven most advanced robots on Earth, their involvement in the war could very well be their undoing when a mysterious force begins obliterating them, as well as scientists and scholars involved in robot rights legislation.

Pluto is one part sci-fi detective fiction and one part treatise on what it means to be "human." Urasawa's original story was not satisfied with merely expanding on Tezuka's original "The Greatest Robot on Earth" chapters. Much like Monster, Pluto is deeply interested in humanity's perpetuity for violence towards one another and "others." Episode one's point-of-view character is split between Gesicht, one of the seven robots who works as a Europol detective, and Sir Duncan, a blind composer cooped up in a castle in Scotland. Gesicht pretends to drink coffee, is married to (presumably) another robot, and otherwise keeps up all the necessary human appearances. When a robot rights proponent named Bernard Lanke is murdered in his apartment, Gesicht becomes embroiled in a serial case suggesting a robot is killing humans, which has allegedly only happened once before. Simultaneously, folk hero robot Mont Blanc is killed in Switzerland by what is initially believed to be a tornado. Both Lanke and Mont Blanc's remains are found with makeshift horns attached to their heads.

These deaths begin to pull at the corners of the larger political situation of the war, but the story (somewhat abruptly) switches gears to focus on Sir Duncan and his new butler robot, North No. 2. Like Mont Blanc, North No. 2 is a former participant 39th Central Asian War. Duncan is basically a Luddite, shunning advances in music and composing technology and self-assured that robots are merely imitations of humans. Anything a robot could create is fake, lacking artistic merit, and unable to tap into the core of humanity required to create art.

As a self-contained story, Sir Duncan and North No. 2's interactions are well-tread ground in science-fiction. We have a hard-hearted old man stuck in his ways alongside a robot who wants to move on from the destruction and memories of his past and play the piano. Intermixed is familial drama from Duncan's childhood and a cameo from Black Jack himself.

Pluto isn't exploring new territory, but its efforts are exemplary. Small moments, like Gesicht's interactions with the remains and widow of a dead constable-bot, fill the spaces of a world where robot and human co-existence is still imperfect. The growing rapport between Sir Duncan and North No. 2 confirms that, machines or no, robots carry a heavy weight of perfectly accurate, traumatic memory and are equally interested in experiencing happiness and beauty as humans.

Witnessing a production that sets a bar for itself and clears it effortlessly is also refreshing. The settings, a futuristic Frankfurt, lush formal gardens in Scotland, the rainy streets of Tokyo, and the dingy prison holding the world's only robotic murderer, are stunning. However, much like Monster, Pluto centers on conversations. The staff does a great job of keeping the talking heads engaging with cutaways, subtle gestures, and exploring crime scenes. Except for occasional compositing issues, Pluto looks fantastic visually. However, at an hour per episode, I don't recommend trying to marathon through the entire show if you're prone to dozing off while reading.

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Pluto is currently streaming on Netflix.