In a recent manga review, Christoph Mark reviews “Pluto” by Tezuka Osamu. Mark wrote, “It takes a truly talented mangaka, such as Naoki Urasawa, author of several award-winning series, including the brilliant 20th Century Boys, to take on the legendary work of Osamu Tezuka. This seems even more true when looking at the critical review of the Tezuka-inspired Damons in this column last week.”
“Set in the future world of Astro Boy, where robots and humans live side by side, Pluto delves into the issue of human rights (or robot rights), compassion, evolution and what it means to be sentient. Through the work, which began its serialization in 2003, Urasawa also explores social and political issues, often making clear his feelings about the current Iraq war, a futuristic version of which is in the story’s recent past.”
“The story, currently in its sixth volume, is an adaptation of the story of Pluto, the most advanced robot ever created, from Tezuka’s original Tetsuwan Atomu (Astro Boy) series. But the new storyline only touches on that series, using its characters occasionally and tangentially.”
“Instead, Urasawa’s Pluto follows a Europol (European Police) robot detective named Gesicht. Believed to be one of the most powerful robots ever built–and certainly the best detective–Gesicht finds himself investigating the mysterious murder of Mont Blanc, a much-loved robot alpinist, which quickly evolves into a serial killing of the world’s most advanced robots and roboticists. The bizarre twist is that they are each found with metal bars or other implements thrust into their heads to represent the horns of the god of the underworld.”
“As the story quickly unfolds, it seems this mystery killer–who is given the name Pluto, which coincidentally is the killer’s real name–is going after members of the so-called Bora mission, a group of scientists and their most advanced robots who inspected a fictitious country in the Middle East following a war there over android rights. But the war was unpopular, and according to many, unjust, as the inspectors were unable to find the devastating robotics they were searching for. Sound familiar, anyone?”