Adaptation of award-winning Japanese manga finds home at Netflix
Pluto is a sci-fi thriller anime series for Netflix. The series is produced by Genco featuring animation from M2Studio. Widely considered a masterpiece by critics and fans alike, the manga of Pluto is based on Tezuka's "The Greatest Robot on Earth" arc from Astro Boy originally published in 1964. Osamu Tezuka is a name revered in the industry as he is deemed the “Godfather of Manga.” The manga was created by Naoki Urasawa and his long-time collaborator Takashi Nagasaki with Macoto Tezka supervising and Tezuka Productions providing cooperation. Urasawa has also previously written two other popular manga titles with 20th Century Boys and Monster.
Pluto, which has received worldwide recognition throughout the years, has been honoured with several awards including the prestigious Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2015, a stage adaptation of the manga was created and due to popular demand, it returned in 2018 and toured throughout Japan and Europe. The Netflix series marks its first anime adaptation. Original author Urasawa expressed admiration for the creators of the anime adaptation. Co-author Nagasaki added that Pluto not only promotes anti-war ideology but also highlights the pain and suffering experienced by both sides of a conflict. Despite this, the ultimate goal is to achieve peace.
The voice cast for the anime series includes Shinshu Fuji as Gesicht, Yoko Hikasa as Atom and Minori Suzuki as Uran.