Pluto

Gesicht, an android police detective of Europol, is tasked with finding the murderer of Montblanc, a retired war hero robot. Although it appears that only a robot could have committed this crime, the murder of a renowned robot rights activist casts doubts on the criminal's identity. Indeed, outside of an isolated and unexplained incident that occurred eight years ago, robots are programmed to be unable to kill human beings. However, the lack of human evidence on the crime scene and the similarity of modus operandi lead Gesicht to suspect that the two murderers might be the same being—be they man or robot.

Shortly after Montblanc's passing, another retired elite war robot is mysteriously eliminated. Gesicht notices a pattern in the choice of murder victim: both dead robots belonged to a group of the seven most powerful war machines ever designed. Determined to stop the murderer from eliminating the five remaining veterans, Gesicht seeks help from Atom, a cutting-edge android who resembles a human boy. The duo must now hunt down the rogue killer before the series of murders is carried on, lest the very fabric of society suffer irremediable damage.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Gesicht Main

Fuji, Shinshuu Japanese

Atom Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Epsilon Supporting

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

North #2 Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Brau-1589 Supporting

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Tenma, Umatarou Supporting

Tsuda, Eizou Japanese

Pluto Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Ali, Muhammad Supporting

Minami, Wakana Japanese

Dr. Ochanomizu Supporting

Furukawa, Toshio Japanese

Uran Supporting

Suzuki, Minori Japanese

Nagasaki, Takashi Producer

Noda, Fuko Producer

Udagawa, Sumio Producer

Ge, Yangqian Producer

Reviews

Jan 11, 2026

oPikWojtik

Recommended

This review doesnt contain major spoilers and is mainly subjective.

Pluto is an adaptation of Naoki Urasawas manga of the same name that is based on dark story arc from Osamu Tezukas Astro Boy. Urasawa redefined the original material as a complex murder mystery set in a futuristic world where humans and advanced robots coexist, following robot detective Gesicht investigating murders of the seven most powerful robots and exploring themes of humanity, racism, and war. I am a huge fan of Naoki Urasawa, mainly because of Monster. I went into Pluto without reading or watching Astro Boy nor reading the Pluto manga.

Story & Structure: 10/10
The story ... is definitely what Pluto does the best. Pluto really feels like Urasawa. His patterns in storytelling, character layering and mystery creating are recognizable, and for me, they work almost flawlessly in Pluto.
What I loved the most about Pluto are the philosophies discussed in the story. Pluto explores artificial intelligence and humanity in a way that deeply connected with me. ''The ultimate robot is a human and the ultimate human is a robot.'' The more advanced the robots are, the more human they feel. And at times, they feel even more human than actual humans.
This is one of my favorite philosophies to discuss about and is one of the reasons I love series like Parasyte. Pluto handles it beautifully.
The theme of war and hatred is another reason why Pluto resonated with me so much. I have always been consumed by stories that explore the consequences, causes and stupidity of war rather than glorify it, and Pluto does exactly that. These two philosophies, humanity and war, are explored throughout the story in a way that feels natural and deeply connected to the real world.
Even though Pluto is a sci-fi, it never felt like a real sci-fi to me. The future it works with feels realistic, grounded, and a bit scary when you consider how accurate the authors imagination of AI really was, knowing that Urasawa presented these ideas over twenty years ago.
The introduction to Pluto is one of the best introductions in anime. Early storyline of North no.2 completely blew me away emotionally and thematically. It set such a high standard that everything else in the series didnt feel as good as that storyline. Not because the rest is bad, far from it, but because that early arc was close to absolute perfection.
The pacing of Pluto is a bit different, its episodes are hour long because it was released as an ONA. The hour long episodes worked and never felt too long and the time was always used well to deepen characters and themes. I felt a bit unsatisfied only at the very end. I loved the ending itself, it closed everything well, but it was a bit too sudden. I honestly believe the series could have been extended by one or two more episodes to fully explore its final points and ideas.

Characters:10/10
Every character in Pluto feels real, whether human or robot. None of them feel like character archetypes or tropes. Every major character represents a different way of viewpoint on humanity, violence and emotions.
The protagonist, Gesicht, is easily one of my favorite protagonists in anime. Following him along his journey was incredibly engaging, and what I loved the most is that even when he acts very human, the series never lets you forget that he is a robot. This balance between human and robot nature is something Pluto handles exceptionally well across all robot characters.
The main antagonist is also well written and while not stealing the show, his character was layered and influential and his motives had a well thought out explanation.
There is one character who completely stole the show for me. Epsilon. I have never been a fan of pacifism. It often feels naive or cowardly in my opinion, but Pluto made me genuinely be interested in it. His beliefs were extremely complex, but layered and sophisticated. Epsilons philosophy feels natural, and sincere, almost like its the embodiment of nature itself and his presence feels like an Angel sent on earth.

Atmosphere: 8/10
Pluto’s atmosphere feels again like Urasawa. Emotional moments are really emotional, darker scenes carry weight and suspense never feels overwhelming.
I’m not a big sci-fi fan, however Plutos world feels extremely immersive and realistic. The futuristic elements are never overwhelming, and are close to realism.

Art & Sound: 9/10
Urasawas art style is my absolute favorite in animanga. Every character is easy to recognize and very unique, and the robot designs were way better than I expected.
The nature, buildings, and backgrounds are beautifully drawn and boost the atmosphere of each scene. However, in some scenes, the backgrounds feel too blurry. This is of course a minor issue and was made to keep the budget down.
The soundtrack adds even more emotional depth and often makes scenes elevate to extremes.
Pluto doesn’t have an opening, since its an ONA, but the ending theme fits the series perfectly and always left me with enthusiastic feeling after each episode.

Overall:
Pluto is a mustwatch for Urasawa fans and for anyone interested in AI, humanity, and problems of the concept of war. I dont recommed this show for those who wants action, fights and straightforward plot.
The biggest issue i have with Pluto is not the story itself, but with how the series got released. I strongly believe that Plutos release schedule should have been weekly. Releasing every episode at once buried the discussion and hype around the strongest anime of 2023. I also recommend to look into the story of Plutos creation and what Urasawa must have endured to create this masterpiece.

Favourite characters: Epsilon, Gesicht, North no.2
Favourite episode: Episode 1

Pluto became one of my favourite animes of all time and it currently (as of writing this) stands as my top 6 anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by oPikWojtik (2)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Apr 18, 2025

zeta1

Mixed Feelings

Pluto is a show I really wanted to like but despite having a compelling mystery, it is ultimately disappointing on too many key aspects to be considered truly great. It adapts the eponymous manga by Naoki Urasawa - who gave us the amazing manga Monster (the great anime adaptation of which I highly recommend) - who significantly reimagines an arc from Astro Boy. The show presents itself as a tense, dark and suspenseful mystery in its trailers but the experience of watching it often doesn't live up to that promise. The story is often predictable and the pace is slow and meandering, making it frequently ... boring. The latter at least improves in the later episodes. The visual designs pay homage to the original Astro Boy (which is well over 50 years old now) but unlike the modernised 2003 Astro Boy anime which felt fresh, Pluto has mixed results and some designs really look very dated as a result although overall the show is fine in this regard. The sound and music are a high point although the musical highlights could have been used more.

The biggest issue however is the world and several parts of the plot. The robots here have basically magic powers and their limits are only defined by whatever human aspect the writer wants to use for the plot without rhyme or reason. For example, robots supposedly cannot hurt humans but are active in war zones and act as bodyguards where hurting humans is almost guaranteed. The robots pretend to eat and mimic other plot-central human behaviours without actually understanding why and waste resources while expecting the audience to cheer for them. The supposedly emotional plot points which depend on the rules often fall flat as a result as there's no limit or logic to what the robots can and cannot do although that improves later on. Even worse though is that at several points the characters do illogical things just to keep the plot going. The world is nonsensical to the point that you can't really suspend disbelief and enjoy the show sometimes. The pacing issues, especially early on, really don't help the show when combined with this but the core mystery is compelling enough to at least try and keep going.

The finale thankfully is worth watching even with the occasional issue as everything comes together although some aspects could be better explained. If this show was half the length or less and more realistic it could easily have been a masterpiece but unfortunately I really can't fully recommend it because of its glaring persistent issues. If you want to watch Astro Boy, check out the 2003 TV anime instead, that's true to the spirit of the original and modernises things nicely although it won't be as dark.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by zeta1 (8)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Sep 27, 2025

PAIN-69

Not Recommended

Funny

PLUTO IS FAILURE OF URASAWA
Pluto follows the Europol robot detective Gesicht in his attempts to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths around the world where all the victims have objects shoved into or positioned by their heads, imitating horns
Though the premise is great and you have urasawa sounds like a masterpiece but no its so boring you will fall sleep multiple time the mystery done here a so so bad It includes so many irrelevant garbage characters that dont matter in long term there are literally low hyped momments and I knew that because he made it based on astro ... boy corny robot manga but still I gave it chance but no its not good. Just watch masterpiece like monster or 20 th century boys and drop pluto

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by PAIN-69 (2)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Netflix Anime (Part 4)

by ReSeinen

46 Entries · 85 Restacks

Highest Rated Anime Of The 2020s (No Sequels/Donghua)

by eroguy

50 Entries · 60 Restacks

Hollywood-esque Anime

by Darkfiend47

50 Entries · 95 Restacks

Fall 2023 Simulcast List [Update 10/22]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Fall 2023 season. Anime series licensed for home ...read more

Sep 29, 2023 8:06 AM by Snow | Discuss (26 comments)

Fall 2023 Preview

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of Fall 2023 titles with an accompanying promotional video, commercial, teaser, or trailer. This post will be u...read more

Sep 22, 2023 10:51 AM by Snow | Discuss (13 comments)

	Poll: Pluto Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) deg - Oct 26, 2023	215 replies	by TheStarscream759 »» Jan 13, 7:11 PM
	Poll: Pluto Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) ryzxgum - Oct 27, 2023	59 replies	by Certified_gooner »» Dec 16, 2025 1:02 PM
	Poll: Pluto Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 ) ScarRufus - Oct 26, 2023	53 replies	by Jinx_Araragi »» Aug 17, 2025 1:00 AM
	Poll: Pluto Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) King_KK - Oct 26, 2023	51 replies	by Jinx_Araragi »» Aug 17, 2025 12:59 AM
	Poll: Pluto Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) MegamiRem - Oct 26, 2023	152 replies	by BlufaceBaby »» Jul 20, 2025 5:55 PM