While The Plutowill be broadcast on Netflix this month, based on Usamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy, one needs no prior knowledge of the classic manga to enjoy its reinterpretation. Pluto’s familiar story beats only serve as a starting point to create an expanded world that pays homage to but doesn’t rely on the older manga. This will save those who are afraid of getting stuck into a decade-old story a headache.
Pluto reimagines Astro Boy’s “The Greatest Robot on Earth” plot, turning the exciting robot adventure into a moody murder mystery with plenty of twists. So Atom, Ochanomizu, Tenma and the others appear with very little introduction. However, even though Pluto reuses parts of the same plot as Tezuka’s story, both the manga and the upcoming anime can be followed without any trouble, despite the familiar faces.
Pluto stands on its own without Astro Boy
Like many reimaginings, half the fun of Pluto is seeing how the Astro Boy characters are changed to fit the new story. Indeed, several plot twists of the story involve the main villain using the assumed knowledge of a Tezuka fan against them. Therefore, there may be a misconception that “appreciating” Pluto also requires reading “The Greatest Robot on Earth” or even all the Astro Boy stories that preceded it. While doing so may have added to the surprise, Naoki Urasawa ultimately used his predecessor’s work to write a story that charted its own course into entirely new territory.
Urasawa’s improvements to the story include treating the characters as actual characters – most of Pluto’s goals in Astro Boy are treated more like excuses to heighten Pluto’s threat Pluto before his confrontation with Atom himself. Now, they are veterans whose entire lives and histories were cruelly cut short. The character Gesicht best exemplifies this: merely another “powerful robot” with a detective gimmick in Astro Boy, he becomes the main character of Pluto as a Serious and serious investigator who is haunted by nightmares and memory problems even as he tries to find answers. behind the murders.
Pluto’s unusual choice to rewrite only part of Astro Boy allows them to exist independently of each other. Restarters often feel compelled to reference everyone and everything to prove they have “done their homework.” Urasawa, on the other hand, needs just enough originals to make a compelling mystery thriller. Pluto is even willing to write completely original details, such as a fictional war between two countries that will become important clues. While one person owes another, The Pluto not a retread; viewers can view it on its own merits instead of focusing on its accoutrements.