It’s time to look at the Netflix adaption for one of the most legendary manga of all time. At the very least it’s a title that everyone has heard of over the years and for good reason. It’s the return of Astro Boy! Now granted I’m pretty sure this is a completely different continuity than the rest of the Astro Boy stuff although maybe it just takes place in the future. For now I’m guessing it’s the former, but it’s still a lot of fun to see him running around. This is basically a full on mystery thriller and it works really well.

So the plot starts by introducing us to the setting. It’s the future and robots have been continuing to evolve to the point where they are basically comparable to humans now. It’s actually very difficult to tell them apart at first glance because that’s how identical they are in the present state. There is one law of robotics which keeps humanity safe though and that is that they cannot murder a human. Seriously it is completely impossible…or so it would seem.

People are in a panic now because a human and a robot have both just been destroyed. In each case a pair of horns was stabbed onto the corpse and the way in which the murders happened seem to have only been possible by a robot. That would mean that a robot has actually murdered a human. If someone has found a way to make this possible…then nobody is safe. Panic will take over the streets and people are going to die. The government puts officer Gesicht of the FBI in charge of the case. He needs to find the culprit and put an end to this but is it already too late? Have the gears been put into motion to end the peace between humans and robots once and for all? The villain appears to be going after the 7 most powerful robots in the world, the final mechs of mass destruction and also the top researchers involved in a specific project.

So right off the bat it’s important to mention that this is a very dialogue heavy series. The mystery is absolutely at the forefront here with Gesicht trying to narrow down the search but there is also a lot of character moments for everyone. So sometimes you may take 30-40 minutes off from the mystery itself to explore other plots. In terms of action, there isn’t really much until the final episode so it’s important to keep in mind. One of my only negatives is in regard to that but we’ll get into that later on. This is still a great show all around and most importantly, it’s one that has a considerable amount of replay value.

You could easily watch this show again a little while after finishing it and see how much more you’re able to piece together the next time around. Granted the mystery tends to evolve as it goes on so your experience should not change too much. It’s also just fun to listen to the various debates regarding the robots and how things are currently going. When robots are this close to humans, do they basically get all of the rights a human gets or not? A lot of the show is pretty much a metaphor for that as robots keep being destroyed and the characters have to wonder if that’s equivalent to human lives or not. If it is, then a lot of them feel like they can never really atone for their sins.

A war happened many years before the series takes place but the effects loom rather large. Just about every character was affected by what happened there whether due to what they did or what they didn’t do. The war itself looks like it was an easy win for the heroes based on what we saw but of course that does nothing to reduce the amount of casualties dealt to the losing side the whole time. It was also a cautionary tale about why you don’t want robots of mass destruction running around.

Now the one weakness I mentioned earlier in regard to their not being a lot of action is that sometimes you will have incredible build up for a fight only for it to virtually be off screen’d. You’ll see maybe one blow but the fight will be over in a minute. That’s not good payoff even if you’re trying to show how powerful the villain is. I think you could definitely have worked around that with some fun action segments while still hiding the villain. Instead it has the opposite effect of making the hero look a bit too weak.

For example episode 1 did this the right way with North No. 2. The episode hypes this guy up to oblivion so when he finally fights there is a nice spectacle and while the fight isn’t long, it’s long enough to both add some hype to the villain while matching up with the build up to him. That was episode 1 so it’s not like the build up was crazy. Then we have the build up to Astro Boy. Wellllll…that build up ends up backfiring quite a lot. The ultimate confrontation ends up being extremely underwhelming to the point where you’re wondering if a scene or two got left on the chopping block. No way it should have been over quite that fast. It should have been a much longer fight and I’d argue the verdict also should have been different. But hey I can accept the outcome…with a longer fight and definitely a lot more damage involved. So in this case more action would have been a good thing.

Particularly since the animation is pretty decent. It’s not really at the level of any of the current shows or your average mainstream anime. Older titles like Naruto or One Piece for example will look a lot better but the colors still pop out and when we do get a brief action scene it looks impressive. I think they would have definitely been up to the task for a full on fight. Meanwhile the soundtrack is fairly low key for the most part. There are one or two battle themes that are really good though and they debut in the final episodes of the season. I’m going to need to find those on Youtube at some point.

The writing is really good here which is important since you can’t have a good mystery without good writing. There are a ton of solid twists all around here and the dialogue is always very engaging. It’s certainly the strength of the series and it goes without saying that the cast of characters is very solid. So without further adieu lets go ahead and start talking about them. First up is Gesicht since he is the main character after all. Gesicht is a good lead who always looks at things objectively and is very good at his job. He may not be as emotionless as he tries to appear but he really does always try to see the mission through.

Ultimately as the series goes on you can make the case that he gets a little less effective as the emotions come out but he comes out on top time and time again. Ultimately I’d say he had a pretty good run. The ending is even a little unexpected because I was fully prepared for the series to reverse on the final move. Pluto stays the course on all of its decisions though and this was just another one of them. Gesicht really moves the plot along and in just about every case where there is a disagreement I tended to be on his side.

Then we have Mont Blanc who unfortunately gets the shaft as far as the big 7 goes. He really doesn’t get to do much at all so there’s not much to say about him. He seemed like a nice guy. North No. 2 got a lot to do though and really had a good character arc going. It’s a shame we couldn’t see more of him in combat but the guy was very determined and once he set his sights on something he never let go. While his segment in the first episode may have gone on a bit long, you did always feel a sense of foreboding the whole time.

In terms of danger and suspense it has to be one of the highlights of the series when he goes off into battle. The beginnings of a mystery are always really intense for that reason because you still don’t know exactly what to expect. Next was Brando who was also a pretty solid robot. I think he should have been a little more straight with his family about the danger he was walking into though. I know it’s a hard conversation to have but they should be prepared for him to not walk out of this one alive. Otherwise it’s like they have a lot of hope with no idea of how it could backfire and that’s a lot more cruel.

Hercules is another really great robot and one of my favorites. He’s the kind of guy who is really honest and upfront with whoever he is talking too. He just says it like it is and the guy was really built for combat. He doesn’t shy away from any fights and never holds anything back. With that said, I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s the strongest of the 7 or anything because they were all built for combat. Apparently he’s roughly tied with Brando. I’d put both of them above Mont Blanc but under Epsilon, Atom, and North No. 2.

Then there is Epsilon who seems to be the most powerful by a wide margin. His photon abilities are really impressive both in how sharp they hit but also in terms of range. He’s basically able to level an entire city when he cuts loose and has impressive energy reserves. Even Pluto wouldn’t really stand a chance when Epsilon is going all out. It’s likely why they had to make him a pacifist because otherwise he’d really be cleaning up town. Ultimately Epsilon did a lot of good for the world like looking over the children and I don’t fault him for skipping out on the war. Ultimately it sounds like that was a good move.

We never get a ton of context for the war in general though. From what we do know it is definitely important that some people fought at least since it was a war that needed to be won. The weapons of mass destruction may not have been there but the perfect A.I. could have destroyed everyone. Of course that nearly happens anyway but the whole thing still made sense. Finally we have Atom. Yeah I keep calling him Astro Boy but technically in this show they only use the term Atom. He’s an impressive character who really talks things through and has a good amount of power.

If I take away the fact that I’m already a fan of the character then it’s true that he doesn’t look quite as impressive here. Ultimately he doesn’t have a ton of screentime for action but the final episode helps to make up for that. He gets a good amount of action there and gets to really start showing off his stuff. It would have been cool if they could have given him his iconic arm cannon though. Now that would have been awesome but I guess he’d be too overpowered. Ultimately he has to fight against the cycle of violence and make some really tough calls but he always comes out on top. Atom is the kind of guy that you can really trust through it all.

His sister Uran doesn’t get as much of a role but she still has her influential moments. She is able to detect sadness across a large distance which is a really helpful ability to have. It’d be cool if she could have fought as well though. Another supporting character is Helena who is Gesicht’s wife. She gets a lot of credit for never getting annoyed at how often he has to go to work or guilt tripping him over it. She’s extremely patient and it’s nice to see a character who is super supportive like that.

One character stood above the rest as my favorite by the end though and his name is Brau. This guy has an interesting backstory (Pluto in general as so much context from the past that I think you could make an awesome prequel out of it) and is extremely intelligent. The guy is fairly modest but to me he seems like the most advanced robot in the series. I don’t even know how they would have caught him back in the day. This guy’s dialogue is always fantastic in every scene and he really steals the show. You always get the feeling he’s 10 steps ahead and it’s why the heroes should feel very lucky that he’s not evil. If he was then they would all be doomed.

We have a few scientists who get a big role here. One of them is Dr. Hoffman who is a nice guy in general but he loses some major points for keeping secrets from Gesicht. The decisions may have been out of his hands but he still owed the guy the truth. He should have told him everything he knew as soon as possible. Most of the scientists tend to be more on the shady side though. You also have Tenma who is a super genius, maybe the smartest human in the series. Even he keeps a lot of secrets though and his experimental methods of treatment may work but they always have a heavy cost.

The guy always seems like he’s trying to do his best though. He’s just more willing to get his hands dirty to complete the job rather than freezing like the others. Ochanomizu is more of an idealistic character so he’s always trying to do the right thing but at times it does limit him. He basically has to ask Tenma for help when the going gets tough as a result.

Then we have the genius Abullah who also gets a pretty big role here. The guy makes for a very interesting character and he is probably the only one who’s actually keeping up with Tenma for the most part. Tenma still has the edge but this guy’s close. We can’t forget about Roosevelt, but his role really isn’t all that huge. He gets some good lines to be sure but I do think what hurts him here is that he doesn’t feel as smart as he thinks he is. Roosevelt clearly thinks he is number 1 but I’d say it’s clear that Brau is smarter. Also a weakness of having very little screentime is that we don’t get to see him winning for very long. He’s got a solid design but there’s not too much to say for him.

Adolf on the other hand gets a pretty big role. This guy may panic a lot and doesn’t always make the right calls but you do feel his presence. I thought he made for a good antagonist even if his motives are pretty bad. He keeps talking about how his brother was completely butchered and didn’t deserve to die the way that he did….as if it was a long torture before death or something. Nah it was a big energy blast which I’d argue is one of the best ways to go out since it would be pretty painless. Also we see just how deranged and psychotic the brother was so of course he was going to be taken out. You just never at any point come close to sympathizing with Adolf. I don’t think the series was necessarily trying for that though so it works out.

As I mentioned earlier with robots being this close to humans the debate is in how this works with the law and such. I would say it’s equivalent so when you see this guy going around murdering a bunch of robotic kids, well he’s a psychotic mass murderer so when he gets shot down I wasn’t exactly sad about it. I also think the show was heavily leaning into this as you can see from how serious the characters treated it. I would say that’s 100% correct. The instant robots can have feelings and genuine sentience like that, they absolutely get all the rights as humans.

Finally we have Pluto and he does make for a really impressive antagonist although as a character I wasn’t a huge fan. There’s a lot of twists about him so I can’t go too into detail on that but he’s not really my kind of villain in a lot of ways. I love the design, it’s really intimidating all the way through and you don’t want to have to fight the guy. When he’s not battling he isn’t nearly as impressive though. So keep him in battle mode the whole time and then you’re really set. I was also glad that by the end we actually got to see the full design since he’s hidden away for most of the series.

In general the series has a fairly melancholy vibe to it. The characters have all been through so much by this point that even the thought of possibly dying doesn’t scare them or anything like that. In another series where everyone might be yelling a ton as more and more bodies pile up, everyone here uses logic and calmly tries to get to the bottom of this. For the most part the only yelling is in the final episode with the big fight and that makes a lot of sense. It really was a great fight so while the show may not have had a ton of action, they saved up the budget to go all out here.

Overall, Pluto is a pretty great show. There’s a lot of depth here and great emotional moments. While the show does start to lose some steam towards the end, that’s normal for a mystery title. After all most of the fun is in solving the mystery so once that’s done then it’s like you’ve finished the main part of a quest. That said, the final episode does have a great fight and ultimately this felt like an excellent adventure. Making every episode around an hour was a great way to jam a ton of content in here. It may have “only” been 8 episodes but it felt like much more as a result. I definitely recommend checking this one out.

Overall 8/10