AIs are becoming more and more present these days and many topics around them are becoming important. Older films and series have often dealt with the topic. A Netflix anime from 2023 also deals with robots and AIs and reminded MeinMMO author Nikolas Hernes of the masterpiece Blade Runner.
Pluto is originally a manga by well-known author Naoki Urasawa. He is also known for works such as Monsters and 20th Century Boys. Pluto was originally his reinterpretation of an Astro Boy story.
The robot Montblanc and the human Bernhard Lanke are both killed. Both were important figures for robot rights and popular with the world’s population. As it turns out, an unknown person is hunting the 7 most powerful robots in the world. Inspector Face is also one of them and tries by all means possible to find the enemy.
Pluto – Trailer for the anime adaptation of the well-known sci-fi manga on Netflix
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What rights should robots have?
Pluto asks a similar core question to Westworld or Blade Runner: How human are robots and what rights they should have. What I particularly liked was that, in addition to actively asking questions, subtle things were also addressed. Robots adopt children, get married and want to go on vacation. I often asked myself the question: Is this a human or a robot?
Even highly human emotions are portrayed. Hercules is a robot that fights against others. He feels pride and rivalry. Atom not only looks like a child, but feels great curiosity and joy in going to school.
That doesn’t sound like anything special at first. One aspect that immediately caught my attention was the concept of guilt. The 7 robots are connected not only by social relevance, but also by the past in the 39th Central Asian War. The states of Thrace invaded Persia to liquidate illegal weapons of mass destruction. In the case of Pluto, the robots are the weapons of mass destruction.
The 7 most powerful robots were also included and had a role in the war. As the series progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that the robots regret this war and even feel guilt. An emotion that a robot should not feel in order to complete its task. Post-war times and guilt are themes that become increasingly important in the corset of sci-fi history. These weighty topics captivate you throughout the 8 approximately 1-hour episodes.
Pluto is an exciting sci-fi thriller
Pluto spends most of his time with Face and his investigations. These are exciting from the start because Face represents all the previously mentioned themes and at the same time is a good investigator who is very fun to follow.
The big question in the murder case is whether a robot killed the researchers and robots and how that is even possible, because robots cannot kill people. This has only happened once in the history of robotics and this robot has been in prison ever since.
Similar to The Silence of the Lambs, Face talks to this robot to gain insight into the possible perpetrator. In addition, there seems to be a hidden story in Face’s past.
Although the robots are celebrated as heroes by most people, robot opponents also exist in the world and make for a good subplot.
Pluto has often made me think. With the current AI issue on my mind, I thought about what my stance would be on robots. The robots are human, do good things, and have been heroes for humanity. But if we make robots and AIs more and more human, then we also have to live with the possible negative aspects. Pluto works as both a sci-fi thriller and a philosophical anime about robots. If you’re interested in a more serious anime, you should definitely take a look. You can find more adult anime series here: Anime from 18 – These 5 series are not for children