Pluto Anime Series on Netflix to Premiere in 2023: Sneak Peek Video

Naoki Urasawa's Pluto manga will be animated this year, Netflix said in a "sneak peek" video on Tuesday. The company also revealed the major Japanese voice cast and studio for the project:

ABOUT

The universe of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy manga is reimagined in Urasawa and producer Takashi Nagasaki's seinen drama The Pluto Manga. The series, which contains eight collected book volumes, appeared in Shogakukan's Big Comic Original magazine from 2003 to 2009. In 20 nations, including France and the US, the manga has been translated and published. The manga's North American publisher, Viz Media, outlines the plot as follows:

In a distant future where sentient humanoid robots pass for human, someone or something is out to destroy the seven great robots of the world. Europol's top detective Gesicht is assigned to investigate these mysterious robot serial murders - the only catch is that he himself is one of the seven targets.

Although the anime was not yet formally revealed, it was mentioned on the GENCO stand at the MIFA film market at the 2017 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. The anime, according to GENCO at the time, was being made by Studio M2. When he worked at Madhouse Studios, Masao Maruyama, the representative director at M2, acted as producer for the anime adaptations of Urasawa's Monster, Master Keaton, and Yawara! manga.

A stage performance based on the manga starring actor Mirai Moriyama in 2015. In 2018, a second stage play adaption was performed in Japan before touring internationally to the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

Tezuka Productions sold the film rights to Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment for a proposed live-action/computer-generated (CG) hybrid picture of Pluto in 2010.

The series is still being produced by GENCO and Tezuka Productions, with M2 handling the animation.

CAST

• Shinshū Fuji
• Gesicht
• Yōko Hikasa 
• Atom
• Minori Suzuki 
• Uran

WORDS BY THEM

According to a Netflix comment by Urasawa, “I applaud the courage of everyone that has taken on the challenge of making an anime based on PLUTO. I am excited about the birth of this new series to win over people's hearts. I hope that now more than ever, Osamu Tezuka's message reaches the world.”

Takashi Nagasaki, a co-author, added, “PLUTO inherits the philosophy of Tezuka and does not merely convey a message of anti-war, but reminds us that there is suffering on both sides… but still, the only remaining answer is peace.”

Son of the late Osamu Tezuka, Supervisor Macoto Tezka remarked, “The animated PLUTO is the real deal, and in addition to this being Urasawa's latest work, this is also a new Tezuka anime. I can hardly wait to see how this new generation of anime turns out.”