Pluto (manga)
Encyclopedia
is a manga
series by Naoki Urasawa
published in Shogakukan
's Big Comic Original
from 2003 to 2009. It has been licensed for release in English by Viz Media
, under the name Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka. (It was released over 8 volumes between 2009 and 2010.) Takashi Nagasaki is credited as the series' co-author. Makoto Tezuka, Osamu Tezuka
's son, supervised the series.
The series is based on Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, specifically story arc
, and named after the arc's chief villain
. Urasawa reinterprets the story as a suspenseful murder mystery starring Gesicht, a Europol robot detective trying to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths.
for face) in his attempts to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths. The case becomes more puzzling when evidence suggests a robot is responsible for the murders, the first one in eight years. The series recently ended after its 65th chapter.
Numerous references to other characters in Osamu Tezuka's Star System
appear, such as Black Jack
, Robita
, as well as several Astro Boy characters who appear in chief supporting roles.
. The series also received the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize, which Urasawa also won for his work on Monster
.
is planned from Illumination Entertainment
and Universal Pictures
, the production team responsible for the 2010 summer blockbuster Despicable Me
.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series by Naoki Urasawa
Naoki Urasawa
is a Japanese manga artist.-Early life:He graduated from Meisei University with a degree in economics. In 2008, Urasawa had a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he taught classes on manga.-Manga career:...
published in Shogakukan
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...
's Big Comic Original
Big Comic Original
is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Shogakukan, aimed at an older adult and mostly male audience. It is a sister magazine to Big Comic, the biggest difference being that it goes on sale twice a month in the weeks Big Comic doesn't. Cover artwork usually features a dog or cat, and a haiku...
from 2003 to 2009. It has been licensed for release in English by Viz Media
VIZ Media
VIZ Media, LLC, headquartered in San Francisco, is an anime, manga, and Japanese entertainment company. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ Media LLC, which is jointly owned by Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Shueisha, and...
, under the name Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka. (It was released over 8 volumes between 2009 and 2010.) Takashi Nagasaki is credited as the series' co-author. Makoto Tezuka, Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
's son, supervised the series.
The series is based on Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, specifically story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
, and named after the arc's chief villain
Pluto (Astro Boy)
, known as Bruton in the English dubbed 1980 Astro Boy television series, is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka. He was introduced in story arc of the Astro Boy manga....
. Urasawa reinterprets the story as a suspenseful murder mystery starring Gesicht, a Europol robot detective trying to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths.
Plot
Pluto follows the European robot detective Gesicht (GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
for face) in his attempts to solve the case of a string of robot and human deaths. The case becomes more puzzling when evidence suggests a robot is responsible for the murders, the first one in eight years. The series recently ended after its 65th chapter.
Numerous references to other characters in Osamu Tezuka's Star System
Osamu Tezuka's Star System
Over the course of his career, Osamu Tezuka reused the same characters in different roles in different stories. The way that Tezuka used the characters in his "star system" can be seen as somewhat analoguous to a film director frequently casting members of a regular "stable" of actors in different...
appear, such as Black Jack
Black Jack (character)
is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka, introduced in Weekly Shōnen Champion on November 19, 1973.-Character:Black Jack is a medical mercenary, selling his skills to the highest bidder. He is a shadowy figure, with a black cape, eerie black-and-white hair, and stitched-up scars worming...
, Robita
Robita
Robita is a fictional character, a robot who appears in Osamu Tezuka's manga series Phoenix. It is also a character in the modern Astro Boy animated series.-Phoenix:...
, as well as several Astro Boy characters who appear in chief supporting roles.
Characters
Most of these characters have already appeared in earlier versions of this story, formerly called Greatest Robot on Earth; however, more than a few are unique to Pluto.- Gesicht - The main character of the story, he is a GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
robot inspector working for Europol. His body is made out of an alloyAlloyAn alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
called "Zeronium", and he is capable of firing a devastating blast using the alloy as shell. He and his wife, Helena, both have a human appearance. He was prominent in earlier versions, but nowhere near as prominent as he is here. - Mont Blanc - a Swiss mountain robot that was killed at the beginning of the story. He fought in the 39th Middle East War in Persia.
- North No.2 - a ScottishScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
robot with six mechanical armed arms, formerly one of the most powerful fighting robots during the war. He prefers not to fight, choosing instead to work as the butler of a composer. - Brando - a TurkishTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
robot wrestler with a great devotion to his robot wife and his human children. He fought alongside Mont-Blanc and Heracles in the Middle East war. - Heracles - a GreekGreeksThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
gladiatorGladiatorA gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
robot with a high sense of honor and bravery, he and Brando have been rivals and friends since the war. - Epsilon - an AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n light-poweredQuantumIn physics, a quantum is the minimum amount of any physical entity involved in an interaction. Behind this, one finds the fundamental notion that a physical property may be "quantized," referred to as "the hypothesis of quantization". This means that the magnitude can take on only certain discrete...
effeminate and sensitive robot with a pacifist outlook. He runs an orphanage to take care of war orphans. He chose not to fight during the 39th Middle East War. - AtomAstro Boy (character)is a fictional character, and the main protagonist of the Astro Boy franchise. Created by Osamu Tezuka, the character was introduced in the 1951 Captain Atom manga...
- a JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese boy robot who was formerly the peace ambassador toward the end of the 39th Middle East War. - Uran - Atom's robot younger sister who can sense human, animal, and robot emotions.
- Dr. Tenma - a genius robotics scientist who used to work for the Japanese Ministry of Science. He created Atom.
- Dr. OchanomizuProfessor Ochanomizuis a fictional character in the anime and manga series Astro Boy, as well as all of its many adaptions, including the 1980s series, 2003 series, and the film. Created by Osamu Tezuka, the character has since appeared in many of his other works. He serves as a guardian to Astro, and sometimes also a...
- a Japanese robotics scientist and the creator of Uran, he looks after Atom. - Dr. Hoffman - the creator of Zeronium and Gesicht.
- Dr. Abullah - The head of the Persian Ministry of Science, he lost most of his body, and his family, in the Persian War, with most of his body now being robotic replacements.
- Dr. Roosevelt - a powerful sentient supercomputer, belonging to the United States of Thracia, whose only avatar to the outside world is a teddy bear
- Adolf Haas - a German trader who is a member of the human supremacist group, KR, and suspects that Gesicht killed his brother
- PlutoPluto (Astro Boy), known as Bruton in the English dubbed 1980 Astro Boy television series, is a fictional character created by Osamu Tezuka. He was introduced in story arc of the Astro Boy manga....
- An extremely powerful robot created by Dr. Abullah.
Awards
Pluto received an Excellence Prize for manga at the 2005 Japan Media Arts FestivalJapan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
. The series also received the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Grand Prize, which Urasawa also won for his work on Monster
Monster (manga)
is a seinen manga written and illustrated by Naoki Urasawa, published by Shogakukan in Big Comic Original between 1994 and 2001, and reprinted in 18 tankōbon volumes. It was adapted by Madhouse as a 74-episode anime TV series, which aired on NTV from April 7, 2004 to September 28, 2005...
.
Adaptations
A live-action/CG filmPluto (film)
Pluto is an upcoming film, based on the Pluto manga by Naoki Urasawa, which is in turn a remake of Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy. It has been announced as a joint between Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment and Tezuka Productions. It would be a live action/CGI hybrid film....
is planned from Illumination Entertainment
Illumination Entertainment
Illumination Entertainment is an American film production company, founded by Chris Meledandri in 2007. It is owned by Universal Studios and based in Santa Monica, California. It is best known for its 2010 animated feature Despicable Me.- History :...
and Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, the production team responsible for the 2010 summer blockbuster Despicable Me
Despicable Me
Despicable Me is a 2010 American computer-animated 3D comedy film from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment that was released on July 9, 2010 in the United States. The film features the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, and...
.
External links
- Shogakukan's Official Pluto Website
- Official Pluto Page at publisher VIZ Media, LLC
- Pluto in the Tezuka in English database
- Greatest Robot Jeffbert’s Astroboy Manga Reviews, in the Tezuka in English database.