Pluto...

[lynxie]

If there is any anime that deserves Anime of the Year 2023, it has to go to Pluto. Pluto is a story retelling by Naoki Urasawa of the famous work Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka. The Netflix adaptation, made by Studio M2 is 8 episodes long, with every episode being around 45 minutes to an hour long.

Naoki Urasawa has to be one of my favorite mangaka's of recent time, and there's so much I still want to read from him. He's also the creator of my favorite animanga, Monster. And he has a lot more literary work I'd love to delve into, such as 20th Century Boys, and Billy Bat.

The production of this Netflix show is beyond stellar, probably the best thing Netflix has done anime wise, and yes, beating Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Everything seems so perfect, like it was given time, love, and effort. The art style is so faithful to the manga it's actually incredible.
The first episode caught me on so fast it's surprised me, it built the world, the characters, parts of the theme, and so much emotion packed into this hour long episode.. and god damn did it do good. When I first initially watched Pluto, I was watching with my best friend and we were both reacting to it at the same time. I literally cried. The first episode and I cried. It left me so conflicted. The score, the writing, the life with both of these characters that are only introduced halfway through the episode.

 

This section of the episode felt so random to me, "Who the fuck are these people?" "Stingy old man." "God why is this even here?" "Holy shit this is going on for so long." "Whoa." "Bro." "Oh wow." "Austin I'm tearing up bro.." was literally almost exactly how I reacted to this entire segment. This animation, lighting, and god damn that fucking piano. Perfection. I have never been moved by someone just simply playing a piano. I love things that are grand, beautiful, methodical in music. And this piano felt so real to me. It felt real, like it came from someone's heart. Not only did Naoki Urasawa create this song (from my knowledge), but he executed the emotion it would convey. A blind pianist, who can't make his last symphony, only to be seemingly taunted by this lifeless wannabe human. Simply just a robot. But this robot has a lasting impression on him as the episode continues. He becomes conflicted in his own thoughts, does he hate this robot? Does he appreciate this robot? It has no feelings, but how is it able to create this? It even got me to think about my viewpoint on AI! God this episode was absolutely stellar. Someday, I want to learn how to play the piano and learn this specific piece.
 

If you've seen Pluto and wondered about what it may be, I really can't stress this enough but watch this first episode, it is truly spectacular.
The theme throughout this show expresses a lot about hatred, sadness, sorrow, morals, and love. Naoki Urasawa is just the king at reading human emotion, even showing this stuff in 2004, with his manga being adapted into, Monster. Monster struggles with themes of, Good and Evil, morality, consequences to actions, and highly philosophical viewpoints. 

This thread literally covers only the first episode, and everything else only get's more and more interesting, such as dealing with international affairs, wars, death, mourning, corruption, terrorism, and so much more. I couldn't recommend this anime more.

If you haven't already, please go and watch this anime. It is so worth it.

[Ejivis]

I forgot who I was telling about Pluto at SG, but I agree.  I thought it was definitely in the top 3 animes of the year.  I'd argue it was anime of the year as well to me.