My history with Astro Boy admittedly isnt much. I was well aware of its existence and I might have watched an episode or two of both the 1963 and 2003 animes but I think my first real introduction was with the 2009 Imagi movie. Ive been meaning to give it a rewatch but I wanted to point this out because you do not need to have any prior knowledge of Astro Boy or Tetsuwan Atom if you wanna be a weeb to enjoy Pluto. I originally wanted to consume any possible versions of the The Greatest Robot on Earth arc that Pluto is based on prior to reading Pluto but after telling some people about this I was told not to do this as it would spoil Pluto I thought its Astro Boy what would get spoiled for me? but I lost the URL to the original manga and didnt find it again until a couple days ago so I decided I would do it after instead. Now that Ive read Pluto I decided to read the original manga version or at least what Dark Horse tells me is the manga version its hard to really tell and I tried watching the 1980 anime version as well I could only find the 1963 version unsubbed and 2003 does something completely different but watching it feels about the same as rereading it at a much slower pace not to mention its cheesiness shines bright with the 1980 TV animation and decided that it wasnt necessary. So first and foremost Im going to get this out of the way: reading the original manga arc or watching the anime versions does not spoil Pluto. If you want to go in blind then yeah avoid them but the tonal shift is so drastic and so much is added and tampered with that theres nothing that it really spoils for Pluto that isnt blatantly obvious. Also while Im on the subject Im aware that Studio M2 is making a Pluto anime which I think will release next year. Im not sure how accurate it will be but given that Masao Maruyama is involved with producing I have a feeling that it will be as close as possible. If youd rather wait for that I wont blame you although Pluto is a short enough manga that I can recommend at least checking out. The major difference in Pluto is that Urasawa never shows Pluto until the last 10 or so chapters. Prior to that we only see the aftermath the tornados the shadows the roars. Pluto above all else represents a great threat looming upon us all. A threat coming to wipe us all out one by one. Every time Pluto does battle it is an event. Another main difference between the two is power. In the original they determined which robot is more powerful based on a pure number statistic. Oh he had 100000 horsepower I cant believe he beat him when he had 400000 horsepower The Pluto manga instead takes a different angle by switching horsepower with emotions things robots arent supposed to have. By this logic the more emotions you have the more powerful you become. The last thing to bring up when comparing differences is that Astro Boy named Atom in Pluto because well thats his Japanese name is not the main protagonist of the manga. Going in blind I thought it would be about the creator of Pluto but the main character is actually one of the seven stongest robots in the world that is extremely minor in the original. With this change Urasawa gives this character far more development with regards to relationships enemies and his own inner struggles. In fact every single one of the seven strongest robots get substantial character development as theyre introduced far earlier in the story than just right before they fight Pluto. Some get more development than others but its definitely more than just there he is he is strong okay time to fight Pluto. It makes us care more about these characters because it isnt the Astro Boy show. Atom is just as important a character as any of the other seven strongest robots. The message of the story turns from just get stronger to no one wants to die and no one wants to kill it is only hatred that makes us want to commit such acts.
93 /100
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