History Manga / Pluto

** Of a sense. Gesicht was named the much more generic and stereotypical German name Gerhardt in the original Tezuka stories. Or at least the English translation; we're not sure about the Japanese original.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Deconstructed. The story proposes that it ''has'' to be a crapshoot or else it's not a true A.I. (working off the logic that since HumansAreFlawed, then for a robot to be considered of equal sentience to a human, it must be capable of the same mistakes). It's therefore the robots who display the most unpredictability that the manga considers the closest to true sentience. No robot has ever been programmed with the ability to lie, for example, yet the most advanced ones are able to do so anyway as emergent behaviour, with the robot that the story dubs the first ever "truely perfect A.I." being capable of [[spoiler: [[IRejectYourReality lying even to itself]]]].

** The four other instances of an advanced A.I. lying are [[spoiler:Brando, lying to his family and to his assistant, before going off to battle Pluto, Abullah, lying to Gesicht in the latter's inquiry, which causes Gesicht to incorrectly identify Abullah as human, Uran, lying about the nature of the robot she found, and Atom, lying to Helena about the gap in her and Gesicht's memories.]] In the last case, the person being lied to knows it immediately, but acknowledges it as a small kindness.

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Dr. Tenma is Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Mustachio is Creator/WilfordBrimley ([[Manga/{{Monster}} in his second role in a Creator/NaokiUrasawa production]]).

** The story begins as a DarkerAndEdgier retelling of a famous ''Astro Boy'' arc, with more realistic art style and world. The story shifting away from a traditional version of TheHero in Astro and towards a Noir Detective like Gesicht also means it gets to explore the seedier sides of the world and asks more complex questions about robotic intelligence and memory. As the story reaches it's conclusion, [[spoiler: Astro retakes his position as the protagonist and begins fighting Pluto not out of revenge, but to end the CycleOfRevenge and stop Pluto from destroying himself (and the world).]]

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Zig-zagged. While the plot treats a robot developing rage, and murderous one at that, as the pinnacle of their evolution, robots for the most part are still showcased as remaining sane enough [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to show regret for their actions]] ([[spoiler:such as Pluto and Geischt and also the other greatest robots on Earth, with the latter 6 developing a variation of [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]] for their actions]]) while [[HumanityIsInsane humans most definitely do not]] [[spoiler:and the greatest murderous maniac of all is a robot programmed [[BrainUploading with the mental engrams]] of a man who died feeling a tremendous amount of rage]]. The two killer robots running around, [[spoiler:Brau 1589 and Roosevelt]], the former shows a bit of [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]] and [[spoiler:kills Roosevelt]], and the other, while exposing that he hopes all humans die [[spoiler:by the actions of Bora]] and being TheManBehindTheMan of the Thracians [[spoiler:and thus the one who ordered the war, [[GreaterScopeVillain causing all of the plot]]]], is mostly an OpportunisticBastard.

** In the North #2 mini-arc, Paul Duncan mentions his life was saved by a famous Japanese doctor. It's almost certainly Manga/BlackJack, as what we can see of him has him wearing his characteristic long black coat. The English dub of the anime adaptation even cast the doctor's voice to Black Jack's regular dub actor, Creator/KirkThornton.

* ReplacementGoldfish: Atom was [[TropeCodifier originally created]] by Dr. Tenma as a replacement for his son Tobio. However, Atom differed from Tobio in many ways (Atom enjoyed doing his homework, cleaning his room, always aims to please Tenma, while Tobio hated doing those things and was more rebellious), causing Tenma to abandon him.

* RewatchBonus: The first appearance of [[spoiler:Abullah. As Atom and Uran correct a security guard who mistakenly tries to direct them into a "human" doorway instead of the "non-human" one they were headed towards, he remarks that it truly is becoming impossible to tell robot from human. As this happens, Atom sees Abullah walk through the "human" door. Abullah is in fact Goji, a robot so advanced that he was even able to convince himself he was human.]]

In 2010, Universal picked up the rights to make a [=CGI=]/live-action movie. 2017 saw an announcement for an eight-episode AnimatedAdaptation. [[https://youtu.be/KuUhYOyJn78 A sneak peak]] for the anime was released in February 2023, confirming a Creator/{{Netflix}} release. GENCO and Studio M2 animate the series with help from [[Creator/MushiProductions Tezuka Productions]], Creator/{{MAPPA}}, Creator/DRMovie, BILBA and Studio VOLN. The anime released on October 26, 2023, with 8 1-hour long episodes.

In a world where humans and sentient robots co-exist, someone or some''thing'' is targeting the seven most advanced robots, killing them off one by one. Even more disturbingly, the same killer seems to be murdering humans as well. Only a supremely powerful robot could be killing the other robots--but [[ThreeLawsCompliant all robots are hardwired to be unable to kill humans]], with one very important exception.

* MultinationalTeam: Each of the 7 greatest robots come from a different country. Gesicht from Germany, Atom from Japan, Mont Blanc from Switzerland, North #2 from Scotland, Brando from Turkey, Hercules from Greece, and Epsilon from Australia. [[spoiler: Pluto and Bora are Persian.]]
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Epsilon's orphanage is one of few, and the existence of several orphans in the former kingdom of Persia shows how poorly reconstruction is going. The informal nature of the orphanage is cause for trouble, when [[spoiler:Wassily is kidnapped from the orphanage because neither of the human caretakers, browbeaten by a couple of presumed government officials, remembered to make a background check on the adoptive father.]]
* NotQuiteTheRightThing: The very reason Dr. Tenma sold Atom. Atom is the splitting image of Tenma's son Tobio, but ''he is not Tobio''. Incapable of replicating the nuances of the late boy, and only serving to fuel his grief and frustration, Tenma opted to get rid of Atom.
* NothingIsScarier:

* OhCrap: The president of Thracia, see BreakTheHaughty.

* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Pretty much all the main characters have some kind of connection to the 39th Central Asian Conflict. [[spoiler: This is a plot point.]]

* PostCyberpunk

** The fact that [[spoiler: scanners identify the figure in the dead policebot's memory files as human. Abullah believes himself to be human so hard that he acts it convincingly enough to fool modern equipment, even when performing obviously inhuman feats like vaulting between two skyscrapers. He tells others (and himself) that his limbs are artificial since he lost his real ones in the war. The reality is that his whole body is a robot imitating the real Abullah.]]

* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Brando tries a HeroicSacrifice by fighting against Pluto, so Gesicht can use live footage from Brando's eye camera to find Pluto's weakness. But then Brando's life flashes before his eyes, ruining the Pluto footage and rendering it useless.]]
* ShapeShifterSwanSong:
** A rather unique inversion. [[spoiler: The reason the ultimate A.I. robot failed to come to life to begin with was because it was shifting through so many personalities and faces that the hardware just couldn't keep up.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: [[spoiler: Atom, Pluto and [[BigDamnVillain Brau 1589]] to Dr. Roosevelt]].

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Gesicht does not die at the hands of Pluto but by being blown away by a hacked robot child with [[{{BFG}} a Cluster Cannon]] who somehow made it all the way from Persia to the Netherlands. [[{{Retirony}} After quitting Europol and taking roses to his wife to tell her he wished to go journeying the globe]].]]

* CompositeCharacter: [[spoiler:Abullah/Goji is actually a combination of three different ''Manga/AstroBoy'' characters. The original Abullah/Goji from the classic ''Strongest Robot On Earth'' story; a one-shot character from another classic manga story entitled ''The Blast Furnace Mystery'', a robot whose creator had raised him to believe he was really Human; and Shadow, an original character from the 2003 series who was created by Dr. Tenma and replaced Abullah and the Sultan in that version in order to fit it better with the series' MythArc.]]

* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** In the original story, of the seven super robots, only Astro, Mont Blanc, Gerhardt, and Epsilon were depicted as nice people. North #2 had no discernible personality and only followed his master's orders, Brando was a borderline AssholeVictim who threatened to destroy Astro if he got in his way, and Heracles insisted on fighting Pluto alone due to his HonorBeforeReason personality, costing him and Epsilon their lives. Here, they are all given some much-needed backstory and portrayed far more sympathetically.
** Police Inspector Tawashi is nowhere as antagonizing towards Atom as he is in the original manga, though he is still very resentful of robots in general. Still, there are factions of humans that do have a vitriolic hatred of robots.

* TeachHimAnger: In a double example, [[spoiler: Tenma does this to to both Goji and Atom to awaken them.]] It works, but in completely different ways, and not quite in the way everyone expected. [[spoiler: Goji, overwhelmed by the hatred Abullah carried with him at his death, awakened and proceeded to convince himself that ''he'' was Abullah, and therefore human. Atom instead learns the folly relying on anger and hatred to win, and in fact realizes the futility of those emotions instead]].

* DubNameChange:
** Of a sense. Gesicht was named the much more generic and stereotypical German name Gerhardt in the original Tezuka stories. Or at least the English translation; we're not sure about the Japanese original.
** Notably averted for Atom. This is the only English version of Astro Boy where Astro Boy's name is left as Atom instead of being changed to Astro Boy. The reason for this lack of name change is probably to maintain the more serious tone of the series.

** [[spoiler: Brau 1589 does not take kindly to an OmnicidalManiac.]]
* {{Expy}}:

* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Inherent in the phrase "World's Strongest Robot" but in practice it's more of a DwindlingParty situation - there's really no force on Earth that can stop Pluto [[spoiler: and Bora]] once the "Strongest Robots" are dead.

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Gesicht does not dies at the hands of Pluto but by being blown away by a hacked robot child with [[{{BFG}} a Cluster Cannon]] who somehow made it all the way from Persia to the Netherlands. [[{{Retirony}} After quitting Europol and taking roses to his wife to tell her he wished to go journeying the globe]].]]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Pluto_title_3790.jpg]]

* CreepyChild: Atom falls into this occasionally - he seems to like being a normal kid, but doesn't hesitate to shed that persona when things get serious. Wassily too, although he's suffering from some form of PTSD.

* ComicBookFantasyCasting: Dr. Tenma is Leonard Bernstein. Mr. Mustachio is Wilford "Diabeetus" Brimley ([[Manga/{{Monster}} in his second role in a Creator/NaokiUrasawa production]]).

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Zig-zagged. While the plot treats a robot developing rage, and murderous one at that, as the pinnacle of their evolution, robots for the most part are still showcased as remaining sane enough [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to show regret for their actions]] ([[spoiler:such as Pluto and Geischt and also the other greatest robots on Earth, with the latter 6 developing a variation of [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]] for their actions]]) while [[HumanityIsInsane humans most definitely do not]] [[spoiler:and the greatest murderous maniac of all is a robot programmed [[BrainUploading with the mental engrams]] of a man who died feeling a tremendous amount of rage]]. The two killer robots running around, [[spoiler:Brau 1589 and Roosevelt]], the former shows a bit of [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]] and [[spoiler:kills Roosevelt]], and the other, while exposing that he hopes all humans die [[spoiler:by the actions of Bora]] and being TheManBehindTheMan of the Thracians, is mostly an OpportunisticBastard.

** There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it one for Manga/BlackJack in the arc about North #2. In the anime he’s even credited as "BJ" and is voiced by his [[Creator/AkioOtsuka his original voice actor.]]

** There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it one for Manga/BlackJack in the arc about North #2.

** Almost all of them, except Montblanc and North #2. Gesicht has trouble telling that Atom is a robot at times.
** Many robots, such as Brando and Heracles, use a Ridiculously Human body in their free time in addition to a more "robotic" body for their main jobs, finding that easier to fit in with society. (Given Montblanc and North #2's more robotic appearances in contrast, especially the latter's clear desire to move past his original purpose as a combat robot, there's implication that they're more similar to older or simpler robot models, whose consciousness cannot be transplanted to a different body).

* InstantDeathBullet: Averted with [[spoiler:Gesicht]]; [[MajorInjuryUnderreaction it takes him a while to realize he's been shot with a ''Cluster Cannon'']].

** Many robots, such as Brando and Heracles, use a Ridiculously Human body in their free time in addition to a more "robotic" body for their main jobs, finding that easier to fit in with society. (Which should tell you something about Montblanc and North #2.)

* TailorMadePrison: Brau 1589, the first known human-killer robot, was considered so dangerous they didn't even bother to haul his mostly-destroyed body ''to'' a prison. No, what they did was they built the prison ''around'' where he lay, with huge warning signs, checkpoints and cement barriers. The electrified spear impaling him is also the only thing keeping him alive, but no human dares come close enough to remove it, and Brau 1589 emits highly-disruptive magnetism that kills most ordinary robots that come near.

* OutDamnedSpot: Hercules recalls a robot comrade back during the 39th Central Asian Conflict desperately washing his hands.

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Gesicht does not dies at the hands of Pluto but by being blown away by a robot hater with [[{{BFG}} a Cluster Cannon]] in a drive-by shooting. [[{{Retirony}} After quitting Europol and taking roses to his wife to tell her he wished to go journeying the globe]].]]

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler:Gesicht does not dies at the hands of Pluto but by being blown away by a robot hater with [[{{BFG}} a Cluster Cannon]] in a drive-by shooting.]]

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Zig-zagged. While the plot treats a robot developing rage, and murderous one at that, as the pinnacle of their evolution, robots for the most part are still showcased as remaining sane enough [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to show regret for their actions]] ([[spoiler:such as Pluto and Geischt and also the other greatest robots on Earth, with the latter 6 developing a variation of [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]] for their actions]]) while [[HumanityIsInsane humans most definitely do not]] [[spoiler:and the greatest murderous maniac of all is a robot programmed with [[BrainUploading with the mental engrams]] of a man who died feeling a tremendous amount of rage]]. The two killer robots running around, [[spoiler:Brau 1589 and Roosevelt]], the former shows a bit of [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]] and [[spoiler:kills Roosevelt]], and the other, while exposing that he hopes all humans die [[spoiler:by the actions of Bora]] and being TheManBehindTheMan of the Thracians, is mostly an OpportunisticBastard.