Pluto is an understated masterpiece that encompasses all the best parts of the genre: action, suspense, drama, fantasy, and science fiction. The show is set in a futuristic world where robots are almost fully assimilated to humans. They live and work alongside them, serving and protecting humans, while also having families of their own. The humans who encounter the most humanoid robots usually aren’t able to distinguish them from other humans. The only revealing feature that gives them away is their countenance — their AI is encrypted with censors that inhibit them from feeling and displaying primal emotions.
The series begins with Gesicht, one of the seven most advanced robots of the world. Gesicht works as a detective for a government agency, efficiently solving highly classified cases with unrivaled poise. When he gets called in for the elaborate murder of a prominent individual, one who played a crucial role in robot policy and advocacy, Gesicht’s predictable life begins to unravel.
As the murders escalate, Gesicht’s countenance and frame of mind grow more and more disheveled. The murderer is targeting the seven most advanced robots of the world, along with their creators and other significant individuals associated with the AI world. Each episode follows the lives of these distinct robots of mass-destruction, unveiling the emotional depths of their unique experiences.
All of the seven robots were used as machines for the 39th Central Asian War. The war started with the actions of a dictator, who built an army of low-level robots of mass- destruction and used them to conquer other surrounding countries. Five of the seven greatest robots were tasked to destroy all of them and clean up their mechanical remains. The other two, including Gesicht, were part of the peacekeeping forces. They had to go into the residential areas of the kingdom and witness the aftermath of the war’s damage on its citizens. Sitting with and processing the traumatic events that still haunt them, each of the robots externalize their shame and sorrow in different ways. All of them share the need to find methods to reconcile with what happened.
The complex and individualized character arcs denote to current conversations on our future with AI. Is it okay to perceive and treat robots solely as machines to serve us? If the intelligence and developing neural systems of artificial brains are becoming more human-like, should we regard their thoughts and emotions as we would another human? This series goes deep into the controversial perspectives of AI, including antagonistic ones.
On the surface, Adolf’s character is an ordinary family man who works in tech. In private, he works with a radical anti-robot organization to repeal international robot laws on equality, abolish the inclusion of robots in the workforce, and bring about the group’s motto: “Death to the machines!” He believes that robots are inferior and should be treated as such. In addition, he believes the world would be a better place without their existence in general. To him, their existence is a painful reminder of what happened to his family. His father’s occupation was completely outsourced by robotic advancements, causing his prolonged unemployment. After being affected by the financial burden, Adolf’s mother abandoned them, leaving him, his brother, and his father alone and impoverished. Homeless and jobless, Adolf’s father still went through whatever means necessary to bring his sons small moments of happiness. After being caught and publicly humiliated by a police-bot for stealing, his father’s feelings of worthlessness overtook him. Eventually, he committed suicide.
Now, even more alone than before, Adolf and his brother must navigate through a hard life in a constantly changing world. His brother in particular did not have an easy journey. Externalizing his trauma and anger in destructive ways, Adolf’s brother went down a path of violence. Unfortunately, he did not make it out alive.
Will implementing the use of robots in the workforce displace and impoverish the majority of humans? What will be the consequences of this displacement? Is prioritizing AI a contradiction to the conditions in which most humans are living? Is it dangerous to introduce more advanced AI to our world? This show will encourage anyone who watches to consider all of these questions and where they stand in relation to them.
History is very relevant to the overlaying plots within this series. It is easy to apply the Industrial Revolution to the experiences of the characters and to current events. The evolution of industry and machinery impacted everyone living during that time period and still carries influence on society today. Factory work and mining jobs were the only real opportunities available at the time to many. Laborers were forced to work severely long hours in decrepit, inhumane conditions. Artisans, craftsmen, and guild-masters were pushed out of business by modern industry, leaving them with no options but to become wage-laborers themselves. The quality of life, sense of purpose, and peace of mind they once knew was replaced by the monotony, instability, and objectification of wage-labor. The middle class was obliterated — people existed as either a bourgeoisie (an exuberantly wealthy capitalist) or a proletariat (a severely impoverished wage-laborer).
The Luddites were a radical group of formerly middle-class individuals who were disparagingly impacted by the economic changes caused by industrialism. They would break into factories and destroy newly built machinery all throughout northern England. The government responded to the Luddites by sending in troops, creating new laws on property damage, enforcing severe punishments, and executing any suspects associated with Luddism (whether they were guilty or not). The radical movement continued for years before it was completely suppressed by the government. The term “luddite” still carries influence today, typically associating with those who reject or distrust technology.
I love this anime series because of its sublime realism and character-focused plots. My favorite characters are North No. 2 and Dr. Tenma. North No. 2 is the sixth of the seven most advanced robots in the world. His episode was quietly powerful because it showcases the complexity and fragility of AI and how close they are to humans. He is a robot that was built for a specific purpose but does not wish to follow the directives he was given anymore. He desires autonomy from his owners and their ideas of what he should be. The level of empathy and rebellion that he displays during his episode shows how technological advancements can be detrimental for the AI being built as well.
Dr. Tenma is anime gold. He is the pioneering, genius scientist who built the ultimate AI neural system and created Atom. Atom is the most advanced of the seven most powerful robots. Though crucial to the scientific world, Dr. Tenma chose to withdraw from it. He found the artificial brain to be inherently incomplete. The built-in censors that prevent the expression of primal emotions also keep the brain from actually growing.
If making the computerized brain more human-like is the measurement of mastery, then everyone was failing. Dr. Tenma hypothesized that that the only way to make an artificial brain completely humanoid was to introduce the volatile emotions they are codified against — hatred, frustration, anger, and sorrow. A brain capable of making errors, forming biases, and stimulating irrational actions is what makes us human. The fallibility of the brain’s functioning and loss of inhibition are the qualities that would make the perfect AI.
Dr. Tenma strongly believed that these characteristics would make the most truly advanced, yet most destructive robot. Doing so would make a psychopathic monster: an individual who can only feel a narrow range of primal emotions, expresses these emotions in sporadic extremes, and who has the intelligence and cunningness to cause debilitating damage to others. Having these qualities instilled into a robot would cause much more wide-spread damage than a human could, possibly to all of humanity. Throughout the series, Dr. Tenma states that this pursuit of making AI more human-like will ultimately be humanities downfall. Achieving such a goal would bring about irreparable consequences for everyone.
If you’re looking for a show that you can watch to detach and decompress, while also being captivated the entire time, definitely give this one a watch. It is very complex, but not so complex that you get lost. It has several slow-burning plot-twists that will genuinely shock you, unlike other shows where you can predict everything that will happen. This anime series is solid, five stars!