Netflix’s ‘Pluto’ Ending Explained – Who Really Started the War?

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for the finale of Pluto

The Big Picture

• The Netflix anime Pluto, based on the manga by Naoki Urasawa, explores a futuristic world where robots experience emotions like humans.
• The series follows robot inspector Gesicht as he investigates a string of murders targeting advanced robots and humans.
• The anime delves into themes of trauma, grief, and the cycle of hatred, conveying an anti-war message and emphasizing the importance of peace.

The Netflix anime Pluto tells the story of robot inspector Gesicht (Jason Vande Brake) as he searches for who is targeting the world’s seven most advanced robots and their human allies. The anime adapts the manga of the same name by Naoki Urasawa, who took inspiration from the popular Astro Boy manga made by his idol Osuma Tezuka. Pluto takes place in a futuristic world where robots share many similar emotional qualities as humans, as demonstrated by its many robot characters. According to co-author Takashi Nagasaki, Pluto not only conveys an anti-war message, but reminds audiences of suffering on both sides where “the only remaining answer is peace.”

The series follows Gesicht as he uncovers information about the one behind the murders: Pluto (Fred Tatasciore). Aside from the suspected robot killer targeting the seven most advanced robots, its murders involving the humans who were on the Bora Fact-Finding Mission raises more attention, since cases of robots killing humans are rare. One example is Brau1589 (SungWon Cho) who intentionally killed a human and has been restrained since then. In the anime’s futuristic world, the idea of robots killing humans terrifies both parties. Many robots are unfamiliar with feelings, such as hatred, because they are not supposed to be able to experience extreme emotions.

How Do Robots Handle Trauma and Grief in ‘Pluto’?

As Gesicht searches for Pluto, he learns more about his missing memories and develops an understanding of hatred. A few years ago, Gesicht and his robot wife had adopted a robot child which was killed by a human kidnapper. Gesicht obliterated the kidnapper after witnessing him carrying the corpse. In the present day, after Gesicht protects the kidnapper’s brother who loathes him for the murder, Gesicht recalls the memories and realizes the vicious cycle of how hatred begets more hatred. Although each of the seven experience grief and trauma throughout the anime, Gesicht is the only one who has killed a human.

The anime also invests in each of the seven robots following the 39th Central Asian war. The first of the robots to be killed is Mont Blanc (Keythe Farley) who was beloved by many through his volunteer and environmental work after the war. The second robot killed is North No. 2 (Patrick Seitz), who was serving as a butler for acclaimed composer Sir Paul Duncan (Ron Bottitta). As the pair learn more about each other, Duncan teaches No. 2 how to play the piano while No. 2 helps Duncan work through his unresolved resentments. Both Blanc and No. 2 found ways of dealing with their trauma by helping others, but were killed by Pluto regardless.

As the investigation continues, Gesicht warns his old friends Brando (Adrian Pasdar) and Hercules (Richard Epcar) who both went on to be famous wrestlers following the war. Brando built a life for himself with his robot wife and five human kids while Hercules was content on fighting. Both Brando and Hercules fight Pluto in combat as revenge for the deaths of their friends. Epsilon (Keith Silverstein), who refused to fight in the Central Asian war, adopted several human children whose parents had died in the war. Epsilon was strong enough to damage Pluto in combat after being prompted to protect his kids, but he was killed after being led into a trap. Brando and Epsilon send their final moments in despair from the idea of not being able to spend time with the families they built for themselves.

Manga Hit ‘Astro Boy’ Has a Unique Connection to ‘Pluto’

Netflix’s Pluto has its own interpretation of the popular manga character Astro Boy with Atom (Laura Stahl) as one of its most prominent characters. Urasawa had Macoto Tezuka’s permission to use the Astro Boy character made by his father Osuma for the manga. Atom shares the same design of the character being a robot boy with rocket engines in their feet, and being made by Dr. Tenma (Keith David) after the death of his human son Tobio in a car accident. Similar to Astro Boy, Atom is abandoned by Tenma after he notices that his robot son is not the same as Tobio. Atom, who is now in the care of Professor Ochanomizu (Mike Pollock), also mentions having been sold into the circus like Astro Boy. However, Pluto introduces Atom as one of the seven most advanced robots targeted by Pluto as well as a beloved celebrity.

The anime takes a more mature approach by having Atom’s first confrontation with Pluto drastically alter him in comparison with the more family-friendly icon. After Atom is in a comatose state, Tenma uploads memories involving suffering into him to force Atom to wake up. The memories have Atom initially take revenge on Pluto, but he realizes from Gesicht’s memories that hatred begets more hatred and decides to give Pluto a second chance as an attempt to end the cycle. Urasawa’s interpretation of Atom going on a traumatic journey gives audiences a character that holds onto the ideals of the Astro Boy icon while grappling with more complex feelings.

Does ‘Pluto’ Ever Tell Us Who Started the War?

Although the title would imply Pluto was the one responsible for the anime’s conflict, it is revealed that Dr. Goji, another robot made by Tenma, is the one responsible. Prior to the war, human Professor Abullah (Kamran Nikhad) hired Tenma to create an ideal robot that could be whatever it wanted. However, the robot was too advanced to work so Tenma would have to upload data containing suffering into it to force the robot to accelerate the decision-making process and wake up. However, the suffering Tenma used was from Abullah’s final moments of death during the war, which made the robot think that it was Abullah and assume his identity. The robot had two distinct personalities with one believing it was the deceased Professor Abullah who made the Pluto robot body to carry out his vengeance, while the other personality went by Dr. Goji to complete Bora.

Gesicht finds that Professor Abullah’s robot son, Sahad (Sean Rohani), is the AI within the Pluto robot body. After the war, the Abulllah/Goji robot tricked Sahad to transfer his consciousness into Pluto. The body had horns inspired from the Roman death god of the same name and the ability to generate tornadoes. Sahad’s hatred toward the seven robots and the humans of the Fact-Finding Mission would give him an advantage in combat which would overwhelm most robots. Gesicht also learns of Bora, a colossal robot that was initially supposed to terraform a desert to be arable land. However, Goji repurposed Bora after the war into a doomsday device to get revenge on the United States of Thracia for their accusations against the Kingdom of Persia, which was devastated by the war.

After Atom decides to spare and make peace with Pluto, he plans to sacrifice himself to stop Bora. However, Pluto chooses to sacrifice himself to stop Bora from initiating an extinction-level event and save Atom. Additionally, Thracia had a rogue AI which was hoping for the extinction-level event, so machines would take over, but Brau1589 kills it. Both Atom and Abullah/Goji being Tenma robots who had memories of hatred embedded into them, had parallel journeys as Atom reconciles with the people he loved prior to his comatose state, while Abullah/Goji manipulates those who loved the human Abullah for his own vendetta. The series opens with a mystery and keeps its audience invested with robot characters who search for peace after processing insurmountable grief.

Pluto is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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