Universal Pictures To Produce Pluto Live-Action Film

[AprilSeven]

I have to say . . . Cybotron's comments actually give me a lot to think about. Even before I knew Astro Boy was Japanese (I was only 10 years old when I became a fan), I was deeply moved by the intensely humanitarian themes. Somehow, Tezuka lets EACH of us "become" Astro Boy. We've all felt what he feels, at one time or another.

And aside from all the fangirl stuff and Elefun nose jokes, I've always felt that there was a lot of substance to A.B. as a program, and later, the manga.

As I learned about Tezuka and his life, I can see his works undoubtedly are influenced by his feelings about war, technology, and how we all get along with each other. I couldn't understand why EVERYONE didn't love Astro Boy the way I did (not as a "fangirl," but what the canon of work expressed and stood for -- beyond the silly gourd guy, and great characters he conceived).

Yet, this IS a thing people can enjoy "just on the surface." There's nothing wrong with that at all, but I recommend all of you look beyond the obvious. You might not take away what Cybotron does, but there is much more here than a cute widdle boy (well, he IS cute, isn't he?). We live in a very strange time (I write on the eve of another Election Day here in the US), and Tezuka's world seems very contemporary to me.

If you haven't read Pluto, please do. Urasawa shifts the focus of Tezuka's writing away from Astro in such a way that you actually learn more about him than ever before. He's even more human, and he's even a little bit scary.

Pluto doesn't answer questions, but it presents them in such a way that you know we will be dealing with the issues they confront across the eight books - bigotry, fear, hate, love, faith, courage. Yes, he hangs the USA out there in a way that is NOT flattering -- but he does the same with the other nations of the world, too. As well as the tension between man and lucid machines, who, it seems have attained humanity and souls.

So, take another look at Astro and at Pluto. I think this movie -- done well -- could change the way a lot of people look at Astro.

[Astro Boy2866]

For sure

[Dr. Jerk]

What April said.

Although Astro Boy still isn't very popular or heard of here in America, even after the 2009 film. I don't think a lot of people, at least here, will realize the connection between A.B. and Pluto.

And while I would love to read Pluto myself, I find that it's a bit too adult for my tastes. Not to mention that I'm focused on other manga at the moment, and am poor as heck.

Yes I fail as a Tezuka 'fan'.

[F-Man]

I wonder if they'll try to "hide" the connection with Astro Boy. Like it's been said already, it's very probable Atom will keep his Japanese name (if he even is in the movie). However, I can sort of imagine that were the movie turn out to be a huge success, we would get tons of new Astro Boy DVD releases of the old shows with artwork boasting that it "Inspired Pluto!". Maybe, in the most extreme case, they would slowly start ditching the "Astro Boy" name and calling him Atom everywhere even in America, like Osamu Tezuka had originally wanted 50 years ago. (you know I'm only dreaming)

I've personally only read the first two Pluto books. I then learned the French editor would release the deluxe edition in a year, so I stopped. It was amazingly good and brought me to tears. But so did a lot of Tezuka's Astro Boy stories.

[Dr. Jerk]

*Begs for 2003-subbed-boxset-done-professionally-instead-of-shoddy-Korean-boxart's-work, or for a redub done professionally.*

But in the end, I don't think a Pluto movie will change much.

[cybotron]

*Begs for 2003-subbed-boxset-done-professionally-instead-of-shoddy-Korean-boxart's-work, or for a redub done professionally.*

But in the end, I don't think a Pluto movie will change much.

You may desire to talk about cinema. But Tenma told Stone that he would never deactivate Astro. And you saw that Astro was reactivated by Tenma against Stone's orders. hmy:

[Dr. Jerk]

... Cybertron, no offense, but the way you've been posting lately just seems to make you look like a spammer. I know I am no mod or anything, but I am getting very annoyed at you lately.

All I said was that I agreed with F-Man that I would like the Pluto movie to make good changes for the Astro Boy fandom, which is unfortunately very unlikely to happen. I did NOT say anything about Tenma, Stone, or some scanned page of the Pluto manga.

Jeez.

[Androids101]

I certainly won't hide the similarity. After all, Astro Boy, despite not extremely well known, is at least more well known then the Pluto manga. I won't be suprised if in the trailer they said "from the creator of Astor Boy" or "based of Astro Boy" or something like that.

[cybotron]

... Cybertron, no offense, but the way you've been posting lately just seems to make you look like a spammer. I know I am no mod or anything, but I am getting very annoyed at you lately.

All I said was that I agreed with F-Man that I would like the Pluto movie to make good changes for the Astro Boy fandom, which is unfortunately very unlikely to happen. I did NOT say anything about Tenma, Stone, or some scanned page of the Pluto manga.

Jeez.

I see the Pluto Project as the reactivation of Astro. Ok... IMAGI is gone deactivated. I can understand your annoyance. I think Pluto marks a great change. And I think there is no chance in the world that anyone will fail to connect Astroboy and Uran to Atom and Uran in Pluto. As far as the Astroboy cultus is concerned you have not reached or grasped that yet.
The picture is from 003. Which some would not read even if given them for free.
Did I not just hear someone complain poverty prevented him/her from attaining the Manga? But this is the perfect start point for "Pluto!!!"
Now we get into heavyweight 21st century thought. Stone wants to wage war on the Surface junkyard world in order to win reelection. He needs the Blue Core to power his peacekeeper in order to foment that war. He has to deactivate Astro to get it.
Now we begin Illumination. The one thing that won't happen is war on Cora...
Shadow built Pluto without Tenma's knowledge.

[F-Man]

I certainly won't hide the similarity. After all, Astro Boy, despite not extremely well known, is at least more well known then the Pluto manga. I won't be suprised if in the trailer they said "from the creator of Astor Boy" or "based of Astro Boy" or something like that.

Because Illumination makes family films, you're probably right that they'll want the audience to know. However, if they respect the work like it should be and make something for a more mature audience, saying it is based on Astro Boy would actually LOWER ticket sales. People would instantly take it for a kiddy movie, and let's not forget that the previous movie underperformed.

cybotron: you're getting closer, but still haven't made your point. Seems you're saying the movie's failure was necessary for Pluto to happen, like deactivating Astro to wage a war. But then you say the war won't happen. And we still don't know where you're getting at. You also threw some mention of poverty in there that did not connect with everything else (junkyard world? Ok, and then?).