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A potential masterpiece flawed by tonal inconsistency

Pluto has an interesting premise, set in a world where robots and humans coexist after 39th Central Asian War. But the writing was very messy. It never seemed to find its rhythm, jumping erratically between locations, themes and sub plots. I enjoy complex anime but Pluto feels more like a simple story made unnecessarily complex by a poorly written, unfocused story.

Characters - 8
The character design was pretty solid, especially Gesicht and Atom who were my favourites. I liked the way that certain character dynamics were used to influence how viewers interpret the relationship between humans and ... robots. For Monster fans like myself, there were plenty of identically designed characters which was fun to see (Johan, Dieter, the professor etc.). I believe the sub is the superior mode to watch with slightly better voice acting especially for the younger characters.

Story - 5
As stated previously, the story was highly convoluted which made it a disorienting watch all the way until the final episode when things finally came together. I think they would have benefitted from giving more time to build a foundation to establish the atmosphere, themes and setting - one minute the anime takes place in Germany with a deep thriller / psychological feel, then it jumps to Australia and becomes an action/adventure. What made Monster so special (and a far superior product btw) was the atmosphere - it was so immersive, tense and intoxicatingly dark. Pluto felt like it struggled to form an identity and instead collapsed into the cliche tropes of mecha anime. The hour long episodes were a good idea because they created a more cinematic experience, however I believe there were pacing issues that may have come as a result. The story felt fragmented and lacked the 'flow' that the best quality always have. The second half of ep. 4 was exceptional but it lost its rhythm quickly after

Music - 6
The music was not a big part of the show with not many memorable tracks but it was seamlessly integrated which was commendable.

Art / Animation - 8
The art style followed Urasawa's uniquely realistic style and was quite enjoyable to watch. I wasn't a fan of the CGI and backgrounds though - it felt very artificial and was even a bit distracting in some of the scenes where it was heavily relied on. The production value was very high though, typical of a Netflix Original series, but there's something about the less 'touched up' style (90s anime demonstrates it best) that just can't be beaten in my opinion.

Overall a solid watch with all the ingredients to create a legendary masterpiece, but failed with execution and flawed storytelling. It's very overrated on this site so far, probably because of all the excitement from manga readers waiting for the adaption and off the hype from Monster. If you're looking for a mecha anime I would recommend Ghost in the Shell Neon Genesis Evangelion or Code Geass over this, but it was definitely a unique anime worth a watch.