Animation
Blood of Zeus
Creativity abounds here, but those artistic measures can’t blur the obvious issues that families are sure to discover.
“A murder in a room with no trace of a human assailant. The death of a robot, loved the world over. And horns.”
Those are all the clues the sentient robot detective Gesicht has to go on to solve the merciless killings of Mont Blanc and Bernard Lanke.
But let’s go into a bit more detail about the two victims.
Mont Blanc, the “guardian angel of the Alps,” was one of the world’s most well-known robots, a “mountain guide without equal” and “a friend to children and experienced climbers alike.” He also successfully apprehended many terrorist cells without any bloodshed.
Bernard Lanke, meanwhile, was a 42-year-old human whose condescending attitude likely earned him many enemies. He was one of the world’s foremost speakers in favor of the International Robot Laws, which grant robots equal rights.
And found on both Mont Blanc and Bernard’s bodies? Objects jammed into their heads to look like a pair of antlers.
Gesicht decides to focus on one piece of the aforementioned evidence: the “no trace of a human assailant” bit. It’s an extremely strange piece, since robots, sentient or not, cannot “harm or murder a human,” in accordance with Article 13 of the International Robot Law.
But if a human didn’t kill Bernard … then a robot must have learned how to bypass that rule.
It might be surprising to hear that robots killing humans isn’t entirely unheard of—it’s just extremely rare. The last time it happened was eight years before. And the incident was so scarring that the robot that committed the crime, Brau-1589, is still pinned to a wall and kept under constant surveillance. That’s because humans are too scared to get close enough to deactivate it.
But that’s good news for Gesicht, since it means that he can ask the murderous robot some questions about how such an AI might process information. And Brau-1589 gives Gesicht a lead.
After looking at photos of the crime scenes, Brau-1589 comments on the murderer’s use of horns to mark its victims. It reminds the robot of the “ancient gods of Europe,” gods who were often depicted having antlers. Gods like Pluto, the Roman god of death.
But Brau-1589 also says that Mont Blanc was one of the seven robots created with the best technology the world had to offer—“robots who can also be weapons of mass destruction,” Brau-1589 points out. “There are six of them left, present company included.”
It’s not far-fetched to Gesicht that this killer would be running around the world, looking to kill all the remaining “weapons of mass destruction.”
But if this killer can defeat one such robot, then it means that Gesicht is putting his robotic self in extreme danger, too.
On New Year’s Day in 1963, Astro Boy soared into the world, a sentient robotic boy who battles evil around the globe. The robotic child was created by a scientist after his biological son passed away, and the “Mighty Atom” captured the hearts of many others.
The manga for the series also contained a story arc dubbed “The Greatest Robot on Earth,” in which a robot named Pluto is created to be the king of all robots and travels the world, looking to slay the world’s seven strongest AI.
But in this version of Pluto, manga artist Naoki Urasawa reinterprets this story arc from the perspective of a robotic detective desperately trying to solve the slayings in an intense murder mystery.
This eight-episode manga series will lead us through Gesicht’s attempts to bring justice to these slain robots (and humans who get in the way, too). That means that viewers will see some animated blood and a couple intense scenes of combat. One scene includes a teen who is contemplating suicide. There’s also some use of lighter swear words, such as “d–n” and “h—.” And implicitly present is the idea of true robotic sentience, another issue parents will want to consider.
Pluto isn’t as dark as it could have been, and it does contain a compelling story with many thought-out characters. But just as Pluto floats a far cry away from our sun, Pluto won’t be the warmest watch you can pick.
Gesicht begins to investigate the mysterious killings of a robot and human.
A man is found murdered: There’s some blood around him, and two pieces of metal are jammed into his head. Someone else is bandaged and bloodied after being attacked with a pipe, and a robot is found that has been destroyed.
A man hits Gesicht with a pipe, but it does not hurt him. A robot has dreams of blood on the ground. A forest burns. A boy is seemingly abandoned by his mother. He’s also beaten by some bullies. Robots are destroyed in explosions.
Gesicht pursues a suspect into a church complete with stained-glass depictions of Bible characters. Gesicht also says that whether the suspect is a human or a robot, “There’s a devil inside them, and it must be stopped.” One robot references the various gods of death from Greek or Roman mythology.
Gesicht is shirtless. A man is high on a drug called “Noi.”
“D–n” is used 11 times, and “h—” is used four times. “A–” is used once. God’s name is used in vain once.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Creativity abounds here, but those artistic measures can’t blur the obvious issues that families are sure to discover.
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