If you grew up on Astro Boy, you probably remember a bright-eyed robot kid flying around and saving the day with a smile. Naoki Urasawa took that nostalgia, dragged it into a dark alley, and gave it a philosophical mid-life crisis. That’s basically what we’re looking at with the cast of Pluto television show, the Netflix anime masterpiece that reimagines Osamu Tezuka’s "The Greatest Robot on Earth." This isn't just another action flick. It is a dense, heart-wrenching noir thriller about what it actually means to have a soul.
Honestly, the voice acting makes or breaks a project like this. When you’re dealing with robots who are more "human" than the people who built them, the performance needs to hit a very specific, melancholic note.
The Heart of the Mystery: Gesicht and the Lead Stars
Gesicht is the glue. He’s a German robot detective working for Europol, and he’s tired. You can hear it in every line. In the original Japanese version, Shinshu Fuji delivers a performance that feels heavy. It’s weighted. He’s investigating the murders of the world’s seven most advanced robots, and as he digs deeper, he starts questioning his own programmed memories. It’s bleak stuff.
For the English dub fans, Jason Vande Brake stepped into these massive shoes. He captures that "noir detective" trope without falling into the trap of sounding like a bored Batman. He makes Gesicht feel vulnerable. That’s a hard tightrope to walk when your character is technically a walking tank.
Then we have Atom.
Forget the "Astro Boy" name for a second. In Pluto, he’s Atom, and he’s voiced by Yoko Hikasa (Japanese) and Adams Wylie (English). Hikasa is a legend—you’ve heard her in K-On! and High School DxD—but here she sheds the high-energy anime tropes. Her Atom is eerie. He’s a child who knows too much. He eats ice cream and goes to school, but he’s also a weapon of mass destruction who can process the emotions of a dying city.
The Seven Great Robots
It isn't just about the leads. The cast of Pluto television show expands to cover the other "great robots" who served in the 39th Central Asian War.
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- Montblanc: Voiced by Hiroki Yasumoto. He’s the first to go. He’s a mountain-dwelling giant who loved nature. His death sets the whole plot in motion.
- North No. 2: This is where the show usually makes people cry. Voiced by Koichi Yamadera. He’s a combat robot covered in weapons who just wants to learn how to play the piano. His interaction with the blind composer Duncan is arguably the best standalone episode of any anime in the last decade.
- Brando and Hercules: These two are the "bros" of the robot world. Brando (Hidetoshi Kiuchi) is a family man—well, a family robot—who fights in professional leagues to support his five human kids. Hercules (Rikiya Koyama) is his rival and best friend. Their bond feels more real than most human friendships on TV.
Why the Voice Casting Matters for Pluto’s Themes
Urasawa’s writing is obsessed with the idea of "errors." In this world, the most advanced robots are the ones capable of making mistakes or feeling overwhelming grief.
If the voice actors sounded too robotic, the emotional stakes would vanish.
Take Epsilon, voiced by Mamoru Miyano. Miyano is a superstar—think Light Yagami from Death Note. He brings a gentle, pacifist energy to Epsilon, a robot who refuses to fight even though he’s powered by photons and could basically level a continent. When Epsilon talks about the orphans he cares for, you forget he’s made of metal. That’s the magic of this specific cast. They play the characters as people who happen to be machines, rather than machines trying to act like people.
The Human Element: Brau-1589 and Dr. Tenma
You can't talk about the cast of Pluto television show without mentioning the creepiest guy in the room: Brau-1589.
Voiced by Hideyuki Tanaka (who was also the narrator in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure), Brau is a robot who killed a human. He’s kept in a basement, pinned to a wall like Hannibal Lecter. His voice is smooth, mocking, and genuinely unsettling. He acts as a dark mirror to Gesicht.
And then there’s Dr. Tenma. The creator of Atom. Eizo Tsuda gives Tenma this detached, almost god-like arrogance. He’s the father who couldn't love his son, so he built a robot to replace him, then abandoned that robot because it was too perfect. It’s a messy, toxic father-son dynamic played out on a sci-fi scale.
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The Production Power Behind the Voices
The show was produced by Studio M2 and Genco, with Masao Maruyama at the helm. If that name sounds familiar, it should. He’s the guy who co-founded Madhouse and MAPPA. He’s basically the godfather of "prestige" anime.
He didn't want Pluto to look or sound like "seasonal trash."
The sound design, led by Masafumi Mima, works in tandem with the cast. They used a lot of subtle audio cues—the slight hum of a motor, the way a voice echoes in a robotic chest cavity—to ground the performances. It’s immersive. When you watch it, you aren't just reading subtitles; you’re feeling the atmosphere of a world that is slowly breaking down.
Understanding the "Central Asian War" Context
A huge chunk of the character motivations stems from a fictional conflict called the 39th Central Asian War. This is a thinly veiled allegory for the Iraq War.
The robots were used as "peacekeepers," but they essentially acted as weapons of mass destruction. The trauma in the voices of characters like Gesicht or Sahad (the robot behind the Pluto entity) comes from this history.
Sahad, voiced by Toshiyuki Toyonaga, is a tragic figure. He wanted to use his powers to turn the desert green with flowers. Instead, he was twisted into a monster of vengeance. Toyonaga’s performance shifts from soulful and idealistic to raw, screaming agony. It is a brutal transformation to listen to.
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Where to Watch and What to Look For
Pluto is a Netflix original, so that’s your primary destination. It consists of eight episodes, but don't let that fool you. Each episode is about an hour long. It’s basically eight movies.
If you’re diving in, pay attention to the supporting cast too. Michio Hazama as Duncan (the composer) provides one of the most grizzled, stubborn, yet heartwarming performances in the series. His transition from hating robots to seeing North No. 2 as a companion is the show's emotional blueprint.
Actionable Takeaways for Pluto Fans
If you’ve finished the series and are looking for more, or if you’re just getting started, here is how to get the most out of the experience:
- Watch in Japanese first: Even if you’re a "dub only" person, the original Japanese cast was hand-picked to match Naoki Urasawa’s specific vision. The nuances in Shinshu Fuji’s performance as Gesicht are vital for the ending.
- Read the manga: The anime is a very faithful adaptation, but Urasawa’s pen strokes in the Pluto manga (published by VIZ Media) offer a different kind of grit that even the best animation can't quite replicate.
- Check out Monster: If the "detective chasing a monster" vibe worked for you, the same creator (Urasawa) wrote Monster. It’s a masterpiece of the same caliber, focusing on a doctor chasing a serial killer through Germany.
- Look into the "Osamu Tezuka" Connection: Understanding that Atom is a darker version of Astro Boy adds a layer of tragic irony to the show. It’s like watching a "prequel" that turns your childhood hero into a haunted soldier.
The cast of Pluto television show isn't just a list of names. It’s a curated group of veterans who managed to take a 1960s robot story and turn it into a modern meditation on grief, war, and the cycle of hate. It’s rare to see an adaptation treat its source material with this much reverence while still managing to feel completely fresh for a 2020s audience.
Check out the voice credits during the end crawl of Episode 1. You'll see the sheer number of industry veterans involved. It’s an ensemble piece in the truest sense.
To really appreciate the depth, revisit the scenes between Gesicht and his wife, Helena (voiced by Yoko Soumi). The way they discuss their "vacation" memories—memories that might be fake—is some of the best voice work in modern media. It’s quiet, it’s subtle, and it’s devastating.