Rejection of robotic nature: human vs. robot relationship in Naoki Urasawa's Pluto

Abstract

Science fiction, closely linked to the rapid pace of scientific development, is a key genre for reflecting on both the present and the technological future. While robotic laws are often associated with Western authors, similar themes have also been explored in the East from distinct cultural perspectives. Osamu Tezuka, through Astroboy (1951), envisioned a society in which robots are an integral part of everyday life. Years later, Naoki Urasawa reinterprets one of Tezuka’s most iconic stories, “The Greatest Robot on Earth”, under the title Pluto (2003), in order to question the boundaries between the human and the artificial, suggesting that a robot might exhibit more humanity than a human being.

This article analyzes how certain emotions provoke an identity rupture in robots, triggering a conflict between the human and the technological, ultimately leading to a symbolic fusion of both elements.