Planetes

I am truly amazed how great this show turns out to be from a science-fiction fan's point of view, and I do not mean the kind of movie science fiction which relies on CGI as its main asset and suffers from poor unrealistic plot. I mean the kind of literary science fiction that gets awarded with a Hugo award.

Perhaps one should forget that this is an anime, for the simple reason that the stereotype of anime is something like a TV show for kids where a bunch of clichéd, depth-less characters battle supernatural enemies with their superpowers. If that is what anime means for you, think of Planetes as an animated series made in Japan. Removed around eighty years from the times it was made in, it presents quite a believable picture of what space exploration might be like at the end of the 21st century, with a load of detail comparable only to the movie adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is one of the strongest points of the show - the richness of little details, like how rooms have to be adapted to zero G, makes the sci fi elements more believable.

The strongest point, however, would be how great science fiction this is. One definition of science fiction would be that a science fiction story depicts the way more-or-less imaginary technology (or the fruit of some science not directly related to technology, like chemistry) impacts human lives. Apart from the development of the regular characters of the show, every episode contains a story in that vein, with a great deal of insight and care for consistency. It is harder to show something gripping in science fiction with more-or-less realistic technology than in a flashy movie where the technology used is nothing short of magical, yet Planetes achieves that in every episode. Also, since the future gadgetry depicted is so often directly connected with the plot, and at the same time, so believable, Planetes could also be categorized as a cyberpunk show set in Earth's orbit, and I mean cyberpunk like in the later William Gibson stories, not like in, say, Cyber City Oedo 808. As I said, you won't see any technological magic, not even at the "AI virus gaining consciousness" level.

I'm sorry I can't recommend this further without any spoilers, but if you have ever enjoyed good SF literature, be sure to check out this show (at least the first 5 episodes, to see what it's like after we've gotten to know the main characters), and you won't be disappointed.

For anyone who loves good story-telling and perhaps most of all SPACE! This show cannot be beat. I was genuinely moved by many episodes, and as a space geek I was VERY impressed by how accurate the science was (not perfect but damn good).

The themes that are explored and the development of the characters is much closer to that of an hour long American drama. In this case it's Firefly in anime.

Indeed I would say that the writer, Makoto Yukimura is the Joss Whedon of Japan. The writing is that good.

Don't pay any attention to people who complain about how well the show was dubbed. This is not important. A good story is a good story. This series is so good that I was able to easily overlook production shortcomings.

It's been a very long time that I've loved a TV series this much. It's smart, funny, genuine and nerdy all at once. This is a show for people with a head and a heart. Most shows require neither to be "enjoyed".

Planetes is exceptional, and I only regret it was so short lived. I love it. I love it. I love it.

As an old sayings go "Shoot for the Moon." or "Tis better to aim high and miss then aim low and hit.", the common human trait is that of the desire to aim high whether it be career or just simply life itself because of our constant belief that things will get better that tomorrow will be a better day. No matter how much time has gone by even if the settings changed desire never will.

This is a criminally underrated and overlooked anime gem that is one of my personal favorite animes but also one of my favorite tomorrows world sci-fi's. This shows is similar in vein to Arthur C. Clarke sci-fi, it shows a believable world of tomorrow that looks possible and plausible. The rich mix of both 3-D computer animation and the usual but sophisticated Japanese anime which makes all the characters and settings look almost real. The music is superb it's a calm orchestra tone to make the scenes in space almost feel like an opera or even fit what the characters are going through. We see how advanced civilization has got but also see how beaten up and exhausted it has became on itself. We witness how despite certain advancements in science they've also paid a severe price by becoming careless in how they treat their enviorment in space. Even the politics involved have put too many barriers on sometimes the smallest things. Nothing always works right, even some of the spaceships some people have look like their days are nu8mbered. There is also a sense of boredom and how space travel has became reduced to nothing but an everyday commodity taken for granted instead of a frontier of endless possibilities.

However its really the characters in the show and the drama involved which make the show truly work. Mainly the duo dynamic between Hachimake and Ai Tanabe whom are another of my favorite anime couples. Hachimaki I think is awesome, he's young, brash, unsmooth, a loner, rebellious where he doesn't just break the rules but he bends and breaks them, and obeys the rules he writes in his book. He's also borderline selfless and selfish, but has a strong ambition of traveling out into space and exploring the untouched frontier. He's also an underdog as he is kinda a blue collar worker struggling to make his dream come true but also some thing that happened in his past which made me respect him even more and angry at those that have abandoned or shunned him for no good reason. Ai Tanabe is also young, pretty, naive, brave, selfless which can make her never very realistic when it comes to certain matters however that turns out to be a strength that Hachimaki very much needs. Both of them have a slightly shaky but close friendship,they both agree or disagree with one another and but both do have one thing in common and that is they deeply love each other as more than just friends whether they know it or not. We feel pathos for both of them from what they go though and their feelings for each other evolve but so does their career.

In a strange way the career their in starts to look bigger and more important; the Debris Haulers aren't janitors in space but are like Firefighters or Emergency Workers doing the best they can to make space safe fore everyone. Indeed it really is the Debris career that matters the most, and personally I think it's a cool job, getting to go out into space and working with lots of technical equipment. Even though the careers below are considered the higher up careers, they start to look smaller and not as important; those careers are a little lame in my book what the heck else do they even do other than just monitor.

The show has ethical themes like enviormental ethics and why science and human politics must learn to act responsibly for human progress. But also deep post modern philosophy on heroism, ambition, love, man's place in the universe, and how much more a person can be.

The universe is vast and big, enough room for dreams and love.

Rating: 4 stars

Some Japanese animes have this style of starting silly and happy, then suddenly turning all serious and philosophical. This is one of them, and, if it weren't for those stunts in the very last episodes, when they left the outcome of very tense moments for the next two episodes, I would have marked it with a 9.

Anyway, this is all about humans exploring (finally) space and the people that venture doing it. In the end, it becomes clear that the point of the series was not technology or space, but human nature, the way we all connect to each other, and what we can accomplish together.

All in all it is a cute anime. It starts really silly, but ends very well. And for a 26 episode anime, it certainly kept me on my toes. A word of mention about the soundtrack, which I found good towards very good for an anime, with mostly Japanese songs (even if sprinkled with the now customary English words).

Bottom line: worth seeing.

There are no aliens here. There are no FTL drives and no giant mech suits. This is Planetes.

Following a small space junk recovery team, Planetes gives insight to what living in space would really be like, gracefully balancing the personal issues of crew members, just living their lives, with the tremendous impact that space colonization would have on human civilization as a whole.

No science fiction has left me more wondrous with the concept of space life, more bewildered at the fact we aren't there yet, or more flattered simply for being the same species as minds that created this fantastic anime.

This is the near future of space travel and it doesn't need action or fantasy to tell the story of humanities first steps into the solar system. This is the greatest science fiction drama ever made.

This is Planetes.