Planetes

Anime is a very underground phenomena outside of Japan, but in Japan anime studios make more money than live action studios. This vast industry has produced thousands of TV series, some of which were amazing. This is one of those. Perhaps one of the best Sci-Fi TV series ever made, Planetes is a must see for any science fiction fan and represents one of the most realistic attempts to depict space colonization. It has about the same degree of realism as 2001: A Space Odyssey and indeed many things in the series look like they were taken from 2001, such as the designs of the space stations and of the space planes.

The shows also builds up to a fantastic finale, among the most dramatic and powerful ever to grace television.

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.

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.

planetes is an anime very particular.

the genus to which it belongs is sometimes referred to as "hard sci- fy " a fiction that has no scientific errors and inconsistencies , and then describes a possible world and in the case of planetes would say even likely. The series is about a near future, after fifty years, the central theme is the colonization of Earth's orbit. some details are very interesting: devices to be able to spin in space taking into account the center of gravity, propulsion with liquid helium, lunar installations etc. ...

I must say that I really do not understand why it is a genre so little explored, for once, you can even do without aliens headless demons of death and time travel. I felt the lack of an anime of this type, I was very impressed 8/10