Planetes Recommended

Publisher
Bandai
Director
Goro Taniguchi
Production
Bandai, NHK, Sunrise
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
2003

Planetes V. 1

By David Rasmussen
25th Jun 05

Yes, it’s true, unless there’s a special something out there you’re waiting to play for the most part the Summer is a cultural deadzone of new video games. With the notable exception of a handful of great games coming this summer for the most part it’s a video gaming oasis out there. Lucky for you the Anime industry doesn’t seem to have that same problem as we have new releases coming this June in Region 1 format (hopefully Region 2 sometime soon) to look forward to.

This week I’ll be reviewing three series from BANDAI, all releasing during the first month of the Summer of Reviews, June! We’ll be looking at… D.I.C.E. DVD V. 1, shot in the arm for basketball fans and hot new sports series Hoop Days DVD V. 1, and finally the long awaited Anime of the sleeper Manga hit that’s infecting fans left and right like a T-Virus outbreak in Raccoon City, Planetes DVD V. 1.

Yes, this is the review of sleeper manga hit turned fan favorites Planetes, now out on Anime format with DVD V1. Now a review of the manga series has already been posted here so check it out, if you haven’t already, so you make sure to familiarize yourself with that before you plunge into this. Once your done we’ll go into the Anime series itself.

The series packs a few punches on it’s staff!
It’s directed by Goro Taniguchi (known for s-CRY-ed & Infinite Ryvius), animated by those goodfellas over at Sunrise (known for a lot of your favorite series including Cowboy Bebop and Gundam SEED just to name a few) and based on the so hot you think they were coated in smack best selling manga series that took everyone off guard and ran away with a ton of readers by Makoto Yukimura… I still need to get my copies though! Argh! Why is it it’s always sold out when I… oh, right, it’s popular. My bad.

Let’s get right to it, shall we? Because in space a bolt can really screw you… sounds nasty doesn‘t it.

DVD Volume 1
Before We Begin…
It is the Year 2075. Hong Kong has not been invaded by what was probably North Korea, the Earth hasn’t been blown up by WWIII and Gundams have not been invented yet.
However the dream of working and living in space has become a reality of daily life, as people commute between Earth surface and stations above in planetary orbit. However a demon of the past has come back to haunt humanity’s space faring dreams, and it comes in the form of litter… space litter (debris) that has accumulated over the many years. This space debris, if left unchecked, can prove quite fatal to the lifeline that is space travel in the latter part of the 21st Century. What? You don’t believe me? Just ask MIR… oh, wait, you CAN’T! It’s “dead”, Jim.

But to counter this constant “invisible” threat to the spaceways, a hard working group of men and women toil tirelessly to clean up this mess one discarded rivet and one floating wrench at a time. And this series, this journey into one human’s reach to the stars, is their story.
Now pick up that bolt before it lodges itself into a engine and sends a 50,000 ton passenger spacecraft crashing into St. Petersburg down there, ripping a large crater into it’s downtown area!

Episode 1 - Outside the Atmosphere
Space. Out here no one can hear you litter. Obviously since there’s so much space “litter” to deal with.
That’s where these fine men and women come in, whose job it is to clean up the Earth’s orbit of space debris one piece, bolt, scrap of metal and wrench at a time.
It is one of these “debris” which causes a panic at the start of episode one. It’s impact into a passenger orbital spacecraft in 2068 started the need for a specialized unit to clean up Earth orbit of the large planetary wasteyard of debris… but that was years ago, this is 2075, and the work continues onwards.
As the episode begins a newcomer to space has reported in for the first day of work, and boy is her first day at work a confused first day of work at Debris Section, aka “Half Section” (called that because it is only functioning on half the staff it should be working on, not to mention even less than the budget it should be working on as well. Yeah, the incident of 2068 might as well be in the same category as WWII since a lot of people have all but forgotten about it). And thus the series known as Planetes begins.

Her name is Tanabe, and she has just run into space ace Hacirota “Hachimaki” Hoshino, who plans to knock some “real world” sense into the newbie of Half Section. Uh… right. This guy may be a total jerk on station, but he is a pro once he’s suited up and working hard… only I am a little wary of him wanting to impart any “real world sense” into the new girl since he is abit eccentric. Very eccentric.
This is going to be a long and harsh first day at work, especially since first day of work will equal her first time out into space on the job…. Which may be the death of her, litterly and figuratively at the same time!

Episode 2 - Like A Dream
A new face has come into the Debris Section, aka Half Section, the eccentric band of space faring debris cleaners who make the cast of Seinfeld seem boring in comparison to their eccentrics. Space of the year 2075 is about to become very rowdy and very interesting all at the same time.
Her name is Tanabe, and she has just survived her first taste of space debris clearing. So, what now? How about doing some sort of weird good luck dance to bring luck on a lottery draw? Yeah, right. So maybe Hachimaki’s luck with the lottery system isn’t so good, at least he almost won.

But in the aftermath a secret about Hachimaki is revealed. It seems he has a book in his desk (in the strange converted cargo bay the Half Section uses as a “office”) called “Idea Notebook on Acquiring A Spaceship of My Own” of which he had since before joining Half Section.
It is his dream, but one that he has yet to fulfill. And if he continues to throw his hard earned money away on pointless gambles he’ll never buy a ship of his own! Isn’t the work of debris gathering a gamble enough on it’s own without having to blow good creds on worthless betting? Sheesh!

But as you watch the episode you’ll learn abit more about our man Hachimaki, especially as you’ll watch him face a metal laden “ghost” of his past that he’ll need to bring down once and for all.
With innocent lives in the balance it’s going to be one heckuva ride on this metallic beast, or it‘s going to be 2068 all over again, with Hachimaki‘s friend in the balance. Hang on!

Episode 3 - Return Trajectory
The one bad thing about doing the hard work of debris removal is the constant need to write… urgh… “apology letters”! Apology letters! You’re doing your job and you have to apologize for doing your job! Sheesh! What a drag! And isn’t it just worse when office-to-office space life insurance people try to peddle their poison to you? If there is a breed of human that needs to take that long walk out of a short airlock (without a spacesuit) it’s this breed, the insurance salesmen.\ Who needs the armies of Helghast when you have the horrors of paper pushing life insurance salesmen to overwhelm you with their nonsense? They are a true evil that cannot be stopped… stop the evil, please. Stop the evil.
Makes you wish your division was located next to the division that dealt of space marines to fight demons in Doom, Doom 2, Doom 3 & Doom 3 : Resurrection of Evil… only they’re not even bright enough to duct tape a flashlight to their guns so maybe that’s not a good thing after all.

Yeah. Death seems to be the topic of the episode, so what better way to emphasis this topic than a mission that seems to revolve about the topic in one way or another? I’m sure this episode will provide. Yes, it will.
How about when the space coffin of an old astronaut reappears after being dragged back into Earth orbit by a passing comet? How will the team handle that? Find out as you watch!

Episode 4 - Part of the Job
Looks like a weird dude named Collin Clifford has showed up at Half Section, and he seems to be a name to know. He’s the son of a major corpo scum and he’s a total jerk. Pity laws have yet to be passed to deep six the annoyingly rich. Worse yet it looks like the annoying jerk is going to be tagging along on a debris gathering mission, and boy that is just the worse! Talk about total loser-ville!
But UNFORTUNATELY when credits (or money) or Euros or whatever talks, it looks like people listen. And since this guy is the walking personification of “money” or whatever it is they spend in 2075, people listen… even if he has nothing intelligent to say.

So since he’s so important it looks like the job of keeping Hachimaki in line falls onto the already burdened shoulders of the “rookie”, Tanabe… give her a break already!
Sigh. This is going to be a long, long, long day. But since it’s only Episode 4 and this isn’t one of those shocking series where the cast rotates due to death, firing or disgrace on a regular basis you should be assured the same lovable cast of eccentrics will be back in Episode 5. Short of sudden death or downsizing, or sudden downsizing caused by bad sightseeing choices that kills the important half of the cast.

Episode 5 - Fly Me To The Moon
Look! Nobody’s dead and nobody’s fired! Yah!! And that is that. We have come to the inevitable end of the DVD. Since this is the last episode of Volume 1 I’m going to leave this one best unsaid. Now onto the breakdown.

Planetes Breakdown the 1st
What’s Hot?
If you’ve read the manga review already you have a good idea why the series is a hit, so I will tell you why the Anime is also a hit instead of trying to rehash why the manga is worth reading (since I haven’t read it yet). The anime is an experience you’ll not soon forget. If the manga is an experience that leaves a lasting mark on the readers, the anime is twice that experience.
It is without a doubt a solidly done piece of work from beginning to end. From the body of the work itself, the animation, music and feel of it, to the storytelling and each episode’s content and plotting and characters, it’s all just damn good. You’ll find yourself drawn into each episode, your attention focused and locked, unable to draw away as the series takes you away into Earth’s orbit and a story that is both engrossing and engaging, with characters that are three dimensional, fully developed, and impossible to ignore. Yes, if there’s plenty of good reasons to read the manga, then without a doubt there are twice as many good reasons to watch the Anime series which is just a good series that is a slice of life sci-fi style that is a cut above your standard sci-fi series.

No selling the viewer short with stereotypical fluff or nonsense, no space farin’ destructive aliens, no weird conflicts, no MTV Real World meets sci-fi space farin’ plot like Infinite Ryvius, no waste.
This is just solid storytelling and great eccentric characters you’ll become quite attached to while you lean back looking at them with awe, confusion and abit of dread. It’s good. It’s damn good. And it’s going to be one of the big series of 2005 that will give it’s all in a run for Best of 2005 no questions asked.

What’s Not?
Nothing. I can’t think of a thing. It’s a good series, period.
I don’t see anything to be worried about, and everything seems to be on the up and up so why worry unnecessarily about things that may, or may not, happen? No reason. I have no complaints. None.

Moments to Remember?
Everything. That’s one of the signs of a great series, when everything is memorable. Nuff said.

What to Ignore?
Uhmm… I dare you to try and ignore this one. Go ahead, I dare you!

Overall?
Pick up this DVD and you might think you know what you’re getting.
Just reading the case of the DVD might prepare you for what you’re getting.
But believe you me, what you read on the case, on reviews, and so forth, will NOT prepare you for what you are about to experience. Only by experiencing this series itself will you understand the full grasp of what you are experiencing. It’s something far different from your standard sci-fi fare, and a series that will leave a lasting mark on you once you’ve experienced it to it’s fullest.
Heck, it could even leave a lasting mark on that Adam Sassler guy! You bet it will! In fact I dare that TV Media peon reviewer to tell me differently as to why this isn’t worth seeing! Go on, Sessler! I DARE YOU!

Yeah, usually I like him and say lots of nice things about him moreso than usual so it’s not me to snap at him for something that hasn’t even occurred yet. Definitely not me to be on such a short fuse with him, for something that hasn’t even become a topic of contention yet. So maybe I’m a little off, sure, but this is a series I’d rather not hear him badmouth this series (and he’s badmouthed a few good series like Gundam SEED for no good reason) because this is worth watching and worth owning, so hearing him possibly give it a bad rap is nothing something I‘m looking forward to.

I probably couldn’t tell you enough the merits of Planetes, no matter how hard I tried. Just take my word for it. Planetes is a good series, well worth your time to see. Destined to be one of, if not THE Best of 2005, it will be a series that will give it’s all and make a serious run for the top awards this year. Now of course comes the million Euro question, that being “Is this coming to R2?” I’d say it’d better, because it would be a crime if it didn’t. BANDAI should make with all due haste to get this out in R2 format, and strike now while the iron’s hot. It’s one of their best of 2005 so why not roll this out ASAP? It’s worth it in my opinion. A series like this comes about rarely, and it’s not something to miss. Experience it, for it will not be something you’ll forget anytime soon.

-- David Rasmussen 25th Jun 05

Planetes Images