Apr 7, 2014
Shows like Planetes are the main reason I really got into anime. Based on the manga of the same name it portrays quite beautifully life as we now know it or more accurately as we may come to know it by focusing mainly on human interactions and our relationship with space.
Severely underrated, probably forgotten by most and unheard of by many; Planetes is one of those all-round feel good anime which give you a nice warm fuzzy feeling and in my opinion is ‘Hard’ Sci-Fi at its finest. Set in 2075 Planetes is a Sci-fi drama with a multicultural team of misfits who are underpaid
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and under-appreciated in their role as space garbage collectors. With large and tiny debris orbiting earth at 7,000 kilometres per second (about 15,500 mph), an impact with a space craft or space station could prove to be catastrophic and it’s up to the Toybox team to prevent it.
What I really enjoyed about Planetes was the sense of realism in its execution. The division between space and earth, nations and individuals portrayed in the show is to a great extent a mirror image of the world we live in. It also explores the negative side of environmentalism which we rarely hear of these days. Cutting through it all and at its centre is the character development which is top notch. Juggling heavy weight themes, concepts and dynamic individuals isn’t an easy thing to pull off but pull it off Planetes does…sublimely. It takes pot shots at our idea of ‘the norm’ and emphasises the point that it’s ok to just be yourself.
To add to the sense of realism, having JAXA (The Japanese Space Agency) serve as consultants to the series really paid off. We come to see astronauts suffer from a myriad of diseases such as radiation poisoning, brittle bones and mental illness from prolonged isolation in the vacuum of space which are all known issues. Sound does not travel in the vacuum of space (unless you have super sensitive hearing and can pick up a couple of atoms hitting against your eardrum) which the anime again portrays with space ships making no noise. To this extent it tries way harder than most other shows to present a realistic view of space and what our future in space may come to look like.
Each episode builds on the last and advances the main story without diverting needlessly or adding too much to an already full plate. It’s a great piece of work which you need to watch! Anime fan or not and is quite probably one of the best ‘hard’ Sci-fi anime shows I have seen; its definitely in my top 5 for the genre.
With a nice blend of science, politics, philosophy, romance and a little comedy its one for the collection which sadly has been all but forgotten about. I just hope we won’t be suffering from Kessler syndrome anytime soon.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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