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Jan 3, 2016
For someone like myself who has seen a lot of animes with robots in space, the tagline 'garbage men in space' might seem a tad underwhelming. It would be understandable that you'd skip this anime based on this. I'd advise you not to.
By skipping Planetes, you'd miss out one of the most realistic sci-fi animes out there.
In the first half of the series we get to explore the environment, backstory and motivations of the characters and much more in an episodic format. Mostly it packs a mix of comedy and excitement as something goes wrong with the job of the 'debris haulers'
...
as they call themselves (either due to difficulties of working in space or because of the corporate environment they find themselves in).
The second half of the series can delve into more of a larger story arc, now that we know the characters well etc. Here it turns more into drama with a hint of romance.
So... the good:
- Characters feel very human, have flaws, backstory etc
- Great comedy moments
- Very realistic world (office politics, third world countries still exist etc)
- Science is an integral part of the series, such as with the hazards of working in space
- Enjoyable stories, both the first half's episodic ones and the larger story arc of the second half
The bad:
- Opening and ending song are very cheery, which doesn't fit the second part of the series at all. So I skipped it basically every time after two or three eps
- I was left wanting with the romance aspect. Could have been done a lot better
- One of the main characters gets serious mental stability issues, but solves it a little too easily towards the end of the series, and solves it mostly alone (a missed opportunity)
- There is a little bit of filler here and there, but it isn't necessarily bad. They could have trimmed it to make it even a sleeker experience though.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 19, 2013
The first episode starts by showing the main character in action. A bad guy is attacking a small village. Garrod Ran is down below, on the ground. Yet, he somehow manages to steal the bad guy's mobile suit! That's incredible! Here I am, thinking this is going to be Heero 2.0 . However, it soon turns out he isn't that much of a badass, and throughout much of the series, even with a Gundam, he gets his ass kicked most of the time.
Fortunately he joins up with a team of freelancers. This team is led by captain Jamil Neat, using an amphibious ship called the
...
'Frieden'. Captain Jamil Neat hides his eyes under his sunglasses... and he also hides his past during most of the show. He is probably the character I liked the most. His team contains a number of interesting side-characters.
The characters definitely showed a good amount of progress... Garrod Ran matures, and improves as a mobile suit fighter.
The show felt a bit too slow at first. It simply took too much time for anything to happen. After a while, the show gets up to a normal velocity. From about episode 30 onward, everything starts getting rushed. New characters, and new information gets introduced at a startling speed compared to earlier episodes. Honestly, because of this, I'd say that the middle part of this show, is where it's at its best. For resolving the conflict between both opposing parties at the end, they pulled a bit of a 'deux-ex-machina', in my opinion.
A big problem this show has, is a lack of credible villains. They just don't make any sense. Let's look at the main antagonists throughout the show: the Frost brothers.
The army didn't care a whole lot for them because their special abilities weren't good enough. This is the reason they want to start up A WHOLE NEW WAR in a time of peace. Guys, this doesn't make any sense!!! For some reason they decide to pick on Garrod Ran. They keep attacking him out of nowhere. Whether he's minding his own business, or helping someone, they pop up out of thin air. At one point Garrod defeats one of the brothers, only to make them even more persistent in annoying the shit out of him!
Garrod usually gets pulverized by them in fights, and each time he gets saved by his friends, the Frost brothers simply take off. AND NOBODY DARES TO STOP THEM ESCAPING!!! This does get old pretty fast though. You can compare them to Team Rocket in that respect.
The relationship between Garrod and Tifa follows the pacing of the show. Way too slow at first, then moving along at a reasonable pace, but they rushed it towards the end. However, mostly during the show, they're both too shy and embarrassed to make a move. Don't get your expectations up too much though, there doesn't happen that much.
And yet, even though it has some flaws, I did enjoy it a lot. I have a hard time giving more objective reasons for why though. One reason might be, is that the characters simply feel very human. This is quite refreshing compared to other series. If you like watching Gundam-series, I'd recommend this to you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Sep 10, 2013
At the time of writing, I've just finished this. At first I was in doubt if I should watch this or not, because of a rather vague description.
I completed this series in two days, the fastest I've ever finished an anime! For anyone deciding whether or not to watch this, that should tell you everything you need to know.
Here's the good versus the bad in my opinion:
Good:
- Doesn't lay all the cards on the table right away. Starts off mysteriously.
- Some of the best sound effects for guns I've ever heard in an anime.
- Dynamic, meaningful characters. Especially the main characters show good
...
development throughout the series.
- The male main character's theme song is awesome!
- At times very good and fitting background music!
- Draws you in to keep on watching :). ( okay, one more episode! ) Not by using huge cliffhangers, but the endings that make you curious.
- Good amount of action, but enough cleverness and bitterness sprinkled throughout the series to keep it intelligent and mature.
- It had a very good first half of the season because it had just the right tempo....
Bad:
- ... but in my opinion they lost that for the second half by slowing down a little too much.
- Art: the male main character's design seems kinda generic. They could've replaced him halfway by Light Yagami (from Death Note)... and I wouldn't have noticed :-).
- The series is not always clear and consistent with how much power some of the characters really have. One moment the series veers toward realism, and the other moment near the extreme (and impossible).
- I listened twice to the opening and ending songs... after that I skipped it each time. Not really memorable.
- First let me say I expected a bitter ending. Something sugar sweet would be quite of place in this series. I would be much more content if they kept the same end-result, but used a different way to reach it. It felt like they were going mainly for shock value. If the ending would've been better, I'd give this a 9. For now it's an 8, meaning 'very good' overall!
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Don't be mistaken however by some of my critique however. It is worth your viewing! For me it's on the same level as Steins;Gate... but not quite there yet on the level of Death Note.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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