the adventures of teapot the cat

Anime Review: PLANETES

Posted on February 12th, 2006

I checked out Planetes [more] because it had gotten good reviews on the web and seemed like an interesting story. It is a tale about the lives of space debris collectors working for a corporation called Technora. Debris orbiting Earth has become hazardous to the progress of space development, and the Debris Section’s duty is to clean up that mess. My initial reaction to the show was that it was kinda ugly compared to many of the animes out there. Character design seemed kinda weird, the drawing wasn’t as high quality as I’m used to, and initially the story seemed a little flat.

But I stuck with it because, despite those things, it held a sincerity that was quite unexpected for a space adventure show. And it definately found it’s own niche - it wasn’t copying Cowboy Bebop, it didn’t have the stale mecha fights, and no harem-fanboy-super-deformed sillyness to be found. There was something about how the show’s producers tried very hard to present what life would really be like in space, working for a living - from both social and scientific viewpoints. One episode features a newcomer to the space station learning how to do zero gravity manouveurs using bursts of air from her center of mass. I like that.

Much of the first half of the season centers around main character Tanabe Ai’s experiences learning the ropes of debris collection. The second half really moves in a more serious direction, and this is where the shows reveals its true colors - themes that are hinted at throughout earlier episodes become important factors in later episodes. No character development is wasted. And the character development is very good - you really get wrapped up in their lives, and very quikcly forget the less glamorous animation. There is much more action, conflict and plot stuff going on. And most interestingly, there is a whole slew of social commentary going on - anything from the dynamics of families, to the chasm between developed and undeveloped countries, to the understanding of self. And best of all, while I feel the endings of many other shows fall flat on their faces, Planetes has an ending that leaves you feeling satisfied.

8 outta 10 for Planetes. If it had looked amazing it woulda been 9/10.

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