Planetes: Outside the Atmosphere
October 27, 2024 8:50 AM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
It is the end of the 21st century, and with the colonization of near-Earth space expanding, the threat of space debris is a threat to the advancement of space exploration - especially in light of incidents where debris strikes have caused the deaths of people there. As such, the governments of the world have mandated that the corporations spearheading efforts in near-Earth orbit work to clear debris - but just because a job is important doesn't mean it's valued, as one young salarywoman is about to find out...
And thus begins the story of Planetes, the anime adaption of Makoto Yukimura's hard SF tale of space exploration in the near future, before he decided to pivot to Norse epics of violence, revenge, and the futility of such with Vinland Saga. Considered one of the better hard SF stories out there, the series explores the physical, emotional, political, and corporate environment of near-Earth colonization through a deeply humanistic lens, which is why the series ranks perennially in the upper ranks of best anime and best SF lists.
The first episode, sadly, suffers from the usual issues that many first episodes do, needing to establish both the setting and the main characters in its runtime, giving us a somewhat compressed and chaotic runtime. Most of the scenes involve the two main protagonists of the series - the aforementioned salarywoman Ai Tanabe, who was just assigned to to Debris Sector (nicknamed "Half Sector" due to their constant state of lack of funding and understaffing), and veteran EVA operator Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino, who immediately butt heads over their worldviews. This comes to a head when they're ordered to deorbit a memorial in space - initially Tanabe is against it, noting they're deorbiting a peace memorial to protect a military satellite, but when she sees how selfserving the "memorial" truly is, she ends her protest, and gets to see how the deorbited memorial can be a sign of hope for the people it was supposedly commemorating.
And thus begins the story of Planetes, the anime adaption of Makoto Yukimura's hard SF tale of space exploration in the near future, before he decided to pivot to Norse epics of violence, revenge, and the futility of such with Vinland Saga. Considered one of the better hard SF stories out there, the series explores the physical, emotional, political, and corporate environment of near-Earth colonization through a deeply humanistic lens, which is why the series ranks perennially in the upper ranks of best anime and best SF lists.
The first episode, sadly, suffers from the usual issues that many first episodes do, needing to establish both the setting and the main characters in its runtime, giving us a somewhat compressed and chaotic runtime. Most of the scenes involve the two main protagonists of the series - the aforementioned salarywoman Ai Tanabe, who was just assigned to to Debris Sector (nicknamed "Half Sector" due to their constant state of lack of funding and understaffing), and veteran EVA operator Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino, who immediately butt heads over their worldviews. This comes to a head when they're ordered to deorbit a memorial in space - initially Tanabe is against it, noting they're deorbiting a peace memorial to protect a military satellite, but when she sees how selfserving the "memorial" truly is, she ends her protest, and gets to see how the deorbited memorial can be a sign of hope for the people it was supposedly commemorating.
I haven't watched this in years and remember not being impressed by the beginning, but I kept watching the series and by the end was very glad I did.
posted by trig at 9:16 PM on October 27 [1 favorite]
posted by trig at 9:16 PM on October 27 [1 favorite]
This has been on my to-watch list for a long time and I hadn't realized Crunchyroll picked this up, so thanks for the heads up.
The first episode, sadly, suffers from the usual issues that many first episodes do, needing to establish both the setting and the main characters in its runtime, giving us a somewhat compressed and chaotic runtime.
I checked the manga to see what the difference was. I read the first volume and, aside from the opening sequence, there is almost no commonality. Tanabe doesn't even appear. Unless they're pulling from later volumes (and there's only four) this seems to have been radically altered.
OTOH, the other thing that first episodes do is give us the best animation that they have to offer, and this delivered quite handsomely.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:45 PM on October 27
The first episode, sadly, suffers from the usual issues that many first episodes do, needing to establish both the setting and the main characters in its runtime, giving us a somewhat compressed and chaotic runtime.
I checked the manga to see what the difference was. I read the first volume and, aside from the opening sequence, there is almost no commonality. Tanabe doesn't even appear. Unless they're pulling from later volumes (and there's only four) this seems to have been radically altered.
OTOH, the other thing that first episodes do is give us the best animation that they have to offer, and this delivered quite handsomely.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:45 PM on October 27
I checked the manga to see what the difference was. I read the first volume and, aside from the opening sequence, there is almost no commonality. Tanabe doesn't even appear. Unless they're pulling from later volumes (and there's only four) this seems to have been radically altered.
I also just bought the Planetes manga omnibus from Dark Horse, and yes, one of the big changes in the anime is that they chose to use Tanabe as the audience surrogate, which means she gets introduced much earlier (she's introduced in Chapter 7 in the manga, well after we get the dynamics between Hachi, Fee, and Yuri established.) In addition, being made the audience surrogate also rounds her corners, as manga Tanabe is a lot weirder than her anime counterpart, which goes a long way in defining her interactions with Hachi.
Honestly, it's worth separating the anime from the manga, as they do things differently (and both are worth your time.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:59 PM on October 27
I also just bought the Planetes manga omnibus from Dark Horse, and yes, one of the big changes in the anime is that they chose to use Tanabe as the audience surrogate, which means she gets introduced much earlier (she's introduced in Chapter 7 in the manga, well after we get the dynamics between Hachi, Fee, and Yuri established.) In addition, being made the audience surrogate also rounds her corners, as manga Tanabe is a lot weirder than her anime counterpart, which goes a long way in defining her interactions with Hachi.
Honestly, it's worth separating the anime from the manga, as they do things differently (and both are worth your time.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:59 PM on October 27
I'll need to see if I can get my hands on the manga.
Planetes has always been one of my favorite anime. You could call it, "garbage company operating in space," and completely undersell how the "in space" part raises the level of danger, stakes, and so on, for the show. It, probably, more than any other medium, source, news, what have you, made me really appreciate and understand how dangerous space debris was to future near earth missions in Space. That single screw, just minding its business at 16,000 miles per hour, in the first episode, was incredible for me at the time I watched it originally.
This post may be the excuse I need to dip my toes back into the show, or at the very least, pick up the manga.
posted by Atreides at 7:49 AM on October 28
Planetes has always been one of my favorite anime. You could call it, "garbage company operating in space," and completely undersell how the "in space" part raises the level of danger, stakes, and so on, for the show. It, probably, more than any other medium, source, news, what have you, made me really appreciate and understand how dangerous space debris was to future near earth missions in Space. That single screw, just minding its business at 16,000 miles per hour, in the first episode, was incredible for me at the time I watched it originally.
This post may be the excuse I need to dip my toes back into the show, or at the very least, pick up the manga.
posted by Atreides at 7:49 AM on October 28
I'll need to see if I can get my hands on the manga.
AFAICT, there's never been an English digital version. Your best bet is ordering a copy of the Dark Horse Omnibus Editions, which seems to be still in print. (There is a scan floating around, but its quality is pretty bad.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:39 AM on October 29 [1 favorite]
AFAICT, there's never been an English digital version. Your best bet is ordering a copy of the Dark Horse Omnibus Editions, which seems to be still in print. (There is a scan floating around, but its quality is pretty bad.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:39 AM on October 29 [1 favorite]
I will recommend the Dark Horse omnibus, as it's well done with exceptional care (which is no surprise, as Dark Horse always does a good job with their manga releases.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:49 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
posted by NoxAeternum at 5:49 PM on October 29 [1 favorite]
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posted by NoxAeternum at 9:18 AM on October 27 [1 favorite]