title_name=Planetes
ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ
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Hachimaki attempts to retrieve a stray bolt
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プラネテス
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Planetes
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Seinen
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Sci-fi
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Animanga/Manga| Information
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Animanga/Anime| Information
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'' (
Manga by
Makoto Yukimura and a 26-episode
Anime of the same name, that was produced by
Sunrise and broadcast on
NHK in
Japan from October 2003 through April 2004. The story revolves around a team of
Space Debris collectors based in the debris ship ''Toy Box'' in the year 2075.
The manga is published in
English by
TOKYOPOP and it retains its right-to-left format. The anime has been licensed for US and Canadian distribution by
Bandai Entertainment . It will also be broadcast by
AnimeCentral beginning
September 10 ,
2007 .
The story of ''Planetes'' follows the crew of the ''DS-12 "Toy Box"'' of the Space Debris Section, a unit of Technora Corporation. Debris Section's purpose is to prevent the damage or destruction of
Satellite s,
Space Station s and
Spacecraft from collision with debris in
Earth 's and the
Moon 's orbits. They use a number of methods to dispose of the debris (mainly by burning it via atmospheric reentry or through salvage), accomplished through the use of
EVA suits.
The episodes sometimes revolve around debris collection itself, but more often the concept of collecting "trash" in space is merely a storytelling method for building character development. The members of the Debris Section are looked down upon as the lowest members of the company and they must work hard to prove their worth to others and accomplish their dreams.
Ongoing plot elements include an upcoming exploratory mission to
Jupiter on the new
Fusion Power ed ship, ''Von Braun'', and the lead character's decision to join the mission, no matter the cost. Many other plot threads are also developed throughout the series that help to explain each character's motivations and personalities. The Space Defense Front is a
Terrorist organization that believes mankind is exploiting space without first curing global problems such as mass famine and the widened socio-economic divide on Earth.Planetes Ep. 12
is the protagonist of the series. Everyone simply calls him "Hachi" (
Japanese for "eight" or "eighth") or , because he wears one during his
EVAs ). His dream has always been to own his own spaceship, but between the cost of purchasing one and his low-paying, seemingly dead-end job, Hachi struggles with even deciding whether or not to pursue his dream. Hachi's father is a renowned
Engineer , a source of much ambivalence to Hachimaki. Much of Hachi's drive is summed up in "bigger, faster, and further". However, this drive makes him conflicted about his own relationship with space. Loud and brash, Hachi has difficulty expressing himself adequately, especially in
Romantic matters.
is the newest member of the Debris Section. She is the adopted daughter of a
Death Metal band leader turned
Engineer and an
Elementary School teacher. Tanabe did not speak until she was three years old. She is bright and earnest, but mostly unsure of herself. As a newcomer to space, the Debris Section and to extra-vehicular activity all at the same time, she has to slowly learn the ropes from everyone else. She believes that love, or "ai" (possibly a pun intended on her name being the Japanese word for love) is the solution to every problem. Kind and sweet, she is willing to do almost anything to help others. However, her kind spirit also masks a drive to become better than she is.
is the
American pilot of the "''Toy Box''", the debris-collecting ship used by the main characters. She was born in
Richmond, Virginia , and the daughter of a prominent lawyer. Even more loud and brash than Hachi, Fee often becomes violent at others' actions and inaction, but she always means well. Being a heavy (and slightly ashamedPlanetes Ep. 12)
Smoker , she has difficulty finding places to indulge her habit in space, as smoking is a strain on
Life Support System s and is thereby restricted to designated smoking rooms. This often makes her quite irritable, especially after all smoking rooms are shut down as the SDF began planting bombs in them. In the anime, she is able to get around this with an enclosed personal "smoker's seat" (which is prone to inadvertent sabotage). Married with a young son, Fee lives in
Florida when not in space, which is not very often.
,
Russian ''Юрий Михалков'' ''Yuri Mihalkov'') is the
Russia n member of the Debris team. Calm, stoic, kind and compassionate, Yuri often acts as the level head of the group. Several years before the events of the story, he and his wife were in a low-orbit craft traveling to
England when a small bolt slammed into one of the ship's windows at high
Velocity , causing the plane to depressurize and make an emergency landing. Many died in the highly publicized incident, including Yuri's wife, who was never found. The incident and Yuri's desire to recover his wife's lost keepsake, a
Compass she wore around her neck, drives him to collect more debris. It is often speculated that Yuri's name is a reference to
Yuri Gagarin and
Nikita Mihalkov . In the anime, Yuri and the Debris Section Office Staff are responsible for looking after the ISPV 7's resident animals.
The manga sometimes starts with a few full-colour pages before going to the standard black & white art. The character design of the manga is similar to that of and
Naoki Urasawa , with relatively simple faces and smaller eyes, and a great degree of facial expressions. However, meticulous detail was used to render the manga's technological objects such as the spacesuits, the spacecraft, and settings.
See Also: Planetes manga summary
The ''Planetes'' anime began airing its 26 episode run on
NHK BS-2 on
October 4 ,
2003 and ended on
February 23 ,
2004 . Produced and animated by
Sunrise , it was directed by
Goro Taniguchi and scripted by
Ichiro Okouchi (both of whom would later reunite in 2006 to work on the Sunrise original production ''
Code Geass ''). The anime began development and production before the end of the manga serialization. In the beginning and middle of the series, the writing and production staff only had the first three volumes of the manga as source. In order to fill the entire 26 episode run of the anime, new characters, new settings and new relationships between characters were made in order to increase dramatic tension, reinforce themes introduced in the manga, and introduce new themes that were compatible with the manga. While the manga deals more with
Existential themes, and humanity's relationship with space, the anime further expands the political elements of the story.
Vast technological improvements were made between the manga and the anime, introducing touch-controlled
HUD s, retractable debris face shields with a video screen, and peripheral cameras to the EVA suits the main characters use. Also, the anime seems to have improved upon the weightless living and working spaces, with foot and hand bars for people to stabilize their movement in a weightless environment. The base of operations of the Toy Box is placed on a space station orbiting Earth called the ISPV 7, rather than being on the Moon in the manga. The
United States Of America is explicitly named in the manga, as opposed to in the anime where it is seldom mentioned in favor of "INTO" or the International Treaty Organization (a possible reference to
NATO and
SEATO ), which seems to be a federation of individual countries including the United States and
Japan .
See Also: List of Planetes episodes
The music of ''Planetes'' is a mixture of traditional
Orchestra l music, supplemented by chorals, several uses of a
Theremin , and traditional Japanese
Woodwind s (e.g.
Shakuhachi ). The music score was composed by
Kotaro Nakagawa and produced by
Victor Entertainment .
The story of ''Planetes'' takes place in the near future. Unlike many other anime and
Science Fiction productions, special care was given in ''Planetes'' for a very realistic depiction of space and space travel. For instance, when in a weightless environment, the cel count dramatically increases in order to make weightless motion more fluid and realistic. Also, spaceships make no noise in the vacuum of space and
Astronaut s routinely suffer from known space illnesses such as
Radiation Poisoning ,
Decompression Sickness ,
Cancer ,
Brittle Bone s and mental illnesses spawned from isolation in the vacuum of space. One character, born on the Moon, grew to be abnormally tall due to the lesser lunar gravity.
Concepts like momentum in weightlessness are early plot points and are always illustrated naturally. Director Goro Taniguchi stated in the DVD commentary that he learned much about
Orbital Mechanics in the course of making the series. This can be shown in showing
Specific Orbital Energy , through changing
Orbits by applying thrust throughout the series.Episode 1 Cast and Directors' Commentary Even the necessity for the retrieval of space debris that is central to the plot is rooted in the serious and growing problem with space debris today.
4
The show also works to connect itself to the history of '', featuring a montage of the history of space flight from
Greek Mythology to the "modern" setting outlined in the series. Along the way, animated images of important milestones in space travel like
Robert Goddard 's early rocket tests, the
V-2 Rocket ,
Sputnik 1 ,
Laika the dog, the
Vostok Spacecraft ,
Apollo 11 ,
Skylab ,
Mir , the
International Space Station and the
Space Shuttle Endeavour and other mile stones are displayed. References to early pioneers in rocketry like
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky ,
Robert H. Goddard ,
Wernher Von Braun and
Hermann Oberth are also made regularly.The Werner Locksmith character in particular seems to reflect both Von Braun's vision for the future as well as his willingness to resort to questionable means to achieve them.
suit.]]
The story also depicts the richer countries and development,Planetes Ep. 7: Fee: "Nothing can be solved by locking yourself up in a warm place, how could the world continue without space resources?" and the International Treaty Organization (INTO) which wants space development primarily to serve the military needs of developed nations also play major roles.Planetes Ep. 24: Conversation between INTO officials during negotiations. The anime refrains from oversimplification of the various factions, portraying both true believers and those with ulterior motives on all sides.Planetes Ep. 24: SDF rebels on the Moon are stunned at being abandoned when their leadership strikes a deal with INTO on space resource distribution. The final settlement of the conflict is also unique in that it is not resolved by any of the main protagonists or antagonists, but by a compromise struck between powers above their heads.Planetes Ep. 24: Goro attempts to break into the hacked system but the system is restored without his intervention.
Both the anime and manga set a precedent of portraying a highly , since he is Japanese. Hachi denies this outright and berates them.
The themes in ''Planetes'' are
Philosophical ,
Societal , and
Political in nature.
- The theme most prevalent within the plot is the relationship between space, humanity, and the individual. Hachimaki struggles throughout the story with his own relationship with space and consequently, other people. Meanwhile, the terrorist group, the Space Defence Front's view of humanity's relationship with space is the driving force through much of the story.
- Existential Dread (or angst) and the characters' response to it is an important part to their characterization. The characters' response to angst, particularly the protagonist Hachimaki, becomes a source of both internal and external conflict throughout the story.
- Both the manga and the anime criticize artificial divisions, including political divisions within humanity, as well as divisions between nations,Planetes Ep. 11: "From here, we can't see any borders!" individuals,Planetes anime: Much of the latter half of the anime deals with Hachimaki cutting himself off from the others. and class divisions.Planetes Ep. 26: Claire mentions she wasn't very good at being an aristocrat.
- In the anime, several characters were introduced in order to add its criticism of Salaryman culture. Some of these characters are portrayed only to seek to climb the corporate ladder, however unlikely it may be. This fact makes several characters lose sight of the importance of their job, however lowly others might see it. At the same time, several characters are introduced who seek to work within the system in order to make a difference.Planetes Ep. 26: Having expanded his influence within Technora Corporation, Dolf decides to defy the board in favor of steering the company towards the ideals he started out with.
''Planetes'' shared part of its production staff with another anime series that ran at the same time on
NHK , ''
Twin Spica ''. From this, the production staff slipped several easter egg cross overs into ''Planetes''. Some of these include:
- The hotel on the ISPV 7 Space Station is called the Hotel Spica .
- Episode 20 of the ''Planetes'' anime featured an isolation test which mirrored the isolation test which was part of the National Space Academy entrance test in Twin Spica.
- Inflated spherical escape pods, or "rescue balls" are featured in both series at some point.
There are several times where the anime and the manga would allude to each other. The following are some examples of this:
- The white cat the SDF used as an avatar in the anime to talk to the Union conference delegates in episode 23 is Hachimaki's vision of God during his Vision Quest on the Lunar surface.
- In episode 22, the Debris Section Office Staff visit the Moon Debris Section office and find that the office staff there is very similar to them. This is a reference to the fact that the Toy Box and its crew were based on the Moon in the manga.
