Discussion Forums > Anime Discussions

Planetes

(1/9) > >>

JyL:
I was gonna hold off until I finished the series but I can't resist. I'm finally getting around to finishing Planetes (way late, I know) and I have a few things to say. Spoilers ahead.


The series up the episode 19 was very mediocre for me. That's why it took me so long to slog through it. There were episodes and moments here and there of brilliance, but there was just too much filler. Characterization episodes of bland characters like Rabi or E-Chan and other isolated episodes of little worth detracted greatly from my enjoyment.

But then I watched episode 19 through 21 and the show's got me really excited. It's as if the creators thought to themselves "oh shit, we only have 8 episodes to finish the series, we better shit together".

A few key issues that were only hinted on earlier in the series are brought up again. The notion that the money spent going to Jupiter with the Von Braun could've been used to help humans on earth is brought up by a reporter character in ep 19. The show reminds us that the world portrayed in the series is NOT a perfect one, where everyone on Earth is living well and space exploration came sheerly from surplus. There are people starving on Earth, yet "The Union" is more interested in space.
This growing divide between the rich and poor of Earth is personified later in ep 21 through Ai and Claire. As they argue they are arguing for their people as a whole. Claire, who's from a poor nation in the midst of a civil war is disgusted by Ai's thoughtless idealism. Ai can't help herself, she's from Japan and knows nothing about the troubles of poorer nations.

Then there's the test. When the tennis player character cut her own oxygen tube and lost control of her EVA, I kind of rolled my eyes and thought to myself "Oh, ok. All the other guys will ignore her and continue with the test, while our hero Hoshino will save her, failing his own test, but that's ok because he'll be rewarded in the end and pass the exam."
Nope. In fact the exact opposite happens. All three of the other contestants except Hoshino go the help the girl, while he ignores her and finishes the test. Everyone fails, but Hoshino advances. The leader of the program explains that on Jupiter, the person will be expected to weigh the life of one crew member against the well being of the whole crew and mission of the whole, and that he has no need for "humanists". It's little moments like these that defy cliche and accepted liberal thought that make me smile at the series.

Another thing that I'm liking about the later part of the series is that they focus less on the interesting characters and more on the central ones. The inner conflicts of Ai and Hoshino are brought to the forefront, and Hoshino's personal choices of The Jupiter mission versus his relationship with Ai are under scrutiny. Another small part that I loved was the degeneration of Chenshin, where he goes a little crazy and literally molests Ai at the Space Dock.
Also there's the welcome return of Hakim. The buildup to the showdown at the end of episode 21 was well done, and not too obvious for me to be annoyed.

Anyway I look forward to the last 5 episodes of the series, and am sorry that I took so long getting through the first half of it.

psyren:
The series was pretty good for me, but there were moments where I wanted to boot some of the characters out of an airlock.

Not to mention the show was very true to the laws of physics.

AceHigh:

--- Quote from: psyren on June 03, 2008, 01:05:26 PM ---Not to mention the show was very true to the laws of physics.

--- End quote ---

The only two series where there is no sound in space:

Planetes
Firefly

I love them for that and so much more. And since we got to this topic, Star Wars sucks.

apo12:
I am watching it right now and I am amazed !
Character development,realism,plot,animation,character design and sound are top notch.
The first episodic anime I am actually enjoying.

nstgc:
I've seen plenty of series where there is no sound in space. All of the Gundams for instance.

[edit] To what degree do you mean "no sound in space"?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page