Planetes Totally Explained

Everything about Planetes totally explained

The US version of the DVDs featured interviews with two scientists from NASA's Orbital Debris Section. However, both scientists stated that the premise of having to rendezvous with debris in orbit is highly unlikely as it would take an extravagant amount of energy for a relatively small amount of salvageable material. One of the scientists stated that the previous director of the NASA Orbital Debris Section was in fact Donald J. Kessler, the scientist who proposed the Kessler Syndrome, which is cited and used several times in both the anime and manga.

Human elements

The story also depicts the richer countries monopolizing resources in space and the poorer ones falling into civil war and being invaded or needing the assistance of those richer countries, telling a story of dependency theory and the negative side of environmentalism. The conflicting views of the terrorist group, the Space Defense Front, who wish to shut human beings off from space, the main characters who believe in the importance of space exploration and development, and the International Treaty Organization (INTO) which wants space development primarily to serve the military needs of developed nations also play major roles. The anime refrains from oversimplification of the various factions, portraying both true believers and those with ulterior motives on all sides. The final settlement of the conflict is also unique in that it isn't resolved by any of the main protagonists or antagonists, but by a compromise struck between powers above their heads.
Both the anime and manga set a precedent of portraying a highly multicultural cast of characters respectfully and with minimal use of racial stereotypes as previously seen in almost all manga and anime which features a similar cast (For an example, see G Gundam). In fact, those characters who refer to stereotypes in the anime are usually berated by other characters almost immediately.

Themes

The themes in Planetes are philosophical, sociological, 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's 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, individuals, and class divisions.

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.

More generally, the series examines the difference between greed and ambition. The purpose and consequences of space exploration are seen both as they relate to humanity as a whole, and how they relate to the Hoshino family in particular. For humanity, space exploration holds the promise of increased wealth and prosperity. However, as the most wealthy nations are the only ones that can develop space, they're the only ones who end up reaping the benefits. Similarly, the protagonist, Hachirota Hoshino, initially wants to go faster and farther than he ever has before, yet as a result he nearly destroys both himself, and his relationships with others. Hachi's father, Goro Hoshino, is also caught between the two, having spent many years away from his wife and children so that he could explore space. Lastly, Hachi's younger brother, Kyutaro Hoshino, is obsessed with building rockets, either to make a name for himself, to upstage his brother, or to gain more attention and respect from his family, even if this occasionally results in putting their lives in danger when one of his rockets flies out of control.

Production

Though author/illustrator Makoto Yukimura doesn't have a background in the sciences, the idea of Planetes came to him while reading a book called A Garbage Problem in Space: Space Debris, and found the Japanese phoenetics for the word debris amusing. Yukimura intentionally didn't research space technology for fears that it would compromise his artistic freedom.
Many changes were in the technology used in the series in the anime adapted, including touch-controlled HUDs, retractable debris face shields with a video screen, and peripheral cameras to the EVA suits the main characters use. Also, the anime introduces refinements in 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 Toy Box is moved from the Moon to a space station called the ISPV 7 in Low Earth Orbit. The United States of America is explicitly named in the manga, as opposed to in the anime where it's 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. 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:

"Nora", Technora Corporation's mascot in the anime is originally Hachimaki's alien friend who appeared in a dream.

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's 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.

In a non-canon yonkoma gag strip in the manga, Tanabe is defeated in volleyball by Claire (who only appears in the anime). However, Claire's face isn't seen, as she states that the cartoonist "Isn't confident enough to draw me".

Reaction

Both the manga and the anime were critically lauded. According to Anime News Network, the manga has a "solid, engrossing storyline and well-developed characters". Anime News Network also proclaimed Planetes to be the best science fiction anime series of 2005. Both the manga and anime received the Seiun Award for best science fiction series, the manga in 2002 and the anime in 2005. Volume 4 reached 93rd place, selling about 1400 copies.

Media

Manga

Kodansha in the manga magazine Weekly Morning from January 23, 2001 to February 23, 2004 and collected in four tankobon volumes. It is licensed in English in North America by Tokyopop, where it was published in five volumes by splitting the last volume in two parts.

Anime

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.

Music and theme songs

The music of Planetes is a mixture of traditional orchestral music, supplemented by chorals, several uses of a theremin, and traditional Japanese woodwinds (for example Shakuhachi). The music score was composed by Kotaro Nakagawa and produced by Victor Entertainment. Opening theme:

"Dive in the Sky", by Mikio Sakai Ending themes:

"Wonderful Life", by Mikio Sakai (Episodes 1-25)

"PLANETES", by Hitomi Kuroishi (Episode 26) Insert songs:

"A secret of the moon", by Hitomi Kuroishi (Various episodes)

"Thanks my friend", by Mikio Sakai (Episode 13)Further Information

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