Review: Planetes.
Justin
Back when the Space Race was still doing its warm-up exercises by the
side of the playing field, Arthur C. Clarke wrote a number of short
stories about the possible troubles, benefits and adventure of space
travel.
These stories usually involved a collection of pipe-smoking, British
astrochaps with names like Fred or Charlie facing some hiccup on the
Moon that required a bit of lateral thinking and classic
back-of-the-shed tinkering to resolve, such as working out how to use a
bow-and-arrow on the lunar surface [1]. These short works were usually a
combination of danger, science lesson and almost schoolboy humour [2].
Planetes is what would have happened had Arthur C. Clarke been born in
Japan.
The series is set in a near future where humans have expanded into
space in a big way. This has, naturally, caused problems, the biggest of
which is space debris. A loose screw might not sound like much of a
hazard, until you realise that if that screw has loosened from a
spacecraft doing typical orbital velocities, it will be travelling at 8
kilometres a second [3], or roughly 8 times the speed of a typical
armour-piercing tank round. Naturally, if this screw hits something
else, bad things will happen.
Not the least of which is that the impact will create *more* debris,
each little bit of which is a hyper-velocity missile in itself.
Following such a major impact incident, humanity decides it is time to
set its near Earth house in order and start clearing up after itself.
Unfortunately, like *all* refuse collection agencies, the space garbage
personnel are underfunded, unappreciated and unloved. The most infamous
of the debris collection agencies, operating from the space station
ISPV7, is the Debris section belonging to the Technora corporation,
known disparagingly as "The Half Section".
So ignored is the Half Section, they operate from the basement. The
basement of a *space station*.
Into this environment is injected naive, bright eyed and possibly bushy
tailed [4] rookie Ai Tanabe. Her immediate superior in her newly-joined
squad of space oddities is Hachirota "Hachimaki" Hoshino, who once
dreamed of purchasing his own spaceship, but for whom the rebound from a
failed relationship and years of doing a dead end job has made
disillusioned. The result is a classic character dynamic - Ai thinks
Hachimaki is too cynical; Hachimaki thinks that Ai is too naive and
inexperienced.
Ably supporting the central duo are the rest of the cast; ace pilot
Fee, whose smoking habit requires some serious environmental concerns;
quiet man-in-the-background Yuri, who looks after other crew members
pets in his spare time; department superiors Lavie and Phillipe, the
Little and Large of department management; and super-near-permanent-temp
worker Edel.
If you're reading any of the above and its beginning to sound a little
bit familiar - well, substitute "global warming" for "space debris" and
"garbage collection" for "police work" and what you have is Patlabor on TV.
In Space.
And like Patlabor on TV, the result is a work of genius, shot through
with humorous character observation, concern and celebration of
technological achievement, and excellent scripting. Its a great example
of how different something can be from what people think of as the
"norm" for anime, whilst *still* being anime. There are no giant robots
[5], or bug-eyed sailor girls, or werefox-vampire-samurai cross-breeds [6].
What do you mean, then it isn't anime?!
Each episode is - like the Clarke stories mentioned earlier - a little
science lesson, a little peril (okay, sometimes *quite a lot* of peril),
and some wonderful humour. Like Patlabor on TV it manages to be serious
without being depressing; it won't pull its punches (theres a string of
terrific episodes dealing with the long-term medical effects of space
travel, for example), but it does at least wear boxing gloves.
The character designs manage to be cute without being *cute*, and the
little details - oh, the little details! The communication lag on the
Moon! Lasers that work like actual lasers do! Starry backgrounds that
actually *look* like starry backgrounds, and not like someone split the
table salt on the cel!
This is a series that is every bit as good as Patlabor on TV, and
deserves just as much of the laurels to be deposited at its feet.
And thats the kicker. Because, I am given to understand, like Patlabor
on TV, it sold approximately minus two copies.
So, if you know anyone who knew who was the First Man on the Moon
before they knew what their parents were called, someone who scours
bookshops for used Arthur C. Clarke collections, a person who has
recently bought a telescope because they want to see the rings of Saturn
for themselves - buy them Planetes.
You copy?
[1] "Robin Hood, F.R.S."
[2] My favourite of these short stories is "Hide and Seek".
[3] I just *know* someone is going to claim a different figure, so in my
defence this is the velocity most often quoted in the show.
[4] To Planetes credit, this is not a *literal* description.
[5] I won't hold it against them, this time.
[6] There are, however, ninjas. Ninjas. On the Moon!
[7] Though whoever designed the "Fishbone" space debris collection craft
was obviously a bit too much of a fan of the Space: 1999 Eagle. It has
several massive booster engines but no place for the fuel to go...
--
* "GM Custom Mass Production Type. * jus...@briareos.demon.co.uk *
* Remarkable for being totally * *
* unremarkable." * *
* - Kou Uraki, Gundam 0083. * No carrots, please! *
Rob Kelk
<blue.mo...@org.invalid> wrote:
>Sounds like a good series, I'd heard the name but never knew what it was
>about. Is it available anywhere?
A few places, assuming you don't mind R1:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/releases.php?id=7404
Tsunami
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:21:30 +0100, Justin <Jus...@briareos.demon.co.uk>
wrote:
> Lots of good stuff
You are preaching to the converted here :)
--
Tsunami
If at first you don't succeed, give up skydiving!
tsu...@nospam.jyurai.co.uk
Justin
> While strolling carefully through the minefield that is Usenet, on
> Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:21:30 +0100, Justin <Jus...@briareos.demon.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>> Lots of good stuff
>
> You are preaching to the converted here :)
>
Justin
> Sounds like a good series, I'd heard the name but never knew what it was
> about. Is it available anywhere?
United Publications jsut got some new stock in; thats where I got mine
http://www.up1.co.uk/up.nsf?Open.
If you're fan of "classic" SF, as mentioned, this series should be
right up your launch vector. ^_^
Wulf Corbett
<Jus...@briareos.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> If you're fan of "classic" SF, as mentioned, this series should be
>right up your launch vector. ^_^
A good series I thoroughly enjoyed, but at times it did feel TOO much
like Patlabor, right down to the individual characters.
Wulf
Justin
Hmm. Though, again, I will point out that is not a bad thing. ^_^ One
point I forgot to make is that at times, the characters and situations
are perhaps a little *too* Japanese; Patlabor got away with it because -
well, its Japan! - but its a little odd to see a Latin American
executive bowing away another company representative. On the other hand,
SF fans have always been good at excuses, so lets say that particular
space station was developed by various Japanese mega-corporations and
the culture just sort of rubbed off. ^_^
Also, consider what it *could* have been like... rescued from the
scriptwriters recycling bin, the outline for Planetes: Rubbish Knights
Go SCRAMBLE! DX:
Hachimaki is a male loser in a dead end job collecting space rubbish.
Born under an unlucky star, he is also incredibly accident prone - not a
good thing in Zero-G - and utterly obsessed with spaceships.
Despite this, for some reason the women in his office, curvy ice queen
Edel and flat chested ace pilot Fee find him strangely attractive, but
are unable to understand why he can't pick up even the most blatant
signs of their interest - such as that incident in the Zero-G showers...
Hachimakis life is turned upside down, though, when he manages to
rescue a genetic experiment from a mysterious research ship badly
damaged by space debris. When the experiments casket is unlocked,
Hachimaki is pounced on by its contents - super-cute and utterly nekkid
outer space catgirl Ai Tanabe!
Due to her superior reflexes, Tanabe is soon partnered with Hachimaki
to help overcome his cosmic blundering - but can Hachimaki conquer his
awkwardness in order to express his true feelings and choose the right
path of love among three super-hot candidates...?
(...or how the blurb on the back of Planetes would have read if it had
been released by U.S. Manga Corps... ^_^)
Tsunami
wrote:
And you know that people would have watched that too..
Peter Boulter
<large snip>
> > (...or how the blurb on the back of Planetes would have read if
> > it had >been released by U.S. Manga Corps... ^_^)
>
> And you know that people would have watched that too..
Some people will watch anything...
== Peter ==
-----------------------------------------------------
"Everyone has somewhere they want to reach."
(Minagi Tohno: Air)
Justin
> While strolling carefully through the minefield that is Usenet, on
> Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:06:02 +0100, Justin <Jus...@briareos.demon.co.uk>
> wrote:
>
>> Wulf Corbett wrote:
>>> On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:15:20 +0100, Justin
>>> <Jus...@briareos.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> If you're fan of "classic" SF, as mentioned, this series should be
>>>> right up your launch vector. ^_^
>>> A good series I thoroughly enjoyed, but at times it did feel TOO much
>>> like Patlabor, right down to the individual characters.
>>>
>>
>>> Wulf
>> Hmm. Though, again, I will point out that is not a bad thing. ^_^ One
>> point I forgot to make is that at times, the characters and situations
>> are perhaps a little *too* Japanese; Patlabor got away with it because -
>> well, its Japan! - but its a little odd to see a Latin American
>> executive bowing away another company representative.
(snip)
>> Also, consider what it *could* have been like... rescued from the
>> scriptwriters recycling bin, the outline for Planetes: Rubbish Knights
>> Go SCRAMBLE! DX:
(snip)
can Hachimaki conquer his
>> awkwardness in order to express his true feelings and choose the right
>> path of love among three super-hot candidates...?
>>
>> (...or how the blurb on the back of Planetes would have read if it had
>> been released by U.S. Manga Corps... ^_^)
>
> And you know that people would have watched that too..
They probably would have *bought* it instead, which is the problem... ^_^
Chika
> <large snip>
> > > (...or how the blurb on the back of Planetes would have read if
> > > it had >been released by U.S. Manga Corps... ^_^)
> >
> > And you know that people would have watched that too..
> Some people will watch anything...
That's why reality television is so popular, of course!
--
//\ // Chika <miyuki><at><crashnet><org><uk>
// \// Hazukashii serifu kinshii!!
... MONEY TALKS ... but all mine ever says is GOODBYE!