Category: Planetes

Hello all and welcome to both the finale of Planetes and the first run of Throwback Thursday. This week we learn what became of Tanabe and Claire, Hachi and Hakim, and wrap everything up with a nice big bow. Lets jump in!

Starting off, I want to say I think Planetes closed out the series well. It managed to resolve almost every plot thread. Every character got some kind of resolution to their story, and yet not a single one of them died. That takes some talent to pull off. The big one that I thought had absolutely no reason to work, but did, was Tanabe and Hachi’s 2nd attempt at romance. I said before that their romance felt forced, that they simply weren’t compatible. Planetes managed to take their differences though and through their growth, have them reconcile those differences in a way that does fit together. Tanabe got brought down to Earth, losing some naivete, while Hachi got rid of his loner attitude. Both through well done, believable sequences.

Continue reading “Planetes – 25 & 26 [The Lost/And the Days We Chance Upon] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome to the penultimate week of Planetes, and the first Throwback Thursday in awhile to actually release on a Thursday! This week Planetes proves me wrong, executes a fantastic climax and makes me excited for the final week. Lets jump in!

First and foremost, credit to Tayo Jones in our comments section for calling me out on it, I was impatient and wrong. Planetes knocked it out of the park this week, regardless what I expected. I think that last week, with all the rigors of the holidays and what have you, I was simply impatient and not in a good place to enjoy Planetes. This week however, Planetes took everything it had built up for Hachimaki and Tanabe’s characters, their romance include, and just smashed it. Threw it on the ground, shattered it into a million pieces and said “And now, we put them back together, but better”. And I loved it. Hachi has been learning a lot about himself in recent episodes, so for Planetes to do the same for Tanabe? A rather static character up until now for the most part. Beautiful. But, let’s get into specifics.

Continue reading “Planetes – 23 & 24 [Debris Cluster/Love] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello everyone, to another exceedingly late post on Planetes. New Years and end of season reviews have me stretched a bit thin, but the Throwback Thursday train never stops. Lets dive in!

Once again, Planetes goes for one good episode, one iffy one. The first was great, as the plot finally started to move forward and the end-game arc took shape. The second however felt largely like filler, with very little of value going on, barely expanding on the previous episode, and mostly serving to give Hachimaki time to react. Simply put, I did not enjoy the second episode, because very little of consequence happened. It felt like a setup episode, coming right on the heels of the big reveal in the first episode. That said, the first episode was not without issues either. So without further ado, let’s head into that.

Continue reading “Planetes – 21 & 22 [Tandem Mirror/Exposure] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello one and all, welcome to another week of Planetes. This time Planetes continues Hachi’s quest for the Van Braun, Tanabe holds out hope and Pilot Boi lets me down. Let’s dive in!

Net, I really enjoyed this week. Planetes is back in form. The romance was placed on the back burner in favor of another worldly theme, making the viewer ask questions. Maybe it’s just that Tanabe has gotten old, having remained a largely static character, at least when compared to Hachimaki, Claire and Hakim. Each of them have had arcs, have made major changes in their lives or had them thrust upon them. Meanwhile Tanabe is still in the exact same position, an EVA Debris Hauler. She is more of a bouncing board for other, more interesting, characters. So with them off on their own, her role is largely useless. Meanwhile Hachimaki is the most interesting he has ever been. With themes of sacrifice, giving your all and being selfish for the sake of your dreams. To be quite honest, I am loving it.

Continue reading “Planetes – 19 & 20 [Endings Are Always…/Tentative Steps] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello and welcome to another week of Throwback Thursday, with Planetes! This time Planetes drops it’s greater themes for some character drama, but brings it back with one big hurrah for our team. Lets jump in!

In general, I wasn’t particularly impressed by this week. Every week I am waiting for something definitive to happen. For the series to kick into some final arc. And every week it gives us another character focused piece. Yeah, we moved forward a bit this week, but it just feels slow. The cast at this point is huge, and I just don’t understand why Planetes is still introducing new characters. I feel like it would be better spent focusing on the ones we have. There were glimpses of that, Gigalt has become an important recurring character, and the Ninja’s showed up for a brief moment. We even saw the return of the 3rd Division Chief, who I was sure would be a one off villain. When these instances happen, I love it. I love the callbacks and consistency. But the stream of weekly new characters concerns me.

Continue reading “Planetes – 17 & 18 [His Reasons/Debris Sections Last Day] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello and welcome to perhaps the most intense week of Planetes yet. This time our Temp Worker gets some history and Hachimaki develops space PTSD. Let’s dive in!

Off the bat, I want to apologize again for this being late. Work and doing 4 shows at once has slowed me down a bit. That said, for these episodes, I thought one was fantastic and the other serviceable. It should be rather obvious which is which. When Planetes focuses on its bigger themes, of borders and space, it’s fantastic. But this week the focus on a side character with barely 2 lines an episode, while not bad, simply wasn’t up to snuff. I will get into more detail in just a moment, but the fact is, it was simply too little to late for her character. We are more than half-way in now, we have a strong and fleshed out cast. Why are we introducing the backstory of a character who has done basically nothing until now? It boggles the mind.

Continue reading “Planetes – 15 & 16 [In Her Case…/Ignition] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome everyone to another, rather late, week of Planetes! Apologies for that, work has been busy this week. This time we get to meet everyone’s families, Hachimaki makes a move and Fee gets a new ship. Lets jump in!

So in general, I thought these two episodes were well put together. Nothing phenomenal, I didn’t break down weeping at any point. But it looked good, and the characters were used well. A perfect example of both for me is Hachimaki’s little brother, Kyuutarou. Animation wise, his time in the shed looked great. After the break you will find an image of him testing his rocket that I think stood out. The contrasting blacks, to make the shot look brighter than it is, all worked. As a character he also provided us a look into Hachimaki and a continuation of Yuri. Both of which I was glad for. Did it make me question things like Hachi’s time on the moon, or tear up like Yuri mourning his wife? No. But it was good nonetheless.

Continue reading “Planetes – 13 & 14 [Scenery with a Rocket/Turning Point] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello and happy Thanksgiving everyone! Welcome to another week of Throwback Thursday! This time Planetes covers the absurdity of national borders in space, Claire’s identity, and space terrorism. Lets jump in!

Planetes is starting to get into the meat of its story, I think. The issues are becoming less and less personal, and touching more on the world of the series at large. The current political and economic state, terrorism and para-military groups and the like. To me, these don’t really fit the much more personal stories of earlier episodes. Their purpose is to setup elements for conflict in the future. The war’s on the surface for example have been referenced multiple times. Previously in the first episode, as the removed some junk by dropping it in the atmosphere. And now in episode 11, in regards to the war in Altaniqua. Combine that with the growing military presence we see through Gigalt and his other student Hakim, and we have the makings of a rebellion story. The question is, which way will our cast go?

Continue reading “Planetes – 11 & 12 [Boundary Line/A Modest Request] – Throwback Thursday” →

Ah Planetes, one of the few things I look forward to every week since starting this. This time we have a number of background characters coming back in, Space continues to kill and Yuri gets some character. Lets jump in!

Planetes actually managed to surprise me this week, if I am being honest. I was not expecting the opening segment of the first episode to actually be relevant. Nor for Hachimaki’s previously unnamed mentor to re-enter the series. But continuing its streak of introducing or expanding on a new character each week, that is precisely what Planetes did. I will get into more depth on each of them later on, but right now I want to talk about a pattern I am noticing. Planetes keeps introducing these characters for one-off episodes, while still not having a central plot to advance. This makes me think that all of these characters are going to come back in the 2nd half. Aiding in whatever the final arc is. It’s a clever strategy, since it saves time on introductions in the future. I just hope Planetes manages to juggle them all well.

Continue reading “Planetes – 9 & 10 [Regrets/A Sky of Stardust] – Throwback Thursday” →