Category: 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” →

Welcome one and all to another week of Planetes, continuing Throwback Thursday! This week we have a beautiful contrast of Life and Death in space followed by a lighthearted affirming of the group dynamic. Lets jump in!

Before I get into actual plot elements, I want to once again praise Planetes for its use of technology. Every week it finds a new avenue of science to explore, trying its best to be correct. Weaving in political elements and commentary throughout. Take for instance the damage caused by Radiation Poisoning in Episode 7. Or the difficulties of capturing a liquid debris in space. That these are questions at all in a Science Fiction anime is amazing. I recently learned that JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, actually served as a technical consultant on the series. And that on the US DVD’s, interviews with two NASA Scientists were included. Combine all of this with the care Planetes takes to connect these elements to an actual, deep personable story? It makes me want to find and buy these DVD’s just to get more Planetes content.

Continue reading “Planetes – 7 & 8 [Extraterrestrial Girl/A Place to Cling To] – Throwback Thursday” →

Ah Throwback Thursday, quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. Welcome to another 2 episodes of Planetes! This time we have suicide pacts, space ninja’s and incredible technological feats! Lets jump in!

So non-spoilers out of the way first, Planetes continues to impress me with it’s use of technology and physics. Really, every time it does it I love the series just a little bit more. Rotating a spaceship quickly to generate G-Force’s was brilliant. The detail of having a phone call from the moon be delayed because of distance? Fantastic. It’s the touches like these that really drive home how the series is in space. Without these details, the focus on technology, our characters could be anywhere. They could be in some random ship, or any other futuristic slum indistinguishable from all others. This is how you build a believable Science Fiction world. No info dumps, just repeated usage of the technology in the story. Leave it to the guy who writes Vinland Saga to be a stickler for the details I suppose.

Continue reading “Planetes – 5 & 6 [Fly Me to the Moon/The Lunar Flying Squirrels] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello one and all and welcome to another week of Throwback Thursday, with Planetes! This week I am trying something a bit new, running 2 episodes instead of 1, to try and cover more ground. Let me know what you think, and lets jump in!

So far, my favorite aspect of Planetes is its singular focus each week. Instead of marginally moving forward some greater plot every episode, Planetes has a singular theme each episode. The themes for these two weeks were clearly Mortality/Death and Privilege, financial privilege at least. Naturally, I am gonna talk about these episodes in order so don’t worry, we will get to both. Planetes also continues it’s trend fantastic visual representation of space. This time we got liquids! Little balls of soda floating in the air, waiting to be picked. I love fluid dynamics, it’s always visually interesting, and space just makes it more so. For an example of how good looking water can affect a series, just go watch Garden of Words. I swear Makoto Shinkai has a fetish for it. That done, onto specifics!

Continue reading “Planetes – 3 & 4 [Return Trajectory / Part of the Job] – Throwback Thursday” →

Welcome to week 2 of Throwback Thursday, as we continue our dive into Planetes! This week we have a focused character story, some fun humor and lots of beautiful scenery. Lets jump in!

So starting off, Planetes continues to look fantastic. From the motion of the characters, to the colors and details in every scene. Even the lighting out in space is on point, with just their helmets to light the way. The sound design also adds to scenes. For example, the “Workin on a Railroad” whistle at the start of the episode. It’s a memorable tune, one that immediately sets how casual an event this is for them. Yet them being in space takes what is normal for us, just going to work, and makes it amazing. I think the blase attitude that Planetes character’s often take toward spell really help sell it. In other series it would be played up, “Ooo were in space”. But like Cowboy Bebop before it, to these characters it’s their day to day so why would it be amazing? Speaking of characters, a lot went on.

Continue reading “Planetes – 2 [Like a Dream] – Throwback Thursday” →

Hello and welcome to the start of a new series I am calling Throwback Thursday. Basically, each season or so I will be selecting an older anime. One that might have passed under people’s radar, and blogging it as I would any normal seasonal series. The hope is to give some older anime the recognition they deserve. The flagship anime for this series is, as you can see, Planetes! Lets jump in!

So, not surprising at all really, I enjoyed this first episode of Planetes more than almost anything from the current season. Everything about it is… different. Being made in 2003, I can hardly call Planetes “old”. But there is a clear difference between it and modern anime. There are no huge moe eyes, the backgrounds are detailed and everything is properly proportioned. Planetes is exactly what Megalo Box was trying to emulate and bring back in the previous season. Being made by Sunrise, who are doing DOUBLE DECKER this season and worked on Cowboy Bebop: Knockin on Heavens Door right before this, it’s no surprise it looks so good. Really, there are a lot of things I like about Planete’s art and animation that I will get into specifics past the spoiler tag for. Suffice to say, I missed this kind of anime and am glad I started this segment.

Continue reading “Planetes – 1 [Outside the Atmosphere] – Throwback Thursday” →