Planet With is an anime that likely leaves many unimpressed when they look at the cover and makes for a solid proof that you cannot judge a book by it’s cover or even by it’s first episode. Many have overlooked this show in it’s season but for those that did give it chance it went above and beyond expectations. It is the first original anime work of Satoshi Mizukami, who is most well known for Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and Spirit Circle which are both highly lauded manga and personal favorites of myself. The story is twelve episodes long and yet tells a tale that could very well have been two cours in it’s small span of time. Now in many cases that would be disastrous and result in a rushed mess of an anime but Planet With beats all odds and not only manages to make it work, but provide a masterclass in using a single cour to its fullest potential. It’s writing is top notch, this show never wastes your time and things are always escalating and subverting your expectations, making you never truly know just what is coming next.
The story involves a boy with amnesia who is dragged into a war between humans and aliens. Indeed the setup seems rather rote but by the first episodes end things start getting changed up. The boy isn’t fighting the Aliens but instead the humans and the agendas of each faction become a lot more than simple world domination. The characters can at first be trope heavy but end up with a depth to them that you wouldn’t expect. Eventually the stories scale grows grander that it resembles the escalation of Gurren Lagann. In fact as far as similarities go, Gurren Lagann and it’s old school mecha contemporaries make an apt comparison. The is a hot bloodedness to the action but also a playfulness to character interaction that lets things flow naturally. It’s a show that knows when to buckle down and get serious while spotting times it needs to take itself less seriously. So you never quite question yourself on why you are so invested in a show with a giant mascot cat fighting a dragon while an alien dog watches with his secretary. While there are aspects of animation, art and music which could be more polished, the writing is something I have a hard time criticizing. Any nits i could pick could be attributed to the shows one cour length but a lesser writer would have caused it all to fall apart.
There are negatives to this in that it takes a few episodes for this show to truly start, the mecha battles are done with awkward CGI which while watchable is still jarring and can’t match animation, the music can get a bit too cheesy as it goes for traditional hot blooded mecha style, the name of the show is hard to google and the ending could have used a bit more of a epilogue. But the more critical negative is that much like the rest of Satoshi’s work, this will likely remain a anime gem not getting the popularity it deserves. Still I implore those willing to listen to at least give it a chance as it deserves that much. With enough time perhaps people can look back on this and come to appreciate everything this show did.
