jeriendhal | Peliminary Review: Planetes Disc One

Plot Summary: Hachi "Hachimaki" Hoshino is an astronaut working in the Debris Retrival section of a large space corporation. Debris Retrival is more mockingly known as "Half Section" because it's half-funded, half-staffed, half-assed, and half-insane. It's also half-respected, since despite the danger orbital debris represent to spacecraft, no is going to respect an astronaut who's only job is to pick up the garbage.

The Planetes anime is a vastly different bird from the "Planetes" manga I've reviewed before, much in the way The League of Extraoridnary Gentlemen bears little resemblence to the comic written by Allan Moore. Unlike TLoEG film, however, the Planetes anime doesn't suck donkey balls.

For starters, unlike a lot of manga inspired anime, it doesn't try to follow a straight adaptation of the source material. This was probably a wise decision, since the original manga is collected into only five volumes, which would lead to a rather short-lived series. Instead the animators have expanded on the world of the good ship DS-12, giving Hachi and his crew a proper company to work for (instead of vague hints of one like in the manga). Much of the humor in the anime revolves around office antics, such as dodging insurance agents during the time of year when astronauts have to update their wills. They've also shuffled around some events in the plot. Most notable Tanabe is introduced in the first episode to introduce the viewers to the rest of the cast. Also the events around Yuri losing his wife and his quest to find her compass are drawn out somewhat, instead of being dealt with in the very episode like in the manga. Unless you're an adaptation snob, this doesn't attract from the original story, though I could have lived without Tanabe's idealistic speechifying so early on.

One very nice touch is a carryover from the manga, the intense emphasis on realism when depicting life in space. For one, they follow real world physics for the motion of the spacecraft and the astronauts, which can get dizzying at times. Also, like Firefly and the latest version of Battlestar Galactica, there's no sound in the space scenes, and the action relies on music and the voice actors to maintain the tension, which it does admirably.

For the most part the voice actors on the dub are pretty good. Hachi tends to spend a lot of his time yelling (mostly at Tanabe), where he mas more low key in the manga IMO. On the other hand Fee comes across as the voice of reason, though admittedly I haven't gotten to the episode where she suffers from nicotine withdrawal. Tanabe is earnest and irritating, which is sadly appropriate for her character. The only objection I have to the main cast Yuri, who despite being explicitly Russian (he described his wife as a "Cosmonaut" in the manga) isn't portrayed as having a Russian accent. Also, his character is given something on a short-shrift in the first three episodes (all I've been able to watch so far) but I imagine he'll come more to the fore when the plot concerning his reasons for entering space come to light.

The first DVD is a remarkable deal. For $20 at Best buy you get two discs, with the first disc holding five episodes (subbed and dubbed), and the second disc with a grab bag of extras, such as an interview with a NASA official about space debris, a recorded interview with the ADR director (who was also the voice of Rick Hunter in "Robotech"), a small gallery of space debris that have crashed to earth, and a couple of subtitled radio plays with the original Japanese voice cast, plus the usual previews.