Planet With

The summer 18 anime season is a pretty rough season for anime that are not squeals mainly because it was the season that was filled with forgetful seasonal anime such as Harukana Receive, Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs and Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki. This was also the season gave us broken and boring dumpster fires like Back Street Girls, Island and my personal favorite The Master of Rock Bottom (The Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar). Thankfully in this rabbit hole of a season, there were a few hidden gems and great shows such as Banana Fish, Cells At Work, High Score, Grand Blue ... and Planet With which is by far the most underrated show of the season for me. While Planet With did not dominate the Summer 18 season as I enjoyed J.C Staff other show from this season High Score Girl as well the more intriguing Banana Fish. It was still better than everything from this season alone.
So what made this show so good may ask? Let's find out, shall we?

Story.
The story of Planet With follows a young high schooler named Soya Kuroi Soya Kuroi who is living a peaceful life despite having no memories of his past. Along with his peaceful life he is living with a large cat named Sensei and a maid named Ginko. One day, strange floating beasts appear in the sky above Japan, and conventional weapons are useless against them until seven men and women transform into powerful weapons and destroy them. Sōya finds himself pressed into battle, fighting not against the beasts, but against the seven heroes instead, as he becomes an unwitting pawn in an interstellar war that has come to Earth.
The story for Planet With is great and interesting.
For starters, the story is very easy to follow as not only the knows gets straight to the point narratively but the story completely avoids all the traps that plagued the mecha anime genre such as big info dumps, unneeded fan-service, wish fulfillment, edge, lack of focus and bad filler content.
The first 4 episodes of Planet With are pretty episodic but after episode 4 the show completely leaves it episodic roots by going for a different direction and the direction that it took, in the end, was great that is filled with great writing and story elements. The best thing about Planet With was how unpredictable it was. Compare to any other anime in the season Planet With is filled with interesting exciting story moments that were, for the most part, were well executed.
The show is for the most part well paced as the show moves at a smooth pace where the viewer can understand what is going on screen.
Even though the story of Planet With was pretty great I have two minor nitpicks with it.
While the show was indeed easy to follow for the most part, however, there were a couple of times where the show became a bit too complex and a bit hard to follow. Don't get me wrong this is pretty easy to follow, for the most part, however, there were certain story elements in that can be a bit tricky to fully understand especially if you're a new anime fan. This was not an issue for me, however, I can understand why newer anime fans would fell lost and confused while watching this show at times.
Also while the show was a great ride that I really enjoyed, however, I honestly thought the show was way too short for its own good.
This is more of a personal complaint but I thought that this show could have been 24 episodes long. Yes, the ending was great as it was not rushed and manages to conclude the series very well but there was a small part of me wanted this show to be longer. Oh well, you can't have them all I guess.
Overall the story of Planet With was great.
8.5/10

Characters.
The characters in Planet With are pretty cool and enjoyable.
Soya is a pretty great mecha protagonist. Not only he is a likable character in his own right but he is a well written who develops very well. Not to mention his backstory and motivation for revenge was well told and intriguing. He's is far better than that lifeless potato named Hiro from Darling in the Franxx.
Next, we have Ginko who is by far favorite character in this show. Outside of being my favorite Waifu of this season, she is a fun and interesting character that I really enjoyed from start to finish. I really enjoyed her character chemistry with Soya as feels like a great sister for Soya.
The other characters in this show are very good that are not only well developed but they all fun and entertaining characters that have charm.
Overall the characters in Planet With were pretty awesome.
9/10

Visuals.
Visually Planet With is very good.
The character and background designs were pretty great and appealing to look at. There was hardly any art failures in this show manages to use its production values budget very well.
The mecha designs are solid overall. Yes, the mechs are in CGI but for once it actually works as this show almost perfectly manages to blend in CGI mecha into traditional 2D animation. Sensei mecha form itself is easily the best mecha design of 2018. Yes the mecha itself at first may look like SD Destiny Gundam but what it can do in combat says otherwise not mention the use of blue sci-fi color palette for the mecha was great as the mech was made from a competent mecha designer instead of a talentless hack who designed the cringe-inducing mech designs from Darling in the Franxx. As for the other mechs they were all pretty good for what they were especially Kakka mecha form.
The animation in Planet With is pretty good overall as it's very smooth and the fight choreography for the mecha fights was awesome.
Awesome job J.C Staff
8.5/10

Sound.
The soundtrack in Planet With is awesome. Not only the music by itself was a great listen as all of the tracks have that great sci-fi dubstep but it masterfully blends in well with the show plot and setting.
The opening theme One Unit'' by Minami is a fantastic opening theme that is not only epic song in its own right but it perfectly captures the tone of the series.
The ending theme Rainbow Planet" by Mai Fuchigami is a pretty good ending overall.
The voice acting in this show is great as every single Seiyuu did a great job with the roles that they were given.
It's such a shame that Planet With hasn't got a Simulcast English Dub. Then again Funimation would rather simulcast Isekai train-wrecks like The Master of Rock Bottom and How to Not Summon a Demon Lord. Hopefully, this show gets the English Dub that it deserves.
10/10

Final Thoughts.
I had a blast watching Planet With.

Yes, it may not be my favourite anime from this season as I prefer Banana Fish and High Score Girl over this show but I still think that Planet With is better than most of the throwaway anime from this season.
The story was pretty great and enjoyable. The characters were amazing and well developed, the visuals were great and the soundtrack was awesome. Honestly I mecha genre completely redeemed themselves after that shameless train-wreck that was Darling in the Franxx.
If you're looking for a good modern mecha anime that is well executed and has intriguing characters then I strongly recommend Planet With.
Planet With is one of the best animes I have ever seen and I say thank you to the creators for making this wonderful mecha series. It may not be in the same league as Gurren Lagann, Eureka Seven and Gundam The Origin but it's still one hell of an awesome mecha anime that I love.


Final Score 9/10

Piloting a mech with ripple patterned eyes. Such peculiar machine with a high school boy at its seat. Living with a cat creature and an adorable maid. If this short bucket list strike as an unusual setup for a story, then you’re damn right. Planet With is an original anime that takes science fiction to a surreal level. It’s an adventure that unites a variety of gimmicks together with plenty of surprises.

Anyone familiar with Satoshi Mizukami’s work will probably point out his more well-known series such as “Lucifer and the Biscuit” and “Spirit Circle”. He takes his unusual cast of characters and bring creativity to ... life. Through some of his works, I realized that Planet With would bring out a familiar feeling. And oh boy, it succeeded in more ways than one. Nonetheless, I think it’s important to first understand what Planet With is really about.

The main story is about a boy named Souya Kuroi. He is a typical high school student with an apparent amnesia. The first episode establishes his role as he gets involved in a battle against strange floating beings known as the Nebula. First impression of the series makes me wonder if it was destiny that caused Souya to get involved in such an event. In other words, perhaps this event wasn’t just coincidental but that he was destined to fulfill his role as something much bigger than he’s ever imagined. Nonetheless, Souya also gets caught into conflict with the Grand Paladin, a group of individuals with their own unique powers. The show depicts them as a mysterious group whose goals lies in unfamiliar territories until much later on in the show. However, the heart of the show deals with Souya’s role as he regains more and more of his memories. We learn more about his past including his home planet and origins. He’s definitely a complex character that’s hard to read between the lines. In fact, Souya is less of the typical protagonist and initially portrayed as antagonist. You heard me right. His actions in the show is portrayed more as going against the heroic role. The first few episodes has him go up against Grand Paladin while also connecting with them when he’s not in his mech. In doing so, the show creates a sensation of mystery as how much we should really try to understand Souya. I think in many ways, Mizukami’s creativity shows for making a character like Souya as he is deceptively complex. There may be the type of audience that will understand Souya easier if you’re familiar with his work. But even if you’re someone lost in the dark, Souya is still a character you’d want learn more. Many questions will pop up throughout the show like why he’s living with an oversized cat or dream about dragons.

As I watched more and more of Planet With, the experience became more of going with the flow and enjoying what the creator presents to us. Its ideas are otherworldly and the plot is carried by the actions of the characters. In fact, there’s an easy trend of action result in consequences throughout the show. Besides Souya, the Grand Paladin is a prominent example with its faction of members. Even their leaders have hidden agendas that far eclipses than just defeating some aliens. Many of its members are actually unaware of their true intentions as well. Members of the Grand Paladin such as Benika and Yousuke begins to question their own organization after certain events in the show. Then, there are others who follows the organization’s code to the letter. Individually, I think members of Grand Paladin are unique with their own personalities and character chemistry between each other. A noticeable example is Miu and Harumi with their childhood friendship/rivalry. In the earlier episodes, Miu wants to truly prove to herself especially to Harumi in battle. This results in disastrous consequences that nearly costs her life. But to be honest, I think the show does an exceptional job at taking risks like this. It puts the audience in their seat to see how far characters to go to accomplish their goals. In doing so, it also made me get invested into these characters with their unpredictability.

That being said, there are definitely some characters that stands out compare to others. Sensei (the purple cat) is an easy example to point out not just for his unusual characteristics but also for his revelation later in the story. Others such as the Grand Paladin leader Takashi Ryuuzoji makes you curious about his true motives. Hell, even that maid Ginko Kuroi should spark more than just interest once you see what she can do. However, characters like Nozomi and Judgement are portrayed more as comic relief. Like I said before, some characters stand out more than others and not everyone can steal the spotlight. Souya’s character growth is also important to note as the more memories he recovers, the more he matures. Despite that, the show is still known for its various running gags such as Souya’s insatiable desire to eat meat. In general, I think the comedy in this show is a bit peculiar. It never relies on shock or fan service. Instead, it presents it in a sort of kooky and sarcastic way. The dialogues comes out naturally but sometimes mixes in silly words to make conversation flow like an oddball. Take it as you’d like but if this is your first time seeing a Mizukami work, then it should be an unique experience.

There are many ways to describe the art style of Planet With but I find the word ‘surreal’ to be one of the more accurate representations. My first glance at the mecha designs immediately gave me a weird insight on its context. The ripple pattern eyes and cat-like ears is definitely an unusual design that I’ve not seen in many of the mecha series I’ve seen before. Furthermore, there are the Nebula that takes weirdness to another level such as the abnormal looking dolls or inverted babies. Oh and let’s not forget sensei with his idiosyncratic look. On the other hand, the human-looking characters in the show are about as average as it can get. With the exception of Ginko, no one really looks remarkable. Some of them even fall under character archetypes such as Nozomi as the ‘glasses girl’. However, I’m more than pleased at the battle choreography of the show. Even from its first episodes, I knew it was impressive with the cinematic-like explosiveness. Some of the fights look like watching a movie by the amount of details it shows. I often had to take a breather or two after some of the fighting segments because it was that damn fierce.

As part of Mizukami’s involvement in the show, he also worked on the series composition. This would be the first time anyone has heard of his work in animated form. And thankfully, he aces it with flying colors. In essence, the battle OST and music in the show is phenomenal. There’s not one moment in the battle scenes that loses momentum thanks to his talent. In my opinion, Mizukami gave those scenes a larger than life moment by the sheer technical quality of the soundtrack. It’s hardcore with heavy beats that mixes in with a variety of electrical notes to make everything flow together. On the other hand, I can’t really say the casting in the show were exceptional. Other than Sensei, everyone else just sounds too normal despite the show being abnormally strange. Luckily, the theme songs makes up more of that with their creativity.

Planet With is not a show that I can easily recommend to just anyone. Watching the first episodes made my head spin at how complex the characters and the storytelling may become. And indeed, this series won’t be easy to watch with just an open mind. You need to understand the characters and their motivations as every action has a consequence. As surreal as the series feels, Planet With can be very enjoyable for once you accept for what it is. As Mizukami’s first anime project, I hope his manga works gets adaptations in the future. Or if not, make another season of Planet With because I want more.

Planet With is an interesting series for a variety of reasons. Outside of the fact that it’s a super robot anime in our current time, its premise sounds almost as peculiar as the designs of the aliens at its disposal. A vengeful fight against a group of heroes ends up spiraling into a conflict about the nature of humanity, and whether subjugation or love is the best path for them. In a way, this plot progression sounds similar to super robot juggernaut, Gurren Lagann from the previous decade. It certainly isn’t as impactful or even as well-crafted, but the charm and overall writing are strong ... enough to elevate this dark horse to its radar.

First, we need to get an elephant out of the room; this show ain’t a looker. The CGI is generally terrible, making action scenes have no weight to them in terms of actual combat. This makes the combat feel floaty and even silly. The CGI works well when you see some absurd creature designs in the early episodes, but not for the mecha fights that are prevalent within the show, let alone any other machines that appear often. The character models are sometimes CG as well and they look even worse in those rare instances. That said, the designs are more than striking, from the mech and weird alien behemoth designs, to the wonderful, expressive, and/or sexy character designs. The actual animation and direction have some fun moments as well from interesting shots and angles, particularly later on. If only the CGI was up to par with the 2D elements, but alas JC Staff can’t help but continue its recent trend of lackluster visuals. To be fair, at least it stands out, unlike the music, which aside from the decent OP and ED, is serviceable at best.

Where the show makes up for this is in its character exploration and chemistry. While few characters outside of Souya and Ginko are very memorable, the show does a wonderful job at exploring them and making their personalities bounce off each other. Most of the gags are spot-on, and despite how formulaic the early episodes were with some of its characters, what we got in terms of their backstories and how they dealt with everything was solid enough in its own right. Their conflicts, while spelled out to borderline obnoxious degrees, are handled in an engaging way, and the fact that this show works well as a modern surreal super robot shounen anime adds to this, right down to the finale. The show never indulges too far in its own bleakness despite how horrific several backstories can be and how the characters break down. All of this makes these characters charming for as unremarkable they may be. The comedy and romantic moments work effectively in that same vein. It never quite reaches Studio Gainax levels of maintaining that perfect balance between quirky, and downright tragic with shows like Gurren Lagann or Nadia. Despite this, well-respected mangaka Satoshi Mizukami still crafted arguably the most well-rounded show of the year. Cramming it all into 12 episodes as cleanly as it did is arguably one of the show’s greatest feats as well.

Ultimately, this dark horse managed to be one one of the most surreal and charming shows of the year, visuals notwithstanding. Its conflicts are somewhat engaging, its feel is wonderful and genuine, and it manages to stand-out within this gigantic seasonal crowd for a variety of reasons. It’s a truly solid work with some real heart and talent to boot. Dare I say, with better action and CGI, this show could have been one of the greats. It certainly worked better as Gurren Lagann’s successor than Darling in the FranXX ever did.

It's hard to pinpoint what Planet With actually is all about. Going into the series itself is like taking the dive into something that you don't know how would it be like, even after the absurd leaps of event after event that STILL manages to keep you on-board and invested. It's like you can predict the plot, but then it changes shift so soon that you're caught unaware each and everytime. That's the magic of Satoshi Mizukami, the brainchild of this series that honestly, Planet With is so unorthodoxly planned with the result being of perfect balance, and it is criminally one of the most ... overlooked gems of Summer 2018.

Our main protagonist, Soya Kuroi, whom helms himself as a survivor of the once war-ravaged state that is Sirius, aims to do so many things at once (but with progression) which makes up for the bizarre but perfect plot. (Spoilers alert)

1) He starts off his revenge against the people whom killed his parents in his childhood years, as this character that looks like the GOOD protagonist, but the disguise is that with the occupants, the gothic-looking Ginko (from planet Riel) and the cat-looking "Sensei" (which is Rashverak), he hides his appearance with the mask that is now reminiscent of when he's swallowed by Rashverak and transforms into the Nebula Soldier, a cat-like mecha. Going after the 7 members of Grand Paladin whom destroyed the UFOs in the shape of oddly-looking animals, not with their mech power, but psychological power (as the UFOs play their minds with disillusional good memories to defeat them), and then coming in as the de-facto to steal their power, a small jar containing stardust that enables them to transform to their mechs, which in turn acts as the catalyst for Soya's lost memories.

2) The true plot of the series is now established, with Ginko explaining to Soya about the major difference: the fight for supremacy against factions - Soya's team being the Pacifist Faction, the people who want to change the world to be advocates of love, against the strange UFO weapons and Generalissimo the dog-looking general (which is Karellen)'s team being the Sealing Faction, the strange creatures from space that wants to keep the world's status quo and seal the world from more harm and damage.

3) As if this series hasn't been established yet (Mizukani's speciality of subversive plot), Soya, after the whole Grand Paladin ordeal, now finds himself in a predictament as the "People of Paradise", the culmination of a projection of his brother, who went to fight against the Dragon (which is called Azrabarakura), who has destroyed the lands of both Soya and Ginko's homelands, comes back to him as the general purpose to tell Soya that the Dragon has been defeated, but NOT yet completely laid down to rest, and will awaken in 5 years (time leap to Episode 10). And with that, all Nebula occupants, which include both the Pacifist and Sealing Factions, combine their forces to seal the Dragon that has tormented the lands of past and rest its soul back with the "People of Paradise".

The story premise starts off semi-promising, but by the time it reaches the climax, it is wholesomely satisfying and you will feel like all the constant world-building and build-up is made solely to captivate and eclipse every moment of the show. It's like a puzzle picture, every piece of the puzzle making up for its slots to form the whole picture.

Speaking of the characters, every character design is Mizukani-based, and props to the production staff for keeping his designs on-point, because they all look impressive, have unique premises and overall, just a visual treat to look at. Even the mech designs are rich and great, for they don't look like anything else other than a brazen copy-and-paste method, and honestly it's quite a refreshment from the oh-so-many mecha shows we're used to, with Gurren Lagann being the speciality (and the mech designs there too ware so weird, it just works). This show also tries to slot in the humour that is soldered right into the plot, and that too works best in its own regard.

And I ship Soya and Nozomi (the 5 years after time-leap), why does this become Side-B info? It isn't apparent, but then again this series vaguely shows (it isn't important to the overall picture anyways), so most likely both of them are friends and then comrades in the fight...and nothing else :(

Once again, I was once unsure that J.C.Staff would be the best studio to take on what can be called the solid core foundation of Mizukani, since his works are unpredictable. But after watching this series in its entirety, I'm contested and relieved that the production staff for this show really expresses their very best at creating the world that Mizukani envisioned everything to be. The art is not the greatest, but it works. The animation, especially the mecha-centric action scenes with the transformation to the battles with CGI, it was wonky at first, but the problems were quickly resolved with clean, concise and affluent animation. Some can tolerate the CGI at close range, but it's very noticeable and you be the judge of that.

The music (heck and hell yeah) is Planet With's biggest win, because it not only explictly tells the story with the calm and soothing music at the low moments to the almost (slot in any superpower series you know)-feel BGM that holds the expectations ablaze with dubstep-esque bass, but also the music which is dope, which I have come to love the great purposefully made OST by Kouhei Tanaka (One Piece), and overall sound direction by Yoshikazu Iwanami (Berserk movies). The OP by Minami, 'One Unit', doesn't disappoint (honestly coming in after High School DxD Hero) and is one of my favourites in the Summer season. Mai Fuchigami's 'Rainbow Planet' for the ED isn't bad either, foreshadowing what all the characters has gone through the way in the series.

And yet for all intensive purposes, Planet With falls ideally short of the fanbase, which is a shame to say the least (along with the MAL score), because it's a professionally-made show through and through. Thus far, this has been in the way, one of the most memorable series of the lackluster Summer 2018 season, and hopefully if you're like me, you don't know what this show's about but am intrigued by the storyline it has despite its shortcomings, pick this one up and prepare to be amazed.

It's quite shocking how little attention this anime is getting and how many of the score reviews are so low. After watching the episodes up to this point, I was shocked to find it only had a 6.79 on MAL and was so low on Crunchyroll's anime listings. I'm not suggesting it's the greatest anime I've ever seen, but it's actually really well done.

The premise is quite unique. It's initially confusing, but in a good way, a way that keeps you interested as they fill in the gaps and keeps you wanting to watch.

The humor is great, and the way it's baked into ... the plot is really well done, reminiscent of something like FLCL or Mob Psycho 100.

The art is pretty good imo. I feel like the characters are expressive and all have unique aspects to them that really shows through in the art. And the CG stuff doesn't look bad. It's still clearly CG, but totally within tolerable range.

Overall, I'm really enjoying this anime and I really think it deserve more attention than it's getting currently.

I love Mizukami Satoshi and two of his earlier works: Hoshi no Samidare and Spirit Circle, and I also highly appreciate Sengoku Youko, but damn this one really, really sucks.

*contains light spoilers*

Setup:

Alien suffering from memory loss fights against humans who try to save their home planet with the power of dragon powder. Why do they fight? Because this alien dude really hates dragons.

Other aliens teleport in the sky in forms of human insecurities and mental barriers and then explode and further turn into cotton after a short past story revealing something about the psychological side of our main antagonist humans occurs.

Rest of this side ... of the anime focuses around mecha fights where the mc pilots an alien cat and the humans use dragon powder to battle him because he is apparently the enemy of mankind even tho the fights are personal nakama revenging -tier nonsense... until the Fairy Tail effect hits among the nakama ranks and every upcoming twist is eventually the same as in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann except the opposite in quality. Or the same if you hate TTGL.

The other half is slice of life school settings where people participate in club activities, read books and try to form some sort of interspecies romantic subplot that eventually starts looking like a harem of 3. The outcome is a complete and utter mess that mainly looks like what Devilman Crybaby would have been if it had been aimed for children, directed by a baboon, suffered from hideous world-building and its 180 degree genre changes had been 300 times worse in every new occasion.

Characters:

Girl who has a friend wants to be strong because friend wants her to be strong. Actually it's okay to be weak, too, but she can't accept this so she loses the control over the dragon powder. Very thought-provoking and psychologically accurate.

Dude who has a regret experiences enlightenment from alien rays and rides off to the sunset with a military aircraft because he has a family and should be spending time with them instead of saving the earth. Very philosophical and ultra hyped deep.

Guy almost loses himself in past mistakes after mourning over a dead person and then builds his whole life accordingly to become something he couldn't be as a kid. Whatever you want to call this one.

All the human characters are practically presentation of one singular human idiocy. Instead of appearing as "there is something very important that has happened to this character in his past, and to understand him at all, you definitely need to hear out what it was." the meaning is secondary as presenting the episodic theme related to character's past is more important than the character itself.

The alien maiden literally exist in the series only for the memory loss alien, same with the most potential love interest, and our alien dude's entire motivation to fight relies on hatred and the translated words of a talking cat.

It didn't matter whether our mc had a past and memories and personality because he is the exact same empty puppet with or without because there simply isn't anything to him. And whenever he fights, he comes up with random movements and yells out their names to a point that it mainly reminds me of that part in Naruto (shippuden) where he came up with 3 new types of rasengans in each episode. Moreover, this dude yells and yells and yells and yells to a point that it seems the only thing he can do is be loud and annoying.

The entire characterization of the cast is so horrendous its hard to even gasp how Mizukami Satoshi spend 4 years writing this yet couldn't manage to make it any better than Psycho Staff (not to be confused with Psycho Pass).

Major complains:

The mental barriers is among the most interesting concepts in the work, yet it is being dealt with way too poorly. Appearance, past story, resolve, impact to present time = 6 minutes. Do much with little they say, yet what we get instead is the amount of information prioritized over how to present it. The pacing is ludicrous and makes all the problems seem exponentially worse.

Our main character's memory loss is downright used as a mystery element in the series and its narration. Even when he experiences memory recollection, they aren't revealed to the viewer in the purpose of maintaining the illusion of suspense. It makes the whole thing cheaper.

The main antagonists suffer from some highly obvious character flaws to a point that they reveal their faces in live tv. Even Lelouch in the idiocy that Code Geass was, was smart enough to use the zero mask to hide his identity. The entirety of the first half of the series would be impossible if the characters had any sense in hiding themselves. Even such shitty studios like Marvel and their "superheroes" are smarter than these fellas.

One mystery gets solved. 3 seconds later --> New mysteries! The asspulled plot elements, near complete lack of foreshadowing and "shocking" twists that were used to create confrontation and some sort of "witty wordplays" are closer to being lame than anything else... Niichan! This is chaotic randomness and total nonsense to a point where it seems like zero fucks is given. I imagine the entirety of the story board was constructed by pulling new ideas from a hat. By hat, I mean that one meme where bunch of monkeys take a shit and the turds land on the words "San Fransisco", "Disco Club" and "1971" and then some clothes corporation prints that whole thing on a t-shirt. Except here we call it "epic writing stuff". Practically every single piece of writing in the latter half of the show is either deus ex machina or an asspull.

The fights are.... yeah, example instead because what else can prove how awful they are:
"I knew you weren't using your full powers!"
*me inserting "this isn't even my final form" memes*
>mc
>yells
>pray and spray
>wins
*me browsing more memes "Bravo, Nolan"*

^Some people think this anime is smart and epic, btw. All I am seeing is a collection of moviecirclejerk tier anti-quality memes. Speaking more about these memes, the appearance of Siriusian fleet is essentially Spanish inquisition and the love exist in other species an Interstellar ripoff. And the worst of them is the "the power was inside you all along" cliche which made me almost puke. If this was a self-aware parody, it would be amazing until it would turn so bad that it couldn't even be considered an excuse for comedy.

One more: The dialogue.

Mc: I see you're the type who uses his muscles instead of brains.
Also mc: *screams and smashes buttons angrily*

Unintentional comedy/5

Art:

The mecha side for mc was highly inspired by/lend from TTGL like so many other things.

The backgrounds are brilliant and pretty look at. The animation is often awkward. Especially robot movements which are relying on CGI.

The character design captures Mizukami's style perfectly and all the anomalies in the series are rather original and well-planned.

Sounds:

Did this thing really have music in it? Can't recall. Other than the mc who yells more during 12 episodes than Black Clover mc during the entire series, the sounds are forgettable.

Conclusion:

Absolute disaster of an anime beautified with ideas and concepts that offered enormous potential yet end up being enormously nothing. Countless anime series seem better than before thanks to them not being this anime.

When I say Planet With is bad, I don't mean any half-asset, zero-effort "bad",I mean the real die-hard bad stuff that wouldn't be able exist without a mastermind who was able to ruin every trace of quality in them. Planet With is not shallow, superficial bad, it is complex, deep, in-depth bad.

This series will be remembered as an example that manga writer shouldn't try to make millions of compromises just to make their series fit the animated medium. Hoshi no Samidare and Spirits Circle could never work in the anime format and now I pray no one ever tries to adapt them.

Planet With's biggest achievement is working as an advertisement for the mangaka's other works, but as far as entertainment goes, it certainly did its job by offering an anime that was much more fun to watch than it was good in terms of anything. Mainly because it was so bad that the difference between quality and enjoyment grew larger. If you thought this series is as bad as I did, consider giving Mizukami's manga a try nevertheless because those are great.

I really wanted to praise this because I have read Hoshi no Samidare 4 times and it's in generally among the reasons why I am into the animanga industry in the first place, but Planet With doesn't deserve positive praise. Its merits are almost entirely limited to how awful it is.

tldr

-Story 1/10 It's rare for writing to reach this level of pathetic. Shows that impress with its lack of quality in this manner don't happen very often. In fact, I am surprised this wasn't written by the guy who did Guilty Crown and Code Geass. To make it clear as possible: I have been utterly impressed by how badly written this thing is.
-Characters 2/10 Yelling, yelling, yelling. Even Hand Shaker's cast had more charm, and this isn't even meant as an insult.
-Art 7/10 Really liking the art, tho.
-Sounds 5/10 Lots of yelling but not much more.
-Enjoyment 5/10 I enjoy bad anime often and consistently for their comedic value. This one was such advanced awfulness that it momentarily managed to even annoy me.
-Total 2/10 This thing is close to unwatchable. I don't see how this thing could appear to be any better unless watched completely half-assedly in the background, casually or even ironically. Personally, I couldn't do this out of the respect I hold towards the author.

This is definitely going to be the overlooked gem of the season. Written by Mizukami Satoshi, the mastermind behind "Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer" and "Spirit Circle", some of the greatest manga written in the past decade, his style of writing the absurd shines through in this anime. With sound direction done by Iwanami Yoshikazu, who did sound direction for the Berserk movies, every attack has a satisfying sound of metal on metal with it. Planet With is the type of anime that people will drop quickly due to A. it's absurdity and B. it's lack of immediate explanation, but I plead people to not ... abandon ship to soon and miss out on another amazing story from Mizukami.

One of the worst anime in this season in my opinion. Feels like a show made for young children below 12 years old

-Has no interesting story

-Unlikable character that look and behave like children. There is not a single character that I like, and they all look so horrible.

-Action in this show is so stupid. The enemies and robots looks so stupid and has same design as anime made for children.

With a lot of good action show in this season (like attack on titan 3, overlord 3, Sirius the Jaeger, Banana fish) there no reason to waste your time on this trash. I would ... even say Isekai anime (like Isekai Maou to Shoukan and Hyakuren no Haou) have better action than this show, and you get to watch some good looking girls as bonus.

Let me preface this by saying, this show is not for everyone. This is the type of show that doesn't hold your hand through anything. It throws you in there, and through context clues and light exposition, as well as experience, it leaves it up to you whether you understand it or not. However, that doesn't mean that it makes it intentionally difficult to understand the plot, because it gives you just enough to make you understand, without overstepping its bounds. Story 10/10

I wanna point out probably this show's best aspects. The unique way it tells a story, and the INCREDIBLE sound design. I already ... explained its story telling in my first paragraph so let me point out the sound design. This was made by the same genius behind JoJo, and you can tell. The sounds of the mechas clashing, the sounds of the spaceships and monsters that are almost defeaning, THE SOUNDTRACK OH MY GOD. It's fantastic. Sound 10/10

But of course, this show isn't perfect, so let's get into what people probably point out the most when looking at this show, and that's the CGI. I have to admit the CGI was a bit jarring to me when I watched it as well, however, I wouldn't exactly say it's bad either. It's decent CGI, that flows well, and matches its setting well. I will say that I got used to the CGI after a few episodes so I guess that's a positive. Art 8/10

As for the characters in this show. Yeah... there are a lot of them, and not a lot of them feel fleshed out. Granted, this is because this show is only 6 episode in as of the moment of me writing this, so there could be development coming. Each of the 7 heroes have their "thing" and for the most part they portray it very well. My favorites have to be Nezuya, a lame high school graduate who constantly does JoJo poses, and the old man, the head's father and certified anime old dude. Then we move on to the more significant characters, those being Takashi, Kuroi, Ginko, and Neko-sensei. I think they are all pretty good characters, besides Ginko, she feels very one note. However, the rest are REALLY fascinating characters. Takashi, the man who seems to be the main villain, has very strong ideals, and wants to bring peace to humanity using force. On the other hand, we have Kuroi, the main character. A young boy whose planet was destroyed by an idealist like Takashi, and wishes to get revenge, and prevent the same thing happening to earth. The good character are really good, while the not so good characters don't really stand out much. Character is a 7/10 for me, at least so far.

Overall, I am really enjoying my time with this show, but I feel that I can't really recommend it to everyone. It's a show for people with very specific taste. If you like watching anime that challenge you to think more about what you're watching, then I definitely recommend this. If you want blind, thoughtless mecha funtime, then this is not for you. Overall 9/10, really good series, and I'm excited to see where it goes.

I think it's fairly understandable to feel misled or confused by Planet With. It's Satoshi Mizukami's first venture into anime, and if you're familiar with his manga, its what you would expect him to do if he had only 1 cour to work with.

Planet With has fairly juvenile aesthetics sometimes, and other times has a flashy, brilliant style reminiscent of Star Driver, it honestly in many respects resembles that sort of general "no explicit deaths" thing Star Driver had going on. A lot of the time it is just a genuinely good comedy. But underneath that childish, absurd looking surface, Planet With is really, really, ... deep.

The metaphors and philosophies at play are not necessarily accessible, and I don't see people try and tackle them in fiction often, but Planet With is very much an exploration of important, fundamental philosophies that move as titans through our real world. Issues of acceptable use of force, the ultimate fate of mankind's capacity for violence, trust in society, dealing with your lessers, etc. are really quite core to the plot.

There are probably only a couple of things I would change about Planet With if given the chance, there is something almost magical about this configuration. The show moves VERY QUICKLY, even more so than would be expected for trying to cram a grand story arc into a single cour, and while this is offputting to some, it's a breath of fresh air for me. Something that could easily be the penultimate episode of any other show happens EVERY WEEK. I am genuinely excited to see each new episode, something that very few anime crack these days. The OP and the ED are the only really excellent audio in the show, but they certainly do their job of getting me pumped.

STORY 8/10

If I had to classify it by genres it would be action, mecha, psychics, sci-fi and space. Now this is a very mixed bag but the elements are presented in such a way that none of it is forced and it all fits together. There is also some decent humor. Lastly it has a very fitting conclusion. However, the twelve episode count is clearly limiting for the creator and this means we do not get to see his best. Development is inevitably rushed at points and the story as a whole cannot reach the heights that it probably could have if the author was ... given more to work with.

ART 7.5/10

The art style is similar to the style Satoshi Mizukami uses in his manga and personally I like it a lot. No excessive fan-service, characters are varied in their designs and the settings are nice. While not mind-blowing (cf. Flip Flappers, OPM or Mob Psycho 100) the animation is good and I would give a 8/10 except for the CGI. While the CGI is for the most part quite tolerable and only really seen in the mecha battles, it is the only criticism I have of the show and the reason is that it does not suit the design of one character. To me CGI works well for geometrical shapes but one of the designs is highly organic and this throws you off a little bit. I think if that one design was changed then CGI wouldn't even be an issue. Alternatively they could have changed that design or even hand drawn it.

SOUND & MUSIC 7/10

The voice acting is great, which is almost a given with anime at t this point, and the sound effects are on point. Now the soundtrack isn't one of the soundtracks that you would find yourself buying just to listen to (cf. Ping Pong The Animation or Devilman Crybaby) it is decent and the music fits the scenes well.

CHARACTERS 9/10

The single best part of this show.Satoshi Mizukami doesn't do cliches and there are no simplistic good and bad characters and characters have well reasoned motivations for their actions. The cast is also quite large but not too large and not a single character is tagged on. They all fit in the story very nicely. Once again the episode count is limiting, but this is one area where the creators skills shine through at almost 100 percent. The only reason it doesnt get a perfect ten out of ten is that the story will inevitably impact the characters and as mentioned earlier the story is limited by the episode count

ENJOYMENT 8/10

The show is thoroughly enjoyable since it never drags, avoids cliches and finishes off well. Most of all just seeing the character interactions is very enjoyable, and while this is not meant to be the main draw, it does turn out to be the case.

OVERALL 8/10

This is the first anime series that Satoshi Mizukami has been a part of. He is best known for three manga, namely

1 Lucifer and the biscuit hammer--> https://myanimelist.net/manga/10552/Hoshi_no_Samidare
2 Sengoku Youko --> https://myanimelist.net/manga/8070/Sengoku_Youko
3 Spirit Circle --> https://myanimelist.net/manga/38071/Spirit_Circle

To be blunt, all three are masterpieces as far as I am concerned and to see him finally get an anime is something I looked forward to as soon as Planet With was announced.

As an author I think he is one of the very best, if not the best, at wrapping up his stories in a satisfying manner and we see this same skill come through with Planet With. In conclusion the anime is a great one cour show that finishes well but ultimately fails to live up to the creators full potential. Here is hoping his other works get a top tier adaptation. No harm in wishing...

Norio Wakamoto plays a talking dog.

apparently the review has to be longer than that. I don't see why. I mean, I could tell you that the script, written by manga legend Satoshi Mizukami, is one of the tightest, most intricate and compelling pieces of writing I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I could tell you they brought on jojo's sound designer, who does a stellar job of making the big robots feel like big robots.

I could gush forever about this show's many virtues, and I have in other formats.

But Norio Wakamoto plays a talking dog, and that really ought to be enough to convince ... you to drop everything and watch this.

One of the oddest trends I observed over the course of this year’s summer season was that out of all the seemingly lackluster offerings on the charts, the two anime that were getting the most overwhelming praise were also the two anime that, according to MAL stats, nobody seemed to be actually watching: Revue Starlight and Planet With, aka the New Age version of Utena and Gurren Lagann. I plan to get to Starlight in time, perhaps when I feel it’s time to bite the bullet and finally get an H-Dive account. Until then, though, we have Planet With, a bizarre little show from a ... bizarre little writer that got so many superlatives slung its way over the course of its run, with everyone from Mother’s Basement to Digibro singing its praises, that it was almost comical. So, after finally checking it out several months after the fact, was the end result worth all the gushing?

Well, the first thing to note is that Planet With is very, very weird, and it’s not afraid about flaunting that fact early and often. Our protagonist, high schooler Soya Kuroi, lives with a green-haired maid named Ginko and a mildly perverse living Lucky Cat statue named Sensei who communicates entirely through single-syllable cat noises. Soya has lost his memories of who he used to be, but he’s content just living with this odd family and dreaming about tasty, tasty meat. That all changes when a massive alien spaceship that looks like a toy you’d find in Sid from Toy Story’s room appears on the horizon, its intent unknown, and Soya is called into action by his family. Without getting to into spoilers for a narrative where the slow-burn reveal of the importance of every puzzle piece is a big part of the draw, Soya’s new “family” is part of Nebula, an interstellar organization dedicated to the observation of the evolution of other races. And at the moment, they’re in the middle of an internal rift: one faction believes they should “seal” populations before they evolve enough to wield catastrophically dangerous power, while the faction Soya’s drafted into believes they should let people evolve and guide them on the right path to use that evolution responsibly- for love, as they put it. Thus, Soya finds himself reluctantly thrust into the position of Nebula Warrior, fighting against a wide array of foes with various agendas and desires of the Earth and its people, all while grappling with the scars his own hidden connections to this conflict have left on him.

So yes, just from that plot synopsis, it’s clear that this show has an utterly bonkers streak. In a way, I feel like it’s potentially too creatively unfocused for its own good at times; aesthetically, the whole production is an utter nightmare of mismatched styles, blocky animalistic aliens and sleek human designs with the majority of the battles taking place between angular CG mechas. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s an eyesore, but it takes a while for all the disparate visual elements to feel like part of the same whole, especially with how low-res some of the more digital textures end up being in the show’s back half. I do think that the CG elements, while clearly a concession to budget concerns, acquit themselves admirably most of the time, by virtue of actually embracing the unique properties of their medium and moving with full fluidity over anime’s usual “imitate the limited movement style of 2D anime and end up looking like a buffering cutscene” approach. There’s a great sense of weight to the mech battles; larger machines have longer wind-ups, there’s momentum in every step, and the sound design is heavy and bass-y to capture the overwhelming, sometimes almost painful, cacophony such massive creations would naturally create in the course of grinding up against each other in combat. But in the first couple episodes, there’s definitely a sense of disconnect, like you’re watching this story play out from behind a pane of glass, more observing the oddities of the visuals and off-kilter humor than truly connecting with it.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for this curious appreciation to start melting into something truer and more honest. Because as bizarre as the story is, the further along it goes, the more you realize that it’s actually going to stick the goddamn landing with what it’s trying to accomplish. I’ve heard this show described as Gurren Lagann in half the episodes, and without getting into specifics, that really does capture its overall feel, starting small and continuously escalating to greater and greater height of spectacle, with the small-scale story of Soya growing into a man at its core. And it’s there that Planet With truly shines; for all its bizarre elements, the beating heart at its center is unmistakably human. The show grapples with weighty ideas of evolution, love, revenge, forgiveness, responsibility, family, and so much more, wrapping so many ideas into its small runtime that it’s honestly amazing the show never feels overstuffed. And it ties them all back to its expansive cast of characters, all of whom are wonderfully memorable from the instant they appear on screen and draw ever closer to your heart the more you learn about them. It really does pack two cours worth of development, growth, and adventure into a single cours run, making efficient use of every second so as to not sacrifice depth for conciseness.

Because believe it or not, when this show tips its hand and reveals its overall game plan, it’s actually remarkably profound. There are hard choices to make, hard questions to ask, hard obstacles to overcome and hard truths to accept. There’s a genuine darkness to some of the places Planet With goes; Soya’s ongoing struggle with the scars of his past grows increasingly gut-wrenching the more you find out about it, and the emotional turmoil he puts himself through as he tries to sort out how to process that pain leads to some moments that hit me in places I didn’t expect to be hit. Yet even in that darkness, this is a show about hope, about people coming together in the face of crises, about everything we have the potential to become if we fight for it, about the power that love and forgiveness can hold in response to overwhelming darkness, and about how even in the most hopeless situations, you are never alone. I got really damn close to crying at several points in this show’s back half; that’s how potent its ethos is. Sure, these kinds of stories are a dime a dozen in anime, yet it’s not too often you see them executed with this level of care, intimacy, and subtlety. Yes, I just called the show with the intergalactic mute furry subtle. Believe it or not, the title fits.

Perhaps if the show were a little more consistent, with a cleaner production and a stronger handle on its discordant aesthetics, we would have a genuine masterpiece on our hands. As stands though, if you missed out on this one back in summer as I did, now would be the time to fix that. Don’t let the odd CG fool you; Planet With is a real winner, with creativity to spare and an inspiring, achingly human heart.

This show is a well-oiled machine. In only 12 episodes it managed to develop its themes and tell the whole story without feeling rushed. Truly a miracle for a 12 episode anime. And to put the cherry on top, this show has several plot twists and still manages to keep up the consistency.

The fluidity of the CG was also impressive. I was paying close attention and I didn't notice any points where it got choppy and ugly like it does in most CG shows. The mechs, especially the protagonist's, also have a layer of polish to them. The only CG that looked kinda bad was ... the dragon, which looked like it was taken from a GameCube game (still very fluid though).

The soundtrack was also good, it gave the fights the epic backdrop they needed for me to get immersed. The opening also gets a pass. While the soundtrack is good, I still feel there's work to be done if it's going to be as good as the soundtracks from other greats like Gurren Lagann.

My main issue is that there really isn't much time for the characters to get fleshed out since it the series is so short and fast. There was enough development to serve the narrative, sure, but not enough to get attached to any of characters besides the protagonist. If this were a two cour I feel my score would be better since the large cast would have more of an opportunity to leave an impression on me.

Another issue I had is that I feel like it was too... normal? It does all the normal mecha tropes well, but at the same time I think years from now there won't be much for me to remember this for besides being competently executed. If I was left with the feeling that this show was more unique, my score also would have been higher.

So that's Planet With, a 7/10 show. Coming from me that's actually a pretty good score, at least compared to other people who'd throw out a 7 without a second thought. I'd recommend it to anyone since since its overall execution was very consistent, but for the reasons I've explained earlier I wouldn't expect them to think it's going to be their favorite or anything.

ON first glance Planet With seems exceptionally stupid. That's why I initially skipped over it.

Story:
If I had to liken the story I would to a hand of poker. You get a 10 and a 2, junk right? But as the Flop, River and Turn comes in it develops into a full house. Does it beat everything? No. Will it win most hands absolutely. Planet With took from a seemingly garbage start and developed into a full story leaving you invested into the characters and the narrative. Plus the ending will likely leave you with a wholesome face wide grin.

Art:
It's OK. The initial shock of ... the character design gives you the impression of something weird, and it is. But other than that nothing really stands out in terms of art. I will give credit to CGI the mechs for looking nice in fights.

Sound:
It did the job. The OP and ED were always skips from me but the sound design did it's job. Doesn't take away from the show but it doesn't have that UMPF that a great soundtrack does.

Characters:
Superficially they all seem week stereotypes but where this show shines is how we in such a short time get to see what they believe. We understand these characters and why they do what they do. It's all to often we see "I'm EVIL because I"M EVIL" but Planet With's characters left me caring and invested with them.

Overall/ Enjoyment:
These two are combined because they're the same thing. The show left we with a wide grin and thoroughly curious of what was coming next. The way to show tied itself together and ended I feel satisfied in a way many shows fail to do.

If you enjoy Mecha or are just looking for a show that tells a complete story i would wholly recommend Planet With.

This is a great show and is one that is actually able to show how good a well though, well directed, well realized mecha series can be and how much potential it can really have.

Planet with is a show about fighting for the things that really matter with the conviction that can lead you to fully reach the goals you thought of since before starting your fight and it does so in a really well directed way that just says to every other mecha series that will air before it to learn from it's way of doing things in order to advance and progress ... to improve the overall quality of the genre.

The story revolves around Kuroi Souya, a highschooler living a seemingly peaceful life despite having no memories of his past. That fact begins to change one day when his town is attacked by one of the mysterious Nebula weapons. Together with the cat-like "sensei" and her friend Ginko
Souya gets dragged into a fight against seven suoerheroes who protect the town. It is a simple but well developed story that shares resemblance to some of the greatest series of the genre and does a pretty good job of paying tribute to it's predecessors.

The art is consistent through the entire run, it is colorful and makes a great impression in the eyes of the audience that way letting itself be liked and enjoyed, the robots action scenes make use of cgi in some occasions but it doesn't deny or derail any of the consistent output in the tecnical department, it isn't the best use of chi to have been seen but it is quite well made and fine in it's own way.

The music is also an excellent part and one that actually helped the show achieve it's potential, the way they orchestrated every piece and every sound from the most emotional song to the least noticeable subtle laugh.
Every part of the sound aspect is well directed and used for the best of the show in order to help it highlight it's advantages even more and make them able to be presented in a way that the audience can actually knowledge.

The characters are interesting enough to be able to keep the audience attention. Kuroi Ginko is an excellent assistant to the protagonist in the way that she is able to help him to see the most advantegous movements to make, "sensei" is a comycal character that is actually serious enough to serve as the power source of Souya and eventhough the rest of the cast wasn't that interesting they served their purpouse.

One of the parts that i enjoyed the most of this show is the way the relationship between the protagonist of the story Kuroi Souya and Tamagahara Nozomi is handled through the story, it feels as if it grows along with you as the episodes pile up and the time invested in watching the show keeps gaining minutes and hours. The relationship's development just feels real in a way that shares a resemblance to the way real life relationships actually work and that makes it one of the very best aspects of the show.

The series had some flaws that kept it from being a masterpiece such as the way some characters were handled wasn't clear enough because they didn't showed what was their objective or goal and some narrative scenes didn't made much sense within the story. Apart from that it was great in all it's aspects showing how good a well done mecha show can be.

This show deserves to be praised and liked by anyone that is able to enjoy truly well done mecha series and is able to differentiate an actually good one from one that really isn't.

"Planet With" anime is enjoyable for then who like space and fantasy. My personal thinking about this anime is pretty good too watch because there are a little romance, action, mecha fights and like the protagonist is a pretty stubborn type but a good person.

Short Story -

In this anime, the protagonist kinda lost this planet and his surrounded everyone including his big brother. Well about the planet since this anime story is totally sci-fi type. However, he was saved by a space police or guardian commander and by the princess of the planet who was the protagonist's planet's opponent, during when the evil dragon ... was destroying everything. [For detail story please watch the anime, since I don't wanna spoil the fun of this anime by giving the details, just making highlight where I get the fun of the anime.] Then they brought the protagonist on Earth and most likely in the first he was not able to remember about himself that who he might be. Then there he found a cute girl in the school he admitted, who usually care for him. Then slowly those two become friend, beside that there was a team who was fighting against the space police with that crime dragon power so the protagonist got to help them because they somehow become his new family. The protagonist was not actually wanted to harm them just taking their power source and then he usually left. Then slowly goes on advance fighting another space police arrived who wanted to seal the Earth because they were using the power which could be a danger as they were thinking. The protagonist makes them believe that Earth people won't do the same mistake that his planet people did, actually he was asking not to direct seal like an unfair way just give a chance. Well after that evil dragon came back and everyone together fought with him at the last for saving everyone the protagonist and that two person who saved his life together sacrifice them and got sealed away into space-time hole. They somehow escaped from there and the protagonist, after all, landed his own planet where into the lifeless ocean he found a small power. Then other people able to find them and there "Happy Ending".


The most of it I like the part where The protagonist didn't hesitate much to save someone else. I like bravery things. [Thanks for the anime. and Thanks for reading my review]

Fair warning: there are some spoilers in this, but they’re not really anything huge. If you watch this show and anything of what I say ruins it for you then DM me and I’ll probably tell you to man up.

Synopsis for Planet With makes it sound kind of like generic trash so I’m happy to say that it’s anything but. A lot of people noticed this anime thanks to recognizing the original creator but I never really came across his work to get where excitement is coming from. Nonetheless when you see a battle start and the enemy “mech” looks like a giant plushie with ... ears for arms, a bunch of hands sticking out the bottom and nose on the back, you might realize that this is somewhat unusual and it keeps going from that.

In terms of narrative PW starts out deceptively basic, but in actually it’s very carefully laid out and executed, even if it shows some blemishes now and then. The centerpiece of it is Soya, a kid with amnesia living in a house with a maid and a giant cat. Although he himself seems normal, his dreams and flashbacks reveal that there’s more than meets the eye. Soya is in fact the last survivor of his alien race which was destroyed by the dragon from one of those dreams.

Then, suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere his totally normal life is interrupted when his roommates tell him that he has to take out the superheroes that are fighting a giant invading alien plush. He’s reluctant at first but after he senses a connection between those superheroes or mech pilots and the dragon, his mission shifts towards personal revenge.

Anyone who has seen a few anime can already imagine what the rest of the plot will look like. Luckily enough Planet With throughout the run keeps subverting expectations and keeping things from being predictable in a sensible way that doesn’t feel like writer just wanted to play a cheap “gotcha” on the viewer. Instead of stretching things too thin, everything goes at a brisk pace, to a point where episode 6 feels like it would’ve been finale in any other show. Time skip near the end doesn’t serve as an excuse to shove in some pointless SoL and just because our hero has 7 enemies doesn’t mean that he has to fight all 7 of them or that they even want to.

This is probably a good time to bring up the characters. While once again there’s nothing too deep in this, PW manages to fit in some very nice and emotional character stories within the episodes that help you feel more sympathy for them and relate just a bit more. The main way in which it’s done is trough forced dreams/comas inflicted on people by the aliens. In those dreams people usually get to accomplish whatever they couldn't do in real life or erase a tragic event. You dog died? It’s alive and happy in this dream. You’re poor and sick? In the dream you’re rich and healthy.
These dreams capture people in comfortable delusions and whichever superhero takes down the next huge alien thing has get through rejecting those fantasies much like humanity itself at one point has to reject it to move to progress instead of becoming dull and complacent. Some might think this is too emotionally manipulative but I found the show to be so genuine in the way it treats this topic, that instead of complaining about cheap tricks it almost got me to tear up.

Emotion is important part of this show and might be a make or break for some people. With how prevalent both drama and comedy are, your enjoyment will likely hinge on your sense of humor and how much you’re willing to get attached to the characters. Personally, I had no issues, because as simple the characters are, it’s very easy to relate to their problems and sympathize with their struggles. Comedy too, was fresh and inventive, occasionally making fun of itself and the genre while still presenting some cliches with love and understanding of what people love about them.

This praise stops when you get to visuals. I wouldn’t call Planet With outright ugly but it’s very, very rare for it to do anything noteworthy with the visuals. Main mechs look nice and designs for big alien things are pretty cool and memorable but same can’t be said for the characters. It’s not even that they look bad but they’re terribly plain. They wear pretty bland clothes with dull color palettes and usually don’t have anything distinct going on with their head which ends up making them look like background characters.
Going back to mechs, those don’t look great a lot of the time either but not because of their design but thanks to some pretty low CG quality. While I commend them for not trying to imitate framerate of 2D drawings and making 3D actually look smooth, there’s still a very noticeable lack in detail that makes CG somewhat jarring nonetheless.
When that happens I wish the quality of action would compensate for the weak visuals, but for the most part it doesn’t. There’s some sick finishing moves throughout the show but actual fighting is really underwhelming. From special move spam to zooming in so far away that characters become splashes of color smacking into each other and leaving a faint trail behind them. There’s not much here to excite and it’s a really bad thing when large part of the anime revolves around fighting. Some of this is offset by the emotional impact of those scenes but emotions aren't everything.
Directing is similarly not that impressive. There’s a few good shots sprinkled throughout and pacing is good but other than that it’s too average to really comment on. That includes music, hardly much time passed since I finished the show but I can’t even recall a single track from it or its usage. It’s about as distinct and memorable as stock OSTs in some generic VNs. At least there’s some pretty nice and juicy sound effects here that make impacts feel really heavy when they need to be.

Despite ending on a sour note I think this anime is a lot of fun but probably won’t appeal to the most picky viewers. If you’re a fan of mechs or shonen or can just tolerate some of the flaws however, you’ll probably have a good time.

I got some strong Gurren Lagaan vibes when I first started watching it, but frankly, I'm so far liking this better than that series. As long as it sticks the ending, I'll probably end up going back to this over Gurren most of the time, cause it's just that good.

It is quirky as hell, and the art style reflects this. For me, this is a plus, but understandable how it might not be everyone's cup of tea. The CG is well done. Not Land of the Lustrous, but it's quite good, and helps sell the more absurd and fantastical elements.

Was surprised by the depth and ... development it gives even the side characters, and the mains are great. The story has interesting themes that it explores, still need to see the ending if it sticks the landing on those though.

Only thing that hasn't really hooked me is the sound design. It's serviceable as far as I can tell, but there's nothing on that end that really wowed me. No particularly memorable tracks or other sound design off the top of my head, but nothing bad either.

What does the endless wisdom of Satoshi Mizukami teach us in this ludicrously fast-paced series?

• Cats are better than dogs.
• If you choose a vegetarian lifestyle, you have to use doping to compete.
• If someone's dressed as a princess, she might actually be one.
• Big brothers spell disaster (big sisters are nice, though).
• Constant winks and nods towards any of Gainax's mecha shows, especially Gurren Lagann, stopped being cool years ago (I seriously hope Trigger realizes this someday, too).

There, kids. Hope you've learned your lesson!

Jokes aside, though, it's not Mizukami's greatest work—not by a long shot. But nevertheless it's a solid, competently-made series that manages ... to showcase quite a few original ideas, goofy humor and clever storytelling moments despite evidently playing too much with stale genre tropes and specific title references—to the point where the show actually starts playing them out in earnest. Maybe it was a conscious decision made to appeal to a wider audience—I don't know. I just didn't appreciate it very much as it made Planet With feel like the authors weren't sure it could've made it without obvious crutches. Mizukami's other works are incredible exactly because of how unique they are, and at any moment you feel like you're about to experience a genre cliche, they go and subvert your expectations without fail. There are maybe a dozen other storytellers of this caliber currently active in the entire industry, give the man some respect he deserves!

One more thing to note about the show is that the abundant use of very apparent CGI, thankfully, is kept stylistically coherent and unintrusive, so it actually looks rather nice and fluid. Together with the very wide dynamic range sound effects (so when something explodes, it gives off a really satisfying "BOOM") they make the action scenes a pretty powerful, visceral experience despite the lack of complex choreography.

Finally, the fact that Planet With's rating has climbed up by over 0.5 points since the premiere clearly indicates that people are warming up to it and gives me hope that other, arguably better Mizukami's works are adapted at some point. If you've found any sort of enjoyment in this anime, please do yourself a favor and read Spirit Circle, Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, and Sengoku Youko. You can thank me later. :p