My father was the Chief Scientist of JPL for almost 15 years and I love all things relating to space exploration. I was supposed to love this show.
Watching great anime is like feasting on your favorite dessert, savoring all the delicious flavors (characters) and then looking forward to the next scrumptious bite (episode) when you're finished.
But watching Planetes is like reading the printed recipe for that favorite dessert in a cookbook instead of eating it.
Fans of the show universally say, "the first 10 episodes start off slow, introducing you to the individual characters, then later episodes build on that as the relationships grow."
In reality, each of the first 10 episodes feel like a line from the list of ingredients:
1 overly optimistic wide-eyed female MC
1 brooding abrasive male MC
2 inept managers who act as comic relief
1 chain smoking female supervisor who fills the void left by the inept managers
1 mysterious Russian with a sad backstory hinted at.
2 eggs
1/4 tbsp salt
The next 6 or 7 episodes feel like the recipe instructions on how to combine those ingredients:
Combine secondary characters into a low regarded debris removal section and stir until thoroughly mixed.
In a separate mixing bowl combine optimistic female MC with brooding abrasive male MC until the later is softened.
Heat 1 inept manager until he is forced to stand up for himself, thus winning the approval of his family and co-workers.
Take mysterious Russian and flash back to his tragic past until sympathy is thickened.
But by the time we get to the heart of the story, when the combined ingredients should be tossed into the oven to bake at 375 degrees until golden brown, the whole recipe just falls apart. The ingredients never fully mix and end up separating like oil and water. After taking so much time to develop the crew of the Debris Removal Section as a cohesive unit, they just drift apart in angry, mean-spirited ways.
The storyline suddenly shifts from debris removal to the first manned mission to Jupiter and all the subsequent political machinations, office politics, terrorist threats and astronaut competitions end up feeling like they substituted salt for sugar in the desert recipe. It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
STORY
It is a uniquely Japanese concept to explore "the mundane within the extraordinary" and Planetes, aka "Garbage Men in Space" bills itself as another prime example. Combined with the near universal praise for this series and I was really looking forward to it. Many fans of the show say how much Planetes makes you think about the social implications of space travel and the cost/benefits of exploration. Unless you are an infantile socialist, this could not be further from the truth.
The characters hold childish, petty and often violent perspectives. In the world of Planetes, there are a few wealthy countries like the U.S. and Japan that explore space while poor, 3rd world countries are all but excluded from participating. Citizens of those third world countries who rise through the ranks and become astronauts end up being terrorists-in-waiting because they believe that the money being spent will only benefit first world countries. Therefore they seek to destroy the Jupiter spaceship, kill everyone living on the moon and end space exploration once and for all.
PHILOSOPHY
First of all, the United States and Japan can spend their own money on whatever they want. The idea that a third world terrorist thinks that the U.S. and Japan are morally obligated to feed the poor and solve the social ills of all other countries first before exploring space is absurd. Second, all the terrorists want to do is destroy the human space program, as if crashing a prototype spaceship into a lunar colony (killing 120,000 people in the process) will somehow help their suffering countrymen. Finally, the idea that the space program only benefits the few countries involved in it is an embarrassingly naïve misunderstanding of reality. For the creators of this show - who display an incredible depth of knowledge of space crafts, rockets and famous astronauts - to not grasp how patently wrong this premise is defeats the purpose of the show and its so-called philosophical explorations.
I recall a friend of mine telling me his belief that the Apollo missions to the moon were a waste of money because, "What did we discover on the moon that was worth the expense?" The answer is simple: absolutely nothing. Nothing ON the moon truly helped mankind as a whole. But GETTING to the moon drastically improved the lives of billions. Without the U.S. space program the world would not have cellular phones, micro-processors, satellite communication, GPS, cutting edge medicines, freeze dried foods, (and most importantly, pens that can write upside down).
These advancements have helped the entire planet. Third world countries would never have been able to build out cable or fiber optic networks buried in the ground to provide fast, reliable communication to every remote town and village. It would forever remain an impossibly expensive dream. But today, these countries currently rely on wireless and cellular satellite technology that would not exist without the space program. In fact, some of these poorer countries have BETTER communication systems because they have one single, ultra modern standard using the same satellites and tech that first world countries use, while wealthier countries have a blend of 80's era cable, 90's era phone lines as well as modern wireless - all competing for subscribers. To those poorer countries, upgrading their "infrastructure" is as simple as getting a new phone, while in the U.S. legacy systems remain after decades. (You want proof: As I type this review from Los Angeles, I have mediocre cable TV, slow DSL via ATT's copper phone wires and Verizon 4G cellular.)
I have no problem with philosophical debates on controversial topics and enjoy unique perspectives I may not agree with. But the terrorism and violence espoused in Planetes as a valid means of effecting change is beneath the dignity of a pro-science show about realistic space exploration.
[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD...but only ones that reveal how annoying the show can be.]
CHARACTERS
AI TANABE (FEMALE MC). Tanabe starts off as so self-righteously annoying that I almost stopped watching after episode three. In an early episode, the debris removal team retrieves a casket belonging to an old astronaut buried in space that failed to break free from Earth's gravity. The astronaut's surviving daughter asks that the casket be sent out into deep space as initially planned. But even though it's Tanabe's first week on the job, she violates direct orders (and the relative's wishes), goes back out in space without permission and threatens to burn the casket in the atmosphere if her team doesn't agree to return the casket back to Earth for a proper burial. Why? Because of LOVE, silly. She believes the corpse in the casket changed its mind and no longer wants to drift in space alone forever, even though we learn in flashbacks that the astronaut was a distant, aloof man who barely spent time with his family. And with eyes filled with tears, holding the casket above her head, while floating in space, Tanabe proclaims that people are supposed to be together. You and I would be fired if we did someting this stupid...but Tanabe melts everyone's heart and her 'demands' are agreed to.
HACHIROTA: The male MC is...a dick. After a poorly crafted pseudo-romance with Tanabe, his outer shell is melted away revealing...an even bigger dick. He has a massive chip on his shoulder that only grows larger as the story progresses and he pushes everyone away. Frankly, we never truly learn why. He's just...a dick. Despite his romance with Tanabe, when the Jupiter mission is announced he resigns from Debris Removal to apply for a coveted astronaut position without telling anyone. And that's the end of his relationship with Tanabe and his affiliation with the section. We never again have an episode where Debris Removal works together. And when Tanabe calls to ask him how he is doing he treats her like she's a nuisance.
I can see where people who watch all 26 episodes (like myself) can feel a little better by the end. The last 2 episodes wrap up most of the storylines in rather sappy, melodramatic ways, but they are totally unmotivated. Imagine your boyfriend or girlfriend bails on you without a word, disappears for six months, then you almost get killed in a terrorist attack trying to visit them one last time to make sure their last hateful comments to you weren't true, only to be ignored for another several months as you recover from nerve damage and have them show up to say they finally realized that the two of you are "connected" because "all things in space are connected." Would you accept their marriage proposal? Didn't think so.
FEE: Fee Carmichael is a fun chain-smoking character who really keeps the Debris Removal Section together. She pilots the ship, aka The Toy Box, and makes sure everyone does their jobs. Unfortunately, she is not given much of a storyline. She basically acts as the glue that keeps the other crazy, selfish or lazy characters from causing too much trouble too quickly in the show. Character change in Planetes almost always means changing into a worse version of yourself - so Fee's lack of change means we still like her by the end of the story.
YURI: Yuri Mihalkov is another great secondary character with one of the best story arcs in the series. He is very quiet, private, rarely laughs and works as if he is actually looking for a particular piece of space debris. Over time we learn his secret and the reasons for his pain. We then watched him overcome these hurdles and move on as a better, stronger person. At first I thought the entire show would follow his example. Had they done so, it would have made for an excellent series.
The premise for Planetes is that in the near future, there is so much space junk in orbit that it is effectively clogging the interplanetary lanes to the stars prompting the formation of debris removal teams. In the prologue, we see a commercial spacecraft destroyed as a result of a single screw traveling at high velocities. [SPOILERS AHEAD] A woman watches in horror as the screw shatters her window, killing her and almost everyone on board. We later learn that she is Yuri's wife, and he had just given her a small compass as a gift. Yuri spent the next several years searching for that compass in space - trying to find some final link to his wife. The episode where he finds it - and the risks he takes to retrieve it - is one of the most emotionally rewarding in the series. After finding it, Yuri's personality changes, but he still feels trapped by his past. In a later episode when they take a trip to Earth to the home of Hachirota, the compass is accidentally destroyed by Hachirota's brother. Instead of being angry, Yuri feels relief and launches the compass back into space on a small rocket he helps Hachirota's kid brother build during their vacation. This is Yuri's final step in the healing process. He honored his wife by finding the compass but let the pain of her death go by sending the broken compass back into space. It's the perfect way of saying, "I just needed to see my beloved one more time, hold her in my arms and say a final goodbye to her." Sadly, once Yuri's character traverses his arc halfway through the series, he - much like the broken compass - just floats around in space doing nothing until the series ends.
NONO: Nono is a sweet teenage girl who was born on the moon and can never live on Earth because her body has permanently adjusted to the Moon's low gravity. She lives in the moonbase hospital, constantly undergoing tests because she is one of the few moon babies. Because she is a minor character who is not given her own storyline, she is loveable and kind. That said, her kindness doesn't really rub off on anyone - especially Hachirota - who has the most screen time with her.
CLAIRE RONDO: One of the worst parts of the writing is how many of the characters' personalities and morals turn on a dime to fit the inconsistent whims of the story. For 23 episodes Claire is written as a hard working woman from a third world country who scrimped and scraped her way to the top. She volunteers for difficult assignments just to keep proving herself and climbs high up the corporate ladder. But after taking on too much work, she starts making mistakes and is then demoted to the Debris Removal Section. Next thing you know, she's a bitter terrorist, not caring whether she kills the very co-workers who stood by her side during her demotion. She's then inexplicably painted as a sympathetic character who Tanabe risks her own life to save. In her final scene, Hachirota visits her in prison where she is given a 10-year prison term for the attempted genocide of 120,000 moon residents.
HAKIM: The exact same thing happens with Hakim Ashmead, a top ranking security officer who befriends Hachirota early on. Both were tutored by a great man named Gigalt who taught them to be hard working, professional, upstanding gentlemen. Hakim helps the crew of the Toy Box out of many close calls and ends up resigning along with Hachirota to try out for an astronaut position on the Jupiter mission. Oh, yeah, I almost forgot...he's actually a terrorist who badly damages the ship with explosives. Even worse, Hachirota is in a position to stop him not once...but twice, but can't seem to pull the trigger to disable or kill him. For the record, Hachirota never displayed this sacred view on life when it came to helping or saving innocent people, so for him to be so haunted by the prospect of killing a man hellbent on murdering tens of thousands is ridiculous. Even more absurd is how Hakim ALWAYS escapes. Remember, he is on the Jupiter spaceship which is under tight security. He plants a bomb, detonates it as Hachirota hesitates then magically shows up several episodes later on the moon where he recruits Claire.
GIGALT: Much like Fee, Yuri & Nono, Gigalt is a great (minor) character who stays true to himself. He ends up contracting cancer from radiation exposure (a common occurrence in space) and pleads with Tanabe not to tell his pupil, Hachirota. Before his death, Gigalt finds out his other pupil, Hakim, is a terrorist and the look of devastation on his face is truly tragic. But in a later episode, Hachirota is given a camera with Gigalt's final recording where Gigalt gives him the most important advice possible: Every man needs a home port. In the end, Hachirota visits Gigalt's grave before leaving and promises to take a photo of Jupiter with the same camera so that Gigalt may experience it.
WERNER LOCKSMITH: This guy makes Elon Musk look like Mother Theressa. This is the guy in charge of the Jupiter spaceship. He is a sociopath who doesn't care how many hundreds of people die as long as his Jupiter mission stays on schedule. He deliberately puts the lives of all the astronaut-trainees in jeopardy. He lies, covers up the deaths of hundreds, refuses to be transparent with the world about what his true intentions are and cares only for himself. In all honesty, people this corrupt and morally bankrupt just don't exist (well...other than in the White House from 2016-2020.)
I am not a contrarian who like to hate on popular shows. I am truly baffled by the high ratings and look forward to hearing other people's opinions.
