PLOT: Highly original premise centred on a small group of Space Debris Collectors (essentially space bin men) in the near future. Everything is kept extremely grounded and realistic so while it is sci-fi, it's entirely believable sci-fi and this makes it all the more interesting, even to someone like me who loves high fantasy. As a show it starts out quite slice of life as it establishes the characters and the world setting. Gradually the plot builds until it becomes a gripping drama with a centralised plot line with Hachimaki as the focus. If Planetes is anything its character driven, there is a huge amount of consideration and development given to all characters introduced into this series. Even if the character is only in the show for a short amount of airtime, they are never superfluous – practically everyone introduced has an essential role to play in furthering the plot and are given closure by the end of the series. It really is remarkable storytelling – I was completely sucked in for the duration and found the characters engaging, believable and likeable (for the most part).
Planetes also tackles a number of interesting questions, its not a show you can watch with your brain switched off – subtle politics, economics, ethics, terrorism and philosophical questions are raised; although not all are answered and much is left to the viewer to draw their own conclusions. In short I felt the plot was well worked out, paced and had a very satisfying conclusion (I would have even liked a wee bit more).
ANIMATION: The animation is solid and there is very little deviation in quality for the duration of the show. Everything has a very realistic feel – from the set & background designs to the character designs. There is some use of CGI, but its well integrated with the 2D animation. Character designs are plain but with a lot of variety – there is no two characters who look alike, even among the background cast – lots of different nationalities are depicted too.
MUSIC & VOICE ACTING: I quite liked the OP & ED even if they are a touch forgettable. The score was excellent though – great orchestral and choral pieces and excellent use of background silence when appropriate. Voice acting was also superb, all the seiyuu really brought their characters to life and all of them displayed quite a bit of depth and range over the course of the series.
Overall Planetes was a very well thought out and presented series – an excellent show and I really would urge anyone to watch it.
