In Space No One Can Hear You Clean - Planetes Simulwatch (Episode 26 - Finale)

Episode 26
Okay, so Hakim somehow survived. Where's he been hiding?

We get a glimpse into how everyone is doing, some good, some bad and some just okay. I liked the show from the start but the best part was the final arc. I feel sorry for Tanabe, she wants to be a debris hauler again but now she has to wait. (the extremely heavy clues, pointing out that she's pregnant).

Good Show
7/10
 
ayase said:
My disappointment
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Touché. 😛

After trawling through positive review after positive review, I finally managed to find some opinion of the series that mirrors my own. Here it is:
www.google.com

Planetes – Anime Review

Planetes tells of the lives of a crew aboard a space station collecting space debris.
www.google.com www.google.com

Now I don't have to bother my a*se actually writing anything about it myself.
 
Episode 26

Ah that was a sweet and comfy epilogue mostly.

Hachi certainly works quick eh, what with a bun in the oven already and all. He got out of his funk following his own mini-instrumentality in the last episode. Also decided to do the responsible thing of going off for an extra-long quality time session with daddy in space whilst his new pregnant bride fends for herself on Earth.

Claire's endpoint was pretty upsetting. After all that hard work she still failed so spectacularly to circumstances, mostly in the background, to even join a bunch of fanatics. Her story, and that of her country of origin, serving as a very sad retort to the notion that hard work will always pay off.... Regardless, good to see her still having hope for the future. Also loved Cheng Shin's comment on apathy, and not hate, being the opposite of love.

Hakim is still alive, big whoop, another disaster that didn't happen heh. Unlike Claire, he certainly had belief & resolve in his cause, though that didn't stop him from becoming a bit of a caricature villain in the end. Glad he didn't impale poor Nono on the space-spear.

The biggest reveal of the whole series in this episode: the assistant director had been wearing a wig all along!

Overall, it was nice to see all the characters doing well in the end and the main couple getting together. Very much in keeping with the series pattern of touching on some heavy subject matter whilst keeping things light. I enjoyed this and glad to have got the boxset.


D1tchd1gger said:
That'll be harsh on the kid who won't see his/her father for 7 years.
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Heh he clearly had a genius plan to skip all the sleepless nights, terrible-twos' tantrums, etc.
 
Neil.T said:
After trawling through positive review after positive review, I finally managed to find some opinion of the series that mirrors my own. Here it is:
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Doesn't really go into a lot of depth, does it? Needless to say I strongly disagree regarding the characters (they're flawed, yes. I don't find that unappealing, I find that realistic, Hachi in particular is I think a very well realised character) and as for the point on morality, I recall it being decidedly grey, what with characters that the audience built up sympathy for turning to terrorism and still remaining at least somewhat sympathetic even then (and it’s kind of rare to see society’s favourite demons humanised, particularly so when you consider this was released at the height of the “War on Terror”). Even Ai and Hachi still had to grapple with their consciences over whether to do what’s best for them at someone else’s expense.

I think most of the characters in Planetes, really, were just trying to keep their dreams alive in a world determined to destroy them. It worked out for some, it didn’t for others, but even those it did work out for were irreparably altered by their experiences along the way. If that’s not a heartbreaking but accurate depiction of the human experience, I’m not really sure what is.
 
It's funny, reading that review reminded me of a friend of mine who really, strongly dislikes Planetes, even though I never quite got to the bottom of why he was so against it. It's interesting that they praised the last act, that was easily my least favourite part of the series - I much prefered the Patlabor-esque sol stuff in the first half, to Hachi's rather lengthy training arc building into the Jupiter mission at the end.
 
ayase said:
Doesn't really go into a lot of depth, does it?
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I thought that summed up the series perfectly myself. 🤷‍♂️

I was looking at the staff credits for Planetes on MAL to see if I could avoid watching anything else by the same writer, and it turns out that he's written the scripts for some of my least favourite anime: Azumanga Daioh (I love the manga but didn't pursue the anime any further after seeing the first episode), Brave Story (not a terrible film but... meh), the first series of Negima! (which spends almost its entire run wasting time with inconsequential p*ssing around and dire attempts at humour before suddenly turning morbidly dark towards the end)... and also apparently Wolf's Rain, which I wouldn't touch with a bargepole after seeing trailers for it that were quite sleep-inducing enough.

And yet he wrote Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, which is one of my all-time favourite anime series. In fact, he's listed as its original creator. Go figure. 🤷‍♂️

Professor Irony said:
I much prefered the Patlabor-esque sol stuff in the first half
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I'd anticipated that a Patlabor comparison might come up at some point.

Probably unsurprisingly, I didn't care much for its original OVA series either when I watched it a few years back, and I find the second movie outing an unbearable chore to sit through.

I do rather like the first Patlabor film, though; I thought that was a good mix of action and comedy, and it's the only installment I'd think about rewatching now.
 
Professor Irony said:
It's interesting that they praised the last act, that was easily my least favourite part of the series - I much prefered the Patlabor-esque sol stuff in the first half, to Hachi's rather lengthy training arc building into the Jupiter mission at the end.
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It seems as though the reviewer simply doesn’t like slice-of-life in general and much prefers a concrete plot, perhaps you feel similarly @Neil.T but personally, when sol has decent characters (rather than the moe archetypes that have sadly become linked with the term) I find it immensely enjoyable. I did in Patlabor and I did in Planetes, I’m more than happy to spend time in the company of characters I enjoy even if they’re not doing anything of consequence. I think in both shows, the downtime episodes which are of little consequence still serve the larger purpose of character development, which in shows that deal with serious topics is important to my enjoyment of those characters in the larger context - I want to feel like I know and understand them and for how they’re behaving to make sense to me.

Neil.T said:
I was looking at the staff credits for Planetes on MAL to see if I could avoid watching anything else by the same writer
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That is very interesting, because while this isn’t the first time I’ve heard such a criticism I definitely prefer the Azumanga anime to the manga, and I love it. It’s quite a rarity in that regard as I’m not otherwise into much schoolgirl sol/comedy, and the reason for that is again because I like the characters. Wolf’s Rain... it’s been a long time but I remember liking well enough, though not quite to the extent a lot of people seemed to. Geass is very good, but I’m not sure I’d put it above AzuDai :p

Negima I was about to say I wouldn’t watch if someone paid me, but that’s not actually true, I would watch it, but only if someone paid me.
 
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ayase said:
It seems as though the reviewer simply doesn’t like slice-of-life in general
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Hmm, I don't see that the reviewer's issues with Planetes stems from a prejudice against an entire genre, but rather from the characters in this particular series, as that's the single most-cited criticism in the review. Example:

A story-lite series can’t sustain itself unless the characters are some of the best in the business.​

Personally, I do actually like a bit of SoL if I find the characters interesting. I would've easily been able to forgive the artwork and soundtrack in Planetes if I'd liked the characters, but unfortunately I was left with absolutely nothing to latch on to, much like the writer of that review.

It puzzles me also when people talk about character development in the series. I saw plenty of screaming melodrama towards the closing stages, but certainly nothing in the way of convincing character development. That's a baffling assertion to me, personally.

None of the characters ever felt like rounded human beings to me, with perhaps the brief exception of Yuri. Though it's rather damning when someone as anonymous as Yuri is your strongest character.

ayase said:
Negima I was about to say I wouldn’t watch
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The first series is terrible, but the "reimagined" second series is studio SHAFT at its creative best. @WMD could probably put in a good word for it, too, and has done exactly that previously.
 
D1tchd1gger said:
Hey @ayase I think I might know where you can pick up a cheap copy of the Blu-ray from 😉
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lolz, I very nearly posted an offer to take @Neil.T or @Lordhippos sets off their hands near the beginning of the simulwatch...

Neil.T said:
It puzzles me also when people talk about character development in the series. I saw plenty of screaming melodrama towards the closing stages, but certainly nothing in the way of convincing character development. That's a baffling assertion to me, personally.
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I will have to watch it again (and I definitely want to) but I distinctly remember thinking that certainly the main characters of the series were all very good. While I might not have remembered all of the stories, my lasting memory is of the characters, so I guess this will just have to remain a difference of opinion for now.

Neil.T said:
The first series is terrible, but the "reimagined" second series is studio SHAFT at its creative best. @WMD could probably put in a good word for it, too, and has done exactly that previously.
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I don't usually get along with harems in general, and I'm afraid I really can't imagine there being much for me in a harem show where the central object of multiple teenage girls' lust is a prepubescent boy. Bit off-topic, but /ss/ is just not something I will ever understand, which is okay because I imagine I have more than one fetish other people wouldn't understand either, but I'm really confused as to who exactly it appeals to and why...
 
Personally I felt Ai, Hachi and Claire all got good character development. All of them are notably different at the end of the show from where they start. And given the events their changes are believable.

I also thought it was a really good looking show. Some of the space environments were great to look at. And the design work for ships and equipment was top notch. Also the character designs were really cool and not your typical anime fare.

Neil.T said:
The first series is terrible, but the "reimagined" second series is studio SHAFT at its creative best. @WMD could probably put in a good word for it, too, and has done exactly that previously
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Yes it is amazing and hilarious. It's a show I've watched several times over the years and it doesnt ever bore me.
ayase said:
I don't usually get along with harems in general, and I'm afraid I really can't imagine there being much for me in a harem show where the central object of multiple teenage girls' lust is a prepubescent boy.
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I mean that's a strong assumption. The girls dont lust after Negi. Some develop powerful feelings for him but its not as straight forward as being sexual or romantic.
 
I'm also of the opinion that some of the main characters, whether you liked them or not, were quite well developed (not all, as I wish we had more on Fee &, as I mentioned before, Claire's story could have it's own single cour show!), so it's a bit harsh to say there wasn't any at all. Similarly, even what would be assumed to be filler episodes, actually contributed significantly to the plot and character development, especially by the end. That's why I quite liked the final third where it all came together quite cohesively.

Liking SoL probably helps to appreciate Planetes. As @ayase mentioned, the genre certainly seems to be associated more with moe nowadays, with non-moe going more into the drama territory. I had a similar misconceived expectation of drama therefore, but an SoL with good character development is as much a joy to behold as any other genre. Down to its SoL nature, it was more of a "lite" experience, commenting on but never delving deeply into the darker aspects of human nature & behaviours. Fortunately, once I pegged it more as SoL, all that didn't take away from my enjoyment at all.
 
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