Planetes

[doodleboy]

Planetes I think is a really under-rated comic. Not in that it isn't well-regarded, but it has been mostly forgotten or overshadowed by it's anime adaptation. I first read it as a teenager and liked it, but reading it now that I'm a little older really made me appreciate it a lot more.




So what is Planetes about? Well it's set in the future where the depletion of fossil fuels on earth has lead to greater space exploration. Including the first manned project to Jupiter.

The developer of this project is Werner Locksmith. He's introduced in the first chapter of the second volume. He's an unparalleled genius, the Issac Newton of his generation.

Like Issac Newton he’s also a complete jackass.

READS RIGHT TO LEFT. 2 pages of a 47 page chapter and 10 pages of a 33 page chapter.




"Simple. I live, breath, and worship space travel. I'm the best there is."

During the press release of the accident he doesn’t even pretend to care about the lives lost, which makes him universally reviled.

In volume 4, chapter 18, he visits the graves of one of his engineers.



At the site Yamagata's sister is waiting for him. They both compare Yamagata to fictional hero called Gusko Budori











"Yes. However I feel sad."

What I like about Werner is that he represents a lot of men who were leaders in their fields. Often great authors, film-makers, scientists, revolutionaries were terrible to the people close to them. He's not a likable character, or a good person in any sense, but he's complicated and I find ultimately sympathetic.

Unfortunately Planetes was distributed by Tokyopop which went bankrupt, so the volumes can only be found used. Makoto Yukimura also has another manga being published in the US called Vinland Saga, which is also really good.

Comments

[leoboiko]

Thanks for the recommendation. This looks good. I like Vinland but didn't try to look what else the author worked on. And here in Japan one can buy the full set for fifteen bucks!

[glprime]

I only saw the anime, which was good in its own way, and had more than one character like this.

[salinea]

thanks for reminding me to read this ^^

[anothermoviegeek]

Both the manga and the anime are excellent works that I can't recommend enough.

[silverzeo]

How ironic, just came back from the JFK Space Center today... after they installed admission fees....

[sharky_chan]

I've been meaning to check out the anime. Would you recommend getting into the series via the manga first? I generally prefer manga over anime, but I didn't realize there was one for this series ^^.

[doodleboy]

I think either way works actually.

The anime takes the general plot of the manga, but adds extra characters, is a little more melodramatic, and expands one of the subplots into a full-blown space-thriller in the climax.

This is just my opinion, and a lot of people would disagree with me, but I think the manga is the stronger work. The anime adds characters and filler which dilute the story.

One of the reasons I chose to show Werner Locksmith, a minor character, is partially because the anime well... butchered him. In the manga he was a flawed man willing to do anything to expand space-travel, in the anime he's mostly psychopathic.

But I think both are worth checking out. They both go in different directions so watching them both wouldn't be too repetitive.

[sharky_chan]

Hmm, I prefer manga explicitly to avoid filler (life's too short, imo :P), so this is good stuff to know. Thanks again :D. Even just this little bit you posted about Locksmith is extremely interesting and well done, so I'm looking forward to checking out more!

[superfangirl1]

I will check out the anime of this. :)