Sci-fi has always been one of my favourite genre of media. Even more so when it is hard sci-fi. Science so close to reality, it makes you refuse to believe that they are simply fiction. I love it the most when the plot elements of a story can be easily related to present-day situations. I have yet to come across too many hard sci-fi to compare, but I dare say that Planetes takes one of the top spots on the anime sci-fi ranks.

What if our space got congested like that?

Planetes (Greek for “Wanderers”) is a story about trash collectors. The major setting of the plot involves space debris and the lives of people who collect and dispose of the various items that may cause collisions in space travel. Imagine flying through space, and a piece of debris the size of a screw, travelling at a relative speed of 8 kilometres per second. The impact from that collision is definitely not a pretty sight. Planetes follows the lives of the Debris Section of the Technora Corporation, an orbit-bound space development company.

Instead of pursuing a bread-and-butter action adventure, we get to see the daily routines of a space crew. By this time, living in space has become commonplace, with certain areas having artificial gravity generated by centrifugal force. They work, play and dine there; they even have lottery tickets! The amount of detail and realism involved is Planetes goes beyond the plot, but also in its delivery.

In space, no one can hear you creep up behind them.

Scenes in zero-gravity were animated with a higher frame rate to create a smoother sense of drifting. Scenes in vacuum are completely silent, with the exception of radio-chatter and background music. Traditionally, silence in space would be much scorned upon as lacking the dramatic experience of having sound. Planetes takes this old belief and tosses it out the airlock, so to speak.

Scenes that are completely silent creates unpredictable situations and heightened tension. You can’t tell if any danger is approaching, or which way it is coming from. You can’t tell if the robot arm has gripped on the target, you can’t tell if your craft has made contact, and you are forced to depend on other senses. In other words, you feel closer to what real astronauts feel when they work in space.

Crash and burn!

Interestingly, the story progresses from a simple slice-of-life to an intense struggle between life and death, as cunning terrorists attempt to cause a major debris disaster by hijacking a huge exploration spaceship and threaten to crash it into a lunar city (yes, they have cities on the Moon). Various plot twists lead to an amazing display of courage and desperation. The chemistry between the major characters is definitely one of the hallmarks of Planetes. Office politics, office romance and family bonds play big roles throughout the entire series.

The music is Planetes is perhaps the one thing I love the most about it. Nakagawa Koutarou composed most of the epic score, and my favourite piece of the entire soundtrack has to be Jupiter Highway, as it is surely the track that defines mood and feel of the entire series. Hitomi lent her vocals in a few insert songs, namely Secret of the Moon and Planetes (similar to the series titles). For the younger (and more mainstream) anime fans, you might remember Hitomi singing Innocent Days, the memorable insert song from Code Geass.

T-shirts and jeans are the things to wear, everywhere - even in space!

Planetes is definitely one of the best space sci-fi to ever get animated, and it is something a true anime lover should never ever miss. The realism and drama will draw you in so much that you might just finish all 26 episodes in one sitting. I insist that you watch this show if you haven’t. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again!

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