Tim J. Beedle
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Original publication in the Spring, 2004 edition of Ramblings. Planetes Anime and manga are usually regarded as two halves of the same coin, and for good reason. Both are forms of visual entertainment that originated in Japan, both often share story subjects (popular manga titles are almost always adapted into anime, and vice versa) and both have steadily crept into the American public's consciousness. You've likely seen some anime. It's everywhere. Hell, one such movie, Spirited Away, deservedly walked off with the Best Animated Film award at last year's Oscars, thus cementing anime's place as an accepted part of Western pop culture. There's a cable channel devoted to anime now. Kids love the stuff. It's easy to be a casual anime fan, because anime itself is hard to avoid. The same can't be said about manga, however. Manga may be anime's fraternal twin, but the two have some pretty big differences. Manga often unfolds over a series of graphic novels, each one priced at around $10. That's a pretty big investment for a story you know nothing about. Manga reviews are less common than anime reviews, and manga critics are often little more than raving otakus (manga and anime fans) who can barely form coherent sentences, let alone say much about the title. A problem with most potential manga readers is that there's so much out there that they simply don't know where to start. Well, you could do a lot worse than Planetes. Written and illustrated by Makoto Yukimura and published by TOKYOPOP, Planetes tells the story of Hachi Hoshino, a young astronaut making his keep in the latter half of the 21st Century as a "debris collector" (which is little more than a garbage man in space), Planetes may be dismissed as a space opera by some--but this isn't Star Wars. Not even close. This is science fiction in the Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clark vein. Hachi may be an astronaut, but in the 2070s, space travel is commonplace. He's a blue collar worker who dreams of being more, and is determined to do whatever it takes to make his mark in a quickly expanding world. Planetes combines human emotion with hard science, creating drama that's both intelligent and moving. Hachi may find himself dealing with engine malfunctions, space sickness and muscle deterioration, but he also must come to terms with a family he rarely sees, a crew he cares about more than he realizes, and the ever growing feeling of loneliness that is common among astronauts. His story is made all the more believable by the excellent cast of supporting characters. One shipmate lost his wife in space (there's a surprisingly emotional subplot involving a compass she gave to him that runs throughout the first volume). Another has a nasty nicotine addiction that proves to be somewhat of a blessing. Hachi's father is a brilliant, yet rather sad sack, astronaut who chose to spend his life in space rather than raising his children. His mother is a firm, but loving, matriarch who has accepted the fact that her husband has put her beloved space before her and both of her sons seem primed to follow in his footsteps. Although this is Hachi's story, all the characters get the spotlight every now and then. Unlike many manga series, Planetes never feels the need to rush. Full spreads are often devoted to lonely shots of space. The adapted dialogue is believable and engaging, yet never over the top. Through art and words, Yukimura manages to believably recreate life in space. Not just its excitement and danger, but its tedium as well, and its temptation. Yukimura realizes that all great explorers are narcissists, their will to accomplish their goal bordering on an obsession. Many of them will stop at nothing to see these goals met. Planetes does have an anime counterpart, but by all accounts it's inferior to the manga. That doesn't surprise me. Great books often fail to make a satisfying transition to the screen because despite common perception, a great book demands to be put down once in awhile, allowing the reader a moment to think about the story and what it's trying to say to us. I found myself putting Planetes down with nearly every chapter, often thinking about how I would fare in Hachi's place. Of course, I picked it right back up again afterwards. |