Planetes.

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Planetes. (2004, Tokyopop)

English language

Published Jan. 6, 2004 by Tokyopop.

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3 stars (1 review)

Hachimaki wants nothing more than to join a mission to Jupiter and be one of the first men to travel that far into the solar system. A group of environmentalists is protesting the further exploitation of space, however, and when the clash gets deadly, Hachimaki is caught in the middle.

11 editions

reviewed Planetes by Makoto Yukimura

Bad science, odd characters

3 stars

This tries to do the »hard SF« thing, and fails. It tries to combine space debris with Earth-bound garbage collectors, and throws out orbital mechanics at the very start. That’s not the only example.

When Hachimaki actually gets any kind of character, i found it rather off-putting. »Space, space, space. No love. I must land on Jupiter (!) to get money. Nothing else matters!«

Also, the ship’s name, »von Braun« (or, going by the Uniforms, »VON BROWN«. Ugh. They had to pick the literal Nazi. »›Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down. That’s not my department.‹ says Wernher von Braun.« »›Maybe I’m just like him (von Braun). Some people will do anything to get into space.‹« Well, don’t be that way! But in the manga that’s it. End of discussion. He is that way. Just like the Nazi. (That is from volume 2, but meh, whatever)

Subjects

  • Space debris -- Fiction.
  • Interplanetary voyages -- Fiction.
  • Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.