There are a lot of anime shows based in space.  From Robotech to Mobile Suit Gundam space based SF fantasies are a mainstay of anime.  They are a lot of fun and I enjoy them, but sometimes it is hard to suspend your disbelief.  They often blatantly ignore the rules of physics in order to make the show more exciting.  Bandai's newest release is an anime show that doesn't bend the rules though.  As a matter of fact, a lot of the tension and suspense comes from the fact that physics does still work in space.  The first volume of Planetes is a great relief to those of us who are getting just a tad tired of unrealistic space shows.  With a firm grounding in reality and solid scripts, this promises to be one of the best releases of the year.

Ai Tanabe has finally achieved her dream of working in space.  Though she was at the bottom of her class and has no special skills, she somehow managed to swing an assignment on her companies space station.  When she gets there though Tanabe discovers that she's been assigned to Debris Section, know throughout the station as Half Section because they only have half the workers they need, the lowest rung on the company ladder.  They are people responsible for collecting space junk that may be dangerous to other space vehicles and satellites.

Though their offices are in the basement in an old storage container, and the manager and second in command are idiots, Tanabe is excited about her new position and filled with youthful enthusiasm.  In addition to her two bosses Ai works with several people.  Hachimaki is her partner, a young man who desperately wants to own his own space ship, and teaches Tanabe how to work out in space.  Fee Carmichael is the tough female pilot of the spaceship they use, the 30 year old Toy Box and Yuri is her first mate.  The Debris Section is rounded out by Edelgard a temp worker who doesn't say much and does all of the paper work for the section.

The work they do is hard, very dangerous, they don't have an appropriate budget, and everyone treats them poorly since they are just garbage men.  But the job is also important and saves lives, so Tanabe gets a lot of job satisfaction.

The show starts off as Tanabe arrives on the space station and is shocked to find out how slovenly her work mates are.  Her supervisor spends all of his time practicing magic tricks for the next company banquet, and the manager of the section just sits around and eats.  Hachimaki walks around without any pants on, and Fee spends all of her time in a converted glove box smoking since she can't smoke in the station itself.

Tanabe thought that people working in space, the final frontier, would be bold and noble explorers, people risking their lives so that the Earth could be a peaceful place.  She wasn't expecting a bunch of disillusioned people working for the man.  She's not about to turn out that way herself either, not if she can help it.

However Tanabe starts to learn that things aren't as noble as she imagined.  When they have to push a peace memorial into the atmosphere so it doesn't hit a weapons satellite, she's appalled until she learns that the plaque is nothing more than one sided propaganda.  As the shows on this disc progress, Tanabe comes to see the world in a more realistic light.

This is a very good series, and a welcome change from some of the more fantastic SF anime that seem to populate the DVD shelves in stores.  This show is firmly grounded in reality.  Objects have inertia and mass, you have to be sure to apply a force through an object's center of mass if you don't want it spinning around, and there is no sound in space.  It was actually fairly dramatic to see rockets fire and flames leap from them without a whisper of sound.

The shows actually have a fair amount of tension in them too.  The job is dangerous, and a moving arm on a satellite or a severed cable and be deadly if not handled correctly.  The collection of the debris is more complicated than it sounds and brings a lot of suspense to the program.

Planetes also has its share of humor too.  The episode where insurance salesman descend on the satellite during the companies open enrollment had me laughing.  It makes me thankful that I just get several trees worth of brochures in the mail when that time rolls around here.  The first time Tanabe meets Hachimaki who is only wearing the top half of a space suit and a diaper is also good for some chuckles, especially the ending of the scene.

Overall, this is a more mature anime.  Not because of violence or sexual themes, there isn't much of that, but because it is grounded in reality.  There aren't huge mecha to create "oh wow!" situations so the creators had to rely on quality scripts instead.

This two disc set comes in a great looking single width case.  The cover to the case itself has a wrap around space scene on it, but the back doesn't have the usual series blurb.  That is reserved for the clear slip that goes over the keepcase.  It's a nice design and works well.

Audio:

This disc features the original Japanese soundtrack and an English dub, both in stereo surround sound.  I alternated soundtracks while watching the show, which I always do, and enjoyed both of them equally.  The English dub was very good, with the voice actors giving good performances.  They brought their characters to life without overacting or using fake accents.

The audio quality was very good.  The dialog was clean and the more subtle sound effects came through fine.  The sounds of the astronauts breathing in their suits were clear as were the engine sounds and background noises.  Overall a nice sounding disc.

Video:

The anamorphic enhanced widescreen (1.78:1) video looked excellent.  The lines were tight and the colors were bright and strong.  The show has a lot of fine details that come through well.  The clouds of Earth as seen from space and the plates that form Space Station 7 are all reproduced wonderfully.  The backgrounds have a lot of shading but banding wasn't a problem at all.  Other digital defects were also nonexistent.  Aliasing and blocking weren't to be found.  A really nice looking disc.

Extras:

There were a good amount of bonus material just about all or which are on the second disc.  The only extra on the first disc is the Japanese director and voice actor commentary track to the first episode.  This is in Japanese, of course, with English subtitles.   Everyone who is commenting is drinking, as they freely admit, and it's a fairly humorous track.  The only problem is that it's hard to find.  Instead of being in the audio options sub menu or the extras menu (there isn't one on disc one) it is located on the scene selection menu for disc one.  A rather strange place to put it.

Disc two has:

NASA Interview: This ten minute featurette has interviews with NASA officials who discuss space debris, how much is there, and how it is tracked.  Space buffs like myself will enjoy this, though some viewers may find it a little dry.

Orbital Debris Gallery: A series of pictures of debris that has survived reentry and has landed on earth, as well as some computer simulations of how much debris is in space.

ADR Director Interview: There is an 11-minute interview with the ADR director for the series.  After relating how he became an ADR director, he discussed the series: what he thought about the show, how he prepares for the show, and the challenges of adapting a script into English.

English Cast Interviews: Kirk Thornton (Hachimaki) and Julie Ann Taylor (Tanabe) share their thoughts on the show and their characters.  Some of the questions are a little bit on the stupid side ("Has Planetes given you any new insights about space?") but the interviews were generally good.

Two Audio Dramas: These are basically scenes that weren't animated for the show that the voice actors play out to still pictures.  Both of these are 3 to 3½ minutes long and are fairly entertaining.

There is also a trailer to the show and a series of trailers for other Bandai DVDs.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this disc.  The animation was excellent, the sound and video quality good and it is one of the most extra filled volumes that I can recall.  Above that though is the strong scripts and the close ties to reality.  While I don't think many people believe that giant mechas will be fighting in space ever, something like this series could happen.  The fact that they pay attention to the scientific realities of space gives the show a solid grounding that really enhances the overall quality.  If you are tired of epic space battles and over the top humor,  (and don't we all tire of that occasionally?) This is the show for you.  Highly Recommended.