Every once in a while a series takes you by surprise, turning out to be much better than it has any right to be.  Planetes is one such show.  This program about garbage collectors in space doesn't have giant robots or laser battles, instead it's filled with real people dealing with realistic problems.  With excellent scripts and high quality animation, this is a series that anime fans should check out.

Series synopsis:

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 and half the budget they need to get the job done.  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.

This Volume:

The disc starts off with a touching episode about a new space suit prototype.  A small company from a third world country that's suffering through a lot of social unrest has managed to create a new type of EVA outfit.  The suit is really ugly to look at, but it has some unique features that are rather innovative.   The problem is that the suit has never passed the international testing protocalls, and without that, no one will look at it.  Hachimaki, in order to prevent Ai from going out with a cute guy, volunteers the members of half section to help test the new suit.

Next up is a light hearted episodes were Fee is having a tough time.  All she wants to do is step out for a smoke, but The Space Defense Front, a group of terrorists who want Earth to stop space exploration, has blown up the nearest smoking room.  And the others in her sector have been closed.  With automatic sprinklers installed in all of the bathrooms she just can't catch a break.  After a few days she's having the mother of all nicotine fits.  Woe be to any terrorist that gets in her way now.

After what happens with Fee, her nicotine fits, and Toy Box, the members of Half Sector are forced to take a vacation.   Hachimaki goes home to his mother's on Earth, with Tanabe and Yuri tagging alone for good measure.  There they meet Hachimaki's younger brother, Kyutaro, who has some big plans for himself.  Yuri isn't sure what to do with his life now.  Since he found what he was looking for in space, (see the previous volume) there's really not much reason for him to return.  Ai and Hachimaki spend some time alone on the beach and grow a little closer.

The final episode has the crew back in space once again, and Hachimaki has decided to get serious with Ai, but then the office manager announces a new policy that forbids inter-office dating.  How will this effect the budding romance?

This is another excellent volume.  They mix in the right amount of humor and drama with a good dose of sincere emotion.  The stories, though they take place in space, really ring true.  On top of that the animation is excellent.  A top-notch series.

This two disc set contains the next four episodes in the series and 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 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:

Like the previous volume, there is a really nice selection of bonus material included on the second DVD.  This time there are parts 4 and 5 of the audio drama, the third part of the NASA interview that I really enjoyed, and an interview with Wendee Lee who plays Yuri in the English dub. There are also a pair of art galleries, one for space craft and EVA suits featured in the show, and another for covers.  A nice set of bonus material.

Final Thoughts:

This series continues to impress.  The scientifically accurate (I still love the fact that the don't' have sound in space) and realistic stories are very entertaining and engrossing.  This show builds on itself, making the characters more three dimensional as it goes, and really is an excellent program.  This series is Highly Recommended.