Planetes and the Night Sky

Throughout the course of Planetes, Hachimaki and his companions have pursued a variety of paths to find meaning and purpose in the face of oblivion. The simultaneous grandeur and mundanity of their labor has framed this task in sharper terms than for most; collecting garbage while spotlit against the infinite nothingness of space, it becomes hard to forget your own ultimate irrelevance. You are a speck in a universe that cares nothing for you, that cannot even recognize your presence within its all-enveloping emptiness. Against this backdrop of existential insignificance, they pick up trash and put it somewhere else, certain only that their labors will never end so long as human ambition endures. They are as ants scurrying between the footsteps of gods, but unlike ants, they are burdened with the capacity to desire meaning, purpose, and love.

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Planetes and the Dignity of Garbage Collection

Planetes’ fourth volume begins with an accounting of our heroes’ trials, all framed in relation to the profession that once united them. Hachimaki is en route to Jupiter, “committed to never again collect garbage in space.” Tanabe is now Mrs. Hoshino, and “currently collects garbage in space.” Fee “might be sick and tired of commanding a team that collects garbage and space.” And the thoughtful, quiet Yuri seems content with his lot, and “will perhaps always collect garbage in space.”

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Planetes and Ordinary Happiness

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to stare up at the stars, secure and certain of your place within their grand design? To not see the cosmos as a sprawling reflection of all the opportunities you’re conceding, all the moments you’re wasting with every second not harnessed to your true purpose? To truly know who and what you are, your current self and your ultimate intended function? In a universe as vast as our own, the idea that each of us has some destiny that we must seek, some specific route that was made for us among the countless potential paths we might tread, feels more like a hopeless lament than a call to action. And yet some truly do seem to have found their calling, treading confidently forward with certainty at their side.

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Planetes and the Great Man’s Shadow

Planetes’ second volume describes the allure of conquering space in familiar terms, as it sets the stage for protagonist Hachimaki’s attempts to join the first manned voyage to Jupiter. Its synopsis opens with “in the history of space travel, many great men have forged the way into great frontiers, and many great men have died so that others may continue further into the great reaches of space.” It goes on to describe Hachimaki’s dream of traveling to Jupiter and joining this hallowed pantheon, but its frame of reference for history and society is already set by those first few words. Though Planetes is about many things, in its second volume, it could perhaps most clearly be described as a story about the mythology of the Great Man.

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The Dream and the Dark – Planetes, Volume 1

The first image of Makoto Yukimura’s Planetes features protagonist Hachimaki in a bulky space suit, staring up at nothing, standing on nothing. The earth lies vast and silent beneath him, but his eyes are drawn upwards, towards something we cannot see. Without the earth in frame, the scene would feel almost peaceful; in light of its presence, Hachimaki seems terribly vulnerable, as if he’s suspended on a glass surface over an endless abyss. The shot is likely Planetes’ most defining image; a composition that simultaneously conveys the vastness of space, our fragility as we hang in its grasp, and the mundanity of turning this inspiring, terrifying expanse into your garbage removal workspace.

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Planetes – Episode 26

Planetes’ final episode is one long goodbye to all the people we’ve come to know. There’s virtually no conflict in this episode – as a series of arrivals and departures and long-awaited meetings, it feels more like a family reunion than a space drama. It’s bittersweet, as everything in life tends to be. It offers as much hope as a show like Planetes could hope to give.

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Planetes – Episode 25

Planetes’ penultimate episode is called “The Lost,” and opens with the voice of our friend Locksmith reading off a list of unfamiliar names. Given the title, I initially figured these were the people lost in the battle against the SDF. But as it turns out, we don’t really care about those names – instead, this was the list of crewmates who’d actually made the cut. Six months after the SDF’s attack, Hachimaki has succeeded in his dream, and is one of the final eighteen headed to Jupiter. But instead of exulting in victory, Hachimaki seems distant. Empty.

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Planetes – Episode 24

The minutes tick by, SDF agents steering humanity’s “future” towards the Sea of Tranquility City. Suspended in darkness between the earth and moon, the Von Braun has never looked so fragile. At a time like this, it’s easy to forget the human cost of such a grand, breathtaking achievement. A million lives lost is a crime too vast for us to conceive of, while monuments are easy to believe in. A symbol can mean more than any number of innocents.

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Planetes – Episode 23

Planete’s twenty-third episode is one steady build to a long-awaited explosion. Early scenes reveal the SDF meddling with INTO’s broadcast satellites, putting us in their own leadership’s perspective for the first time. From a vague threat or thematic counterbalance, the SDF have become one of the principal actors in Planetes, touting a philosophy that the show may actually agree with more than any other. Though their overt rhetoric leans towards apocalyptic nonsense and naive environmentalism, everything we’ve learned about their actual members indicates they’re simply fighting back against INTO’s global hegemony in the only way they can.

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Planetes – Episode 22

Continuing with Planetes’ cheekily appropriate episode titles, episode twenty-two is called “Exposure.” Though you might initially assume that refers to exposure in a “safety in space travel” sense, it becomes clears throughout this episode that they’re referring specifically to a camera’s exposure. Gigalt literally gifts Hachimaki a camera containing his final teaching, and physical motifs aside, the idea of exposure guides the drama of this episode.

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