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18 February 2016 1 Comment

Planetes, Omnibus 1

Planetes, Omnibus 1Creator: Makoto Yukimura
U.S. publisher: Dark Horse
ISBN: 9781616559212
Released: December 2015
Original release: 2001-2003
Awards: Seiun Award

Makoto Yukimura’s Planetes, a realistic, near-future science fiction manga series about space exploration and development, was originally released in English by Tokyopop. It’s a great series, and one that I’ve made a point to hold onto over the years. I was very pleased to learn that the manga was going to be brought back into print by Dark Horse—this time in a larger trim size, with more of the color pages, and with artwork that has been better reproduced. Dark Horse’s edition of Planetes consists of two omnibus volumes and it’s production quality makes it well-worth the upgrade. The first omnibus, released in 2015, contains the first and second volumes of the original Japanese edition as well as a small part of the third volume, which were published between 2001 and 2003. In 2002, Planetes earned Yukimura a Seiun Award for best manga. Planetes was also adapted into an anime which happens to be one of my favorite and most frequently rewatched series.

The year is 2074. Humankind has established numerous bases on the moon and has sent multiple expeditions to Mars. The next major goal in space exploration is to successfully man a mission to Jupiter in the hopes of harnessing the planet’s resources to support the ever-increasing energy needs of the solar system’s human populations. However, with the continued development of space comes a significant problem—the creation of vast amounts of waste. Junked and outdated satellites, exhausted fuel cells, and other debris orbit the Earth, endangering the lives of anyone who would attempt to leave the atmosphere. Hachimaki is a debris hauler, one of the unsung heroes who makes space travel possible. Along with the rest of the crew of the Toy Box, a decades-old ship that’s falling apart itself, Hachimaki either retrieves the debris drifting in space or drops it into the atmosphere to burn. It’s important and demanding work, not to mention dangerous, but the thankless job rarely receives any recognition.

Planetes, Omnibus 1, page 93Planetes is a manga about many different things—scientific progress, socioeconomic tensions, geopolitical discourse, and so on—but more importantly it’s a series about many different kinds of people. It’s about the dreamers who are inspired and compelled to reach for the stars, the scientists and engineers who are focused on advancing technology above all else, the medical researchers who are developing treatments and cures for space-caused disorders, and the people for whom leaving Earth is simply a way of making a living. But it’s also about all of the loved ones the spacefarers leave behind, the families and friends who can do little but hope and wait for their safe return. While incorporating into the story all of the basic, mundane, and day-to-day requirements necessary for life in space, Planetes explores the complex human relationships that support and make that life possible.

Planetes spends a fair amount of time delving tin the psyches of its characters. This is most obvious with the manga’s treatment of Hachimaki, who goes through an extreme psychological crisis and transformation after a traumatic accident, but the other characters have their own struggles, too. Their evolving relationships with one another and their changing attitudes towards space are critical components of Planetes, lending an additional sense of realism to the series. Yukimura doesn’t just limit himself to the personal aspects of the characters’ lives in the series, he also addresses wider societal issues and concerns such as inequality, terrorism, and war. It takes a few chapters for Yukimura to fully settle into the tone and art style for the series, but from the very beginning Planetes is an excellent work of science fiction, balancing humor and pathos while maintaining a largely optimistic outlook on the future believably punctuated by some of the harsher realities of life.

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17 January 2011 Leave a Comment

My Week in Manga: January 10-January 16, 2011

My News and Reviews

This week is the Manga Moveable Feast for Karakuri Odette, hosted by Anna at Manga Report. I’ll have in-depth review of the first volume up on Wednesday and a related silly something to post on Friday. Technically, today’s post features a quick take of the first five volumes. That means every post this week will have at least a little something to do with Karakuri Odette and the Manga Moveable Feast, so go me! I happen to really like androids and had never read Karakuri Odette before, so I’m particularly interested in seeing what people have to say.

In not-so breaking news, I won a ticket to the Gantz World Premiere event taking place on January 20th! In honor of this, my giveaway for the month will be a brand new copy of the first volume of the Gantz manga. The contest will open next Wednesday, the 26th, and run for a week, so be on the look out.

As for last week, I posted some tips on effectively finding and buying manga at Borders—Finding Manga: Borders. I love Borders and really hope they’re able to pull through their troubles. I’m doing my part by buying lots of stuff from them, manga and otherwise. I also posted a review of a financial thriller that takes place in Tokyo, At the Sharpe End, which was sent to me by the author Hugh Ashton.

Quick Takes

Beyond My Touch by Tomo Maeda. I was a little surprised by how much I enjoyed Beyond My Touch. The volume collects three stories, all with a sort of melancholy feel to them. The titular story was probably my favorite. A young man is haunted by the ghost of a recently deceased classmate and discovers just how alone he was before. Maeda could have gone for the tragically sad ending, but instead goes for a more bittersweet one. What could have simply been silly and goofy was actually rather touching. I wasn’t quite as fond of the second two, shorter stories (“Cool Lips” and “Recipe”), although I did enjoy them as well. It’s a cute collection.

Crying Freeman, Volumes 1-5 written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami. Yo Hinamura is the world’s greatest assassin and as the appointed heir to the criminal syndicated known as the 108 Dragons, there are plenty of people after his and his loved ones’ lives. For some inexplicable reason, all fights apparently must be conducted either nearly or completely in the nude. But Ikegami’s bodies are gorgeous and his fight scenes beautiful, so I must say I’m not going to complain too much (at least about that). The large tattoos that cover many of the characters are stunning and intricate I don’t envy Ikegami having to illustrate them panel after panel.

Deadman Wonderland, Volume 1 written by Jinsei Kataoka and illustrated by Kazuma Kondou. I haven’t heard much about Deadman Wonderland and don’t remember why I picked it up, but I’m glad that I did—this was another manga that I was surprised by how much I liked it. Ganta is a survivor of the Great Tokyo Earthquake which sank 70% of the city. Ten years later, he’s the only suspect in the massacre of his middle school class and is sentenced to Deadman Wonderland, a privately owned detention facility cum violently bizarre theme park. I have no idea what is really going on at this point (granted, neither does Ganta), but I want to know!

Karakuri Odette, Volumes 1-5 by Julietta Suzuki. Perhaps surprisingly, Odette is actually not my favorite character in Karakuri Odette. That honor probably goes to either Professor Yoshizawa or Chris and I liked the story best when at least one of them was around. Although, Asao is pretty great, too. I found that I enjoyed the heavier science fiction aspects of the series than I did the school life aspects, but overall the series is quite charming. My biggest complaint about Karakuri Odette is that characters seem to be introduced only to disappear (and sometimes reappear) with very little justification. Still, I like the series and look forward to the final volume.

Seven by Momoko Tenzen. Separated after the orphanage they were institutionalized in burned down, Mitsuha has been unsuccessfully searching for his younger brother for years when he meets a young man with an eerily similar background and name. Meanwhile, his brother has his own reasons for not reaching out to find his older brother. The most interesting aspects of the manga, the mysterious backgrounds of several of the characters, are actually only hinted at and mostly left up to the imagination. The dialogue can be a bit difficult to follow at times and it’s not always clear who is speaking. Overall though, I did like the general atmosphere of the manga.

Hula Girls directed by Lee Sang-il. Based on a true story and winner of quite a few film awards, Hula Girls is heartfelt and inspiring. I first learned about the film because ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro (who I am a huge fan of) was responsible for most of the music and soundtrack. A small mining town in rural Japan is slowly dying as the world turns away from coal to embrace oil. The company initiates a plan to build a Hawaiian themed spa in an attempt to keep at least some of the workers employed. They face adversity, and most of the town is against the retreat, but the coal miners’ daughters pour their hearts and souls into the project.

Planetes: Complete Collection,  directed by Gorō Taniguchi. Many of the things and moments that I loved from the manga were absent from the anime, but the animated series has its own charms. The two start out very similar, but the ending of the anime is quite different and more thoroughly explores aspects of the Planetes universe that the manga only touches on. The manga and the anime complement each other nicely and are different enough that it’s hard to say which I prefer. If I had to choose, I would probably say the anime, but I really liked them both. Planetes is great, believable, near future science fiction with plenty realism and a lot of heart.

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10 January 2011 2 Comments

My Week in Manga: January 3-January 9, 2011

My News and Reviews

Not much news from me this week, but I did post my first in-depth manga review for January—Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 2. I enjoyed the first volume of the series, but the second volume is even better. I also posted the Bookshelf Overload for December 2010 which features my New Year’s resolution in addition to the absurd amount of manga I’ve recently managed to acquire. Finally, I’m getting ready for next week’s Manga Moveable Feast hosted by Anna at Manga Report and featuring Karakuri Odette by Julietta Suzuki. I plan on writing an in-depth review for the first volume as well as posting some random musings about androids because, well, I like androids. I’m looking forward to seeing what others have to say about the series, too.

Quick Takes

Cat Paradise, Volumes 3-5 by Yuji Iwahara. So, the plot might get a little convoluted and difficult to follow, and there are plenty of info dumps, but Cat Paradise is still great fun and I really enjoyed it. One of the greatest things about the manga are the cats. Each one is an individual and has their own unique look and personality. Their owners/partners, too, have some great character designs. Most of the pairs have some interesting backstories that are at least hinted at if not fully explored, but the plot gets caught up pretty quickly in the action and fighting. I did see some of the plot twists coming long before they were revealed, but there were some nice surprises as well.

From Up Above by Sakuya Kurekoshi. From Up Above was originally intended to be an ongoing series, but as far as I can tell only this first volume was ever published. It’s a nice setup, but unfortunately it doesn’t work very well on its own; many of the story elements introduced simply don’t have enough time to be thoroughly developed. I found that I was filling in a lot of the plot on my own rather than strictly depending on the information Kurekoshi was providing. I like the supernatural components of the story and I’ve always been fond of human incarnations of natural forces, but From Up Above isn’t quite able to pull it off in one volume.

Old Boy, Volumes 1-8 written by Garon Tsuchiya and illustrated by Nobuaki Minegishi. I watched the film adaptation of Old Boy before I even knew it was based on a manga series. I was very excited when Dark Horse licensed the series which then went on to win an Eisner Award in 2007. Very little violence is actually seen, instead the intense mood comes from the psychological anguish the characters experience. Minegishi’s art fits the tone of the story fantastically well. Much of the story is the characters internally confronting and searching their minds, so panel after panel may pass by without even a hint of dialogue but the art is engaging and up to the task. 

Planetes, Volumes 1-4 by Makoto Yukimura. While technically a four volume series, the fourth collection was actually split into two books for the English edition. The realism and research put into the writing of Planetes is fantastic and it extends beyond technology to the human elements of living and working in space as well. I’m a big fan of science fiction to begin with, but I particularly enjoyed Yukimura’s approach in presenting a feasible near future. I did find the storytelling to be a bit disjointed moving from chapter to chapter but I really liked the characters even if their development was a bit bumpy. Although Planetes is hard science fiction, the family and interpersonal relationships are critical to the story.

You and Harujion by Keiko Kinoshita. There’s a sort of melancholy feel to most of the story and the light, scratchy artwork captures the mood well. However, the ending seems forced to me and the sudden change in the characters’ relationship was abrupt, almost as if Kinoshita suddenly remembered that it was supposed to be a boys’ love work after all. But before that, Senoh working through his thoughts a feelings regarding Harujion was actually handled quite well. He wants to be an important person in the teen’s life and is honestly and genuinely concerned for the boy’s well-being. Harujion, who has lost both of his parents and is faced with his father’s debts after his death, needs someone close.

GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka, Episodes 35-43 directed by Noriyuki Abe and Naoyasu Hanyu. I have now read through the GTO manga series once and watched the anime twice. While I ultimately probably prefer the manga, I really enjoy the anime as well. Some stories are unique to the anime and others have been modified from the original, but they all exhibit the spirit of GTO. Granted, some of the more extreme antics from the manga have been toned down for the anime. The final two episodes of the series seem to come out of nowhere but they tie up everything pretty nicely. The story ends in an entirely different way than the manga but it works even if it is a bit sudden.

Oldboy directed by Park Chan-wook. While Oldboy isn’t my favorite of Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, it is still a fantastic film. I had seen the movie once before, so I wasn’t taken by surprise by some of the major plot twists that are thrown in. However, I was still able to thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the work. The basic premise is the same as that of the manga, although the ultimate reason behind the protagonist’s imprisonment is different. Despite the amount of action and violence involved in the film adaptation, the story is still primarily one huge mind game that is slowly and methodically revealed.

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