One of my favorite manga titles
of all time is Planetes by Makoto
Yukimura. This science fiction seinen series does not follow the swashbuckling
adventures of space explorers, but instead follows a small crew of space debris
collectors.
Set in the 2070’s, the world of Planetes has space flight and exploration
fully realized. Just like on Earth, the garbage problem has already reached
space and the smallest of junk hitting a space craft can cause tragic accidents.
Hence the need for debris collectors. And despite the dangers of the job, they unfortunately
are not the most respected kind of astronauts out there. And it is this
seemingly unglamorous and mundane world of the Toy Box’s crew consisting of Hachirota
“Hachimaki” Hoshino, Fee Carmichael, and Yuri Mihairokov.
What I love about this series is the plausible exploration of how world politics and economy and human society have essentially changed once space has been conquered. There aren’t any aliens or other civilizations to meet/fight/conquer in here. Even if the stories are set in outer space, they are still rooted in the human experience. And despite the series wrapping up in 2004, the pressing issues presented in Planetes still feel relevant and very urgent given our current concerns.
Tokyopop released the series in
English in five volumes from 2003-2005. In 2015, Dark Horse acquired
the license and has subsequently released the entire series in two omnibus
volumes. Planetes was also adapted
into a 26 anime series with Bandai Entertainment releasing the DVD’s from 2005-2006.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the more recent Dark Horse releases, they have essentially gone out of print.
Planetes may not have achieved the immense popularity of Naruto or One Piece, but it is still worthwhile to revisit this series once in
a while not just because of nostalgia, but also to see how it holds up throughout
the years.
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