Planetes, Volume 1

Three space debris clean-up workers, one of whom lost his wife tragically, one of whom is an ambitious young man, and one of whom becomes a hero because she very very much wants to smoke a cigarette, try to figure out what they want out of life (at least the first two do; the woman has a family back on Earth and seems to know exactly what she wants) and struggle with the constant physical dangers of space. There was a fair amount about the Meaning of Life and the virtue of Striving, but this manga wasn’t for me. ( )

Planetes is a manga for those who like a healthy portion of science in their science fiction. It is a well written story with engaging characters and a pleasingly scientifically accurate depiction of what space travel in the future might be like. ( )

I loved this manga. its a great read that is more adult than the typical manga available in the US. The characters are more than just lovestruck teenagers. ( )

Planetes is a perfect hard science fiction entry into a manga market which seems to be overcrowded with absurdist comedies and romance books. Set ine 2074 this book tells the tale of a crew of astronauts who orbit the Earth collecting all the junk humanity has managed to place in orbit. Through these tales Yukimura manages to find the right balance between action and character to keep the story moving while quickly building the characters into three-dimensional, if perhaps a bit cliched, characters. If I have one complaint about this book it is that besides Fee (one of the main characters) I have trouble telling female characters apart as they all seem to have the same face. Still, even with this, it is nice to have some hard science fiction to enjoy in manga format as this is the genre which brought me to anime in the first place. ( )