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Planetes #4.2
Planetes, Book 4.2
*A Sci-Fi drama that explores the boundaries of human relationships *"Compelling and realistic... recommended for all collections and especially for teen and adult fans of Alita and Cowboy Bebop." -Library Journal *"As hard science fiction, and as human drama, Planetes is a manga at the peak." -Scott Green, Aint-It-Cool-News.com *"Planetes Vol. 1...got me first interested in science-fiction at a young age. Planetes is not one that you want to miss. I absolutely cannot wait for the next volumes of Yukimura's masterpiece." -Greg McElhatton, iCOMICS.com
Fee decides to spend more time with her family and questions whether she'll ever return to space. 500 million miles away, Hachimaki is at the threshold of a new era for mankind as the crew of the Von Braun finally reach Jupiter. Back on Earth, the engineer of the Jupiter Mission, Weiner Locksmith, becomes haunted by the deaths of all those who lost their lives in pursuit of his vision.
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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93 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 5, 2018
The end of the series.
When I asked for Manga recommendations week or so ago I expected a lot of things, weird and unusual things but I didn't expect this. What I found strange is that this series isn't strange at all. It's atmospheric, slow burning sci-fi drama without any action, only dialogues and monologs, some real science behind it all.
There where few cheesy moment but I'm willing to look past them and give 5 stars to whole series.
When I asked for Manga recommendations week or so ago I expected a lot of things, weird and unusual things but I didn't expect this. What I found strange is that this series isn't strange at all. It's atmospheric, slow burning sci-fi drama without any action, only dialogues and monologs, some real science behind it all.
There where few cheesy moment but I'm willing to look past them and give 5 stars to whole series.
June 13, 2019
I knew I loved this series already from watching the anime (the manga is imo equally as good). What stayed with me is how off its near-future predictions already are when it comes to technological progress and especially environmental efforts. And it's not even a particularly idealistic/utopian story. Kinda puts things into perspective in a worrying way.
July 16, 2022
I wish the Wikipedia article on this series had more information on the publication history of the manga, because after reading this final volume I’m left wondering if things were cut short somehow. Yes, there is an ending, but it feels like it’s mainly a thematic one and doesn’t really handle some of the big story questions very well.
To elaborate, after the previous volume it felt like Fee’s issues with the government were going to be a big plot and there was still the question of when we’d see the Jupiter mission. The first three chapters of this continue Fee’s quest to stop the orbital mines and end the war, but in the end her quest is unsuccessful and she ends up quitting to live on Earth full time. Which isn’t necessarily bad as a character arc, and the exploration of her uncle is kind of interesting, but after a long time of being focused on cleaning space debris and avoiding Kessler Syndrome, it seems like it’s finally happened and the story doesn’t have much to say about it. How is this going to impact space exploration? What does the Earth war mean for the people on the Jupiter mission? It’s great that Fee’s family has their fiftieth dog, but what’s going on with the world as a whole?
And then the final two chapters finally show the Jupiter mission, but even then things manage to disappoint. The core ideas aren’t bad - first, Hachi is making a sort of documentary of a day in the life of the crew on their way to Jupiter, and then he’s charged with giving a speech when they arrive that’s broadcast to the whole world. I like the idea of seeing how the crew copes with not having much to do during the journey out, and I especially liked how the captain gets worked up to the point of an ulcer trying to find the perfect first words, something that will stand alongside Neil Armstrong on the moon. Hachi’s speech about how he’s realized the importance of human connections and how he plans to go back to collecting garbage when he comes home is a nice thematic capper to the series.
But the problem is not so much the content of these last chapters as the fact that they are the last. After 4 volumes of buildup, with so much time spent with Hachimaki training for the Jupiter mission and all the angst, I’m frustrated that we don’t actually see things in action - instead the series ends the moment we get to Jupiter. I feel like in general there hasn’t been enough space stuff, and I’ve sometimes liked the character arcs but not always. My understanding of the series was that it would be focused on space garbagemen, and that’s technically accurate, but I’ve found myself disappointed by the lack of space garbage pickup. I think my other problem is that this ending would work as the ending of the first part of the story, but as an end to things as a whole it just doesn’t work for me.
So overall I feel like Planetes had a lot of interesting ideas but it was let down by the execution and pacing. I enjoyed some parts of it and some of the characters, but generally the stuff I was interested in was what wasn’t focused on. And reading the whole thing hasn’t taken up a huge amount of my time, but in retrospect I probably got all the stuff I really wanted from the series with the first few chapters, so I could have stopped there. I’m vaguely curious about the anime adaptation, but since that’s not easy to get ahold of, I don’t know if I’ll try tracking it down, and I feel fairly safe in saying I won’t feel the need to revisit the manga any time soon.
To elaborate, after the previous volume it felt like Fee’s issues with the government were going to be a big plot and there was still the question of when we’d see the Jupiter mission. The first three chapters of this continue Fee’s quest to stop the orbital mines and end the war, but in the end her quest is unsuccessful and she ends up quitting to live on Earth full time. Which isn’t necessarily bad as a character arc, and the exploration of her uncle is kind of interesting, but after a long time of being focused on cleaning space debris and avoiding Kessler Syndrome, it seems like it’s finally happened and the story doesn’t have much to say about it. How is this going to impact space exploration? What does the Earth war mean for the people on the Jupiter mission? It’s great that Fee’s family has their fiftieth dog, but what’s going on with the world as a whole?
And then the final two chapters finally show the Jupiter mission, but even then things manage to disappoint. The core ideas aren’t bad - first, Hachi is making a sort of documentary of a day in the life of the crew on their way to Jupiter, and then he’s charged with giving a speech when they arrive that’s broadcast to the whole world. I like the idea of seeing how the crew copes with not having much to do during the journey out, and I especially liked how the captain gets worked up to the point of an ulcer trying to find the perfect first words, something that will stand alongside Neil Armstrong on the moon. Hachi’s speech about how he’s realized the importance of human connections and how he plans to go back to collecting garbage when he comes home is a nice thematic capper to the series.
But the problem is not so much the content of these last chapters as the fact that they are the last. After 4 volumes of buildup, with so much time spent with Hachimaki training for the Jupiter mission and all the angst, I’m frustrated that we don’t actually see things in action - instead the series ends the moment we get to Jupiter. I feel like in general there hasn’t been enough space stuff, and I’ve sometimes liked the character arcs but not always. My understanding of the series was that it would be focused on space garbagemen, and that’s technically accurate, but I’ve found myself disappointed by the lack of space garbage pickup. I think my other problem is that this ending would work as the ending of the first part of the story, but as an end to things as a whole it just doesn’t work for me.
So overall I feel like Planetes had a lot of interesting ideas but it was let down by the execution and pacing. I enjoyed some parts of it and some of the characters, but generally the stuff I was interested in was what wasn’t focused on. And reading the whole thing hasn’t taken up a huge amount of my time, but in retrospect I probably got all the stuff I really wanted from the series with the first few chapters, so I could have stopped there. I’m vaguely curious about the anime adaptation, but since that’s not easy to get ahold of, I don’t know if I’ll try tracking it down, and I feel fairly safe in saying I won’t feel the need to revisit the manga any time soon.
February 6, 2021
I've waited until finishing the whole manga series before leaving any details. The series wasn't entirely what what I was expecting, but that's not a bad thing really. It's very character driven, with lots of personal explorations and flashbacks. I was hoping for something that was a bit more driven by the plot and the challenge of orbital debris cleanup. That element often feels like little more than window dressing... but the art is very nice and improves throughout the series. And the story feels more "international" than just Japanese, which is at it should be when exploring broader humanity's efforts on the solar interplanetary frontier. By the fourth volume (parts A and B) it felt like the artist really pulled things together nicely, striking a nuanced balance of humanity looking both outward and inward.
I may re-read it at some point and my view may differ now that I know better what kind of themes to expect. But it was good and I certainly welcome more stories centered around near-future, near-space adventures.
I may re-read it at some point and my view may differ now that I know better what kind of themes to expect. But it was good and I certainly welcome more stories centered around near-future, near-space adventures.
December 25, 2022
That was one incredible ending. I think Hachimaki's ending lines are going to stick with me. The way the story closes on a catastrophe of human greed and the utter amazement at humanity's limitless ambition is phenomenal, I loved how these two have played off each other the entire series and while Planetes doesn't try to offer some all-encompassing solution it does have a satisfying closing to the characters it's trying to portray.
December 26, 2016
I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And i think to myself
What a wonderful world
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And i think to myself
What a wonderful world
September 25, 2018
It ends well.
September 26, 2018
A surprisingly understated finale. It doesn't end in a bang, but with a lot of heart.
October 13, 2019
A rare series that ends as well as it starts.
February 21, 2025
Man this shit broke my heart i loved it so much
March 1, 2010
This is the final volume of Planetes. It wraps everything up. Sort of.
No, really, if I thought this manga series was going somewhere, I was mistaken! Sure, they get to Jupiter. But um.. then, so what? Nothing felt at all wrapped up. But not exactly that there were loose plot threads. Just that characters were doing stuff. And they'll continue to go on doing stuff.
At the end, it felt more like a snapshot of the future than any actual story.
The last dozen pages or so are a timeline, backhistory from the 2000s to the 2070s of the story. It would've been nice to have this around volume 2, if it was going to be included at all. I may have understood a bit better what was going on.
So, just, bleh. Oh, and the typos and random color/non-color starts of chapters continued. Bleh.
No, really, if I thought this manga series was going somewhere, I was mistaken! Sure, they get to Jupiter. But um.. then, so what? Nothing felt at all wrapped up. But not exactly that there were loose plot threads. Just that characters were doing stuff. And they'll continue to go on doing stuff.
At the end, it felt more like a snapshot of the future than any actual story.
The last dozen pages or so are a timeline, backhistory from the 2000s to the 2070s of the story. It would've been nice to have this around volume 2, if it was going to be included at all. I may have understood a bit better what was going on.
So, just, bleh. Oh, and the typos and random color/non-color starts of chapters continued. Bleh.
July 1, 2013
I just finished reading all of Planetes, and I am really impressed. I must preface my endorsement of this manga by noting that space exploration has a special place in my life since my late god-father worked at NASA. Well drawn, exceedingly well paced, and deeply touching, Planetes succeeds at taking what is the most mundane aspect of modern life - trash collection - and showing how it too can be humanizing. I fell in love with the characters and their hopes, and I think that anyone who reads this manga will as well. When I think of truly genre defining art, I will think of Planetes because it has changed how I look at space for the better.
July 16, 2022
To sum up this book: Thoughtfully-written science fiction manga with a great message and an incredible focus on characters and not just crazy plot points like some comics. I found a treasure when I found this book at a thrift store recently. The only sad thing is that I only have this last volume and that I read the ending before I read the other volumes. I am definitely going to try to find the rest of these.
March 24, 2013
Makoto Yukimura finishes his masterful series with a volume that stays true to the lyrical tone of the series. There is no high action or complicated plotting needed when he finishes each character's arch with subtlety and insight. Here's a series I will miss for its refined storytelling and grand ideas. A treat for anyone who ever looks at the night sky with longing.
June 6, 2015
Provavelmente o melhor mangá de sci-fi já escrito.
A arte é incrível.
A maneira como o autor trabalha diversos temas (existencialismo, amor, guerras, família...) desenvolvendo os personagens e costurando tudo produz algo conciso e fantástico.
Altamente recomendado!
"If you can see darkness, you can also, by contrast, see light. It just looks so unfamiliar to you."
A arte é incrível.
A maneira como o autor trabalha diversos temas (existencialismo, amor, guerras, família...) desenvolvendo os personagens e costurando tudo produz algo conciso e fantástico.
Altamente recomendado!
"If you can see darkness, you can also, by contrast, see light. It just looks so unfamiliar to you."
July 17, 2016
If you've never read Manga, this is the series to start with. Great characters, an imaginative storyline, and powerful messages about exploration, humanity, and love encapsulated in man's desire to push the boundaries of space.
October 19, 2008
Ending was not entirely what I wanted or expected.
March 19, 2010
Here, it finally feels like Planetes is getting somewhere again.
January 1, 2015
As much as I love the series and the events that follow through, I hate open-ended endings such as this. Just give me a damn ending, God.
March 24, 2015
supr serija, supr konc,
sevede odmislm d je to manga, ker se še zmerej ne morem čist navadit na ta način risanja
sevede odmislm d je to manga, ker se še zmerej ne morem čist navadit na ta način risanja
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews