MoTTMBS: PlanetES by Makoto Yukimura
Dec. 10th, 2007 10:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesDay 5: Things that Make Becca Squee
Ooh... okay, so I meant to do this on Friday, but Friday was the holiday party and I was exhausted after that. So, I'm doing it now. So, a Special Sunday Edition of the MoTTMBS. (ETA: This got lost when IJ went down on Sunday -- so repost!)
Friday was supposed to be a grab bag day, but it ended up being "Near-future SF and Steven Brust", since I had two near-future SF titles and two Steven Brust series. Today, I'm talking about PlanetES, a manga by Makoto Yukimura.
This series (and Chrono Crusade) made me realize something. My tolerance for certain types of characters goes up if there's a character I like a lot. I wouldn't like Azmaria from Chrono Crusade as much if she didn't play off of Rosette, who I adore. And I wouldn't like Ai from PlanetES as much if Fee wasn't on the cast.
(See, this is why having many women characters is a good thing. If there's one I like, she'll make me like the others a lot better than if I want to punt the entire female cast (which may be only one person) through the wall.)
Setting and Plot
Most of PlanetES is set in space, with some visits to Japan and the Southeast US. (Another thing to like about the series -- the writer actually handles the multinational cast pretty well) in the 2070s. Humanity has expanded to the Moon and Mars, and the first manned Jupiter mission is being prepared. However most of the series' action takes place in near-Earth orbit, aboard the Toy Box, an orbital debris garbage scow.
Basically, the proliferation of satellites creates a bunch of junk up in Earth orbit -- the low stuff will eventually fall down, but the larger stuff and stuff in higher orbits stays up there for a while. This junk stays up there, and can hit a spacecraft -- and it's moving pretty fast, given orbital velocities. The crew of the Toy Box find the stuff and cart it out of space.
(By the way, this is a real-life problem.)
Much of the plot involves around the growth of the main characters -- it's a very character-driven manga, I'd say. There's some wonderful thoughts on the effects space travel might have on humanity, which makes my heart skip a beat.
Characters
Hachirota Hoshino: Called Hachimaki by most people, which refers to the headband-thing he wears. Hachimaki was mostly doing space work to save up money for his own spacecraft -- what he really wanted to do was to go explore space. He also tries for a spot on the Von Bruin, the first mission to Jupiter. He goes through a lot of character growth -- mostly going from a loner with few friends and a somewhat estranged family to someone who actually cares about his friends and family.
Ai Tanabe: A young idealist who might be better suited to a magical girl show than a SF piece. Believes a lot in the power of love and such -- also keeps pets on board, which Fee compares to having to deal with her young son. (Ai and Fee are the example as above -- I like Ai a lot better when she's around Fee.)
Fee Carmichael. The American captain of the ship. Fee is a kickass character -- and a happily married mother. Fee's story seems to mostly be about whether or not she is living the kind of life she wants to lead -- she's spent a long time in space, and isn't sure if she's making a difference. She also has to ride herd on Hachimaki and Ai, with help from Yuri.
Yuri Mihairokov: Yuri's kind of the straight man to everyone -- even-tempered and cheerful. Most of his plot happens in the first volume, where it's mentioned that his wife was killed in an orbital accident.
Wikipedia says that the anime adds a lot of things like orbital mechanics, and had JAXA (the Japanese space agency) as a technical consultant. I look forward to seeing it.
Ooh... okay, so I meant to do this on Friday, but Friday was the holiday party and I was exhausted after that. So, I'm doing it now. So, a Special Sunday Edition of the MoTTMBS. (ETA: This got lost when IJ went down on Sunday -- so repost!)
Friday was supposed to be a grab bag day, but it ended up being "Near-future SF and Steven Brust", since I had two near-future SF titles and two Steven Brust series. Today, I'm talking about PlanetES, a manga by Makoto Yukimura.
This series (and Chrono Crusade) made me realize something. My tolerance for certain types of characters goes up if there's a character I like a lot. I wouldn't like Azmaria from Chrono Crusade as much if she didn't play off of Rosette, who I adore. And I wouldn't like Ai from PlanetES as much if Fee wasn't on the cast.
(See, this is why having many women characters is a good thing. If there's one I like, she'll make me like the others a lot better than if I want to punt the entire female cast (which may be only one person) through the wall.)
Setting and Plot
Most of PlanetES is set in space, with some visits to Japan and the Southeast US. (Another thing to like about the series -- the writer actually handles the multinational cast pretty well) in the 2070s. Humanity has expanded to the Moon and Mars, and the first manned Jupiter mission is being prepared. However most of the series' action takes place in near-Earth orbit, aboard the Toy Box, an orbital debris garbage scow.
Basically, the proliferation of satellites creates a bunch of junk up in Earth orbit -- the low stuff will eventually fall down, but the larger stuff and stuff in higher orbits stays up there for a while. This junk stays up there, and can hit a spacecraft -- and it's moving pretty fast, given orbital velocities. The crew of the Toy Box find the stuff and cart it out of space.
(By the way, this is a real-life problem.)
Much of the plot involves around the growth of the main characters -- it's a very character-driven manga, I'd say. There's some wonderful thoughts on the effects space travel might have on humanity, which makes my heart skip a beat.
Characters
Hachirota Hoshino: Called Hachimaki by most people, which refers to the headband-thing he wears. Hachimaki was mostly doing space work to save up money for his own spacecraft -- what he really wanted to do was to go explore space. He also tries for a spot on the Von Bruin, the first mission to Jupiter. He goes through a lot of character growth -- mostly going from a loner with few friends and a somewhat estranged family to someone who actually cares about his friends and family.
Ai Tanabe: A young idealist who might be better suited to a magical girl show than a SF piece. Believes a lot in the power of love and such -- also keeps pets on board, which Fee compares to having to deal with her young son. (Ai and Fee are the example as above -- I like Ai a lot better when she's around Fee.)
Fee Carmichael. The American captain of the ship. Fee is a kickass character -- and a happily married mother. Fee's story seems to mostly be about whether or not she is living the kind of life she wants to lead -- she's spent a long time in space, and isn't sure if she's making a difference. She also has to ride herd on Hachimaki and Ai, with help from Yuri.
Yuri Mihairokov: Yuri's kind of the straight man to everyone -- even-tempered and cheerful. Most of his plot happens in the first volume, where it's mentioned that his wife was killed in an orbital accident.
Wikipedia says that the anime adds a lot of things like orbital mechanics, and had JAXA (the Japanese space agency) as a technical consultant. I look forward to seeing it.
