Planetes (Volume 2) – I Couldn’t Stop Loving People
The crew of the DS12 continues their mission to clean space debris from Earth’s orbit. Of course, they are without Hachimaki now as he begins his trip to Saturn aboard the Von Braun. Although, he’s still troubled by his memories.
Planetes (Volume 2) – I Couldn’t Stop Loving People
What happened?
Ai Tanabe was brought in to replace Hachimaki when he was given a position on the Von Braun. She’s a highly quizzical individual with a mysterious past of her own. It would appear that space attracts those who never really felt at home on Earth. Along with Fee and Yuri, they continue to sweep up the trash left by other space vessels. On one trip back to Earth, Tanabe is surprised by Hachimaki who shows up at her home. He’s having some issues of his own and believes she might be the one to fix them, as she was the one who found him when he was lost on the moon.
Meanwhile, Fee has been dealing with her own issues. Her son has been collecting animals like baseball cards and it’s getting too much for the neighbours to stomach. The frustration comes to a head when she realises that he’s just like her and she’s a little bit in awe of his willingness to resist authority. That leads her to a situation where she is blocking the way when a conflict arises in space between two major powers. A mine destroyed a space ship and retaliation seems imminent.
The conflict ended when one power destroyed the other’s spaceport. Of course, this isn’t the end of it as that created a cloud of debris that is now shooting around the Earth, crashing into everything in its path, making even more debris. Fee gave up her job when she was arrested, but an incident with a stray dog gives her the impetus to go back. She’s in space just in time to see the live feed from Saturn where Hachimaki gives a speech. When he gets back, he’s going to rejoin the crew of the DS12, if they’ll have him.
What did you think?
This is the second omnibus edition which brings the series to a close and it was a great way to end things. I love how real everything feels and how the mission to Saturn is kind of the main narrative. Of course, we see lots of different stories come off the back of that which helped to flesh out the main characters. One story focused on Hachimaki’s father Goro who was living on Mars when Hachimaki was born. I loved the story that brought Hachimaki and Tanabe together. We see a glimpse of Tanabe’s past and how she ended up with her parents. I loved every story with Fee too. Unfortunately, Yuri seemed to have forgotten in this volume, but he was much more involved in the first book. All of the characters come to life which makes the story feel richer.
It’s not a quick or easy read as there is a lot of dialogue and sometimes it’s a little difficult to work out exactly who we’re following and at what time it is, but that’s a minor detail. This series is fantastic and really explores the ideas of living and working in space. I’m kind of sad that this is the end as I would have loved to explore more of their world. At least, there’s the anime so I will likely try to squeeze that into my schedule. I’m curious to see how well it’s adapted, especially given the amount of dialogue. That’s sure to slow things down.
Volume highlights
Other posts in the series
- Manga
- Volume 1 – Somebody Has to Clean it Up!
- Volume 2 – I Couldn’t Stop Loving People
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Nice ????
Thanks!!!!
I didn’t even know they made omnibus editions of the manga. I enjoyed the anime when Bandai had the rights to it, but I’d like to check out the manga whenever I can.
They were two thick books and I was lucky enough that my library had both volumes. It’s well worth checking out. I’ve not seen the anime, but I’m guessing the manga probably has more details. Saying that, I do want to check out the anime at some point.
Gotcha. Definitely check out the anime version whenever you can. The animation is still impressive and it was interesting how it covers topics that are still relevant to day even if it takes place decades in the future. Planetes is also one of the few sci-fi shows where the rockets and ships don’t make a sound when they fly through space which actually happens in real-life. Bonus points if you can find the 2 disc special edition DVDs on eBay at a good price that feature the NASA commentaries!
Sounds like a challenge!!
Absolutely! Those DVDs have been pricey and it’s a shame that no one else rescued the anime license in America. When I did a Top 7 list of anime Discotek should rescue, I put Planetes on there on my film/anime review blog.