So anime is a genre of entertainment that is chock full of garbage, much of which appeals to very, VERY niche crowds (yuri anyone?)…but there are also some examples of anime series that easily match any other form of art out there and stand far apart from most all the rest. Each anime season I look and sigh at all the sub-par, generic looking shows set to air, and I usually find several that are truly good. But it’s not often that I find one that’s great…and I found one recently in Planetes.

Planetes is a sci-fi show, set almost entirely in space, but it doesn’t feel like any other sci-fi I’ve ever seen. There’s not many explosions, not a mecha in sight, and very few of the cliche trademarks of an anime series. Instead this is a character driven, slice-of-life, sci-fi, romance-comedy, with a little bit of political intrigue thrown in for good measure.

The premise of the show revolves around a group of “debris haulers”, whose job is to collect the space debris that is floating around and posing a danger to spaceships, satellites, etc. It sounds kind of boring–and the job is, as pretty much everyone refers to the debris haulers as “the half section”, since they don’t believe they’re as valuable as the rest of the jobs in space.

The story kicks off when Ai Tanabe, a young girl from earth, is stationed with the debris team–who immediately prove to be an eccentric and eclectic bunch, including a nicotine craving, strong-willed woman (Fee), a man whose come to space in search of a memento of his deceased wife (Yuri), and a quiet, workaholic secretary. Hachimaki, a young, energetic man who dreams of owning his own spaceship, and Tanabe are probably the main characters of this show, for their growth and their personal stories sort of take center for the majority, but every single character in Planates (and there’s quite a cast) gets a  good deal of development. I ended up caring about everyone by the end–inclding the smaller players who only appeared in several episodes. Even characters that popped up in some of the one-shot episodes surface again later to play a larger role, and most of them seem to stand apart from many of the anime stereotypes, or at least have enough dimensions that they aren’t just “the quiet one” or “the pervert”.  Everyone has a chance to show different sides and I really liked that.

That carries into the story itself. The first half of the show is made up mostly of one or two part storylines, each feeling very self-contained, except with character relationships building as they progress. However, about halfway through a more central storyline kicks in–one of galactic terrorists, first-world countries vs third-world, and the question of who owns space. But even as the story gets more serious, there is no clear good guy or bad guy. Sure, terrorism is bad, but the show still makes you kind of understand their motives (though not their actions) and you kind of feel for some of them. At the same time, the government has some shady people in it, but their actions aren’t clearly good or bad. It’s these tapes of shades of gray story lines that I like most, where nothing is simply white or black. I like it much more than a sinister villain with a maniacal laugh trying to destroy the world or something.

All the smaller story lines were entertaining and some pretty touching and the main narrative that kicks in later is definitely pretty intense, but all that aside, and like I mentioned before, this is a show about the characters. If I had to boil it down even further, I’d say it’s a story about Tanabe and Hachimaki: About their dreams, about their growth as people, and about the bond they form. Watching them start as coworkers, bickering nonstop, and then seeing where they end up (which I definitely won;t spoil) was really amazing. I’ve simply never run across another anime that delivered such fully realized, human characters, with so many fascinating dimensions. The last I saw to even come close to matching it was Honey and Clover (another good show), but I still think Planetes has the better cast, and positively my favorite ensemble from any anime series I’ve ever seen.

On a final note, the music in the series is great as well. Though not always memorable, certain key scenes stand out as having fantastic scores that really added to the moment. The opening and ending (very big things in Japanese series) are also catchy. It’s not Planetes strongest point, but it’s still a nice addition to the package as a whole.

I can’t recommend Planetes enough. Even if you’re not a big anime fan–if you like television and you like character driven dramas that are well written, you should check it out. The full boxed set (with 26 episodes) is only about $30 bucks most places–which is not bad at all.

Note: I saw this with Japanese audio and English subs. The Japanese voice cast was excellent and the translation of the subs was equally good. I’m not sure if the English voice cast is any good, but I will say I saw a trailer in English and cringed a little. It might just be because I’m used to the other voices…but I would say if you don’t mind reading subtitles to stick with that.