Hello fellow Painters! I'm here bringing another Anime review, and this one particularly is one of the most beautiful audiovisual works I have ever watched, and that counting the awfully huge amount of Animes I've watched so far, specially Sci-Fi ones!

Its a shame its not well known, it surely deserves more attention. Now on to the review!

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I will try too keep potential spoilers as reduced as possible

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Today the review is for:

ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ | Planetes

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Series Information:

Main Themes: Sci-Fi
Sub Themes: Space, Angst, Drama, Comedy, Technology, Seinen.
Time: Near Future (Late 21st century)
Episodes: 26 (~28 minutes each)
Year: 2003-2004
Available in BLU-RAY Quality 1080p (1920x1080).
My recommendation for Audience: +13

Glossary:

* Seinen: Discrete mature romance

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Perhaps, this series is so charming because everything accounted there is in the realms of possibility, and that hits the audience directly, just like Avatar (Movie - 2009) does at some extent.

The Anime takes place in a conflicted developed world, the Space Age, and focus on the life of an ordinary salary man, Hachimaki. He works at a space station as a space debris collector, basically, he cleans space.

Each episode, or bunch of episodes, has a strong ideology behind the scenes, it goes far from "Anime watching" only. The social and political criticism is very subtle, yet, astonishingly candid. Its like if the anime itself was warning us "This happens today in our world, lets not let it reach this point", or perhaps "This is what our world is, and this is how it will continue being". This, in no way hurts the series, and its not a work filled with unfounded, intrusive opinions, but it rather gives us an idea and asks us; "So what?". Its a thought stimulation that lead us to inconveniently deranging conclusions.

The general concept is brilliant, and being inside the realms of possibility in the near future hooks you tightly to each episode.

The vivid and remarkably natural animation and artwork is symmetric to the terrific concept, and helps further enhancing the immersion. Zero G scenes for a example, are so well made you can almost feel your internal organs floating like dandelion seeds.

The soundtracks match each scene accurately. Just like the story, concept and artwork, the sounds are striking and remarkable. Lots of Saxophone, Trumpet, Piano, and choirs! Thrilling, and by times very emotional, the soundtrack will occasionally send terrific chills right down your spine.

About realism, this one reach extreme corners in the audible aspects of the anime. One interesting approach is that there are no sounds during space scenes, sometimes its solely the heavy and nervous breathing of cosmonauts and astronauts, I was surprised, and very pleased by that approach!

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Verdict

Honestly, I can not complaint !! This series is so perfect, its one of the best Sci-Fi anime shows out there. You reach the point of actually caring about the characters, something most Animes don't achieve easily. This means character development is present, and plays a big role in the series.

If you are an Anime Sci-Fi fan, this is a MUST watch.

For Seinen/Romance lovers, this may be considerably romantic but its not exactly the focus, but you will experience "awww" moments for sure!

The series is perfectly balanced, quality is top notch in every aspect. Even the most exigent watchers will be satisfied! Very recommended to young (+15) audience.

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Media Section and Links

Click: ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ | Planetes TRAILER

Click: Planetes Official SOUNDTRACK (link 1)

Click: Planetes Official SOUNDTRACK (Link 2)

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Thank you for reading this Anime review! I'm open to criticism, please leave your comment.

Please leave a comment and a thumbs up : )

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