Story: 7/10
Art: 8/10
Characters: 6/10
Quality Polish Edition: 9/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 7.4/10

I started by not liking the way faces were drawn and the melodramatic narrative style. It took me some effort to keep reading and finished by finding some redeeming qualities. The story invites at times at some deep philosophic thinking and the characters evolve and reach conclusions. Apart from faces I found the art good and sometimes very good and even excellent. The series is also fairly pedagogical in terms of space related technology even if some scientific speculation is bogus.

This series has a very promising premise: that of showing the lives of ordinary people in an age of space exploration. Sadly, the writing itself turns out to be very scripted, and the characters themselves often have overly simplistic views of the world (it gets really cheesy when a terrorist decides to let you live because of the 'look in your eyes', but then again, it's even harder to take the terrorist seriously when he's warning against 'plundering Jupiter's resources' - like seriously? Doesn't he know how big Jupiter is?).

One character for some reason completely changes personality for apparently no reason other than the author's need to add some drama. It feels like the author wrote this series with the mentality of a rebellious teen, preaching things such as love, God, smoking (?!), and the right to own over half a dozen dogs and let them keep your neighbors up all night with their barking.

Although the space exploration setting is quite interesting, other aspects are portrayed in very naive ways, the non-existent security for example. It also decides spends a lot of time focused on current-day problems, which wouldn't be a problem if it didn't portray them in very basic ways, the sort anybody can write.

Overall, this series has a great premise and some nice scenes (at first), but sadly the poor writing doesn't really live up to the theme.

... Last updated on May 9th, 2015, 8:22am

Planetes (or "Wanderers" if you want) is Yukimura Makoto's first work. His art style here isn't as refined as it is now. His story-telling may be a little (but only a little) rushed sometimes. One can see that he didn't have everything planned to the slightest details. Still, every single mangaka has to start somehow. And what start this is!

Set in specified future, Planetes is about common people. They're working, they have dreams, fears and problems. Hoshino, Carmichael, Mihairokov and Tanabe are our protagonists. Yukimura presents his thoughts through their own stories. They're one by one confronted with their personal "difficulty", be it loss of a wife or troubles with raising a child.

Planetes "says" that every single human has his own problems, be it in the past, today or in the future. And we have to face them because if we won't, they will ultimately face us. Hoshino, Carmichael and others have to learn how to live ("how to accept their surroundings"). As the story progresses, Yukimura shows us that there are some people, who simply can't take life as it is.

This piece of art is magnificent example how simple "human drama" should be done in very personal way. Young people trying to grasp the meaning of life. They probably won't succeed but who knows… They may find peace within themselves.

I think its kind of evil, everything turns very weird... i dont know if my opinion is like this because of the anime (which suck much harder than the manga), but it really didnt do much for me at the end.

This has got to be the best (if not second best--second to what I don't know) manga and adapted anime I have read/seen.
Set in the future in space, yet so down to earth. It is a humane, romantic, and original piece of work.

The only con is I really wish there was more than just 5 volumes.

Pacing and plot are really good and the story constantly shifts perspectives among a very diverse cast, so it never becomes old. The basis for the plot is also very interesting too, because there are very few stories actually set in space.

Also, because the emphasis is more on plot progression and character development than on hard science, this means the story is highly enjoyable even if you might know or understand little about the more scientific sides of this story.

A very well crafted tale of humans and humanity, both on Earth and in the vastness of space. At once romantic, dramatic and introspective. A brilliant and highly recommended read. One of the best.

Planetes is one of the few series I would recommend to the general public. It’s a funny, intriguing space manga that captures both the mundane and the spectacular aspects of life so effectively most earthbound series suffer by comparison.

... Last updated on July 12th, 2009, 7:09pm

No heroes. Simple plot. Character development-focused.
A moving, slice-of-life manga which explores science&philosophy, ambitions, self discovery, the state of people, the space, the probable future, love and relationships.