Planetes manga summary
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This article is the summary of the fictional manga PLANETES (ΠΛΑΝΗΤΕΣ) by Makoto Yukimura, serialized in Weekly Morning and later publisheid in English by TOKYOPOP.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Contents |
[edit] Volume 1
- Phase 1: A Stardust Sky: Yuri's past is revealed. On a routine debris collection run, Yuri finds the only keepsake of his deceased wife floating in space. In the process of retrieving it, he endangers his life and is rescued by Hachimaki. Source material of episode 10 of the anime.
- Phase 2: Girl From Beyond the Earth: Hachimaki breaks his ankle while retrieving a derelict satellite. He is sent to the Space Physiology Research Hospital. Hachimaki meets Harry Roland and Nono. Hachimaki and Fee witness Harry Roland's suicide on the Moon's surface by decompression sickness. Source material of episode 7 of the anime.
- Phase 3: A Cigarette Under Starlight: Fee is on a quest to find somewhere to smoke on the moon. All her attempts to smoke have been thwarted by a terrorist organization that has been bombing smoking areas on the moon. Fee is further infuriated when it is discovered that the same terrorists are attempting to destroy a space station with a rogue satellite to initiate Kessler Syndrome. She stops the terrorist plan by ramming the Toy Box into the satellite and diverting its course, sacrificing the ship in the process. Served as the source material for episode 12 of the anime.
- Phase 4: Scenery For a Rocket: Hachimaki, Yuri and Fee return to Earth. Yuri decides to stay with Hachimaki's family. We are introduced to Kyutaro, Hachimaki's brother and amateur rocket maker. Yuri helps Kyutaro with his latest rocket, which leads him to a philosophical conclusion. Source for episode 13 of the anime.
- Phase 5: Ignition: Hachimaki is involved in an accident in space which left him hurtling through space during a solar flare. He is retrieved with negligible physical effects. However, he is diagnosed with Deep Space Disorder, a mental disorder crippling an astronaut during EVA. Unable to rid himself of the disorder, Hachimaki is taken by Yuri and Fee to a space engine manufacturing facility and shows him the Tandem Mirror Engine. Seeing this, Hachimaki resolves to be a better astronaut and gets over his Deep Space Disorder. Source material for episode 16.
[edit] Volume 2
- Phase 6: Running Man: Hachimaki is now resolved to be on the Jupiter Exploration Mission. Werner Locksmith introduces himself to Hachimaki, Fee, and Yuri. He is looking for Hachimaki's father, Goro Hoshino, in order to have him join the crew of the Von Braun. It turns out that Goro was hiding from Locksmith in the Toy Box 2. A meltdown of the Tandem Mirror Engine results in a very large explosion on the Moon. Locksmith unsympathetically shrugs the explosion off as a minor setback. Episode 17 is based on this chapter.
- Phase 7: Tanabe: Fresh recruit Ai Tanabe is added to the crew of the Toy Box 2 as a replacement for Hachimaki, who is leaving to become a Jupiter Mission candidate. Hachimake trains Tanabe in debris collection. Hachimaki and Yuri find a space coffin containing a renowned astronaut. The astronaut's daughter wishes to send the coffin back to deep space, but Tanabe convinces her otherwise with a rousing and idealistic speech. Source material for episode 3 of the anime.
- Phase 8: A Black Flower Named Sakinohaka (Part 1): The trials for the Jupiter Exploration Mission begin. Hachimaki and Hakim witness a terrorist bombing of an elevator in the training facility. Hachimaki finds out that Hakim is behind the terrorist bombings, but Hachimaki could not bring himself to kill Hakim when he had the chance to do so, allowing Hakim to complete his bombing mission. Episode 21 is based on this chapter.
- Phase 9: A Black Flower Named Sakinohaka (Part 2): Hachimaki and Tanabe are entangled in a Space Defence Front plot to kill Goro in his apartment on the Moon. Goro manages to stay one step ahead of his would-be assassins until Hakim re-appears. Hachimaki manages to subdue Hakim, and has the same opportunity to kill him as the previous chapter. Tanabe stops Hachimaki, who has gained the resolve to kill Hakim. Episode 23 is loosely based on some scenes in this chapter.
- Phase 10: Lost Souls: After being accepted into the Jupiter Exploration Mission, Hachimaki and his co-pilot Leonov crash on to the Moon's surface. Leonov was badly injured, and is unable to walk. Hachimaki decides to carry him to safety. Luckily, the Toy Box 2 found the two when Hachimaki was about to give up. This iconic portion of the manga was, in episode 24 of the anime, transferred on to Tanabe, who carried Claire.
- Phase 11: СПАСИБО: Goro and Hachimaki return to Earth and their family. Hachimaki then visits Leonov in the hospital and meets his mother. Hachimaki gets a nightmare about his ordeal when he drifted in space untethered (see Phase 5: Ignition). After this nightmare, Hachimaki takes a midnight bike ride. He swerves off the road and falls into the ocean. While being in the water, Hachimaki comes to a metaphysical realization. Source material for episode 25.
[edit] Volume 3
- Phase 12: A Cat in the Evening: Hachimaki becomes heavily preoccupied and faints during the Jupiter Mission press conference after remembering seeing a gruesome, nearly-dead cat after it was run over by a car. Hachimaki becomes uncertain about the mission, and seems to have lost his passion for the voyage. He goes on a vision quest on the lunar surface for a week and speaks to his representation of God.
- Phase 13: Windmillville: This phase shows the circumstances of how Tanabe came to be adopted by her parents. Tanabe is revealed to have been left anonymously on the doorstep of her future adoptive parents. In the present, Tanabe keeps several animal experiments of behalf of a university and the pet cat of the crew of another debris collection ship on to the Toy Box 2. She attempts to give the cat to her father, but it runs off.
- Phase 14: Boy and Girl: After his vision quest, Hachimaki returns and attains an "incredible state of spiritual discipline," but he is losing weight and may jeopardize the mission. Seeing this, Hachimaki's Von Braun crewmates try to break this by giving him a barrage of pornography, which Hachimaki simply shrugs off. Alarmed by his new stoicism, Hachimaki's crewmate Sally takes a drastic measure and offers herself to him. However, Hachimaki is realizes that it is Tanabe whom he wishes to see, and his appetite returns.
- Phase 15: A Day of Kyakurai: Hachimaki leaves the Jupiter Mission Complex and goes to the International Orbital Spaceport to visit the Toy Box 2, which is docked there. However, he can't find Tanabe on board as she is on holiday. Hachimaki finds Tanabe's barely-written will and becomes concerned. He goes to Earth and visits Tanabe in her parents' home. Elements of this chapter were carried on to episode 25 of the anime.
- Phase 16: Hachimaki: Hachimaki and Tanabe go on an EVA together for nostalgia, and Hachimaki proposes to Tanabe. Hachimaki and Goro make their final visit to their hometown before the launch of the Von Braun. Inspiration for episode 26 of the anime.
- Extra Phase: Red Star/White Ball: This phase shows a young Goro on Mars, where he and his sempai organize the first Martian baseball game, and the subsequent first home run on Mars. These events coincide with Hachimaki's birth and the origin of his name.
[edit] Volume 4
[edit] Part 1
- Phase 17: How to Make a Hundred Friends: Tanabe meets and befriends The Baron, a fellow debris hauler who claims he is an alien on a mission to make a hundred friends.
- Phase 18: Just Like Guskou Sudori: Werner Locksmith visits the grave of his scientist associate killed in the Tandem Mirror Engine explosion on the moon. However, Locksmith finds the sister of his associate at his grave and she threatens to lay vengeance on Locksmith by killing him. Contains an iconic scene of Locksmith himself giving the woman a gun to make her revenge.
- Phase 19: Dog Days: After returning from a holiday on Earth, Fee and the crew of the Toy Box find a classified 'debris', with markings of the United States Navy. However, they discover that it is actually an orbital mine laid by the United States.
- Phase 20: Man's Best Friend: With an orbital war looming, Fee leads an anti-war movement to prevent the Kessler Syndrome.
- Phase 21: Little Girls and Underdogs: Fee becomes a media sensation when Colonel Sanders uses her as a hero of the anti-war movement, without her consent.
[edit] Part 2
- Phase 22: A Crying Dog: Fee recounts her experience with her uncle in the American South, particularly the racism that he encountered, being a reclusive black man living in the woods.
- Phase 23: A Running Dog: The crew of the Toy Box are taken back to Earth. Fee goes home to her family and attempts to resume her life as a mother.
- Phase 24: A Barking Dog: While on a motorcycle ride, Fee gets into a motorcycle accident avoiding a dog. She however, befriends the dog and drags her motorcycle back home.
- Phase 25: 45 Minutes at the Speed of Light: The captain of the Von Braun struggles to write the speech he will give when the ship reaches Jupiter. However, a freak flash of eloquence makes Hachimaki the one to deliver the speech.
- Phase 26: What a Wonderful World: Werner Locksmith visits a priest, formerly a scientist, to recruit him for his mission to Saturn. Hachimaki makes his speech when the Von Braun arrives at Jupiter.