Planet With – 11

The seeming direction of Planet With’s final arc poses an interesting question.  Is it fair to hold fiction up to a higher standard based on who’s creating it?  If one read a novel without knowing the author, it wouldn’t matter whether it was Arthur C. Clarke or the guy who came up with “Saved by the Bell” – your impressions would inevitably be whatever they were, based on what was on the page.  Maybe that’s the purest, most ideal way to absorb literature.  But in point of fact when we know who the author is, our past experiences with that author (if we have them) invariably color our view of the final product.

In that context, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad disappointed with the way this is turning out.  I go into this with the belief that Mizukami Satoshi can write rings around 99%-plus of the people who write anime, and Planet With has certainly proven that out.  In its worst moments it puts the best moments of anything on the summer schedule not named Hi Score Girl (or a carryover) to shame, and it’s the most significant work of mecha anime to come along in several years, IMHO.  So how in the world can I be disappointed?

The answer, to be direct, is that I know he can do better.  And I wasn’t prepared to say that after eight episodes, when I was ready to call this series a masterpiece.  God damn, but it was brilliant – utterly fascinating week in and week out, packed with ideas, indelible imagery and multi-layered and compelling characters.  I still look on in awe at the pacing, even now – Mizukami’s elegance and craft in building a narrative is astonishing.  I still love the cast, and the timeskip part of the story was executed flawlessly.  Timeskips are a death trap, a disaster waiting – no, begging – to happen.  But everyone acted like themselves, only five years older.  There – was that so hard?

Still, here we are, and what’s going on right now feels very conventional to me compared to what came before.  There’s still one episode for all this to change, but I don’t get the sense that it’s going to.  What’s being presented now could hardly be a more vanilla scenario of fraternity and love facing off against the dark.  Sealers and pacifists have set their differences aside and joined forces.  Nebula and the People of Paradise combined their efforts to level up humanity – identify telepaths and help them grow, sell a few takoyaki, and keep the eyes on prize, to defeat the common enemy.  Except the Dragon isn’t even an enemy – he’s just an old friend waiting to be forgiven.

Well, kumbaya.  From a purely utilitarian standpoint Dragon turning out to be a fallen angel is an interesting twist, if not an entirely surprising one.  And hey, I’m all in favor of celebrating the virtue of forgiveness over vengeance.  But is no one going to acknowledge what Nebula almost did to Earth – what they would have succeeded in doing, in fact, had their new friend Souya not intervened with the help of the PoP?  And let us not forget, what they did succeed in doing to other, nameless worlds before they came to Earth – perhaps a few, perhaps too many to count.

Well, no – it doesn’t seem like anyone is going to.  Apart from the Dragon, of course. Who’s seriously messed up, don’t get me wrong – his justice philosophy is just fascism with a gloss of self-righteousness.  But damn it, I found myself admiring him here because he was the only one telling the truth to power.  It’s very ironic that Mizukami is referencing Childhood’s End here, because (not to spoil – you should definitely read it) Planet With seems to be completely rejecting the themes of that novel, especially the ending.  I get that an anime is not a novel, or even a manga – but I can’t say I’m not surprised that Mizukami-sensei has chosen this direction.

Seemingly chosen, that is.  The series isn’t over, and we all know the Water God can do more with one episode than most shows can do in ten.  And if you’ve read his manga, you know he can subvert expectations in very, well- unexpected ways.  But I’ve not seen a story evolve remotely in this direction in any of those manga, so absent any evidence to the contrary I have to kind of take him at his word – which seems to be that Planet With is what it is.  Which is pretty great – I mean, an intergalactic collective of kigurumi, sci-fi archetypes and Japanese pop culture curiosities deciding the fate of Earth?  That’s so Mizukami.  Planet With is funny, warm, a love letter to anime and sci-fi and mecha.  And it looks great, apart from the sci-fi dragon (which honestly doesn’t bother me).  Thank goodness it exists.

It’s funny – I have a page full of notes I took about this episode (which is as jam-packed with relevant content as all of them have been) and I haven’t used any of them.  RIP Takezou (mochi is a choking hazard – if you’ve eaten it you know), 8.000 meters, galactic nampa (you go, Nezuya-sempai), that snowman dude.  In the end all I really felt the urge to write about was the big picture.  As ever, this is a series (and a writer) which refuses to be treated in conventional fashion, even as it’s plot seems to be evolving that way.

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27 comments

  1. T

    Let’s be be honest, even with a hyper conventional ending, this series is a far superior mecha anime than Darling of the Franxx, which is kinda sad since by it seems like that’s the only mecha anime everyone seems to talk about in 2018.

  2. Low, low, low bar. Planet With can and does clear bars a lot higher.

  3. N

    That’s some nice logic by the dragon, who first destroys all of Sirius save one (and not for lack of trying), and then makes a big deal out of trying to help fight off Nebulan sealing of Earth. Wish fulfillment is somehow more evil than annihilation?

    And come on, “a far superior mecha anime than Darling in the Franxx”? DaFra had its share of problems for sure, but it was way more emotionally satisfying than this has been, end even the characters were more developed than here. Enzo has good taste for sure, but not every time he’s hyped about something is it the best thing since sliced bread.

  4. Franxx is a disaster, even by Trigger standards, IMHO. Everything that’s wrong with anime in 2018, mecha anime in the 2010s and Trigger summed up in one unseemly garbage bag.

  5. s

    Preach Enzo Preach; Franxx was a pile of mediocrity from beginning to end

  6. N

    One might call one of the most talked about anime of the year something other than a disaster, but to each their own. I don’t need that popular hype either, it’s enough for me that I personally enjoyed it more than I have PW.

    With the latter, I’ve been reading your accolades and wondering how something supposedly so great could feel so average to me. There’s been nothing particularly novel or engaging about this anime and the only time I felt any real emotion was when Souya had his breakdown. The post-timeskip stuff you’re dissapointed with seems very much par for the course to me. I’ve been trying to see the greatness you see, but although I can do it with most anime you’re heavily into (even when not equally invested, I can usually follow you on a purely intellectual level), it’s just not working for me this time.

  7. T

    I started out skeptical about both Planet With and Franxx. I dropped Franxx by episode 2 and Planet With never, ever let me go.

    The difference between Planet With and Franxx is that Planet With is a labor of love and you can tell it is every step of the way. You can tell it’s genuine, sincere, and while it’s not innovating in many fronts, it still is the very damn best show of the Summer season, I’d even dare say of 2018 so far.

    Franxx is flashy, looks great, and like Planet With also tries to actually be a science fiction work instead of plain mecha… and fails. Franxx is empty, and doesn’t trust its own setting and story one bit, which is why most of the focus was on the horny teens. Even by Trigger standards, it’s lukewarm – and by A1 standards, it’s more of their usual (ERASED, anyone?). And I’m being generous here, because unlike Enzo, I do like how Trigger does things… for now (GRIDMAN is gonna be the same as Franxx but less risqué, and Promare is Trigger trying to hold on to their Gainax-era past glories, which is the last damn thing they should be doing IMO).

  8. T

    Oh, and you may ask of my previous post: Why can I say anything about Franxx if I dropped it on Ep 2? Well maybe because no one shuts up about it. I’ve had the entirety of it spoiled to hell and back, and everyone has a hot take about it.

    And no, nothing I’ve heard of it makes me want to take a second look at it. Planet With on the other hand is going straight to my archives, because I wanna keep it for as long as I can with me and rewatch it some day.

  9. Look, I started enjoying Franxx; I even think episode 13 was probably one of the best of the year, and episode 15 was a pretty good half-season finale. But overall it wasn’t very provocative to begin with, and from there onwards it quickly went completely down the drain. Whatever good it had was lost as the themes, which already weren’t very interesting, became contrived and nonsensical, the plot lost all semblance of sense, and the entire thing devolved into an utterly baffling mess.

  10. s

    ep 13 of franxx was okay (utterly melodramatic but really well produced and boasting some tight tight direction)…i wouldn’t give it that much credit but to each their own…well back to planet with….which i will probably have things to say about once i catch up.

  11. “Utterly melodramatic” was Franxx’ one and only mode of expression. Within that sort of register, though, it was pretty good (also that fairy tale book was really beautiful and I’d like it if they made a hard copy of it). But yeah, ultimately Franxx is definitely still an affair mostly targeted at teenagers, in themes and tone.

  12. s

    And i tend to not have a problem with Melodrama……WHEN IT’S GOOD; i found that Franxx could not muster that kind of quality, but oh well. But yea, I agree that franxx is mostly an affair targeted at teenagers; it just didn’t need to be so….derivative, unexceptional and inept about it.

  13. Not to mention spectacularly demeaning to women, like most of what Trigger does.

  14. N

    So, “everything that’s wrong with anime in 2018” (like Enzo said before) turns out to be that its targeted to teenagers? Hasn’t that been the normal majority audience for anime throughout the ages? I thought the most lamented problem these days was the excessive catering to far-from-teenage otaku with their borderline tastes.

    In any case, I’ll have to take a convoluted mess that still has a lot for me to enjoy over a perfectly constructed “labor of love” that I can’t really enjoy. I don’t particularly care that DaFra sort of jumped the shark with its “but now, it’s aliens from outer space!” move. The story of Hiro and Zero Two alone made up for it and PW simply doesn’t have anything as emotionally resonating as that.

  15. J

    I’ve always loved how simplicistic yet endearing Mizukami’s alien / demon designs were (I’ve seen plenty of them in Sengoku Youko and his various oneshots), so seeing them animated was a pleasant little surprise. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but Mizukami even used the opportunity to sneak in some little nods into it here and there – like one frame showing Tago from Sengoku Youko, or Mizukami’s frog avatar himself appearing a few times throughout the episode (plus that owl Kigurumian looks suspiciously like Mudo’s teacher – not Douren, the other one).

    And even otherwise, there were plenty of other little touches I loved about the episode. How comfortable Souya and Nozo-san are around each other to the point that Souya isn’t even surprised when Nozo-san takes his hand now. The whole brother-sister conversation with Ginko, or Miu and Harumi getting back at Souya for five years earlier in the story. Takezo getting killed in the most Takezo-like fashion ever, or Nezuya flirting with aliens. Or how all the character notes were all serious, until Nezuya’s came around with “Doesn’t do his chores.”. The return of the club president for a bit… and yes, also that the dragon actually pointed out the hypocrisy of Nebula.

    I mean, I said as much earlier but the moment I finished that episode, I kind of expected that reaction from you (though I’m happy you’re still enjoying it). Personally I’m just at the point where I’m simply enjoying the ride now, so I don’t let it bother myself as much. But hey, there’s one more episode, and Mizukami always excelled at writing endings the most, so I’m really looking forward to whatever he’ll deliver next week. It’s been a good ride until now, and I’m really happy he got the chance to write an anime at all.

  16. I loved the brother-sister convo too – probably the best part of the episode. But as I said, all I felt the urge to write about was the big picture.

  17. J

    We’re honestly blessed to have two characters as wonderful as Ginko and Nozo-san in the same anime, haha.

  18. S

    I don’t understand why you seem to think of certain sets of chars as very exploitative with no redeeming qualities, like when the People of Paradise first requested Soya to defeat dragon. It was implied that the dog only got so aggressive with the sealing because of what happened with destruction of Sirius. The fact is that it’s the Pacifist Faction of Nebula themselves that’s directly spearheading the operations to stop Earth’s sealing. Nebula is not perfect, but you cannot deny that the people making up most of Nebula are probably just like Ginko, doing their best to follow their ideals to protect and love.

    I might be in the minority, but I think Sengoku Youko is also as conventional as it gets, so I’m not watching Planet With to have my expectations overturned. I’m watching because Mizukami writes great, believable characters who can be both good and bad at the same time, and actually tries to think and communicate to resolve problems.

  19. You act as if what they were trying to do to Earth was a new thing. In fact, it was clearly something with which they have a great deal of experience. So much so, in fact, that a dissident organization felt the need to arise in order to resist them.

  20. J

    Yeah, kinda have to agree with Enzo there. Became really obvious in the Sirius flashback from episode 7, where it really felt like Generalissimo let the dragon do the dirty work because it saved him the trouble of just straight-up sealing the planet.

  21. Didn’t Sensei himself say that he was the only one close enough to Sirius to even try to get there in time?
    Maybe I’m in the minority, but I always felt like Generalissimo was really only being to extreme while trying to help.
    Having some big Evil pulling the strings behind everything wouldn’t fit the series’ themes at all, IMO.

  22. S

    I think I’m more on the pessimistic side, but when I think of what happens if humans do get psychic power, I can mostly only imagine exploitation and abuse. Like in Boku no Hero Academia, some of the strongest psychics will immerse themselves in power, and the world will be lawless. What are the people with overwhelming power, in this case Nebula, supposed to do in this situation? They can suppress the evildoers, but how do you exactly guide humanity to peace? Clamp down on psychics with iron rules like in Shin Sekai Yori? It’s indeed better than sealed, but it takes decades of tragedy before humanity can reach that.

    Take for example the refugees in Europe, if you have the power, resources and goodwill like those first world European countries, how do you exactly reform the refugees? It’s just hard, and I can see why the Sealing Faction came to be. There is no 100% on what the best course of action might be, depending on the races some might indeed be better off sealed.

  23. I don’t know, Enzo. I feel like Planet With is still pretty classic Mizukami-style.

    Mizukami enjoys a good serving of subversions and plot twists, but I’d say his main course is usually filled with a healthy cheesy base.
    Planet destruction being stopped by love, friendship, and support. Demonic madness being solved through spiritual healing and acceptance of the self. A megalomaniac, narcissistic, villain being stopped by being shown a chance to live again with their loved ones.

    Even his themes seem to usually go down a similar route: enjoy what life gives you, guide others by being an example, move on from past mistakes and differences, understand others’ point of views, etc. There isn’t a lot of complicated ideologies or intricate philosophies here, at least not as the main point. Behind all the weird stuff Mizukami puts in his series, their core are still earnest anime heart: simple yet touching.

  24. A

    Honestly I think the same as you. This is clasic Mizukami.
    Forgiveness and redemption is something everyone deserves, he made that pretty clear in his other works.

  25. A

    I think there is potential for the last episode to make an impact. There’s something about the dragon and the PoP brother that really intrigues me. I have a theory regarding them but I’ll hold off on it until the next episode in case of potential spoilers.

  26. s

    I’m intrigued! You have me thinking hard about this now.

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