So, let’s start with a stipulation. Any discussion of Planet With from me – as to the merits of any specific episode or development – comes in the context that I think this series vastly outpaces every show this season (except Hi Score Girl) in terms of scope, vision and sheer quality. It’s the most accomplished, relevant and historically significant mecha anime in a very long time (I’m struggling to come up with a good recent counterpoint, to be honest). In many mays – maybe most ways – it’s a masterpiece, in a genre that’s become far too staid and self-referential in recent years.
With that said, what’s interesting is that I’m kind of struggling with what to make of the last couple of episodes. It’s almost scary to imagine what Mizukami Satoshi could have done with two or three cours, he’s cramming so much sheer content – intellectual, emotional, narrative – into this short series. In effect, we’ve had two “seasons” already, with their own finales – Episodes 6 and 10. That sets us up for a two-episode final season, post timeskip (which was a surprise). This is not gimmickry by any means – if one looks at the narrative structure of Planet With, Episodes 1-6 and 7-10 are treated very much as seasons in their own right. It’s just that Mizukami is so efficient as a writer that he can actually pull that off, when almost no one else could.
My feeling right now, and it’s certainly one that I hope changes, is that this show peaked at Episode 8. That was the apotheosis of all the ethical and moral pondering and character-building that Mizukami had lovingly shoehorned into Planet With. At that moment in time it looked like no less than a deconstruction of shounen sci-fi in general, and mecha in specific. There are certainly still elements of that in the past two episodes (I don’t know how anyone could not have thought of instrumentality last week) but on balance, they’re less ambitious than what came before them.
I really think what’s happening here is that Mizukami-sensei is very much experimenting. This is his first time writing for anime after all (though there is a Planet With manga too, and I’ll be interested to see if there are major plot differences). He’s playing around with what works for him, and then extrapolating whether it will work for the audience. What these past two episode have felt like to me – especially this one – is great conventional mecha anime. But not much about the first eight eps felt conventional, and that’s causing a bit of a disconnect for me.
Things are rather neat at the moment, it seems to me. “Season 2” basically came down to one big fight, the good guys vs. the (sorta) bad guys. And it was a great fight – rousing, beautifully choreographed, emotionally engaging. You probably can’t stage something like this using a lot of CGI in the mix and do it much better, to be honest. The pacifists were right and the sealers were wrong, the pacifists – through their three-headed bastion of decency and martial spirit – carried the day with the help of a surprising ally. And in the end it turned out that the sealers really just wanted what was best for humanity in their own way, like any loving parent – they were just too strict about it. All is forgiven, now let’s move on to fight (eventually) the real enemy.
This is all well and good in its own right, and I don’t think there’s anything inconsistent with the characters as they’ve been developed. It was great to see Nezuya-sempai back, and Takezou’s surprise entry into the battle was a great twist. And the vocal theatrics of Wakamoto and Koyama – “Wao!” “Nyan!” – were thoroughly spectacular. But… I mean, there has to be more here, right? What happened to all the ethical-moral ambiguity equity that was banked up over the first eight episodes? I’ve never seen Mizukami fall back on straightforward and clear-cut denouements for his stories before, but as I said – experimenting…
The last real chance I see to change course is with the People of Paradise, because it seems as if the “Rashaverak and Karellen” thing was more a homage than foreshadowing. If things with Nebula seem too neat, that thread is way too neat for me. A benevolent super-race looking out for everyone’s best interests, and a Bahamut-like monster that must be defeated in a grand spectacle to save the universe? If that’s where Planet With goes I’m sure it will execute it as brilliantly as it’s possible to execute it, but that climax would be a major anti-climax to me. Life is all about hard choices with unforeseen consequences, and so is every Mizukami manga I’ve ever read. I get that things are different with Planet With in a very obvious practical way, but I’m hoping they’re not that different. Season three, I suppose, will provide the answers.
Jindujun93
September 10, 2018 at 1:03 amAmong the hot-bloodedness of this episode, there was actually one moment that became really bleak the second time I watched the episode. Like, that conversation between Benika and Yosuke seemed rather heartfelt at first glance when I wasn’t reading too much into it? But going over it again, looking at just how they worded things (“If it hurts to not have a place to belong, then once the battle’s over, let’s go see my brother.” and “Yosuke, we’ll go see senpai later. At least, after I’ve had a chance to see my parents at home.”), this suddenly sounds very much to me as if Yosuke proposed a double suicide and Benika accepted. Now mind you, that could just be the translators being awkward and instead they’re talking about how they’ll visit his grave together, but sheesh… I sure DO hope I’m reading too much into this.
Can say that I have been enjoying those past two episodes as well, though I absolutely get your worries about it potentially turning out too conventional. But I guess I’m at the same time not too worried? Because I know that he’ll spin it in such a way that I’ll enjoy it right to the end. So I’m trusting Mizukami in that regard.
Guardian Enzo
September 10, 2018 at 1:10 amI trust him, too. The irony? I wouldn’t trust just about any other writer based on the evidence as we see it now – but just about any other writer, and I wouldn’t have the expectations to begin with and the last two eps wouldn’t have been a mixed bag for me. And I’m enjoying the last two eps, believe me – just on a more superficial level than the first eight.
I do personally think you’re reading too much into that conversation. But I suppose it’s not impossible.
Simone
September 10, 2018 at 1:36 amI actually thought the same. I wonder how intentional the ambiguity was (or if it was a product of translation). It really felt like they were planning suicide to me, specially with how Benika talked about postponing it afterwards.
Simone
September 10, 2018 at 4:21 amHere’s actually some support for the “suicide” theory:
https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/9eddlg/planet_with_episode_10_discussion/e5ps9w9/
karma
September 10, 2018 at 3:16 pmJust wow. If it’s intended interpretation, then Yosuke is reaching new lows.
sweejen
September 11, 2018 at 8:24 amIt was my immediate thought, too.
The wild guesser
September 10, 2018 at 6:19 amI’m curious, if only just a little bit, and wonder if this turn to conventionality isn’t purposeful.
Before Planet With, I knew nothing about Mizukami, now I know that he’s a writer of both great ability and great love for the anime medium, despite being a mangaka first and foremost.
Perhaps he saw the lack of popularity Planet With was getting (I certainly haven’t seen too much buzz on the series as a whole) and tried to salvage its popularity by turning to convention. I’m just speculating here, but maybe there’s not enough time in 12 episodes for Mizukami to get the “Mizukami” ending he may want to write, or maybe he figured, after all of these years that his manga work has been denied the anime treatment, he decided to make a conventional ending to regain trust in his ability to draw a crowd and not make this his first and last anime production. Maybe, idk.
Jindujun93
September 10, 2018 at 6:27 amNah, that’s not it. The entire story was finished before the anime was even airing. Mizukami planned this for four years, and he’s not the type of author who writes for popular approval in the same vein as some other mangaka do (though he’s grateful to those who enjoy his works, it’s really cool seeing him talk about it on Twitter from time to time). Heck, if anything, the ratings in Japan don’t actually seem to be that bad, so those would be the ones that count.
Guardian Enzo
September 10, 2018 at 6:40 amI agree there’s no way he’s tacking to the conventional to sell discs. In the first place as Jindujun says, he’s not that kind of writer. And in the second place, it’s not practically possible to make a major course change that late into an in-production TV anime. Not for Mizukami, not for anybody.
As for ratings in Japan, the only ones that matter commercially are Stalker rankings. And sadly, we no longer have those as the site owner who was compiling them retired (which brings some mystery back into disc sales numbers, I suppose). But before he did, the last rankings for this season showed Planet With doing pretty poorly. It’s got a cadre of fans among Mizukami loyalists and mecha fans, and no doubt it’s rating by those watching it would be higher here than in the West. But it’s not going to succeed commercially.
Simone
September 10, 2018 at 8:05 amThe thing that I find a bit puzzling about this complaint is that I really can’t imagine a way for the series to evolve in a “less conventional” manner at this point that doesn’t involve it getting either contrived or stupidly edgy, and neither is much of a Mizukami thing. Earnestness and emotional straightforwardness here is the name of the game. And when all it’s said and done, once all the positions were laid down, and the various flaws of the contending factions bared… there still were some people who were better than others. No one’s perfect, but Soya’s own objectives couldn’t not align with the Pacifist faction, here, and its desire to protect Earth from sealing. What other route, exactly, there could have been for him? While it may feel conventional, it is because ultimately even in the oldest and most traditional mecha or shonen show there is a kernel of truth when it comes down to simply protecting the things one cares about and believes in, and I don’t see paying homage and acknowledging that kernel as a flaw, or un-Mizukami-like, for what I’ve read and seen of him. In fact this episode was as earnestly and joyously “shonen” as they come, with a really well choreographed fight. Let’s now see how the fight with the Dragon unfolds, where I expect more interesting stuff to happen (since that includes Soya confronting his own planet’s genocide and the actions that led to it).
TheYepMan
September 10, 2018 at 4:35 pmI don’t know other Mizukami works other than this one, but I sort of get where this show is going even if you think it’s “un-Mizukami-like”. I do feel the last 2 episodes were a sort of… natural course, maybe? for the events that happened before them, if the message was to be retained.
Also you mention the Karellen and Rashaverak thing to be more a homage than a foreshadowing, but I disagree there – I think it’s more of a uh… “People are gonna wonder if the parallels with Childhood’s End are deliberate. Let’s slip something in to tell them that yes, they very much are”.
Guardian Enzo
September 10, 2018 at 5:14 pmFair enough. The context in which I meant that, though, is that the two characters’ roles in the respective stories don’t seem to be analogous.