Planetes: Volume 2

Oh wow. What can I say about a book where the climax is a hug? It's really not as cutesy as it sounds. In the midst of a "John Woo moment" - bullets whizzing, karate kicks flying, grenades exploding - Hachimaki reaches a moment of truth. If he shoots a friend turned terrorist, he will lose every last shred of humanity he posseses. And yet his old friend now violently opposes all that Hachimaki holds dear: the exploration of space and its explotation for the betterment of mankind. To kill him will mean accepting the vast emptiness of space into himself, and still Hachimaki pulls the trigger . . . Until the new girl, Tanabe, steps in between him and his victim to hug him and kiss him. It's a simple, compassionate act that does far more than words could, and it brings the chaos of the scene to a screeching, tender halt. It's as though everyone has been under the influence of something otherworldly until Tanabe steps up and asserts her humanity. Meanwhile, Hachimaki is prevented from taking that last, irrevocable step into the abyss - if only for a time. Love, love, love this series. First volume was better overall, but this one has brilliant moments. Doesn't pull any punches either - in the end, Hachimaki is still pursuing his dreams of space, no matter what the cost . . .

The first manned mission to Jupiter is planned to take place in 2078, three years from now. Hachimaki has decided to be on that mission so he has started training, because he has to compete against hundreds of thousands of applicants. Hachi figures that he can become famous and rich by going on the mission, allowing him to buy his own ship and go where he wants to go. He might even have a little edge because the designer of the Von Braun (the Jupiter craft) wants Hachi's father to pilot it. Another new character, Tanabe, is introduced as the replacement for Hachi on the debris ship. She's as green as all get-out, and if Hachi doesn't end up hating her, he just might love her. On top of all this, the Space Defense League, a radical space environmental group has begun targeting the candidates for the Jupiter mission. I enjoy the realism of the story and the art in Planetes. You don't have people pulling out Pokemon cards to do battle. While it is a little light-hearted at times, the real focus of this manga is on man's proclivity to go beyond this world. To explore frontiers, but the danger is, that like Hachi's father, you sometimes forget about human attachments because one begins to love space more than people. Planetes can be a little heavy-handed with its message at times but it makes up for it with grit and passion. Good book. If you liked this I would recommend the anime version. I would also recommend the Mars series by Kim Stanley Robinson, a series of novels about the colonization of Mars which has a similar if more complicated palet than Planetes.