Planetes Manga Review: Is It Worth Reading?

What is Planetes about?

Planetes is a four-volume seinen manga by Makoto Yukimura, the author of the Viking epic Vinland Saga. Set in the 2070s, it follows the crew of the Toy Box, a ship of space debris collectors tasked with keeping Earth’s orbit clear of decades of accumulated junk. Each crew member carries their own loosely connected story, and through them Yukimura explores what it means to be human. Our capacity to love and connect deeply, and how it coexists with the ego, greed and tribalism that will ultimately lead to our demise.

Is Planetes worth reading?

Yes! If you like manga that’s deeply layered and explores big themes through an array of contrasting characters, Planetes is for you. It shares something with Cowboy Bebop, using space as a backdrop for quiet, contemplative stories about the people drifting through it. If you’d rather have something lighter, longer, with more room for characters to change, or more action-driven, there’s better manga out there. But at just four volumes, Planetes is a cult classic, and it earns the title.

A lone astronaut walking across the grey surface of the Moon under a black, star-filled sky — The pull of the frontier. Planetes is as much about what we leave behind on Earth as what we find up there. Vol. 2

What’s good about Planetes

Planetes is a deeply layered manga, the kind that reads completely differently at different points in your life. Its themes are universal. Whether you’ve been on a deeply introspective mushroom trip or you’re a straight-laced corporate worker, you’ll find something here to relate to, because in the end we’re all human.

Then there’s the research. Makoto Yukimura is known for the dedication he pours into every project, and very few manga artists go to the lengths he does. The result is a creative, meticulously researched sci-fi setting that feels fantastic and believable at the same time.

Makoto Yukimura's annotated spacesuit design sketches — Yukimura's own annotated spacesuit designs, down to the bolts and life-support pack. This level of research is what makes the setting feel real. Vol. 2

And like Cowboy Bebop, it balances short but exciting action scenes with a slower progression into deeper themes as the story evolves. It explores big ideas without ever turning into a contemplative slog.

What’s bad about Planetes

The first time I read it, the ending felt rushed. It left me wishing we’d spent more time with the side characters who are left almost completely undeveloped, like Nono, the girl born on the Moon, or Hachimaki’s brother Kyutaro. They had great potential, but they end up as side notes, supporting the major themes rather than carrying their own. On a second read I came round to the idea of keeping it brief, although it still left me wanting more.

What I really didn’t like were the comic-relief sketches between chapters. They completely shatter the rhythm and tone of the story, and for me they just weren’t interesting.

Planetes anime vs manga

Honestly, I’ve only read the manga. The anime is a 26-episode series by Sunrise from 2003–2004, and from what I know it’s a fairly different take.

A different lead: the anime makes Tanabe the main character and starts with her joining the debris crew. The manga is Hachimaki’s story.
More characters and office life: the anime adds a whole cast of new co-workers and a lot more workplace comedy and drama.
A different ending: the anime covers roughly the first three volumes, then goes its own way.- Tone: the manga is shorter, quieter and more philosophical.

From what I’ve seen, if you asked me a thousand times, I’d pick the manga every time. (Then again, nine times out of ten the source material beats the adaptation.)

Planetes characters and what they represent

Planetes carries its major themes through its characters and how they develop. Below, each character gets a short take, the theme they stand for, and the panels that show it best.

Hachimaki (Hachirota Hoshino)

Hachimaki gets the biggest arc in Planetes, and the story starts and ends with him. He begins as a stubborn, insecure young man, desperate to prove himself at his own expense more than anyone else’s, saving every penny for a spaceship of his own that he’ll never realistically afford.

For him, everything narrows down to first getting a ship of his own and then the Jupiter mission, which means years of loneliness. But his ambition isn’t innate, like Locksmith’s. He’s trying to be someone he’s not, and the act hides the pain, loneliness and regret he hoards to avoid being himself. Least of all will he share any of it with Tanabe, the new junior on the crew, his kōhai, who destabilises him from day one. She becomes the enemy because she threatens the dream he’s clinging to, and because she sees through the act. Deep down Hachimaki isn’t a rocket-obsessed loner like his brother, or a succeed-at-all-costs Locksmith. He’s a kind, laid-back guy, and he’s working hard to bury it.

Hachimaki, at his lowest, says insecurity, loneliness, regret and pain are his alone and not for sharing with Tanabe — At the peak of his misery, after a night of bad dreams and hallucinations, Hachimaki pushes Tanabe away as hard as he can. She threatens his attachment to his own suffering. “They are not for sharing. Especially with Tanabe.” Vol. 2

But Tanabe keeps chipping away at him. When she tells him that deep inside everyone is an innate ability to care, he can’t stand it. “I can’t be around her.”

Tanabe tells Hachimaki that deep inside everyone is an innate ability to care — “Deep inside everyone is an innate ability to care.” Tanabe says it as if it's obvious, and Hachimaki has to walk away. Vol. 2

Then comes the moment that changes everything. After failing to stop the terrorists, and in front of his own father, Hachimaki has the gun on Hakim. He’s one step from crossing a line there’s no coming back from, because once you kill a man, you’re gone. Tanabe steps in at the last second and, to everyone’s surprise, kisses him, then finally breaks through his barrier with a hug. He has no idea what to do with it.

Hakim points a gun: 'Long time no see. It's time to die' — Hakim, Hachimaki’s friend from the Jupiter mission training, revealed as a Space Defense Front terrorist. The gun comes out, and Hachimaki is one step from losing his humanity. Vol. 2

Tanabe holds Hachimaki close as he stands frozen — Tanabe pulls him back from the edge with an embrace. Vol. 2

From there, things start to unravel. Hachimaki makes it onto the Jupiter mission, but after what happened with Tanabe he begins to crack. Feeling unwell, he goes back to Earth for a break. Riding his bike down a coastal road, he ends up flung into the ocean, and as he drifts towards unconsciousness he has a psychedelic moment of realisation where everything he’s been feeling comes together. His crew, his family, his father, they’re all part of the same space and the same story, and it’s all about them.

A dreamlike montage of the crew, Hachimaki's family and a rocket bursting out of the light — A psychedelic, dreamlike vision. Everyone and everything he's been carrying comes together at once. Vol. 2

Then it lands. “Oh. I see. It’s so simple. I’m already there.” Space stops being somewhere to escape to. He isn’t going anywhere, because there’s nowhere to go. The journey was an illusion, and everything he wanted was already here. “Space has everything. We’re all already here.”

Hachimaki, soaking wet from the sea, looks up at the night sky and says 'I'm already there. It's so simple' — Soaked from the sea. “I'm already there. It's so simple.” Vol. 2

Hachimaki under the stars, realising space has everything and we're all already here — “Space has everything. We're all already here.” Vol. 2

By the end, the man who didn’t need anyone survives precisely because he isn’t alone. He can still go to Jupiter and act on his desire, but he no longer has to shut people out to do it. Ambition, love and connection turn out to be part of the same thing, part of being human.

Hachimaki with the crew, saying he's no longer alone and that's why he'll survive — “I'm no longer alone... and that's why I'll survive.” Vol. 3

Hachimaki and Tanabe hold hands under the Moon: 'Tanabe. We're astronauts' — Under the Moon, hand in hand. “Tanabe.” “Yes?” “We're astronauts.” A simple line that holds his whole journey, ambition and love in the same breath. Vol. 3

Ai Tanabe

Ai Tanabe joins the crew a little after Hachimaki, but she’s the one who saves him, and in the end she saves almost everyone she touches. She stands for purity, love and connection. In ancient times I think she would have been a shaman, an old soul, wise from birth, with an instinctive grasp of the universal things the rest of us spend a lifetime learning and calling wisdom. She’s clumsy, carefree and, as a member of society, almost impossible to work with, because she won’t bend her principles to get anything done. Yet she transforms everyone around her.

She was adopted, and her adoptive parents (great characters themselves, her dad a windmill technician and ex death metal singer) worried about her at first because they didn’t understand her. What they saw was a child with a deep, wordless bond with animals and a deeply contemplative nature. Young Tanabe watching a black cat sitting calmly in the wind

The Fadran episode is where she first shows how stubborn, rebellious and, frankly, annoying she can be (she really annoyed me in this scene at first), and how she puts her wisdom into practice anyway. The crew recover the mummified body of Mr Fadran, an explorer whose wish was to be left drifting in space forever. It’s none of her business, but she trusts her intuition so completely that she acts on it. For Tanabe it seems impossible that anyone truly wants to be alone, because deep down all humans want love and connection.

Tanabe, furious over Mr Fadran's mummified body: 'He made a loveless choice' — Tanabe, furious over Mr Fadran's body. To her, choosing to drift alone through space forever, away from his family, is a loveless choice, and she refuses to accept it. Vol. 2

A lone helmet floating against Earth as Tanabe says 'Space is too big for that' — Out in the void, Tanabe won't let go of him. “Space is too big for that.” Too big, and too lonely, to leave a man out there. Vol. 2

Her speech and her stunt get through. Honestly, on my first read I felt a lot like Hachimaki here, just annoyed by her. On my second read I finally got it, and it seemed so obvious.

Fee, Yuri and Hachimaki learn that Mr Fadran's daughter asked for his body to be returned to Earth — Mr Fadran's daughter heard the entire conversation, and the next day she asked for her father's body to be brought home to Earth. Tanabe was right, and the whole crew knows it. Vol. 2

She gets under everyone’s skin, Hachimaki most of all.

Tanabe in her spacesuit, as Hachimaki thinks 'Tanabe is invading my space' — “Tanabe is invading my space... and I can't stop her.” Even the man who wants nobody can feel her pull. Vol. 2

Even Tanabe doesn’t fully know why she went to work in space. Talking it over with her father, she lands on something closer to a feeling than a reason. Space isn’t somewhere she’s escaping to, it’s somewhere she already belongs. It’s the same realisation Hachimaki nearly has to drown to reach, and Tanabe was born with it.

Tanabe talks with her father about space: 'I feel like I've always been there' — “I feel like I've always been there. Like space has always been my home.” Tanabe, with her father, trying to understand her own pull towards the stars. Vol. 3

And her capacity for love seems to have no limit.

Tanabe in tears under the stars: 'I love them. Everything about them' — “I love them. Everything about them.” Tanabe in tears under the stars, the sheer amount of love she carries spilling over. Vol. 3

In the end, this is simply who she is, and she stays loyal to it from the first page to the last. In a story full of people chasing something, Tanabe is the one who already has it.

Fee and Albert Carmichael

Fee is the captain of the Toy Box. We never learn why she ended up collecting debris, but it suits her. She’s a tomboy, physically fearless and a brilliant pilot, the cool, funny, chain-smoking one who refuses to let the worst parts of adulthood take over.

Fee finally lights a cigarette by the sea: 'Life really is beautiful' — The running gag of Planetes. Something always stops Fee finishing a cigarette, until she finally does. “Life really is beautiful.” Vol. 1

Her real story starts in the final volume. Fee is from Louisiana (US), and at home the roles are reversed. She’s the breadwinner, bringing the money in from orbit, while her husband is a stay-at-home dad raising their son, Albert, which feels refreshingly un-Japanese for a manga from 1999. Albert resents her for never being there and keeps bringing home stray dogs that bark all night until the neighbours complain, because essentially Albert is the real Fee. Fee tries to handle it like an adult, and he hates her for it. (On my first read I was firmly with the neighbours. I’d have called someone to take the dogs away too.)

Albert turns away as Fee speaks to him over the phone — “We wish to grow up. But somewhere along the way we lose sight of who we are.” Albert won't even talk to his mum, and their fight is one of the first moments that start to change her. Vol. 4

It makes her reflect. She cleans up junk, but does nothing about the real threat, the self-destruct mines countries are planting among the debris to protect their own interests, any of which could trigger Kessler syndrome and cut Earth off from space.

A dense cloud of debris spreading across Earth's orbit — Kessler syndrome. Every collision in orbit creates more fragments, which cause more collisions, until a chain reaction chokes orbit with so much junk that nothing can get through. Earth would be cut off from space. Vol. 4

On top of that, the terrorists keep making her job harder. She’s collateral damage in a fight that isn’t hers. Even Colonel Sanders, the good guy in the military, ultimately wants to use her for his own agenda, and she’s sick of being a pawn. Fee glares, listing everything she can't stand: 'I hate it all'

She can’t stop thinking about the look Albert gave her. Meanwhile the grown-ups around her all have their excuses. One colleague doesn’t want to go picking up bullets on a battlefield, because he has a wife and kid at home who have to eat. But everyone has to eat. Someone has to do this, the adults are doing nothing, and there’s always an excuse.

Albert with his dogs, then Fee, then a colleague saying he has a wife and kid at home — Albert and his dogs, “fighting a battle we can never win”, while a colleague offers the classic adult excuse. “I have a wife and kid at home. They gotta eat.” Vol. 4

So, classic Fee, she reacts. She takes matters into her own hands and tries to keep her crew out of it, but Yuri, happily living his life, comes anyway, and so does Tanabe. Fee goes back to the teenage, back to rebellion. Which is cool. We all love that.

Fee from behind in a jacket reading 'Go back to the teenage', on the Phase 21 title page — The Phase 21 title page says it all. “Go back to the teenage.” Vol. 4

Beyond her son’s anger over the dogs sits the memory of her uncle. He was a huge influence on her, a sweet and deeply sensitive Afro-American man who faced constant discrimination and, with his mellow nature, struggled to fit in, so he escaped into the forest. Society came after him anyway. Nobody protected him, not even Fee’s mum, his own sister, and in the end he was abused. Fee has carried that frustration ever since.

A young girl sits with her uncle by the water: 'When you can't stop crying, look up at the sky' — Fee and her uncle by the river. “When you can't stop crying, you're supposed to look up at the sky.” It's the root of her frustration, losing someone she loved because the adults around him failed him. Vol. 4

At some point the abuse turns extreme and her uncle disappears. Fee is the last person to see him, and it leaves a deep trauma.

A young girl stands in a burning room: 'Who is the villain? Who's really crazy?' — “Who is the villain? Me, or them? Who's really crazy?” Vol. 4

Her uncle’s story runs side by side with her attempt to stop the mines going off amid rising global tension, single-handedly trying to prevent Kessler syndrome. (In real life that would take a systematic, grown-up approach. But Fee isn’t like that. She’s the cool, lonely hero, and in real life cool, lonely heroes never make it.)

Fee's ship braces as mine-damaged debris comes straight at it — The mine detonated hours ago, and what's left is coming straight for them. “Prepare for impact.” Vol. 4

She fails to stop the mines exploding. Despite breaking the law, she’s still the hero who saved the orbital station back in Volume 1, so she isn’t prosecuted when she gets back to America.

She goes home for a break, and that’s where her breakdown happens. She tries being a stay-at-home mum, cooking breakfast, wearing an apron, taking Albert to school. None of it is her. Albert comes home to the dogs and to Fee cooking

And of course, being Fee, it’s comical. Breakfast comes out burnt, because she’s hopeless at the chores she’s forcing herself into, and even Albert can’t believe it.

Fee in an apron for the first time, making breakfast — Albert can't believe his eyes. “Mom is wearing an apron! For the first time ever!” Breakfast is, let's say, well done. Vol. 4

Fee at breakfast: 'I don't want to work in space any more' — “I don't want to work in space any more. Mom's going to be home from now on.” Fee trying on a life that doesn't fit. Vol. 4

I forgot to bring panels for the most exciting part, her furious motorbike ride. But I did bring this one. The shooting stars the kids are wishing on aren’t shooting stars at all. They’re debris raining down after one of the mines exploded, almost triggering Kessler syndrome, the tragedy of the commons playing out in the night sky. It’s right around here that she nearly crashes, and swerves to save a stray dog.

Children wish on falling debris they think are shooting stars, as a dog runs past — “They aren't even shooting stars. Your wishes won't come true.” Just a storm of scrap iron, started by a bunch of dumb adults. “I'm sorry, Albert. I'm so sorry.” Vol. 4

Thanks to that dog, she realises who she really is. What she really hates is the adults who make the mess, and the realisation that she’s turning into one of them. So she chooses to embrace her inner teenager again, this time with love, brings the dog home, and goes back to work.

Fee comes home holding a dog: 'His name is Roy' — Fee brings the dog home. “His name is Roy.” The rebel is back, and this time she's on Albert's side. Vol. 4

In the final scene, the whole family comes together, dogs and all. Fee has found her balance, knowing when to be a child and when to be an adult.

Albert, his uncle, Fee and the dogs together at home — “Do you still have the mind of a child, even now? Does it share its space with the mind of an adult?” Fee's reconciliation, her whole family and the dogs finally together. Vol. 4

Goro Hoshino

Goro Hoshino is Hachimaki’s dad, a veteran astronaut and a clearly selfish character who leaves his wife constantly waiting for him. But the beauty of Goro is that, despite being a terrible dad and husband, he’s always himself, and that’s exactly why people stay by his side.

Goro debating whether to take the Jupiter mission, in one of the colour pages that open each volume — “What do you do when you really want a job you shouldn't take?” Goro debating the Jupiter mission with himself, though we all know exactly what he'll do. Like the opening pages of every volume, this one's in colour. Vol. 2

Yuri Mihairokov

Yuri is the first character Makoto Yukimura explores. In the opening pages, debris tears through the passenger spacecraft he and his wife are on. She dies, he survives, and he spends the years that follow on the Toy Box crew, searching the orbital junk for her compass. He can’t let her go until he finds it. Then, in a sudden burst, he spots it drifting among the debris and goes after it, until he loses consciousness. The compass saves him, and so does Hachimaki. It’s almost a premonition, the living pulling him back.

Yuri drifting unconscious in space as a bare human hand takes his gloved hand — Gloved hand to bare skin, then skin to skin. Unconscious in the void, Yuri feels a human touch pulling him back. Vol. 1

When he finally holds the compass, engraved on it is “Please save Yuri”. It was never just a keepsake. All along, his wife had been looking out for him, and in that moment he lets her go.

Yuri holds his late wife's compass, engraved 'Please save Yuri' — “Please save Yuri.” The words on his wife's compass, and the moment he finally lets her go. Vol. 1

From then on Yuri settles into the role of a mature, deeply grounded supporting character, the first of the crew to find peace, and he quietly passes it on to the people around him.

Werner Locksmith

Werner Locksmith is the head of the Jupiter mission and the top person running space projects on Earth. The closest analogy today might be Elon Musk, minus the charisma. He represents the kind of person who runs big things. Completely in control of his emotions, he understands human nature and the bottom line, he wants the job done, and he knows nothing comes for free. He’s the opposite of Fee and Tanabe. People read his calm as coldness, but he does feel things. He just doesn’t let emotions get in the way. Human ambition at its most accepting.

Locksmith speaks calmly at a press conference after the engine explosion — Calm in front of the press after the engine explosion. He's already confident the data from the disaster will reveal the flaw in the engine design. Vol. 2

His whole attitude is summed up when he visits the grave of a researcher killed in an accident while Locksmith was pushing the project forward. He knows he’s partly responsible. But it raises a genuinely philosophical question about whose fault it really is, and Locksmith only says true things, the kind people can’t bear to hear. I really like him for that. He’s a bottom-line guy who sees straight through the noise of human emotion. At a grave, a woman accuses Locksmith: 'You took my brother's life'

He sees through anger and despair too.

Locksmith: 'Your love did not affect his choices, and your love could not have saved him' — “Your love did not affect his choices. And your love could not have saved him.” Cold, but true. Vol. 4

For all his icy image, he’s still a human being. Accepting moments like this is part of the price of his ambition, so he pays it.

Locksmith looks up at the night sky: 'However, I feel sad' — “Yes. However, I feel sad.” The man everyone thinks is made of ice. Vol. 4

Kyutaro Hoshino

Kyutaro is Hachimaki’s little brother, obsessed with rockets and with getting them out of orbit. Since he was a kid he’s done nothing else but build and improve them. A young Locksmith, basically. For me he’s one of the reasons Hachimaki turns so cold. Pure ambition, still too immature for love.

Kyutaro's homemade rocket crashes into a house — His rockets only go one way, and that's up. Not always successfully. Vol. 1

Tanabe sees rockets very differently.

Kyutaro's rocket on its launch pad: 'So brave, so beautiful, driven only by the will to escape. Such a sad existence' — Tanabe's view of rockets, the opposite of Kyutaro's. “So brave, so beautiful, driven only by the will to escape. Such a sad existence.” Humans were there once, and now... Vol. 3

And that’s Kyutaro’s blind spot. All he feels is the drive to launch, and love simply doesn’t compute.

Kyutaro in goggles: 'Love... what the hell is it?' — “Love... what the hell is it?” Kyutaro, genuinely baffled. Vol. 3

Nono

Nono is a 12-year-old born on the Moon, so tall she looks like an adult, because growing up in low gravity let her body keep stretching. It’s a cool bit of sci-fi. She only appears in the Moon base episode, and for her, space is simply home.

Planetes ending explained

Hachimaki is ultimately chosen to write the message for the Von Braun’s arrival at Jupiter, which makes it the paramount moment of the manga. In it he sums up not just his own arc but everyone’s. Whatever our ambition, whatever we see and learn out there, it’s all about us and the connections between people. From that far away Earth looks beautiful, and that beauty is ours. Hachimaki's radio message: 'I'm in orbit around Jupiter right now. Can you see Jupiter tonight?'

He passes on everything the story has taught us through Tanabe, through Fee and through himself, about humanity and the inevitability of things. Despite all our flaws, despite our inability to agree, we should keep looking for love and connection and never get lost in despair.

Earth surrounded by floating debris, a bolt in the foreground — The last page. Earth, still beautiful, and still wrapped in all the junk we've left in orbit. Vol. 4

Where to read Planetes

Planetes is available in print and digitally, in English and several other languages.

Edition	Format	Available at
Deluxe Edition (Dark Horse, 2025), 2 books	Oversized hardcover, 44 colour pages. The definitive English version.	Amazon, Bookshop.org
Omnibus (Dark Horse, 2015–2016), 2 volumes	Paperback	Amazon
Omnibus, digital (Dark Horse)	Kindle	Amazon Kindle
Original volumes (Tokyopop, 2003–2005)	Paperback, second-hand	eBay, AbeBooks

Language	Publisher	Available at
Japanese	Kodansha	Amazon Japan
Spanish	Panini (Integral, 2020)	Amazon España, Naos Libros
French	Panini (Intégrale)	Amazon France
Italian	Panini	Amazon Italia
German	Panini	Amazon Deutschland
Brazilian Portuguese	Panini	Amazon Brasil

Manga like Planetes

Planetes is a cult classic among Yukimura fans. From what I’ve read, these two come closest.

Vinland Saga (manga, 2005–2025). Yukimura’s masterpiece, just as deeply researched but set among the Vikings, and a much longer saga that’s well worth the commitment. In English from Kodansha USA, including deluxe hardcovers.
Cowboy Bebop (anime, 1998). Not a manga but an anime, and the closest thing to Planetes on screen. Contemplative life in space, a future that kept all of humanity’s flaws, and characters wrestling with loneliness, from Sunrise, the studio that later adapted Planetes.