The Art of Denis Dupanovic


Planetes by Makoto Yukimura

August 20, 2024
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I started reading manga pretty late in life, as they weren’t readily available around me when I was younger, so, when I finally got around to it, I was already in my twenties and fairly formed artistically. That’s why I never drew in that style, although it did influence my work in many ways.

I loved it right away. I went on to read a few classics such as Berserk, Akira, and Battle Angel: Alita, but I never read Planetes by Makoto Yukimura, although in retrospect it seems to be right up my alley.

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Originally published around the turn of the century, from 1999 to 2004, and collected in four volumes, it follows a crew of debris collectors in Earth's orbit, where they pick up trash or push it to burn in the atmosphere because it poses a danger to space flight.

Reading Planetes feels like reading Arthur C. Clarke, but it’s a lot more character-driven, which is great. It’s even very funny at times, like when Fee, one of the protagonists, an avid smoker, tries and fails miserably to smoke a cigar. In space, it’s anything but a simple matter, especially when smoking designated areas are targeted by a terrorist organization.

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The art is incredible. It never ceases to amaze me how detailed and well-done the majority of mangas are with their environments, especially with future tech and landscapes like it is the case with Planetes.

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Sure, in the digital age, you can just put on some filters over a photo or a 3d model, but how they did it manually decades ago was always awe-inspiring. It adds so much to world-building.

But one thing I find most inspiring in any manga today is just the sheer volume of pages Japanese artists produce, often as a one-man band operation. I don’t mean to idolize their toxic working culture, but I’d be very happy to have that output, if nothing, just for a few years.

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A warm recommendation for Planetes, especially if you like hard science fiction.


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