"Planetes" disc 1, plus a small discovery

Well, my first impression of "Planetes" was -- "L/R" in Space...

So I went and looked it up on ANN, and there really wasn't much of a connection. I learned a little something about "L/R" that surprised me though; but I'll get to that in a minute...

"Planetes" was really quite charming in and of itself. My "L/R in Space" impression is mainly due to the character design and details of the setting. Very, very similar. The overall animation is devoid of the usual manga-style gags & deformations, and I rather like the characters overall. The stories are a little bit on the simplistic side, but there are also ingredients that are definitely anime's strong point, as opposed to the usual western pablum. Nothing grounbreaking, but like I said, "Charming" none-the-less. I'll keep renting it.

Now, about "L/R"... Looking it up on ANN, I discovered that it was directed by Itsuro Kawasaki, who's name rung a bell. As you can see by his ANN profile, he worked with Koichi Mashimo in the early days of Bee Train, assisting with "Popliocrois Story", and directing "Wild Arms" and "Arc the Lad". More recently, he directed the "Tsubasa Chronicle" movie, and though it's not listed, I've read that he was involved in "Windy Tales" as well. I was surprised to see that he directed a number of episodes of "Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex" as well.

So that was a neat surprise. I'm still not done with "L/R" yet, but I'm glad to see that I was able to spot that it had some familiar talent behind it.

Back to "Planetes" for a sec... On it's director's credits, there's not much that I'm familiar with, but those which I am, I'm not much of a fan of. "Planetes" is different enough from them, though, so I can deal with it on it's own merits.