There are a few moral lessons that never get old. Storytellers have been trying to pass them on from times immemorial and they will try for many years to come. The final episode of Planet With ended with a positive note and with one such moral lesson: Kindness and love will always prevail.
Japanese Title: 見ろ, 宇宙は祝福に満ちている
The last fight against the dragon has already begun and we are finally let in the know about the Nebula-Earth joint plan. The psychics have two jobs: they need to act as a decoy and lure the dragon near an interdimensional hole that can seal the dragon back to hyperspace. Second, they need to use their psychic powers to block part of the dragon’s awareness so he cannot detect their plans. The mechas and many of Nebula’s spaceships will then have to throw the dragon inside the hole.
The dragon, set on his way of self-inflicted justice, made a last futile attempt to remind Soya of the destruction of Sirius to pass the torch of hate. Soya did have a lot of reasons to hate the dragon, but the anime was set on setting a different example. Justice would only prolong the circle of hate. There was a better alternative, one that the trio inside the CAT mecha carried on after they sacrificed themselves by pushing the dragon further into hyperspace as the hole closed behind them.
They already knew that the person who manifested the dragon was in the middle of the giant creature and they set forth to find him. As we eventually find out, even the dragon tried to break from that circle of hate by manifesting part of his consciousness as Takeshi. That’s why Takeshi vanished after he was supposedly ‘killed’ by Soya. Now, with Ginko’s and Soya’s confessions, he was able to return to his brothers and sisters of the People of Paradise and our protagonists to their friends.
Flower: After landing on a destroyed Sirius, Soya finds a reason to hope again: a flower stand in the middle of the desolate plain, signifying that the planet is alive and it will soon be green again.
Drawing skills: Torai’s drawing skills are amazing. I tried making a dragon on my white board and it was way worse than Torai’s attempt.
Spaceship Battalion: When they announced the battalion, I thought that it was the Nebulans themselves but I then remembered that their spaceships are identical. I loved the colors. They looked like animal Sentai.
DOG: That ‘NOOOOOOOO’ sequence when he thought that CAT was trapped in hyperspace was probably the best scene of its kind I have ever seen. Tops the ‘SNAAAAAAKE’ from Metal Gear Solid and every cry in shounen anime.
Stories do not change the world. That’s a given. Storytellers, however, are usually dreamers. They dream of better people and better worlds and better societies and they portray those dreams in fictional stories and mythical heroes. Stories do not change the world but stories may change something inside a man that will make him choose kindness over hate. Maybe that’s why stories are there.
Cheesy morals aside, this was an enjoyable run. Not the philosophical extravaganza of the season and certainly not the best mecha anime I’ve seen. Yet, it had that something extra it needed to make the series worthy of watching. This was a good cour.
The summer anime season is over. We had a few refreshing titles that kept us company through the hot months, but fall is bringing so many new titles and a few sequels we’ve been waiting for a long time.
