After originally releasing a Planetes Blu-ray box set back in September 2009, Japanese distributor Bandai Visual opted to bring it out again back in 2016. That restock is what fans had to work with if they wanted a legal high-definition copy. And it wasn’t cheap either as the set was priced at 54,000 yen and has the original series spread across six discs with an 800 minute running time listed.
We learned back in May 2020 that the opportunity is starting to change a bit as UK distributor Anime Limited had announced their pickup of the series for release where it’ll be the first English release in Blu-ray anywhere in the world. They were intending to bring it out in late 2020 but it’s now been set for a February 22nd, 2021 release. With that set, they’ve put together their first preorder trailer for it and it just makes us want to go back to that time.
Previously, the set was confirmed to have all the extras from the previous releases and is going to include the new extra of the voice actor for Hachimaki as he took a trip to JAXA. Additionally, a 24-page booklet is being produced for it. That means the full list of extras involved includes Clean Openings, Clean Endings , Picture Dramas, TV Promos, Digital Comics, Tanaka Kazunari visits JAXA, Disassembled Opening, Art Gallery, and the Japanese Cast & Crew Commentary – Episodes 1, 10, 12, 16, 24, 25 and 26.
The series was originally serialized in Morning magazine back between 2001 and 2004 by Makoto Yukimura, whose other big release is the currently running series Vinland Saga that he began back in 2005. Kodansha Comics is releasing that. The anime adaptation of Planetes was released in North America by Bandai Entertainment, but since the company’s closure it hasn’t been rescued yet.
Plot concept: Haunted by a space flight accident that claimed the life of his beloved wife, Yuri finds himself six years later as part of a team of debris cleaners on a vessel called the Toy Box charged with clearing space junk from space flight paths. The team consists of Hachimaki, a hot shot debris-man with a sailor’s affinity for the orbital ocean; Fee, a chain-smoking tomboy beauty with an abrasive edge; and Pops, a veteran orbital mechanic whose avuncular presence soothes the stress of the job.
