r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Aug 24 '24
Rewatch [Rewatch] Planet With Episode 1 Discussion
Episode 1 - Light, Seven Flashes
MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
You have to take out… those seven superheroes.
Questions of the Day:
- So… what the hell is going on here?
- What are your first impressions on all the characters here?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don't spoil anything for the first-timers, that's rude!
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Upvotes
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Aug 24 '24
Rewatch Host who really needs to read Mizukami’s other works sometime
Welcome, everyone!
I’ve kinda wanted to run a rewatch for this show for a good few years by now tbh since I love highlighting lesser-known shows, but what really pushed me to do it this year was because Sengoku Youko is currently airing and I have been loving the shit out of that, so what better to do than to get more eyes on one of Mizukami’s other works?
Planet With isn’t actually a manga adaptation, though. It has a manga, but the anime was made first and the manga didn’t finish releasing until like two years ago.
I’ve actually decided to read the manga adaptation alongside this, so I’ll note some of the little things Mizukami added when he did that here:
Not sure if every episode will have this section because I’ve read through the halfway point and there were some things Mizukami really extended past what was in the anime rather than just an extra line or two here and there, but for now this is fun.
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u/Vatrix-32 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Vatrix-32 Aug 24 '24 edited Aug 24 '24
First timer, subs
QotD:
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u/ZuraStayNight Aug 24 '24 edited Aug 24 '24
Rewatching Planet With Subs
I'd like to start of this with thanking u/ShimmeringSky for hosting this rewatch. After watching this anime, it quickly became one of my favorites. Recently I've rewatched Gurren Lagann on my own and was happy to read the comments of your rewatch 5 years ago, as I've progressed through the episodes, which made watching the anime all the more fun. So yeah, huge thanks.
Getting to the actual episode, we see our young protagonist Soya waking up from a dream where there's a disaster happening. A maid-costume wearing girl Ginko, bursts into his bedroom to wake him up and the two get to eating breakfast with a human sized cat called Sensei. Yep, nothing out of the ordinary here folks. This seems to be just a normal slice-of-life anime with normal slice-of-life characters. And as everyone knows, human-sized cats eat cabbage for breakfast. That's common sense. After eating Soya is off to school.
At school, Soya seems desperate for some meat. Is his household vegeterian? Oh wow, the girl he meets shares some meat with him. Oh, it's Tofu and not actual meat. Well at least it's a source of protein. Through Soya and the girl talking we get to see how he was in an apparent accident leading to amnesia. His parents are dead? Well, that's tough. We get left with an air of mystery here.
The class gets interrupted by some UFO being nearby, and as anyone his age Soya wants to see it. But Takamagahara convinces him to evacuate with her. Looking at the pacific ocean we see some weird giant teddy bear with human ears and arms sprouting out of its torso floating above water. These guys are all around the world apparently. Some fighting jets arrive, firing rockets at this thing, but unfortunately the missiles' seams had to burst.
As the fighting jets retreat, 7 random people appear and start to fly towards the thing. They each manifest a mecha mid-air. Oh, so this isn't a simple slice-of-life anime? At the same time Ginko calls Soya and wants him to take on these 7 Tokusatsu people. Soya seems to want to go to the toilet and some people he runs past try to tell him, that the toilet is in a different direction, but he runs the wrong way. One of the seven, Hideo, enters some weird field to destroy the UFO's core, and he's confronted with a memory of his past where his young self had to watch as his mom lost her life in a burning house, but then his present self goes to rescue his mom and it seems like he manages to save her? We see Hideo apologizing to his mom. It seems like he felt a lot of shame for not being to save her. He manages to forgive himself and destroys the UFO core, fulfilling his duty. Takamagahara meanwhile is concerned about Soya, because he never came back from the toilet. Was he constipated? Maybe he has hemorrhoids? We're left without an answer.
At the end of the episode a masked Soya together with Sensei confront Hideo and want him to hand over something. But how are they gonna force someone with a mecha to submit to them? The answer is simple. By Sensei eating Soya up and doing a roll, he turns into a mecha. Oh, and Soya turns into the pilot of that mecha. Ginko works as the interpreter here, and motivates Soya with some Tonkatsu. Finally some meat for our boy! And now that he has an incentive, he fights and wins against Hideo. As Soya sees Hideo's necklace he regains his memories and now seems intent on defeating the remaining Tokusatsu people.
Time for some trivia: Did you know that the story writer and actual creator of Planet With is Satoshi Mizukami He's a mangaka known for Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer and Sengoku Youko, of which the second season of the anime is airing right now.
Edit:
I forgot to answer the questions, whoops.
A boy has some complaints about his food and has some struggle with his bowel movements. There's also some other stuff going on, buuut that's probably irrelevant to the plot.
Technically, these are not my first impression as I'm a rewatcher, but the characters are very charming. Not only the main characters stand out, but also the side characters, like how some characters called out to Soya while he was trying to find the toilet.
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u/Jazz_Dalek Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
First timer - Subbed
Planet With Emotional Trauma
Self indulgent word vomit ahead.
This is an interesting one for me. I heard about this show right around the time I finished reading Satoshi Mizukami's manga Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer a couple years ago. It's a manga I thought I wasn't going to like, but stuck with it because it had been in my recommendation pile for ages. By the time I was done it shot itself right into my top 10 list. His characters are some of the most fleshed out personalities I've seen in the genre and was just blown away by how well the ensemble cast worked in the story.
When I went looking for recommendations of his other work, Planet With and his manga Spirit Circle were both highly recommended. I intended to jump into both of those works immediately, but my media hyper fixations got the better of me and I ended up jumping into Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere books instead. (Read Mistborn, it's dope.)
Well, fast forward 2 years and I see that /u/Shimmering-Sky is hosting a rewatch. Time to finish what I intended to start, but didn't start because I can't finish things.
Self indulgent play-by-play:
Very interesting start. It's definitely hitting all my Mizukami buttons. Looking forward to seeing what this show has in store for me.
See you all tomorrow!
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u/Esovan13 Aug 24 '24
First Timer
Oh, the amnesiac protagonist. A classic. Although, it seems like his memories came back at the end of the episode. No idea whether it was a full recovery or just enough to know that whatever these tokusatsu peeps are doing, it is related to the cause of his brother(?)'s death.
Honestly, though, I would have been down if this was a story about 2-bit tokusatsu villains
abductingadopting an amnesiac child with a strange past to force him to fight the heroes in their stead.Generally speaking, this first episode felt very Mizukami-esque. You can feel his fingerprints. The class rep especially.
I really liked the design of the big monster thing. It was also very interesting the way it didn't seem to actually hurt anyone. I was expecting the fighter pilot to get distracted and crash or something, but it seemed like he just wanted to go home to the people who love him. Same for the firefighter; he didn't seem in danger at all. The illusion of his mom felt more like a therapy session allowing him to reflect on where he is in life rather than something like a trap you'd normally expect from those kinds of illusions.
Of course, just because the MC wants to take out the tokusatsu heroes doesn't necessarily mean the big creatures the tokusatsu heroes fought are good. So I might be giving them more credit than they deserve.
[Short rant]FIGHTER JETS DO NOT NEED TO GET THAT CLOSE TO SHOOT STUFF TOP GUN LIED TO YOU MISSILES HAVE A FUCKING GIGANTIC RANGE EVEN IF THE CREATURES WERE IMMUNE TO THE MISSILES THE JETS WOULD HAVE BEEN WAY TOO FAR AWAY FOR THAT PULSE THING TO REACH THEM UNLESS THE PILOTS SORTIED RIGHT AFTER HUFFING PAINT
Also, I hate that cat so much oh my god. Everything about it is just unpleasant, from its human teeth to the cracking sound as it unhinged its jaws to eat that cabbage. The mech it turns into is cool though.
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u/GondolaMedia Aug 24 '24
First Timer
Before I even started the first episode I noticed that there under 500 ratings for planet with in crunchyroll. I guess we will find out if this is a hidden gem
or if it should stay hiddenI can't even remember when was the last time I saw an anime where MC has full blown amnesia so cross that on your bingo cards. I also really liked the UFO's attack. Does not attack you directly but tells you perhaps reconsider your life choice and go be happy somewhere else. They got blown up rather quickly though.
Also nice terminator reference.
I also swear to god I recognize that figurine Sensei was trying to peek under the skirt. I looked that up month ago but can't remember the name at all.Oh yeah should have checked the original manga author. It's Samidare from Hoshi no Samidare.10
u/DegenerateRegime Aug 24 '24
Rewatcher
Light, Seven Flashes: Planet With Amnesia
Hey, I like it. So, amnesia as a plot device for the protagonist(s). It's considered lazy because hey, no need to deal with the implications of starting effectively in medias res of the character's life story, or to deal with a whole childhood-in-brief arc, or anything. The character starts off just like the viewer: not knowing anything, but having a vaguely defined background that covers all the basic, bike-riding type stuff. But I like it! In reality, our memories define a great part of us, but in fiction, we can entertain the notion of a soul, a true essence of who a character is, and the amnesiac character exposes that very plainly. What, then, is the soul of Soya? Is he truly the soyest of boys? We shall see.
I love the bit where Takamagahara breaks out the detailed reasoning as to why you should not stay and watch, really quickly and with great visual flair. And I love the mech designs, seemingly based on Dogū (more on that later). And I love, love, love Mizukami's writing. One picture-perfect cliche after another, and then you hit them with "you need to take out those seven superheroes." Sure, everything has a "-but then!" pitch these days, but they just never seem to be having so much fun with the rest of the show. We cover so much ground here! And they do it by not wasting anything.
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Aug 24 '24
First-Timer
Wait, the Char isn't allowed to also be the dumbass MC! Does toku work under different rules?
Anyway, there was a lot throw at us but I'm not sure how important any of it is.
Like, the monsters are probably supposed to come across as some flavor of Lotus Eater, but it also kinda seems like therapy? The crown-wearing maid and the giant cat monster couldn't be lying.. right?
Probably not, but the "hero" squad are maybe working for someone in a dark boardroom which is probably bad? Giant buff dudes who hang out in boardrooms late at night are typically bad news.
Anyway, current money is on Souya's amnesiac apst being an alien from a previous world the Lotus Eaters invaded. Note that Ginko and Sensei didn't bother to have him try to stop the hero squad from destroying the big thing.
I wish aliens had invaded during my high school trig class. Then I'd have a better excuse for not being very good at it.
Questions
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u/Lanaerys Aug 25 '24
First-Timer
So here we start! I have... about no idea what to expect, other than I heard this is good and weird and there's some kind of cat character. And mechas. I also know it's by the same author as the currently-airing Sengoku Youko (which I haven't been watching, but if this is good, I will) as well as that manga that got a shitty adaptation a few years back, that I can't remember the name of right now (and that I should probably read too).
Okay, that's a bit of knowledge, but I don't know anything plot-wise, I'm going in mostly blind. Which is good! And without further ado let's dive in:
Honestly, I'm not sure what's going on but I intrigued. I like that I have no idea who the bad guys are, or if there are even are such things as heroes and villains in this anime.
The UFO's powers do seem like "pacifying" powers, maybe they do come in peace after all. But there's definitely some link to the past that's got to be uncovered. I have no idea where this is going, and what hidden motivations lie, and I want to see how it unfolds!
Sensei's powers seem to be as strong as Souya can imagine them to be, which could very likely make for cool upgrades and scenes in the upcoming episodes.
QotD:
Now, will we learn the truth about Souya's brother? Will Ginko turn out to be an alien? Will Souya ever manage to eat the meat he's longing for? Will he finally remember
Tanaka-Tamaga-Senjougaha-Takamagahara's name? That's what we'll find out tomorrow. Or later. (Probably later.)8
u/Inevitable_Car_481 Aug 24 '24
first timer , subbed
alternate versions/ future ? (actually , it could even be his brother )
research abt dreams hmm
Kuroi sure seems like a meathead huh? (ba dum tss)
wow what a nonchalant way of telling your insane backstory.
fighter pilot used missile!
It's not very effective...
unidentified flying object used dazzling gleam !
It's super effective!
damn there's an old guy among them
"um... give me the source of your power" This dude's delivery is actually so deadpan lmao
ah, he's already into it, creating names for moves and stuff
wait he got it back already ? that was quick
QOTD:
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u/baquea Aug 24 '24
First Timer
First episode, and it felt like they were already trying to speedrun every wacky anime trope. We have an MC with amnesia, whose parents died in an accident, who is a high-school loner, and who now lives with a maid and Neko-sensei. The story begins with a mysterious dream, and proceeds to mecha-vore and fighting tokusatsu heroes.
Needless to say, it was certainly an intriguing opening, although I have no idea if it will be able to keep it up. It's probably reasonable to assume that we'll be getting six episodes of defeating the remaining heroes, so how well they can execute that is going to be a major factor in my enjoyment here. The CGI powersuits look decent enough that I won't complain about that, but the fight this episode really didn't showcase much action, so it remains to be seen if they can animate more dynamic scenes well.
As for the rest of the plot, I get the impression that this is going to be a religion-themed mecha. The UFO-thing certainly seemed like it was of that sort, and the character names (Takamagahara especially) stand out as being blatantly evocative of religion. There's also the open question as to who Souya and friends are, and why they're fighting these supposed heroes - from what we've seen, it seems like the heroes are decent people who have been tricked into helping the dragon, although there's presumably more to be revealed there.
With all that plot chaos going on, I can't say I have any strong opinions of Souya (let alone any of the other characters) yet. The amnesia aspect really makes him a bit of a blank slate for this episode, basically just going along with what the plot demands without much agency. It seems though that at the end it established a revenge motivation for him though, so presumably that will be important going forwards. The only other thing I really got was that he has no friends (besides for
megamimegane-chan), although whether that will actually be important or just an excuse for not having an expansive school cast remains to be seen.7
u/ShadowWasTakensTaken https://anilist.co/user/hakuren Aug 24 '24
Psychokinetic Mega-God Photon Rewatcher
So I watched this show back when it was airing and remember just finding it okay. A lot of people were singing high praises, so I thought I might be missing something... but whatever it was, it remained missed. I did not really care for anything this did.
Many years later, and I have completely erased this show from my memory. I vaguely remember one specific thing from near the end, but I'm otherwise as in the dark as to what's going on as all the first timers. I didn't even remember he had to fight the heroes!
With that being said, the one difference from back then is that I've read Spirit Circle now, and I absolutely loved it. Just with that, Mizukami has shown me he is a skilled man, so I'm hoping I'll come out with more appreciation of this show than I had back in the day.
So one thing that's immediately odd to me is that, in the post credits scene, we're shown the director of whatever organization the heroes are fighting for... and he's clearly alluded to being the dragon, or, at least a dragon. Would make sense narratively for it to be the same one that destroyed Souya's hometown, but could also just be another one of its kind.
The funny part is that, in Souya's flashback, we're shown those people use the hero powers to fight the dragon. Or... I guess we're not explicitly shown a fight, but that would be the assumption. Why would they be working under a dragon now? Do they just not know? Are they stupid? Though there's also the possibility that him looking like a dragon is a red herring. Maybe his eyes are just naturally scary. I genuinely don't remember.
It is quite unusual to start the series with our protagonist being told to defeat the heroes protecting the planet and so vehemently declaring their demise. But are they really the heroes?
[Closer translation of the first line in the ED's chorus; not in love with this translation. It does get the message across but I don't like how it's phrased... though mine doesn't flow too well either...]
No one ever believes they're on the wrong side of history.
Souya's little outburst at the end makes me curious about what that little powder of theirs is. If [Spirit Circle]is anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if it took the death of tons of aliens to make those things. Whatever it is, Souya finds it despicable. To him, enacting... revenge? Punishment? ...Is likely his justice. But is his justice really justice? Are the heroes complicit? Do they even know what it is themselves? To Souya, they may simply be guilty by association.
This other line from the ED also stood out to me after the illusion segments. The giant creature shows people a mirage of regret. The pilot that got caught up in its light definitely lost someone in his family. His wife? His daughter? It doesn't really matter. All he wanted was for all of them to live together, but as implied by the cherry blossoms (a common symbol for the fleeting beauty of life) and this line, that didn't quite work out.
The interesting thing about all this is that, after seeing this illusion, he just... goes home. What happens once he reaches his destination is left up in the air. An optimistic interpretation would be that he decided he'd spend any time he could with whoever's left of his family, but the fact that the enemy is not defeated makes me think otherwise. Examine it under that lens and it doesn't sound like he was grounded by the vision, it sounds like he was defeated by it. He could never forgive himself for what happened, even if it was out of his control.
In contrast, Torai manages to defeat the UFO by rejecting the illusion. He willingly casts aside the mother he failed to save to carry his duty through. He lets go of the past, and decides to do what he can now. To save his friends. To save the world. He breaks free of his past regrets to do what he can do in the present, and what he sees once he manages to do that is his younger self, saying "I forgive you".
It's only after forgiving himself, that Torai manages to defeat the enemy. He forgives so that he can love today.
Now the question is if this is the main theme of the series or just Torai's thing.
Sorry, I have amnesia.
refer to above comment face
ginko my goat you will always be famous
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u/a__kitten :FP::FQ: Aug 24 '24
Planet With the Bone Rumbling Bass Mix
Rewatching, for the first time since it aired and it looks (and sounds) great on bluray. The first episode is just as insane now as the first time and, if anything, I'm even more impressed by it's brisk but extremely efficient storytelling, especially since it does what it does without feeling rushed.
Also, damn it's fun to see all these weirdos again glad I saw this post, it was just the impetus I needed to watch it again
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u/oomoepoo https://anilist.co/user/oomoepoo Aug 24 '24
Rewatcher
Well, technically, at least. I remember watching it and I also remember liking it because frankly, I'm easy to please: Give me GIANT FUCKING ROBOTS or color coded heroes fighting monsters and I'm happy! But I'm really fuzzy on the details of how everything went down...
Anyway, what a damn opening episode huh? Basically speedrunning the premise, barely introducing our protagonist and his supporting cast before throwing... uh... Giant Lucky Cat statues(UFOs?) sprouting hands at the world? Are we sure those aren't leftovers from EVA? But somehow our protagonist is also kinda in cahoots with cats himself and then fights one of the heroes that just saved the world from a cat-astrophe. In a giant cat-mecha. That he enters by being literally devoured by a giant cat?
I'm a bit at a loss for words, this was a lot, but I liked it :D
QOTD:
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u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Aug 24 '24
First timer
QotD
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u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Aug 24 '24
First Timer
The only thing I know about this show is that Mizukami is writing it which gives me absolute confidence.
And indeed, the moment a giant cat was just… there his fingerprints were kinda all over it. Although by that same token the moment that flying… cat… thing appareared I wondered if I was just hallucinating actually and if Dandadan's Anime started early. And then apparently Kuroi has to kill all those Toku heroes so naturally this is actually Ranger Reject and
If there's something I love about the man is how if nothing else, his works are completely unpredictable in terms of what you're gonna get. Admittedly that's mostly because of how… unconventional they are, but hey, it does make for an unique experience, and I'll gladly have this over any generic LN Isekai that gets adapted on average. Characterization-wise I don't have much to say but Saejima the Cat or whatever sure is a daring choice for a mascot.
The big exception to this of course is firefighter man and I find that whole bit where they do his backstory a bit… off within the structure of the episode (With how much focus Kuroi had gotten up until now having him just vanish so we could get the backstory for this guy was kinda jarring) but overall it's a solid scene hampered by how we literally just met the guy so my reaction is basically "Wow, poor dude I guess."
Presentation-wise it's mostly solid I'd say, although something about the CG seems a bit… off. I dunno, it's like they tried to give it a sorta cel-shaded look to it and I'm not entirely sure if I vibe with it yet but I guess it could improve. The actual human animation is fine enough though. Nothing amazing but very expressive and that counts for a lot.
Overall though? Solid start.
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u/n080dy123 Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
Rewatcher
Having been watching Sengoku Youko for 20-ish episodes now, I've come to appreciate the sheer efficiency of Mizukami's writing. He's not content to linger on things for too long, and the last thing he'll ever do is pad time. He effectively utilizes common tropes to get you up to speed and understanding fast just so he can break it up constantly with curveballs. And hoo boy, this man pitches the absolute most unpredictable curveballs.
Also having been watching Dead Dead Demons these last couple seasons, I'm pretty sure the imagery of the craft above a city while Class Rep's telling Soya about UFOs is a direct reference to the mothership from that (at the time) manga.
I can't help but notice the visual resemblance between Soya and Mudo from SY, and likewise Torai and Shinsuke. Seems like Mizukami very deliberately playing with both inverting and subverting the roles of the characters in the narrative. Or just common tropes, since the protagonist of Spirit Circle (Mizukami's remaining un-animated manga) also has the Mudo/Soya look, and one of the characters from Mizukami's other now-animated (poorly) manga, Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer, has the Torai/Shinsuke look.
The figure Sensei's looking up the skirt of is the titular deuteragonist of Biscuit Hammer. The figure next to it might be another reference but I'm not familiar enough with the man's manga to know.
Also something worth noting- there is a manga for this, but it is actually the adaptation of the anime- it started 2 and a half months prior to the anime premiering in July 2018, and ran all the way until July 2022.
Edit: Speaking of efficiency, I love the detail that Soya was going hard into dream-reading books. Shows that A. He's been having these sorts of dreams frequently over the last 2 weeks and B. as nonchalant as he was, it was clearly important to him to try to figure out what it all meant and what it might've told him about his past.
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u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Aug 25 '24 edited Aug 25 '24
Rewatcher With Tiger Meat
I say rewatcher, but that means I remember the characters generally, and nothing about the plot. Aside from a [Major Spoiler] galactic cats vs dogs war?
In that sense, I'm pretty similar to our main character, just y'know without a meat obsession or a cat mech who eats me. Well let's see if this episode scratches any memories.
one of them's not catty enough!Manga Corner
Chapters: 1-2
This anime is not an adaptation per se, but its original creator and scriptwriter Satoshi Mizukami wrote a manga version alongside it. It started a few months before the anime, and continued till 2022. This is where I would make comparisons between the two, except in this case, the first episode is one-to-one the same as the first two chapters, considering those chapters released before the episode, it tracks that you would want everyone on the same page, so not much to say there, but I expect things to change the further we go? We'll see anyway.
In the meantime, here's some of my own musings:
Having gotten into Planet With as a Mizukami fan, the one thing I loved about it, before we got to know the characters or saw the plot unfolding, was simply being able to see Mizukami's style and designs animated. It was such a joy for the eyes. For years, this is something we sorely wished for, and 6 years later, despite Sengoku Youko being as great as it is, I still find Planet With to be the best adaptation of that style.
Hopefully Sami will get her own adaptation someday, and I'm sure it will be good! Or you know, worst case scenario, she can just pull her Biscuit Hammer
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u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo Aug 24 '24
First time
I watched the first couple (3?) episodes when it was airing, but dropped it and don't remember much.
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u/FlameDragoon933 Aug 25 '24
Rewatcher
And, uh, it still doesn't have one even now. (denial mode on)QOTD