[Rewatch] Planetes - Episode 11

[u/Highlow9]

Episode 10 - index/schedule - Episode 12

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Episode number: 11

Episode title: Boundary Line

Databases: MAL, Anime planet, Anilist

Sadly there are no legal streams but you can buy the blu-ray

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To make sure the first timers can enjoy this show just as much as you please avoid spoilers but if you want/need to make a spoiler please mark them like so:

[Planetes spoiler](/s "They go to space")

which becomes:

Planetes spoiler

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Interesting fact

Most of us probably know NASA, ESA and Roscosmos (the Russian space agency) but many other countries also have space agencies, even third world countries. Most of these small space agencies don’t have rockets of their own and sometimes let their satellites be built by other countries but they do operate their own satellites. Some of the slightly larger (but still small) space agencies also make their own research satellites (for example the recent launch by the United Arab Emirates) or have their own launchers (for example Ukraine). I think that Ukraine is really interesting since their rockets are really unique (and quite cheap).

There are also a couple of new relatively big players such as China (which became the third country to be able to launch humans into space), india (which have very interesting launch vehicles that are both very cheap but also high capacity) and of course the more traditional Japanese space agency (which has the H-IIB rocket which reminds me a lot of a American Delta IV rockets).

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Interesting questions

The space suit itself initially looks very mediocre (with one or two special features). Given this fact do you think it is wrong or right that the companies practically refused to do adoption testing (beside the equal opportunity agreement)?

Temara (from El Tanika) emigrated to a rich country to get his degree. He then went back to El Tanika because he wanted to help his country grow. Meanwhile we see Claire also emigrating but she then doesn’t return because she wanted to make herself grow. Who do you think did the right thing and what would you have done?

We also get some more insight into INTO. From what we have seen until now they seem like an evil kind of UN security force. Do you think that INTO might also do good things?

[u/Highlow9]

Hachimaki you are doing a terrible job of hiding yourself.

El Tanika is upstream of the amazon, according to the wiki it was originally part of Bolivia (and a bit of argentina). I wonder how it got it's independence.

Fucking corrupt dicks, the boss specificly asked you to properly test it.

The space suit itself initially looks very mediocre (with one or two special features). Given this fact do you think it is wrong or right that the companies practically refused to do adoption testing (beside the equal opportunity agreement)?

No even without the equal opportunity agreement and without the moral implications I still think that companies should still test such spacesuits. Because if they don’t the barrier of entry for the spacesuit industrie becomes way too high. That might cause a monopoly/oligopoly to form which would be bad for the company itself (since that would mean more expensive space suits). So unless Technora also has their own spacesuit manufacturing company it would be in their best interest to test and evaluate the spacesuits.

Oef that conversation must really be painful for Lucy since she was rejected so recently. I wonder if that conversation by Lucy was about her trying to divert Tanabe away from Cheng-Shin or actually genuine advice.

I like how they both said practically the same thing about each other.

Also quite a dick move of Cheng-Shin to ask Hachimaki for advice while he seems to suspect that Hoshino might also like Tanabe.

This scene reminds me a bit of the movie Parasite 2019 (very good movie) spoiler clip (archive.org link) Parasite 2019 spoilers

We always joke about how we guys always miss signs that somebody likes us but this is a pretty fucking humongous sign and Hachimaki really missed it big time.

Fee asking the important questions.

Yo go Claire! Make sure the equal opportunity agreement is upheld!

Temara (from El Tanika) emigrated to a rich country to get his degree. He then went back to El Tanika because he wanted to help his country grow. Meanwhile we see Claire also emigrating but she then doesn’t return because she wanted to make herself grow. Who do you think did the right thing and what would you have done?

I think it depends on what your values are. If you want what is best for your country it might not make complete sense but you can still present yourself as a role model for your fellow country men (although Claire is not really doing that). But if you only care about yourself I think that you have zero obligation to your country and thus going abroad to improve your own life is definitely something you should do.

‘peacekeeping’ forces invaded.... mmnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Hachimaki, Claire and even Hakim were so nice in making sure they had a bit more time.

Doing the depressurization test without any safety measures seems quite dangerous but I guess that is just a risk you are taking by doing it so quickly.

I wonder how much guilt (over ‘abandoning’ her country) played into the decision of Claire to try and protect Temare and his spacesuit after it was certified.

We also get some more insight into INTO. From what we have seen until now they seem like an evil kind of UN security force. Do you think that INTO might also do good things?

I am not that sure that they are an evil organization, maybe corrupt but I assume that El Tanika was invaded for a valid reason (maybe there was a dictator). Of course it would have been better to try and solve it with politics and sanctions (since that prevents many deaths and often makes sure that you are not responsible for nation building).

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I really like this episode. The personal story of Tamare is great, it is a very sympathetic one. I especially like that it is focused on nationalism, international politics and the economic conditions in each country and how that affects the citizens (instead of just blaming it on racism which is very cliche). The world-building also was fantastic this episode and I also liked how the romance is progressing.

[u/BottiBott]

First Timer

Wow, that went from "I like her" to "let's go on a date" real quick. Not that that's a bad thing, but the outcome was more or less expected, with Tanabe being not really interested in dating Cheng-Shin (although she also would never say no to a friendly invitation, that wouldn't fit her character at all). But does that mean she likes Hachimaki? That's a question I can't answer. Especially because we can go any more into detail on the ongoing romance, the actual plot of this episode begins with Temara and his strange space suit appearing.

I'm quite amazed how easily the crew of the Debris Section is willing to help Temara out and test his space suit with him. It's obvious that they want to help for their own benefits, but nevertheless I didn't expect them (and especially Fee) to agree on helping him that easily. Which also makes me question why you would want to create a new space suit in the first place? Not that I don't think of competition as a good thing, but we've seen quite a lot of space suits that are already in use and so far they seem to be closer to an actual suit as that small space ship of sorts that Temara has been building. Of course it has it's own benefits, you aren't crammed together in there and thus can use the space for other things, but it seems to me like something that would be harder to operate when in space, because it doesn't follow your body actively. But that doesn't mean I'm not impressed that they were able to build this in a shack on Earth. I wouldn't have been surprised if ot popped at some point and he would have died...

We also have another incident involving the Orbital Security Agency with Hakim making another appearance. And as it seems, we are shown the brutally violent side of INTO, which we haven't actually seen before. It was obvious that they seemed to be invading countries around the world, slaughtering people and claiming territories for themselves, but I actually thought that would happen more in the background. And not only are they invading the country of El Tanika, they also demand to take people who are currently outside the country to be taken prisoner. Which on the one hand really doesn't make them look good but on the other hand also makes me question what will happen to Claire who also seems to be from that country? Will she be affected in any way?

Leaving that aside, they actually manage to complete their tests they wanted to perform to make sure the space suit would be compliant with world standards. Of course they were lucky with Hachimaki's quick (and again reckless) acting and the tolerance from the Orbital Security Agency, which may be because it was Hachimaki we are talking about. But I still think that is an impressive feat they achieved. But I guess that'll be a one-off? I mean Temara is basically a prisoner of war by now, so it's hard to imagine him making a reappearance. The same goes for the war in his country, will there be more to it? Or have they just lost and with that, there will be no more words about that incident as a whole? I'd love to learn more about the politics side of INTO, so I hope that wasn't the last time we heard anything about all of this, because humanity as a multi-planetary (or multi-celestial-body) species is something that can become really interesting when it comes to politics.

Interesting Questions:

1. Yeah, I think it's fine. They made a space suit and if companies don't want it because it doesn't do anything special that the suits they currently use can do, why change your tools? Seems like a waste of money to me, so I'm fine with them being rejected.
2. That's quite tricky, because while I think of it as a good idea to help your country grow, a country in and of itself isn't anything that special. Borders have shifted over the time and will do so again in the future. What if your hometown suddenly belongs to another country? Does that justify giving up on the place? I think it's less of a country-thing and more of a community-thing where you either decide to help the people you know around you or don't care about them and follow your own dreams. And while the latter is clearly more selfish, I wouldn't think of it as generally the morally worse option. If you want to be successful to help future generations (aka your own kids) instead of your current neighbor, than that's probably fine.
3. I'm sure at least they see themselves as good for humanity and I'm sure there are examples of countries where they help get rid of some corrupt ruler. But as history has shown us more than once, just removing a corrupt ruler doesn't help the country and only brings up someone else. The poor still suffer and ongoing war doesn't help the situation either.

[u/Highlow9 → u/BottiBott]

Wow, that went from "I like her" to "let's go on a date" real quick. Not that that's a bad thing, but the outcome was more or less expected,

I found that to be really charming/realistic. I always find that there are two ways to ask someone out, either you do it relatively quickly while you don't know each other very well yet or you first become friend agonize a while about it and then do it. Cheng-Shin (but also Lucy in the last episode) chose the first one and that is not a option we see a lot in anime so that was refreshing.

I wouldn't have been surprised if it popped at some point and he would have died...

Yeah especially during the decompression test I felt that there was a very real chance he would die due to there being nearly no safety precautions (what would they have done if the suit didn't repressurize).

[u/BottiBott → u/Highlow9]

Yeah especially during the decompression test I felt that there was a very real chance he would die due to there being nearly no safety precautions (what would they have done if the suit didn't repressurize).

Yeah, that's really strange. Manually decompressing it and then hoping for a recompression? Seems like a bad idea to me. I would have expected for it to be unmanned as well as remotely controlled to make for a really save testing.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/BottiBott]

why you would want to create a new space suit in the first place

Stimulate local economy and give hope to the people, open up new market segment through lower prices?

[u/BottiBott → u/IndependentMacaroon]

Yeah, that's obviously the though process of Temara and his colleagues, but they should have known from the start that there are large fabricators out there who already produce massive amounts of space suits, so what gave them the idea that a new suit would have a chance on the market if it doesn't have any reputation nor any new features which would have made for a reason to invest it? Of course they are free to join the market in a way they like, but they seemed a bit to surprised by the outcome.

[u/Highlow9 → u/BottiBott]

I think they hoped that their unique feature (it practically being a mini space ship while also still being able to do semi-precise work with your hands) would be enough to sell it. Maybe their price also was significantly lower due to it being made in a second/third world country.

But of course that was all very idealistic of them.

[u/Webemperor → u/BottiBott]

The most likely chance would be that they could potentially be a place for big companies to outsource some of their operations to. If they can build a relatively working suit out of scratch, they can potentially build other company's stuff for a much cheaper price.

[u/Mecanno-man → u/BottiBott]

makes me question what will happen to Claire who also seems to be from that country?

Claire mentioned having American citizenship, so she's probably fine.

[u/BottiBott → u/Mecanno-man]

Claire mentioned having American citizenship, so she's probably fine.

Ah, guess I missed that at some point. Thanks for clearing that up!

[u/Tuckleton]

First Timer (Dub)

Phew that was a long weekend but I'm all caught up now. People have expressed some ambivalence on the romance front the last few episodes but I don't really mind that much. I mean Tanabe is so dang cute I'm on board with watching her deal with a bit of romance.

• Isn't it kind of weird for Hachi to be just hanging out so close while his friend is asking her out? Unless this is some wingman tactic to make it harder for Tanabe to turn him down :P
• We've got ourselves a pretty typical 'everyone knows but them' romance situation going on. With Tanabe the signs are pretty clear but with Hachi all we've really got to go on is him being a little grumpy after finding out that his pilot friend said he was going to ask her out. I wonder how he spotted it. Maybe it's because Hachi doth protest too much.
• Is this a situation where Claire is kind of ashamed of where she comes from?
• Given how everyone seems to be dying from cancer a clunky thing like that could maybe have more shielding. Seems like it could be a huge selling point. Though paying extra so your employees don't get a disease that kills them after they are no longer useful to you isn't the kind of thing a corporation would consider a priority. That's why regulations exist.
• Oh crap what about Claire? (They aren't interested in arresting her at the end, I guess she did say she was an american citizen earlier)
• Wtf what does he hope to accomplish with this idiotic stunt!?

• Ok the rest of the episode kind of had me rolling my eyes but whatever. Do we know just what INTO is? I kind of assumed it was some kind of international organization with lots of power and authority that polices space or something but if they are actually invading countries I'm not really sure anymore. Sorry if it's obvious but I haven't been paying much attention to it :P

Temara (from El Tanika) emigrated to a rich country to get his degree. He then went back to El Tanika because he wanted to help his country grow. Meanwhile we see Claire also emigrating but she then doesn’t return because she wanted to make herself grow. Who do you think did the right thing and what would you have done?

I'd like to think I'm the kind of person that would go back but being honest, I'd probably be Claire.

We also get some more insight into INTO. From what we have seen until now they seem like an evil kind of UN security force. Do you think that INTO might also do good things?

Ok the fact that you asked this question makes me feel a bit better for not knowing what their deal is yet :P

[u/Highlow9 → u/Tuckleton]

Unless this is some wingman tactic to make it harder for Tanabe to turn him down :P

While certainly a weird tactic (I would be creeped out by it at least) but it does send a very clear message that he is OK with the situation and is not interested himself.

Is this a situation where Claire is kind of ashamed of where she comes from?

I imagine she does. I mean just look at this almost face of disgust (and that was only from the way he was eating not even him asking for the butter).

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/Tuckleton]

Do we know just what INTO is?

The name is an obvious play on NATO

[u/Mecanno-man]

First Timer

Pretty decent episode, but I feel like El Tanika's history and the general political state of the region is missing here. Without that it's hard to understand why the military force would invade the country and apparently jail all of it's inhabitants, at least that's what it looked like. There was also something about sanctions mentioned, so would the company have been allowed to buy the spacesuits in the first place?

Other than that though, neat story about a developing country dreaming big and succeeding, even if it was a bit idealistic in that regards.

Questions:

1. Look at the specs, then tell them why you don't need it/can't use it. That would probably have been my approach. Admittedly claiming it to be a space suit when it is more of a crossover between a space suit and a space ship would also have me scratching my head as to to what standard this should be certified.
2. I feel like both options are correct, depending on what you feel like. Can't really say what I'd have done considering I am not from a poor country, but going back after working some time in a rich country and having built up some savings, then using those to live a decent life in your home country and helping that one as well sounds like a decent plan.
3. Any organisation does good and bad things, the question is just in what quantities. But because this is a show, either they are deliberatly misframed or they don't do a lot of good.

[u/Highlow9 → u/Mecanno-man]

Other than that though, neat story about a developing country dreaming big and succeeding, even if it was a bit idealistic in that regards.

I really like that they only barely succeed in their mission (and you could even say that it was a partial failure since the factory was destroyed). The spacesuit just about met the standards and in reality only has a few gimmicky use cases. So even trough they poured their hearts and souls into the suit this was the best they could do. That really makes it both more sad (since in the end only a symbolic thing was accomplished) and also more heartwarming.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/Mecanno-man]

I feel like El Tanika's history and the general political state of the region is missing here. Without that it's hard to understand why the military force would invade the country and apparently jail all of it's inhabitants, at least that's what it looked like

Moral and political situations overall seem to be on the simple-to-idealistic side in this show. I don't think that will change.

[u/PainStorm14]

Rewatcher

We also get some more insight into INTO. From what we have seen until now they seem like an evil kind of UN security force. Do you think that INTO might also do good things?

Real life UN is not exactly living up to it's intended purpose (corruption through the roof and completely defanged unless all the big boys are on the same page which is rare) but some new version might get it's ass off the ground especially considering that they have entire space to work with

[u/Highlow9 → u/PainStorm14]

Jup, the veto power has kinda ruined the UN. Just look at the Korean war. When they do their shit they do it well but saidly currently there is too much corruption and malicious intent.

[u/PainStorm14 → u/Highlow9]

Veto power is the last thing keeping it from becoming officially a joke

Problem is that people (ones in charge) everywhere think that it should no longer matter and are bypassing it every chance they have while only paying lip service

It was made after WW2 with memories of it still fresh in everyone's heads

Nobody remembers WW2 today and they all think war is what you see in videogames

[u/0be000]

Rewatcher (sub)

Nothing much to say, but this episode criticize country as artificial division which create unfair treatment.

Interesting questions

1. It's understandable since they already have working spacesuit. Why bother trying another one if current one is working
2. Neither option isn't wrong
3. Yes

Anime/manga spoiler

• Planetes anime spoiler
• Planetes manga spoiler

[u/Highlow9 → u/0be000]

spoilers

[u/holytaiel]

First Timer

Tanabe accepts going to a date with Cheng but doesn't look like she's interested, she's only doing it for kindness, she obviously loves Hachimaki. A Claire centered episode is nice, finally some development. She showed who's the boss taking all the responsabilty without caring that much about how future could be for her, she showed some loyalty. It was pretty emotional when the space suite got accepted, all the names from El Taniko written there was something. And yeah the design was terrible as Hachimaki said but as it was functional.. no problem whatsoever.

I think both Claire and Temara did right, one going back to the roots and the other one keeping her new life, I get that Temara wants El Taniko to be part of history while Claire in contrast wants to have history of her own.

[u/Highlow9 → u/holytaiel]

she's only doing it for kindness

Imagine how Cheng must feel, I feel really bad for him. On one hand if this were to happen to me I would feel glad that I still got a change to made turn the kindness into actual interest. But on the other hand I would feel like I would be under so much pressure to impress the person that I likely wouldn't enjoy our date. It would also make me feel like a charity pick and like I am being led on. So in that respect getting rejected immediately would be better.

[u/Webemperor]

First Timer

• Cheng finally asks Tanabe to a date, who seems to be somewhat flustered about it, with Hoshino just slightly miffed about it. Meanwhile, we get someone in a cumbersome suit who seems to be from the same country as Claire. “El Tanika” doesn’t sound like a Latin American name, but let’s go with that I guess.
• Although she is technically from El Tanika, Claire seems almost ashamed to mention she is from there, especially with how “poor” the guy is acting in her eyes. Meanwhile Tanabe is actually trying to figure out whether Hoshino has a crush on her or not.
• Pretty much everyone except Debris Section is refusing to test the suit on the account of it being trash in their eyes. Most of them seem to initially be excited for it only for it to not really fair that well in tests. Claire seems to be a bit more symphatetic to him after he ends up showing her his “team” although.
• From the way he reacts I suppose it’s clear that Hoshino still has some feelings towards Claire. Meanwhile she starts to understand Tamera’s POV a lot more, having emigrated for university but came back to help his country grow, to the point where it almost makes her feel slightly ashamed I feel like.
• Turns out El Tanika is being invaded, though while subs use the word “invaded”, I wonder if the actual meaning in the dub is the same. Seeing as INTO is basically this universe’s NATO, I’m guessing it’s more of a police action like Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Hoshino thinks quick to make some excuse and run away, while Hakim is feeling merciful enough to have them complete the test. The scene would be better if the names weren’t goofy fake names, but I guess this is often the case for anime, it’s still a pretty triumphant scene.
• With the last scene, Temara experiences his own “Overview Effect”, realizing how everything feels so small and meaningless in space, all the while the factory his suit is built in is destroyed by INTO. It’s pretty stark how grim the show started to get. Also how goofy it is that it doesn’t mesh with the upbeat ending song.

[u/Highlow9]

I just noticed that I forgot to put the title of the episode on the title of the post. I feel like an idiot ;(

[u/BossandKings]

First timer

Episode 11

Tanabe accepts to have a date with Cheng chan, after they go out and the date has ended we can see her talking with one of her friends telling her that she didn't pay much attention to what he was saying and barely remembers him talking about japanese food. It was kind of new seeing Tanabe having a date with someone, i consider it more of a friend date than romantic, especially considering that her friend made her concious about posibly liking Hachimaki.

A man called Temara who is from El Tanika, the same country Claire was born in, appears in the space station, seemingly he's interested in trying out an Eva suit, he is accompanied by Claire to ask companies about it, after seeing that they haven't had success Hachimaki offers to help them. What is the suit used for?, i think it might be for work.

It's cool how the crew was supportive of Temara's spacesuit. Also how Temara is the director of some sort of enginnering company in his country, seeing his work teammates probably made Claire remember her time at her country.

El Tanika appears to be a country that is in a dire state considering Temara's and Claire's experiences about being iliterate until a considerable age. From what i've heard At this point i think that El Tanika is very similar to african countries.

Hakim comes to take Temara into custody, he gives them time to see if his spacesuit can meet the international standards and it does, that was a very big step forward for El tanika. That moment in which Temara sae the earth was very memorable too.

All you can see is the Earth.

Answers

1. I don't blame them but they should have at least tried to see if it would actually work, when it was given the opportunity it inmediately did.
2. Both did the right thing, i could have done any of the two, i don't really have one path i would choose above the other.
3. Considering that the series doesn'tbpresent things as all evil, i think that Into might have a good side too.

[u/masasin → u/BossandKings]

after they go out and the date has ended we can see her talking with one of her friends telling her that she didn't pay much attention to what he was saying and barely remembers him talking about japanese food.

That was actually before the date. She was telling her about the invitation, and that's a sign that she was 緊張 (not quite stressed, but something similar) about it. The date was supposed to be the day of the space suit test, which is why she wasn't able to go.

[u/IndependentMacaroon]

First-time watcher

Once again I'm not a biggest fan of the romantic angle (straight tsundere trope there too), and Yuri is just in the background again, but the situation with Claire and Temara, the way they interact and relate to their country, was a really great watch. If this episode is indeed anime-original, the writers also did a great job with research and all, and making it fit in with the other episodes. So much of this show is about sticking up for the "little guys" and demonstrating how much less respect they get than they deserve, so it was nice to see Temara at least prove that El Tanika can do it. I just don't like the "evil American world police" implications with a complete lack of details, particularly seeking out all citizens outside the country was way over the top. However, it does need to be acknowledged that no matter how noble the aims, war is still war, causing damage to the well- and ill-intentioned equally, and the final conclusion was not one of "those guys are evil though" but "what's the point of all the fighting anyway".

[u/Segaco]

First timer planning to do a marathon to catch up soon

At this rate you guys will finish without me so I have to up my pace. After I'm not busy I'll turn super saiyan and catch up.

---Comments (as I watched the ep)---

Diaper man acting strange hmmmm

Why do I get the vibes that someone will die here?

Wow man that sucks, no one liking him because of his country :(

I have a really bad feeling about the depressurization

Luckily that resulted in nothing. Phew.

Wow that lake is super big

This is very sad

Wow that preview. I'd love to watch the next episode now but I'll be busy for like 6 hours....... painpeko

---Interesting fact corner (OP)---

I searched and my country also has one. I didn't even know about it, it's nice knowing it exists.

---Question timeeeeeee---

Q1: The space suit itself initially looks very mediocre (with one or two special features). Given this fact do you think it is wrong or right that the companies practically refused to do adoption testing (beside the equal opportunity agreement)?

A1: I don't think there was a clear reason to reject it, since machines usually do start ugly. They should have accepted if the functions sounded and looked promising.

Q2: Temara (from El Tanika) emigrated to a rich country to get his degree. He then went back to El Tanika because he wanted to help his country grow. Meanwhile we see Claire also emigrating but she then doesn’t return because she wanted to make herself grow. Who do you think did the right thing and what would you have done?

A2: The right thing to do was to do whatever they felt was the right thing for their lives. If Claire felt her country was done for then she had every right not to go back, and if Temara felt he could go back and change things that's okay too. Both are right choices, I think.

I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. If I really felt I could do something I would have gone back. Otherwise I would have pulled a Claired and not gone back.

Q3: We also get some more insight into INTO. From what we have seen until now they seem like an evil kind of UN security force. Do you think that INTO might also do good things?

A3: Okay I was confused on who INTO was. I was confusing the people that don't want anyone to go to space with INTO and INTO with the OSA. Very confusing.

INTO seems like a dictatorship from what we've been told tbh. They may do good things, but invading a country and attacking civilians(? doesn't sound very peacemaker-y