Planetes

 A long time ago i read this Sci-fi manga called Planetes that had Human Space Explorations as its theme and it lived up to its expectation as an award winning manga. Then Sunrise made 26 anime adaptation for this series back in 2003 which i gave a watch recently and it aged like a fine wine. Planetes narrates the story of an Astronaut working as Space Debris collector who aspire to own a Spaceship someday. Through his job as Space Debris Collector, the main character encounter various sorts of people with their own dreams and motives revolving around Space which makes up the story of the series. Planetes was renowned for its grounded and realistic depiction of the future Space Travel where humanity has reached the stage to attempt Space Travel to Jupiter and the struggles for such Goal. 

 In order to make the 4-Manga Volume worth of story material fit 26 episodes, Sunrise anime adaptation took some liberty in expanding the series with sets of new casts and further exploration on some themes from the manga. Originally the main casts in the Planetes manga only consist of the Debris Collector Ship team and the anime added a whole company adding new dynamics on it. The Anime Version Planetes anime also made the conflict between the Space Exploration Organisation led by Rich Nations and the Terrorists from the Third World Nations left behind in the space race as the Main Plot in the second half in order to explore the theme of economic inequalities between Developed and Developing nation which can be harsh at time.

 Despite the  liberty attempt on reworking the original material can be hit or miss, The Anime version of Planetes is still a good Scifi anime as it still captures the main essence of the Manga tried to convey which is the hopeful and optimistic future for Humanity through Space Exploration. I particularly liked the opening theme of the anime and never expected the series was made by the same mangaka of Vinland Saga.