Genre: Sci fi
Score: OK
Length: 24 episodes
Space junk is an increasing problem: small, fast moving objects pose a real danger to any work done in orbit. Tanabe is the newest recruit in the Debris Section, whose job is to get rid of the many pieces of waste that humanity has left in orbit over the decades. It’s not a job that gets much respect – they’re stuck in the basement, using 30-year old hardware, and people call them ‘half-section’. Can in idealistic young girl cope with this harsh reality?
On the plus side, this is a very hard sci fi – everything that happens on screen is physically realistic, and extremely close to current technology levels. From the spinning-induced quasi-gravity to the propulsion to the design of craft and space suits to the physical effects of spending years in space. One of the characters was born on the moon, and as a result could never survive travelling to earth.
The story mostly takes a slice-of-life approach. The early sections are its strongest, as it shows ordinary people living lives in space. Unfortunately, when the plot does kick in towards the end it’s not as convincing as it should be. Or perhaps it’s too convincing: even in space, people continue to be as predictable and stupid as they always have been. The show raises interesting questions, but I felt that it doesn’t have enough to add to them. Conflicts remain basically unresolved, and the end feels somewhat disappointing.
Rather than being bad, the show is good in so many ways and yet feels like wasted potential: with the scenario and characters to hand it could have been so much better. This is really just my own opinion though, so if you’re uncertain then watching this is probably worth it to decide for yourself.
NOTE: This is the first series that I’ve reviewed purely on the basis of the dub, since I watched this on TV rather than fansubs. I normally avoid commenting on dubs, because opinions vary wildly, but this sounded like a good dub.