Forum - View topicPlanetes Volume 3 Cat *spoiler*
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freshkazuki
 Posts: 235 Location: Texas |
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In Planetes Volume 3 there is this strange talking cat that appears to Hachi and I was wondering what this strange being is supposed to represent. Is it a cultural reference of Japanese origin? It seemed to me as though it represented death in some way, or it could be Hachi's self-doubt personalized in the form of an animal spirit? The first time he sees it in this volume is when he's getting a drink at a vending machine and he hears a car hit something, and then this cat with its intestines half hanging out, dragging itself into the darkness. And then with Tanabe's background story, when she's growing up she never speaks until her cat leaves. Does it represent limitation, or the limitation of the past? Does it represent the life of the universe? Because it seems to try to teach Hachi about his place in it. This is the first manga that I've read that actually has me stumped as to what is going on beneath the surface on a deeper level. Stumped is probably not the right word. I guess it's the first manga where a question is raised that has no one absolute answer. I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts on the whole cat thing or even the series.
To me, it is one of the most realistic sci-fi stories out there. I mean Hachi is just the symbol of humanity, wanting to get out there into space without thinking about what he's really getting into. It's just great. Thinking like a kid, he believes that his spirtual shortcomings will be solved if he can go to Jupiter. But that's not enough. I mean when Tanabe tells Hachi that if you live alone and you die alone, what was the point in living at all? That just about sums up his problem. The fact that this demonic urge of mankind to explore and conquer is nothing if you lose your soul in the process. And Hachi comes close to that in this volume. Oh yeah, I was just asking about the cat...I'll be moving on to the fourth two part volumes soon but you should really give this series a try if you haven't already. It's great, fascinating, serious, funny, and literary. Last edited by freshkazuki on Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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The black cat is pretty much a guardian or embodiment of Tanabe. At an early birth, she was abandoned by her real mother, the black cat was right next to her. When the crow was eating a cat (I think) she was talking to the crow and a black cat was watching her on top of the roof. One night during the blizzard, when the cat left into the darkness, she spoke her first words.
Also when hachi was hallucinating and talking to cat in space, it said something about Tananabe loves you or something. He couldn't clearly see the picture then but in a way it was telling him to seek Tanabe and filled that emptiness inside of him. That's pretty much what I got out of it. I try rereading several times and a possibly was that the cat meant death when it told Hachi that it wasn't his time yet. Also you might want to put spoiler in the topic. |
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