Unfortunately, we’re still the good guys. 

— OP song feels like it belongs to another era. I guess this whole show feels the same way — like something from the early 00’s.

— I thought Torai looked like a leader last episode. It turns out he was also the strongest member of his team. Planet With likes flipping things on their heads, I guess. But for how long? I still expect Soya to become a generic do-gooder at some point.

— Why is that guy so large?

— The rest of the team decides to pair up in the name of safety. No longer able to contribute in battle, Torai can only hang back and investigate the identity of their enemy, the Nebula Soldiers.

— Honestly, I’m only four minutes into the episode, but I’m really not feeling Planet With. I’m finding it difficult to focus on the show even though I literally just sat down to start watching it. Maybe the rest of the episode can change my mind, but yeah…

— I think we all like to rag on the generic anime heroes for how boring they look and act, but none of these characters appeal to me whatsoever. They’re weird and off-putting. I’m not really big into their character designs either. Soya is in high school, but he looks like a little kid. The big dude with the pink hair looks like he’s a villain from a Pokemon game or something.

— Oh look, the old man also likes to eat meat. Honestly, who doesn’t?

— Plus, the show obviously isn’t taking itself seriously (yet), but the humor is just… eh.

— Meat or not, this still looks good to me. Then again, I love tofu.

— It doesn’t help that I have no idea what Soya is talking about or nor can I empathize with what he’s going through. He insists that this is not his world (then what is his world?). He insists that he’s been brought here to be a soldier (what are they trying to achieve?). He insists that he just wants revenge (on who?). But so far, the only backstory we’ve gotten is some hazy memory about a big explosion ’caused by a dragon thing. If he already has all the details, why is the story withholding them from the audience? And if he doesn’t have all the details, then what is he getting all huffy about?

— Meh.

— There’s that hazy memory again. What. Happened? What are you getting revenge for? Who are you getting revenge for?

— Man, I love steamed buns, especially the ones with a hard-boiled egg and Chinese sausage on the inside. These are okay too, I guess. But yeah, Soya gets to sit right next to the enemy without them realizing who he is.

— God, he just inhaled that last bite.

— Torai hands the kid a steamed bun, but I bet it’s got a bean filling or something equally vegetarian. Even if it doesn’t have meat, the fluffy and slightly sweet bread is the best part. Man, look at how disengaged I am from this anime. I’m going on and on about steamed buns…

— Oh look, another silly-looking massive flying object.

— Of course it had a red bean filling. I’d still love to eat one right about now. I haven’t had breakfast yet…

— Alright, whose backstory are we going to glimpse this time?

— Sealing Faction. Pacifist Faction. Okay.

— Nebula is concerned with human evolution. I assume the Sealing Faction wants to prevent it. As for the Pacifist Faction, it wants humans to evolve peacefully? And the “good guys” are against this but we don’t know why yet.

— Looks like we’ll learn a thing or two about this little girl. She wants to be strong, you guys.

— Ginko says their faction wants to “confiscate that power,” but she isn’t being specific. What power? The power of human evolution? What’s the difference between that and sealing it?

— So yeah, the Pacifist Faction doesn’t care if humans evolve as long as it’s peaceful. Looks like we ain’t the baddies after all, folks. Darn. I mean, seriously, it would’ve been a fresh and interesting gimmick, but now, I don’t know what we’ve got.

— Yep.

— Miu finds herself in a martial arts tournament, competing against Haru-chan It looks like they’re just grabbing each other’s gi and spinning in circles, though.

— Oh wait, there’s a judo throw. Oh boy, this is exciting…

— All of a sudden, she snaps out of the illusion and starts destroying the massive flying object’s core. Like, what was the thing’s strategy here? Apparently, it wanted to convince the girl that it was okay to be weak? But I don’t see how the illusion would’ve been conducive to that.

— Now that that is over, it’s time for Miu to lose her powers to Soya.

— It looked like Miu’s armor had lost its left arm against the massive flying object, but I guess the thing managed to repair itself out of nowhere.

— The six Grand Paladins think they’re agents of justice. I mean, we kinda suspected that, but I really wish the show could’ve maintained the ruse a little longer.

— Soya ends up beating Miu in a single uppercut, so Ginko swoops in and steals the bottle. Welp, that’s that for her.

— Calm down, little girl. You’ll probably get it back before the end of the series. They didn’t spend all that time modeling those 3-D mechas for nothing.

— Hey, while Haru’s here, we may as well steal both of their bottles!

— Unfortunately, Sensei insists that they retreat.

— And for a good reason, too. The other four immediately show up to retaliate, and Soya quickly finds himself surrounded.

— Now that Soya and his team can meet the head honcho face-to-face, maybe we’ll get some concrete answers in next week’s episode. Unfortunately, I’m still not feeling Planet With. It’s taking its time to set up its story, but it doesn’t really have the strong characters or the wit to hold us over until then.

— Nothing here is really all that interesting. Like sure, I’ll watch next week’s episode since I don’t really have much to cover on Sundays, but would I recommend this show to my friends? So far, the answer would be an affirmative no. And honestly, if you have to watch three episodes before a one-cour series gets good, eh…

— Oh hey, look at that futuristic world in front of the kid. I guess Soya really is from another planet.