Planet With: Mecha, Mystery and a Cat Sensei!

What if the “heroes” aren’t using heroic tools? We dive into Planet With, where an amnesiac teen, a pacifist purple cat, and a sharp-eyed ally challenge what it means to save a world. The twist is simple and potent: Soya might need to stop the very defenders sworn to protect the city. From that turn, the series becomes a study in power, restraint, and the messy courage it takes to choose better weapons than the ones that broke you.

We unpack the show’s core—from Soya’s recovered memories of Sirius’s fall to the Nebulan factions led by Sensei, a leader who meows strategy and stands for mercy first. The transformation mechanic is brilliantly strange: Soya is swallowed to pilot a compact cat mech, a trust ritual that sets the tone for every battle. The enemies are unforgettable fever dreams—upside-down giant babies, geometric beasts, occult echoes—that play like metaphors for fear and hubris. Along the way, we meet Grand Paladin’s roster, the sealing faction’s canine commander, and a web of side characters whose choices make the moral stakes feel lived-in rather than abstract.

We don’t just list set pieces. We talk about the mixed CGI, where it distracts and where it elevates alien tech. We sit with grief, responsibility, and the hope that survivors can write gentler futures. And yes, we give a verdict: 7.5 out of 10 for inventive design, emotional clarity, and a confident blend of mecha spectacle with ethical tension. Stick around to hear what’s next on our review slate—from Guilty Crown and Buddy Complex to a nostalgic return to FLCL and Full Metal Panic—and help us decide what should jump the queue.

If this breakdown hit the spot, tap follow, share it with a mecha-loving friend, and drop a review with your own Planet With score. What faction are you joining—and why?

Transcript

Why Cover Planet With Now

Premise And Hook

Soya’s Past And Motive

Sensei And Ginko Revealed

Grand Paladin Roster

Mecha And Enemy Design

Transformation Quirk And References

Corrections: Nebula Soldier Naming

Tone, Art, And Themes

Final Thoughts And Rating

Upcoming Mecha Review Plans

Sign Off And Community Nudge

SPEAKER_00 0:01

What up, gang? It's JB and the Zone Podcast is back at it again with another Mega Monday. Today, I'm gonna go ahead and talk about Planet Whip. Now, originally I was gonna wait until March to talk about it, but then again, I thought, hold on, it's 12th episodes. I went ahead and already watched it. Why am I waiting till March? I might as well uh push Megaton Musashi to Mark and just go ahead and knock this one out the way. So, Planet With. Let's go ahead and get into that one. We have our main character living a peaceful life despite having no memories of the past. One day, his city's getting attacked by a giant machine known as a nebula weapon, and along with the cat like Sensei and uh gothic Lolita girl Ginkgo, Soya Kuroi uh is dragged into a fight and ends up the enemy of seven heroes who are working to protect the city. Uh I find that kind of interesting twist there. Where instead of helping the heroes, Soya is tasked to eliminate them. Not that this is a new concept, but it immediately makes you wonder what's the mystery behind it all. Like, uh, why is he going after the heroes? Uh speaking, let's go ahead and get into the characters now. But starting with Soya, he seems interesting because he regains some of his memories and realize that the members of Grand Paladin, that he's the seven heroes that was referred to, are using similar power to the ones that led to the destruction of his whole planet Sirius, from which he's the only survivor. And there's this running gag that he's kept from eating meat either intentionally or by accident. We have Gink Kokuroi, who's a maid living with Soya, and it helps him out with Sensei, later revealed to be the prince of the planet Riel, who was saved by Sensei after being attacked by serious soldiers. We have Sensei himself, who's like this large purple cat that speaks in meows that only King Kill can translate. He turns out to be the leader of the pacifist faction of the Nebulaans trying to save the planet series before it was destroyed, and came with transforming into a small mech that Soya pilot after being swallowed by him. Since they also worked the spaceship that looks like his normal form, but at a massive scale. And he has another name, uh Rasha Baric, which is a reference to this one of the overlords from this book, uh this novel called Childhood's End. We have Nozami, who's a representative of the Soyuz class, uh, part of the occult research club. There's Hideo, uh Firefighter, uh, quit to join Grand Paladin, uh, Miyu, a young judoka, who's best friends with Harumi, also part of Grand Paladin, uh Harumi, who's Judoka and Miyu's classmate who want to be pampered by Miu, part of the Grand Paladin team. Uh there's like two more. So I don't have to keep repeating that part. Uh there's Judgment, who already graduated from uh Soyez High School, occasionally stops by the occult club uh as dramatic players to most of his actions. And then there is uh Bonika, who's a red-headed woman and former junior police detective. Uh oh, yeah, there's one more. Uh Yosuke, who's part of the Grand Paladin, but later joined the Sealing faction with uh Benika, the younger brother of the late police detective who is Benika's partner. So, yeah, that kind of makes sense. And then we have Takashi, who's the leader of Grand Paladin, and arguably the strongest member. There's uh Secretary, uh Kogune, uh Takashi's father, uh Takezo, uh General Lizimo, this big white dog-like creature who leads Sealing Faction. And I just circle back to the transformation. Like, I like how it's Sawyer, he has to be swallowed inside Sensei's body as he transforms it to this small cat-like mech. It kind of reminds me of Booy Cooley. Now that I think about it, the design for the cat mech is definitely unique looking. Like, it's dubbed the Nebula Soldier by the Grand Palder group. And the Nebula weapons are some of the oddest enemies I've seen between upside down giant babies, an alligator with a pyramid forehead, and whatever that thing is in episode one. While it's not always about giant robot fights, this series gives its take on the occultics, such as magic, ghosts, extraterrestrials, and humans, or unknown mysterious animals. Yeah. And I want to say it has decent artwork with the characters, although the usage of CGI is a mixed bag here and there. Like sometimes I feel like doesn't need to be CGI here and there. I don't know. Uh the action's fairly good, it's kind of weird in a funny way, almost dan-to-dam vibes. It can also get emotional and dramatic for the right reasons. I mean, there's laws, there's tragedy, there's destruction, but there's also heart, perspective, and that familiar spirit of hope in spite of circumstances. Uh, not to give away too much of what happens, because I do want people to give it a chance, and I'm not trying to rob them of the whole experience. So if I were to give this one a rating, I'd say 7.5 out of 10. It was a good blend of mecha action and oddities. And with that being said, that will conclude mecha Monday for now. I do spend more coming up. I'm trying to get down through this list. Uh hold on, let me check the list real quick. Because I know I mentioned on one Monkey Monday that uh I was gonna do Dice Shogun in September, but I just wanna see which ones that I want to work on, maybe in uh March and April, because there's some there's a bunch of good ones that I want to do later on, like say September, October, November, December, you know. Uh so I got something in mind for those. But uh, I'm thinking maybe Guilty Crown. Uh I do want to do Buddy Complex because they kind of remind me of Kogia in a way. No, no, I won't even say Kogia. That's yeah, no, but uh, it was kind of interesting. I I watched it once, but for some reason it just didn't stick for me. So I'm just gonna try again. Uh Magic Knight Rare. Now, I'm gonna do that with Tonara at some point. I'm gonna wait until the new series concludes its season and we'll work on it. Then uh Trapped in a Dating Cinema. I did not know that was a mecha anime. I'm gonna get that chance. Bonji Red, I've been wanting to review. I watched it like at least twice now. I like it. I don't know why they review it yet, but I'm gonna get to it. Oh, now I remember. I remember what I was gonna do. I was gonna do Active Raid, Back Arrow. I was gonna do Star Drive. I really want to do Star Driver, but uh Crunch Rolls getting weird with the uh lack of subtitles, so I might have to uh single to seven C's just to rewatch Star Driver. But uh if I don't get around to it, I'll probably find something to replace it. But uh, I'm definitely gonna get on Activate and Back Arrow for sure. Uh 86, I might do. I'm thinking Aquarium, but there's there's a whole bunch of Aquarium. Uh 7. Surprisingly, we didn't do that. And I'm gonna jump on that. Booley Coolie counts as a mecha anime. Crazy, right? But that's probably gonna wait until November. Like, I wanna, I'm feeling nostalgic about that one because that was like one of my cool. Speaking of which, Full Metal Panic, that can wait till November. I I wanna do Booley Coolie and Full Metal Panic Justice because I was really fucking with those. Uh Record 7-2. I might oh man, like I'm thinking, yeah. Between November and December, that's those gonna be big ones for me. Like, Heroic Age is also one that I really fucked with. Uh Gun Sword isn't uh throwback for me. There's a whole bunch. I got a whole bunch in mind. So just bear with me, and I'll get around to him when I get around to him. But until then. Have yourself good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good night. Whenever you're happening to listen to this, remember to say nerd that great things are coming. I'm gonna go ahead and throw it up out of here. So, take it easy.