Planetarian - Reviews

Story:

Planetarian is an emotional anime that follows our two main characters Hoshino Yumemi and Junker or Kuzuya. Hoshino Yumemi is a robot who's been left for 30 years at an abandoned planetarium, which she worked at. One day she gets visited in the planetarium and crosses paths with Kuzuya. 

For how much Planetarian can fit into 5 episodes (each 18 minutes long) they do it extremely well. And is definitely the best short anime I've ever seen. What started off as something I'd find boring I end up being extremely wrapped in and watching episode after episode. At some parts it was boring and can start off a bit slow, is paid off for the other elements throughout the anime. The amount of innocence that starts off the series blends well with the sorrow that follows and does an extremely good job at developing the story.  

Animation: 

The animation in Planetarian is extremely beautiful and doesn't fail to use colors to its advantage. The settings are well done and well suited to get the situation straight with the viewer, whether that be the planetarium itself or the 'ruins of civilization.' I highly appreciate the character designs and how it pays attention to even the littlest of details. 

Sound: 

Not many notable things can be said about the sound of Planetarian as nothing too major stood out to me. The ending song is well suited for the anime and isn't a bad song at all. The voice actors also are well-suited for the characters.

Characters: 

Despite only being 5 episodes long one of the main characters, Kuzuya can still go through well-done character development. Planetrain also offers well-done character-to-character interactions, between Hoshino and Kuzuya, which ends up being a great way to see into the character's personality, as well as their relationship and views on each other. 

Overall:

I highly recommend you to watch this anime if you wish to watch something short that can not only visually appeal to you, but also make you emotional. 

A profoundly sad story with an element of hope thrust deep in the most extreme despair. And one major significance that makes the 5-episode Planetarian (18-minutes a piece) a deeply moving story slapped me in the face the moment I listened to the opening theme, the background melody that haunted the whole production for me.  I checked the seven other reviews of Planetarian to see if anyone else caught it.  Nobody did.  And I pondered why ever this tune would have been selected.  But viewing the whole series in the light of this, I couldn't be mistaken, though I still wonder about its selection.

The theme comes from a hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

I was made more certain of it when the melody played clearly through the full verse, including those lines ... "Oh, what peace we often forfeit!  ... Oh, what needless pain we bear!"

In a way, does this make the MC Hoshino Yumemi (Japanese for ‘dream of the stars’) a Christ-figure?  I would argue for it.  Yumemi stands and waits for her customer.  No one has come.  All the best that secularism can hand out in a self-willed society, territorialism, over-population, poverty, leads at last to the annihilations of war.  No one should come.  But Kuzuya does.

Kuzuya comes as a 'Junker,' a man who scavenges the ruins of charred cities for materials and foodstuffs to allow that tiny portion of humanity to survive.  But he must battle past guardian robots left behind by the long-dead elitists to protect their property.  Kuzuya finds refuge in a long-defunct planetarium and finds Yumemi, a beautiful, overly-optimistic robot programmed to give narratives about the night sky.  The night sky has been blotted out by constant storms, a result of the cataclysm.  Kuzuya is attracted to the idea of seeing the stars once more, and he agrees to make the necessary repairs.  While hampered by power outages.   Yumemi gives a masterful performance which begins to affect the hard-bitten Junker.  After the show, Yumemi offers the courtesy of escorting Kazuya to 'his car.'  In doing so, Yumemi enters the dangerous world where Junkers struggle to stay alive.

Hoshino Yumemi a Christ-figure?  She is abundantly hopeful and loves to share that hope.  She faces down (and actual forgives) the monster robot that has crippled Kazuya, giving the resourceful Junker enough time to destroy the tank set out to get him.  Yumemi is terribly wrecked with only minutes of reserve power left.  She plays back scenes of previous happy customers who were moved by her lectures.  Kazuya promises vainly to find ways to repair Yumemi and install her at a new planetarium, something she finds to be heaven.  But no, not for her.  And then Yumemi divulges a secret ... the placement of her memory chip, which Kuzuya removes and places carefully in his carrier.  Exit Kazuya ... to where?  (Hint: there is an ONA of Planetarian that I’m dying to see … just because).

The animation technique was masterful, contrasting the brilliantly clear night sky depictions of the planetarium with the gray tinged streets of Sarcophagus City.  Other than the "What a Friend ..." motif ( a hymn tune from a style of hymnody that does play on the emotions), Planetarian ended with a sweetly moving day-in-the-life routine of a chibi Yumemi setting up for her longed for customers where she "Humbly waits for your return."

It might simply be the co-incidental viewing of Planetarian over the Easter weekend.  But somehow, this short series became quite the spiritual experience we all should have.

It's hard to rate this anime based on one episode on a junker and a robot. But the thing thus far is that it's a space center, and there's robots. Am I the only one that thought this would be set in space? I must've read the description wrong. However I found the show to be interesting and await further development.

Welp, there goes another sad anime.