DGFischer

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.