PLANETARIAN: CHIISANA HOSHI NO YUME

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MOVIE Dramaplanetarian: Hoshi no Hito
OVA Dramaplanetarian: Snow Globe
TV SHORT ComedyKaginado
TV SHORT ComedyKaginado Season 2
NOVEL DramaPlanetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume

REVIEWS

• 

  beanwolf

  90/100
  A great sci-fi drama with a satisfying ending. Just a 1.5 hour time investment; one you don't want to miss.

  Let's open this discussion with an example we're all familiar with. Imagine your professor just assigned the class a critical essay on this week's lecture topics. Like all essay assignments you've ever received in your life, this one has a page limit, let's say, 4 pages. Can't be more, can't be less. As you sit down the night before it's due to finally complete (or start) the assignment, you're likely to face one of two problems:

  1. You are struggling to meet the 4 page limit that was set for you, experiencing a lack of material to complete the essay or have simply answered the prompt in a concise manner.

  2. You are struggling to trim down your essay to fit into the 4 page limit, left feeling like you could not adequately prove your point within the limit or that there is just too much material to be fit within such a small space.

  Neither situation feels great for you: you either feel frustrated that you just can't seem to fill up those 4 pages with meaningful content, or cheated that you didn't have enough space to present your full thoughts. The page limit itself begins to subtly dictate your essay-writing experience, rather than having your focus be nailed to the prompt and the topic (as it should). You fill the pages up with meaningless garbage to get up to those necessary 4 pages. You cut some of your earlier valid points to trim down to exactly the page requirement.

  Both options end up hurting the overall quality of your essay, although at this point it's 5:34 AM and your class is at 8:00. You get a nice cat-nap, drag your caffeine-addled self to class, turn in your paper, and pray to God that the next essay goes better for you.

  If your professor keeps giving you a strict length requirement, it's likely to happen the same way all over again.

  Claiming that mandated length can put a damper on the creativity or quality of a work is far from a stretch. We see it all the time in television and movies, with anime in particular being one of the worst offenders. Anime runs on a relatively small core force of talent and an even smaller pool of money, and is a medium that is for better or worse rich with adaptations of varying source material. Any sort of requirement outside of (usually) adhering to the source impacts a studio's final production dramatically. Viewer expectations and network blocks don't make this any easier; an episode runs for 24 minutes and a season is 11-13 or 24-26 episodes. Many a series has been ruined by needing to extend or shorten their material to meet these norms, whether that be through cutting/alteration of important source content or the addition of filler to pad out the season.

  It's exactly for these reasons that I've found short-form series to be so refreshing as of late, with Planetarian, Space Patrol Luluco, and even incredibly dumber stuff like Okusama ga Seitokaichou being notable examples. Each one of these series has their content and delivery strengthened by their shortened runtimes, so much so that I'd never recommend any of them under any circumstances had they been full-length, 24-minute, 13 episode series. Well, maybe I'd still recommend Luluco to TRIGGER-heads, but a full-length version of Okusama would absolutely be a garbage fire and Planetarian would likely be brushed off as just another hamfisted Key feel-monger.

  What's important to note with our two above short-form adaptations (Luluco is the only anime-original of the three) is that each has more than enough content to justify a full-length, full-season series. Planetarian has an original kinetic visual novel, three full drama CDs, and some additional in-print prequel and sequel content. Even though there is likely more than enough content to flesh out at least an 11 episode, 24-minute each series, this ONA is just a mere 5 episodes long with a total runtime of about an hour and half. If you didn't even know about the show until now, you'd be forgiven; it flew largely under the radar (like many short-form series) and was only available on FunimationNow for legal streaming in the US. Like other Key adaptations, this one will try to pull on your heartstrings, but thankfully Maeda is nowhere in sight and there's not enough time for the plot to grind to a halt like Clannad or get absolutely insane like Charlotte.

  Planetarian's greatest strong point and stand-out quality when comparing it to other Key works is its focused plot and setting, coming out of necessity with length of the work. Rather than waste your time setting up a VN 'backbone' to satisfy an otaku audience, we jump right into a hard science fiction plot in a post-apocalyptic setting with our two main characters. With a series that's so short, I really don't want to get too much into the specifics of the plot, but Planetarian is a series that really tries to explore questions about the human condition, empathy, and our relationship with technology as it becomes more and more indistinguishable from the natural.

  With themes so heavy, you'd think that Planetarian would feel like it's pressed for time, but it's actually the opposite. It feels like it doesn't "overstay its welcome". With a plot focused on just two characters and one core setting, anything more than what we got would feel forced or dragged-out. It's also pretty apparent that the choice to go for short-form was primarily focused on budget. David Production has never really been known for jaw-dropping visuals, but the backgrounds here are honestly stunning, accurately nailing that post-apocalyptic, sci-fi vibe, although the animation at times can be a little stiff outside of some action sequences. However, the budget definitely wasn't skimped out on for the musical score, with Orito bringing the same high-quality pieces that we've heard in shows like Clannad and Kanon (2006).

  Planetarian is a perfect example of knowing when to "cut your losses" with a production and prioritize what's most important in making the work a success. By choosing to only adapt the core story of the franchise, which is plenty powerful in and of itself, it allows the work to stand alone stronger than it would if a full-blown adaptation of all material was attempted. It also has the benefit of allow the studio better use their budget on the fewer number of episodes, as well as to back out on follow up content if the project didn't do well financially. Never getting a sequel always sucks as fan, but it definitely hurts less if the first installment was more masterfully done and satisfying in its own right. Thankfully, Planetarian was fairly successful for an ONA, and has a movie set with content from one of the drama CD's sequel content scheduled to release later this year.

  Planetarian is a Key visual novel adaptation done in a short form style to great effect. Like a lot of Key stuff, this one will try to pull on the heartstrings, but unlike Clannad and the others that they're famous for, this one doesn't waste your time (nor does it have time to spare) with an over-abundance of melodrama and contrived scenarios. Instead we get a one-shot character story between our two mains. Lots of emotional beats here, with heavy themes about what it means to be human and how the relationship between humans and technology warps over time.

  David Production gave it their all for the short time that they had with this one. Some of the background art is drop dead gorgeous, and the character designs have a large amount of love and care put into them (which is honestly expected considering there are really only 2 recurring characters). They do a great job of making the post-apocalyptic modern world of Planetarian dismal and abandoned but not completely lacking in life or action. The animation overall can be pretty stiff at times but I attribute mostly to the fact that the show actually contains a large lack of motion and is mostly dialogue. Facial animations have a good bit of time put into them to make up for this, but you'll mostly enjoy this one for the story, not for the better-than-average art. Music is stand out thought, just as great as other Key adaptations (think Clannad or Kanon 2006 quality).

  Overall, a great sci-fi drama with an incredibly satisfying ending. At only just about an hour and a half total time investment, this is definitely one that you don't want to miss.

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• 

  CeissaDesiste

  90/100
  If you like touching stories, this is a must watch series!

  Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume (Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet) is based on the Kinectic Novel/Visual Novel of the same name by Key. It is the shortest VN in their library of works which includes such greats as Clannad, Kanon, Little Busters, Angel Beats and Rewrite.

  Now the main difference of this anime that most people will probably notice right away is that it consists of a story that has only two characters.

  As a huge fan of Key’s storytelling and someone who has watched every anime based on their VNs, I was excited when it was announced that Planetarian was being made into an anime.

  So how does this adaption by David Production measure up? Here are my thoughts on this ONA series…

  Story

  It’s thirty years after the collapse of the Space Colonization Program. Humanity is nearly extinct from the deadly rain that falls on the Earth. Men known as “Junkers” scavenge goods and artifacts from the ruins of civilization. One day a “Junker” decides to enter the dangerous ruins called Sarcophagus City, in the middle of this broken down city he stumbles into Flowercrest Department Store with a planetarium on the roof. It is here that he meets Yumemi Hoshino, the attendant robot who is awakened once a year for 168 hours when the stores back up power activates. To her he is the first customer she has had in thirty years and greets him with a smile and attempts to do the job she was created for by showing him the stars. The projector turns out to be broken and annoyed with her constant chatter, the Junker agrees to repair it so she can show him her presentation.

  Characters

  This story consists of two characters “The Junker” and “Yumemi Hoshino”, though we do meet other characters through flashbacks they are never really there in the current day. Both characters were animated and voiced well which makes them relatable and likable.

  Yumemi is a robot who was designed to look like a teenage to early 20’s female, she was programmed to be an attentive, friendly and helpful to the customers visiting the store and planetarium. Due to this programming she is very talkative and is filled with a wealth of knowledge about the surrounding areas of the store. She calls the Junker “Mr. Customer” throughout the story as he never gives her his name.

  The Junker is a man that appears to be in his mid 20’s to early 30’s that is living the life of a scavenger to survive this dystopian world that he lives in. He seems to have a rough personality and gets annoyed very easily by Yumemi’s programming. Later on he seems to develop a fondness for her and doesn’t want to leave her behind in the empty and lonely city.

  Voice Acting and Animation

  The original voice actors from the game and drama CDs are used in the anime. Daisuke Ono once again gives a touching and heartfelt performance to his character (The Junker) and makes him easily relatable and gives him a great range of emotion. Keiko Suzuki once again makes Yumemi sound so alive and human. The range of depth in her emotional ending speech hits you just as hard in the anime as it did in the game.

  For a studio who hasn’t done a huge amount of anime, they did a great job with the animation and character design. The dystopian and broken down world looks amazingly real and the planetarium is nothing fancy, but gives you the sense of being in one. The character design is also done well as Yumemi’s actions are so human-like that it shows how advanced her robot design was when she was created.

  Sound/OST

  The ED song used was “Twinkle Starlight” by Sayaka Sasaki which is beautiful and fits the theme of this series well. The background sounds and the music fit each scene well and draws you in. The presentation at the planetarium is a prime example of this, I actually felt like I was there myself watching the presentation.

  Overall Enjoyment

  Planetarian is a story that will touch you from the beginning to the end. The flashbacks from when the world was alive to the current state of the world will make you feel like you are there along with the characters. The chemistry between the two characters is what sets this story apart from other anime based on VNs. Yumemi’s inability to see the world as Junker does it what gives the story heart, and what lets him take a break from the real world and forget his troubles.

  My Personal Thoughts

  As someone who played the Kinectic Novel on Steam, I knew what the story was about from the beginning to the end. I also knew how it would play out and even with that knowledge, I was hooked from the first episode. Even though the the game had a lot of emotion and a great story, seeing it played out in an anime adaption was amazing. Every episode touched me and I shed as many tears watching this is a did reading it in the game. The characters gave so much life to the story that it seemed like I had only played the game yesterday and not two years ago. I was skeptical about how the animation would be handled at first as I was unfamiliar with the work of David Production, since I have only seen one other anime by them at that was Hyperdimension Neptunia which is also based on a video game. My skepticism was short lived as from the very first episode, I could see how much work went into adapting this into an anime. I was in awe at how well every scene looked, and at how well the character animation was done. Everything felt so alive!

  My only complaint about the whole series was at the end, the song that was played in the game when Yumemi is giving her final speech was missing and I think that they should have used the song “Perfect Human” while that scene played out. I still cried my eyes out, but I felt something was missing and after viewing the last episode again with that song playing during that scene I knew what it was.

  If you like touching stories, this is a must watch series! Overall I gave this a 9/10! I also recommend checking out the Kinetic Novel on Steam.

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• 

  HidamariSeashore

  86/100
  Recommended for Key fans or fans of heartwarming stories in general.

  Have you wondered what kind of world it'll be when it's ended? Perhaps, will it be one where we can no longer look up at the sky and gaze at the stars during the night? The anime I'm reviewing started out as a visual novel (a kinetic novel, to be exact) from Key, and I actually played it over a year before the anime adaptation was even announced because I just love Key's works; although it started off as a bit of a disappointment, it gradually got a lot better and left me close to tears in the end. With how short it was, however, I thought it would never get an anime adaptation, and when it was, I thought for a second that it was a joke, since it WAS April Fool's Day. However, it turned out to be real (albeit in the form of an ONA), and luckily, it ended up being enjoyable.

  Ladies and gentlemen, my review of "Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet", or "Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume" in Japanese, awaits you! (To read it, that is.)

  Planetarian, as it shall hence be referred to, takes place 30 years after the failure of the Space Exploration Project has brought an end to the world as we know it. Some men, known as "junkers", seek resources required to survive in this kind of world. One such junker (or Kuzuya, as I shall be referring him to, since he doesn't really have a name) ends up finding his way into a planetarium and meeting a robot named Yumemi Hoshino. Yumemi, unaware of what has happened to the world, attempts to show him a projection of the stars in order to commemorate the planetarium's 2,500,000th customer (although it's actually less than that), but the projector, Miss Jena, stops working. Albeit reluctantly, Kuzuya decides to stay at the planetarium and fix Miss Jena. From here, a heartwarming story unfolds, and Kuzuya ends up finding beauty in the stars that Yumemi shows him.

  As with all of Key's other works, this story is one that, at one point or another, will tug at your heart strings and, even if you don't cry, leave you on the edge of doing so. There may be only two characters in Planetarian (or at least only two notable characters), but they both manage to keep this anime's story going. Kuzuya is quite an interesting character; he started out very coldhearted, but considering the conditions of Planetarian's world, I can't say I blame him. The development he gets is quite excellent, too. As for Yumemi, one may see her as an annoying character due to how talkative and oblivious she is, but she's actually a very interesting character, as well. I simply cannot picture this anime without her.

  The animation, done by David Production.... well, I haven't seen a lot of their anime (other than this and Ben-To, which I've currently only seen two episodes of), but their animation in Planetarian is simply BEAUTIFUL, even for an ONA; it's a good match with the story. The voice acting was great, too; Daisuke Ono and Keiko Suzuki did well in their respective roles as Kuzuya and Yumemi. I noticed that Yumemi's voice was a bit deeper than I remembered hearing her in the visual novel, but since it has been over a decade since the visual novel was released, I don't see it as an issue at all. This anime goes without an opening theme, but since it's an ONA with somewhat-short episodes, I can let that slide. The ending theme, "Twinkle Starlight" by Sayaka Sasaki, is a solid song that I've actually listened to countlessly even before this anime's first episode aired.

  Overall, Planetarian was a very good anime. I'd recommend this anime for Key fans or fans of heartwarming stories in general. I'm also looking forward to the upcoming movie, "Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito", and I'm sure many other people are, as well; after all, the planetarium awaits our return!

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