(L) Planetarian

[MeoTwister5]

The moment Gentle Jenna started playing I knew this was it. This was what I was waiting for all these years.

And just like the KN, the most powerful parts of the entire projection wasn't when Jenna was actually working, but when she just powered down. All that was left was for all of us to go through with nothing but the power of Yumemi's words and the power of the Junker's imagination. With it we went through the history of man's fascination with the stars, from awe and worship, towards the time when humanity finally gained the knowledge to reach fore the stars themselves. From the first balloons to powered flight to the first trips into space, we went through a brief history of man's desire to reach for the heavens in his quest for the stars in the sky to be within his grasp.

And then we come back to the brief time before the bombs fell, into the night sky man last saw before everything literally went to hell. The Junker goes back into his childhood to see and relive the memories of the stars he had at a time few people probably still remember, and the other poignant memories that come with it.

Seeing it all those years back, I remember as well being filled with the same fascinating awe and joy at what the power of imagination can do to us when we picture those heavenly bodies in our minds.

Thank you, David Productions, for reliving and rekindling in me the same awe and joy I felt all those years ago. Thank you for doing justice to this powerful moment in the story. Honestly... if I never experienced Planetarian in those early days of college, and never kept that flickering hope that some day I'd see Yumemi in motion, my love relationship with anime would never be where it is today.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

[Yamada II]

Originally Posted by gunner56

Episode 3:

Did Miss Jene bow when introduced?

Yumemi was controlling Miss Jena throughout, so yeah, Miss Jena did bow when introduced.



Episode 3

So the projection works, but stops midway due to a power failure. Mr. Customer has Yumemi continue anyway since the audio is enough and he'll imagine the video part himself. The whole commentary from Yumemi was nice. The parts towards the end especially so. But in the end, despite knowing that there is a power cut and there won't be any customers coming, Yumemi still goes out and calls out to customers to come see their projection. This part really feels sad even now – Yumemi just going through the motions, doing what she always did in hopes that something different might happen. In situations like this a human character would have broken down by now, but Yumemi still continues since she's not a human. And Mr. Customer takes his leave but Yumemi asks to escort him to his transport. There could probably be a reason here save for that's what robots do. But who knows what goes on in the head of that robot. Maybe there could be something like her becoming somewhat human or something.

[Wandering Soul]

I can see why so many people were awaiting this part. It was a pretty strong episode.

[Sayaka Rei]

Preview images for episode 4 (of course spoilers) :

Images

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[Boukenxha]

Originally Posted by Yamada II

There could probably be a reason here save for that's what robots do. But who knows what goes on in the head of that robot. Maybe there could be something like her becoming somewhat human or something.

It sounded like Yumemi said she was following the protocol of her program, though by her own discretion she went ahead with the "safer" action since she was unable to contact support center. However, that could in fact be the desired outcome due to her programmed emotions, so it's still all programmed. But you know, the romantic in me want to believe that it was more than that too, she did say she was a little broken. The ambiguity was probably intended that way to leave it up to viewers interpretation.

[Stark700]

Episode 4

Damn, what a cliffhanger!

Some of the conversational dialogues between the robot and Junker was interesting especially regarding where robots go and what they wish for. Will robots really go to heaven? That's an interesting question I always wondered..

[SPARTAN 119]

Really enjoying what I saw so far, feels like actually watching the visual novel.

I think I will echo the same sentiment that I had when I first read the VN, namely that I think there is definitely more potential for Planetarian as a series. I would like some spin-offs that go into further detail this world, including the events that led up to World War III, as well as the Junker and Yumemi themselves.

Not to mention, all of Yumemi's talk in Ep. 3 of humanity going from living in caves to the space age make me wonder if this might inspire the Junker to become the start of "second rise of humanity". Obviously it wouldn't be something he could do in his life time, but perhaps involving him starting to gathering pre-war knowledge and technology, and starting the fight to take back the world from the robots, all for the hope that at some point in the distant future, humanity might reach for the stars once again.

[Jaden]

The original writer never thought about the details of the world, that was never important. So we have oddities, like how do you explain the military robots still being active? What's with the permanent rain?

The next episode will be the last, but there is an upcoming movie that draws from the light novel, I believe.

[moodie]

So i held back watching this. Does this follow the source or atleast gets the jist of the source material/

[Tempester]

Originally Posted by moodie

So i held back watching this. Does this follow the source or atleast gets the jist of the source material

It's a very good adaptation. It adapts pretty much everything in the plot, with some small changes and shifting of scenes to accommodate the different medium. It's great.

[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by Jaden

The original writer never thought about the details of the world, that was never important. So we have oddities, like how do you explain the military robots still being active? What's with the permanent rain?

The next episode will be the last, but there is an upcoming movie that draws from the light novel, I believe.

I figured as much, I just thought it would be interesting to see this world fleshed out more, or at least add more to the character's backstory.

As from the permanant rain, I suspect it has something to do with someone misunderstanding a nuclear winter. As for the still-operational military robots, IDK, I just kind of ran with it, I guess because Fallout did the same thing. Still, unless they had micro-nuclear reactors which they were somehow capable of maintaining themselves or something, which has a bunch of problems in and of itself, it doesn't make any sense.

[Triple_R]

It is pretty impressive how good this story is with basically just two characters (the flashbacks including other characters are nice, and definitely add to the story, but it would still be good even without that appealing bonus).

I like how smooth yet decisive the male lead's character development has been. You can tell that he's been slowly but surely won over by Hoshino. And here, in Episode 4, it's reached a point where he doesn't want to say goodbye. In his own gruff masculine way, he's made a choice that he wants her to come with him, that he's become emotionally attached to her. I think some of this is sincere altruism, as I think he's come to care about her for her own sake. But I also think she's given him some measure of hope in a brutalized world, and he wants to maintain that, and spread it.

The cliffhanger was good, and well-executed. Also very good to see no next episode previews spoiling it. Well done Planetarian, since anime almost always screws this sort of thing up, but you didn't! )

[Wandering Soul]

That is one cliffhanger done right.

It's nice to see how much Hoshino has grown on the male lead. He's actually thinking about taking her with him and telling stories together with her.

[MeoTwister5]

Given the nature of the cliffhanger (and I do not think the episode could have ended at any better point) I strongly strongly advise anime only viewers to avoid anything related to this until next week as there's bound to be an assload of spoilers that will break the intensity of the game's finale.

[Yamada II]

Episode 4

So Mr. Customer is going to his ride but Yumemi is constantly needing breaks because her legs are overheating and need cooling. She wasn't made for kilometer long walks like this or maybe she's just a bit rusty. Lol she was telling that there are bumps in the road and was constantly falling over those very bumps. Lol the guy was looking at that bottle from every angle to make sure it isn't going to blow up and Yumemi picks it up just like that and hands it to him.

The guy has taken a liking to Yumemi and doesn't want to see her in this empty city waiting for the customers who will never come. And Yumemi can't process this new information that the city is deserted which is why she still wants to stay at the planetarium and wait for customers. That ending though. The robot was stronger than he expected and it fired back at him. And by the looks of it, it managed to strike pretty close too. But the guy is probably alive, I hope though.

[Ryuuoh DeltaPlus]

This is really almost a perfect adaptation of the kinetic novel so far.
There were a few changes made to accomodate it being animated (like cutting down the banters of Yumemi and Junker-san), but it's overall very good.

One thing I noticed that at first, Junker-san just sees Yumemi as nothing but an annoying robot, but during the course of their interactions, until the present, he has grown very attached to her, even going so far as thinking her well-being when he will leave the planetarium, knowing that with the city's power gone and Yumemi only having a few days left until her power runs out, she is destined to never wake up again.

Also a fun trivia:

The "Fiddler Crab" is a Mk 43L/e autonomous fire-support mech It is a heavy-duty mech that has the capability of firing any kind of bullet with insulated coating at hypersonic speed.
The robots that were shown attacking Junker-san at the first episode are called Menschenjagers.

[Joachim]

oh wow, i was late to the party, planetarian was one of the first VN/KN that i read back around 2005 or 2006 i think? man that was such a ride, i was not prepared at all.

Then the hoshi no hito got subbed in youtube, that i was not prepared as well

Then the anime! oh my god, i really hope they'll do a great adaptation, off i go to watch this!

[Stark700]

Really good finale. It showed that a robot like Yumemi can express her own wishes and even emotions towards the end. All she wanted is to serve her customers like the Junker she met.

I also really like how they developed the character chemistry between Yumemi and the Junker. He had no reason to stay with her from the beginning but in the end came back to help her, just as she did for him. From what I've heard, this was also faithfully adapted too. Wonderful short series.

[Flower]

Ep 05 (finale)

Holy smokes ... that was incredibly moving. I found myself weeping - I knew something like that was coming and yet it still hit me hard.

What a difference to see in the Junker from the beginning of the series to the end!

Kudos to the staff in every way for this series. What an excellent adaptation! Thank you very much for your efforts in this.

9/10 from me for the OVAs.

[Alf]

Thank you David Production. Really don't have much to say because my head doesn't seem to running properly now. Just one thing, the scene after the ED really gives hope to the story and bridges very well to the movie....

Spoiler:

And the Junker nows becomes the Planetarian.