Review: Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume Review

I have only recently become acquainted with Keys works through their anime adaptations, I knew of them clearly (who hasn’t heard of Clannad?) but never really watched nor played anything by them. That changed with Planetarian, a 5 episode series based on one of Keys Visual Novels. Does the run time bring too many hurdles or slump mid way?

Decades after a failure of a Space Colonization Program and humans are on the brink of extinction. In a perpetual state of gloom where rain is never ending Junkers exists. Remnants of humanity that salvage parts and anything else they can find to survive. One nameless Junker comes across a building after being chased down by these robots. He discovers Yumemi, a robot designed to help people and her customers who works at the planetarium. To her delight he is her first customer in 30 years, wanting to show him the planetarium presentation he eventually gives in. Thus starts an intriguing and fascinating if brief tale of a man and robot working together.

I like the setup here, a dystopian-esque world with as much mystery as anything. Unlike one point I will get onto later I kind of like that there was no detailed background into how the world got this way, there was a brief explanation by the Junker but that was it. It adds to the gloominess of the setting.

There are only two characters here with a few shown in flashback. Yumemi is the one with which we feel the most for. A robot built and designed to help people and to show off their attraction: the planetarium. Having been in what is effectively slumber for so long she doesn’t take in what has happened to this world. Every day she goes to the doors to attempt to attract customers.

This goes further as well as she calls for help, apologises to the Junker for being unable to get that assistance, asking him how his day was, what he does, what he will do. It is heart breaking to see her act like this seemingly oblivious to the fate of the outside world with her optimism that those who created her will come back for her.

The Junker on the other hand is what you’d call a gentleman. He is very savvy, knows full well how to survive in this world. He eventually offers to help her desire to show him this presentation and before he knows it begins to care for Yumemi as he sees her as more than a simple robot. It is common to see feelings like these in shows with robots but the execution here is what makes it stand out from the crowd and make it absorbing. We know he has suffered in this world but Yumemi offers him a glimmer of hope and respite from that world. It is truly heart warming as their relationship grows.

Whilst the relationship is strong here I wasn’t as emotionally invested in the series as I could have been, sure I was sad at the end but nothing more. I put it down to not knowing much, if anything about this unnamed Junker. We had Yumemis side which was engaging and sad but not the other half and this was what I felt was lacking here. An episode or two more to give a bit more on him would have elevated this series to the heights it so nearly reached. Its strange as we are shown he is not a means to an ends, that there may be something about him but it is never explored.

Another issue I did have with this was that the warning signs were all too obvious what kind of ending this was going to end with. You could tell that with every piece of knowledge we gained on Yumemi it was leading to this ending. It felt too obvious and along with the above lessened the impact of the finale somewhat.

Visually the show has some really, really beautiful moments and when set against the depressing, gloomy world outside the planetarium these shine through much stronger. That gloomy world though is what you’ll mostly see throughout the 5 episodes. With the incessant rain, abandoned and decaying buildings we’ve become accustomed to in post apocalyptic lands it works well. Sure it’s not particularly pleasant on the eye but it isn’t supposed to be, this world is bleak and tough for everyone who lives, the planetarium provides not only small respite but also us, the viewers.

The scene when Yumemi is showing the Junker the actual presentation is wonderful full of incredible detail and bright, vivid colours. It takes you into their world for that moment, away from dystopian real world. Its impact is so much stronger because of this, the slow build up to it and the stop start nature of getting it to finally run.

It is quite educational in the sense that it goes through some of the constellations in detail whilst providing some back-story with how they came to be. I found this fascinating and coupled with the visuals was really immersive. I have always wondered who teaches people about constellations and such as it was never touched upon in my schools but here it gave me something informative and actually made me want to know more about the stars because this has shown me that they can be stunning.

The animation for the most part is par for the course. There are a couple of action scenes that look good but otherwise there isn’t that much that is impressive. It kind of doesn’t need to be either as the setting, what happens and the characters are going at a relaxed pace, there is nothing hectic here to animate, nothing excessive and that is fine.

For a 5 episode series it has surprising impact on you. It leaves out too much for my liking though and it harms the series because of it. A couple of minor flaws aside though it does not stop the series from shining. I thoroughly recommend watching this. It draws you in for those 5 episodes and doesn’t let go.

Studio: David Production

Aired: Summer 2016

Available: Streaming
Episodes: 5

8.5/10