I actually started respecting the anime a lot more when I realized that a lot of their feelings on it echoed my initial feelings on the vn pretty accurately, if not as strongly. I guess it was a pretty good adaptation after all. I still think the fact that they skipped over a few things, mostly worldbuilding, meant that some great moments lost a lot of their greatness, but that’s adaptations for you. I think their opinion on the anime is pretty much exactly the same as most people’s opinion on the vn, and I’m satisfied with that.
It’s hard to convince anime dominant people into reading VN. And it’s hard to convince VN people into a VN that strays from the usual choice-based formula.
Though I’ll probably end up profiling the person first before recommending which.
With the english dub, I now have 3 choices on which to initially offer.
Strange enough, I personally prefer the anime. Most of it is because I didn’t really like the Yumemi-Junker dynamic in the kinetic novel and personally found it to be too draggy and annoying (imsosorry ;-; ). I thanked the anime for keeping those moments short.
Basically, I ended up liking Planetarian better because of the anime. ^^;
planetarian ~hoshi no hito~ BD releasing on Feb 24, 2017!
And beautiful BD cover~
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This review will just be focusing on the negative aspect of the anime, because people have said all the good things I want to say about this anime
The planetarian anime is definitely one of the best adaption of Key works to date. Second best after Clannad. The art, the pacing, the animation, the voice(obviously) and placement of music are all done remarkably well. But unfortunately, as amazing of an adaption the anime is, it is not perfect.
The world-building aspect is almost entirely absent in the anime. Yes, the world was destroyed and we got to see how it happened briefly but even then it’s more of a “tell” and not “show”. It is like we got to see humans themselves ended the world by warfare, but we’re not shown the foolishness or folly of such actions. The same goes for the destroyed world(current setting of the story), cities are basically in ruins left and right and that’s it. Nothing is shown about the people’s depraved state like in the game. The anime even omits the acid rain, which lowers the hazardous level of the world.
This lack of world-building would later snowballed its way to harm another aspect of the anime. Before we get to that harmed aspect try ponder these 2 questions:
Why did the Junker suddenly experienced a change of heart?
Why did Yumemi’s kind-heartedness matters so much to the Junker?
Since we don’t have any idea regarding the lifestyle of people like the junkers(which the game explains), the emotional impact from contrasting the Junker’s cold and deadly world with Yumemi’s kindness lessens considerably. The two questions presented above becomes hard to answer without knowing the chaotic mess the world of Planetarian is in. This is another effect of “telling” and not “showing”.
As mentioned, Planetarian anime is a good short anime. It’s emotional and stay true to the original game’s storyline. But its failure in building the setting of the plot prevents it from being awesome. Thank you for reading.
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So thought I would resurrect this topic from the grave seeing as I think Planetarian is the only key work I have actually finished. I saw the Rewrite anime plus parts of Charlotte and Angel Beats, but this is the only key work I have seen all the way through.
This little ONA was an amazing find for me, as I picked it up on a whim as I saw it was only going to last for five episodes with a shorter airing time. After the first episode I was quite intrigued by Yumemi and Kuzuya and their interactions with each other and after the second episode I was hooked. As I have not read the VN for Planetarian yet I have no idea how exactly the ONA stands as far as adaptations go but as an anime it did a wonderful job. I especially liked how David Production really framed the interactions between the two characters with Yumemi always seeming quite alert and set in her ways without seeming to ever get dismayed even as she says “I’m just a little broken”. As much as I like Yumemi, Kuzuya’s characterization is better. It is quite obvious that the story is about Kuzuya growing familiar to Yumemi, which shows in his constant growth of ease around her.
My only real gripe about the series is the lack of world building. I am always interested in the world that different characters are placed in and the ONA just never explained anything outside of the little planetarium. For me this was only made more clear through the movie. We were shown new characters with different stories behind them, yet we really did not learn anything else about the world that this story takes place in or the stories that were behind any of the children or adults of the settlement.
Either way I highly enjoyed the ONA and I will hopefully be reading the VN sometime soon.
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Funimation is releasing the series and movie in a combo pack August 14 https://www.funimation.com/shop/home-video/planetarian-ovas-movie-combo-bld-00718/
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Oh shoot I’m definitely getting this. And then my friends will have no excuse for watching Planetarian! 
I still yet to see the movie! I have been a bit late with watching some anime and forget because I know it will be longer orz. Oh Funimation is actually releasing it D: FINALLY
Oh damn! My prayers were answered!
Edit: URL isn’t working for me
I think Funimation’s shop is region blocked to NA. Here’s some pictures if anyone else can’t access but is interested.
Goddamn they even used the prettiest Yumemi art ever ;_; good choice, funi
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It mentions 5 OVA(s) in the product description (which it looks like is the 5 ONA/OVA series), but without getting to spoilers of any kind, do these include events prior to the VN?
It’s also nice to see that this contains DVD copies as well since there are times when they could be used to play on a laptop or on vacation…or when stuck at work but it’s not likely that this movie would be a good candidate for that.
It does increase the price and size, sure, but it’s an option I’d rather have than not have.
Pointlessly hopes for a Region 2/B blu-ray release…
it contains events prior to the main story but they’re all in the VN.
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That is understood well and thank you very much! It sounds like reading the translations of prior events (such as Jerusalem) may be best before delving into the movie or VN.
Add to that the film also recaps at least half of the footage of those ONAs…
