Planetarian - Anime Pre-Release Discussion & Speculation

Key Discussion
#61

Now that, is what I’m talking about!!

I wasn’t expecting much, but after seeing that PV I’m pretty sold that this Planetarian adaptation will likely turn out pretty good.

Hooooowwever… My issue at the moment is with the tone and atmosphere that the PV gives off.

From what I could tell it seems like they tried to add some more character dynamics and interactions between the Junker and Yumemi, and made them both very vibrant with vivid colours, and brought the series to light in a upbeat way with the J-Pop song by an artist I couldn’t identify.
Which is cool. But I fear it could become ‘too anime’…

What made Planetarian such an endearing experience was it’s dense and cold atmosphere based on the premise in contrast with Yumemi being the face of all things optimistic. The use of some J-Pop anisong, and happy interactions without showing some of the more gloomy aspects to advertise is a bit misleading. Unless they are hoping to change the direction/events of the story… Then I guess it’s not too much of an issue if they work around it. But otherwise… yeah…

tl;dr The PV feels too anime, and less Planetarian to me. Nonetheless nice PV.

It might just be me, and the finished product probably won’t be like the way I’m imagining it. But I do desperately hope that the tone and atmosphere of the story won’t suffer because of it if they decide to go for a 1:1 adaptation.

5 Likes
#62

After seeing the latest PV and news, I’m not going to lie that I’m a little disappointed that the main story is getting adapted into an ONA series instead of a movie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for this adaptation as much as the next guy but part of me is slightly disappointed because an ONA series does feel a little too short imo (but then again the VN was short too). But hey, perhaps a 5 episode ONA (20-30 mins) series is all that it needs to tell it’s story/narrative and plus, I shouldn’t let my expectations get the best of me and cloud my overall experience. So I’m still really excited for this.

Also on the note of the new PV, it looks amazing. :smile:

#63

I mean.

They fucked up Air and they fucked up Clannad. Not to mention since then, their artstyle has devolved into a disgusting moeblob tinyhands crap that would not doubt be felt by any Key drawn by them.

The Kanon adaptation is great great stuff, but KyoAni are, ultimately, a shit.

4 Likes
#64

I’m personally glad it’ll be made into an ONA. It at least allows for more room to fill in the little details of the story. Then again, 5 episodes of 20-30 minutes is kinda the same length as a feature-length film so…

Well either way, it’ll at least allow for some excitement from the viewers while waiting for the next episode :wink:

4 Likes
#65

No ones gonna mention that The Junker finally has a name ? Kuzuya

Air, which had 13 episodes, managed to do well with 13 episodes. But CLANNAD ? Okay. Of course, the critically acclaimed CLANNAD was bad… :love:

There’s really nothing wrong with that. It helps create an atmosphere showing the true colors of both characters that we should know about, or at least what the anime-only watchers should know about. [quote=“ZakM, post:61, topic:2590”]
made them both very vibrant with vivid colours, and brought the series to light in a upbeat way with the J-Pop song by an artist I couldn’t identify.Which is cool. But I fear it could become ‘too anime’
[/quote]
There’s really nothing wrong with adding J-Pop music in the anime. The first half of Planetarian is really nothing but getting to know each other and helping each other out. It won’t really affect the story. I could see it playing as an insert song during the first episode when they walk into the Planetarium and he see’s the amazing view. Or later on in the story where they look at the stars after being able to fix Gena and the song would play there. Planetarian doesn’t have a big soundtrack so it’s fine if they add new things to make it more interesting. Song doesn’t sound good imo though. And yes, the colors are very vibrant, but honetly, I think the coloring add’s some “new” feel to it, making it good.

Not misleading at all. I don’t remember seeing much happy scenes when the song was playing. All I saw was action happening (which is misleading too). No matter how you look at it though, showing those happy scenes doesn’t really mislead it in anyway. The premise of the story is already sad. I don’t think showing happy scenes mean much anyways. To the viewer who’s seeing this for the first time, they won’t notice it. To people who actually do know the story to Planetarian, they will notice it.

#66

I’ve had this debate with many people in the past, so I’ll avoid getting myself into the same arduous cycle again regarding LB. All I will say is that I personally believe the mentality you’ve adopted is very bandwagon-centric.

There is no reason to downplay other studios and animation staff based on studio reputation alone. JC Staff and 8-Bit have plenty of talented and capable animators, and JC Staff have a track record of really great shows, mostly well directed and nicely animated, (Maybe not so much 8-Bit) and “budget” (whatever that means these days) is usually something under the control of the production company, and the time available for animation staff to work on a show.

Plus a lot of recent KyoAni series have been a bit on the :confused: side if you ask me…

Critical acclaim =/= Quality
Don’t get me wrong I love Clannad’s anime.
But there are a bunch of adaptation hiccups. From a critical eye… It’s not pretty.
Sure a show doesn’t need to be 1:1 the same as it’s source, but it needs to be consistent, and explain it’s plot devices to make feasible sense. Clannad’s anime failed to explore it’s main plot devices (Even less so than it’s source) and gave rise to some of the series’s biggest misconceptions which a lot of people have and continue to s*** on the entire story for. (Justifiably so)

Quality comes from the passion, word ethic, and availability of time it’s staff have to write and produce a good adaptation. Shouldn’t really be confused by generalising studios.

tl;dr KyoAni is not the only animation studio. (And not the best either)

2 Likes
#67

@Totoro_Futaki
Bruh (Terra spoilers) just imagine Luis killing the little kids in KyoAni style, also the scene where Kotarou kills Kotori’s parents in front of her

You know, these scenes would feel SOO WRONG if KyoAni does them (since they change every artstyle of any media into their own eye design and shit), its arguable that it would make the scenes more heavier but that shit seems too f*cked up ma nigga.

also I agree with you about the animation and directing departments.
Little Busters’ animations were so cheap and it had shit tons of derps and still-frames, also KyoAni’s director Tatsuya Ishihara(Clannad/Phantom World’s director) handles emotional breakdown scenes very well also he is good at action scenes.

I can’t really say much about Rewrite since we only have a small PV but I think that the KyoAni style is too moe for a dark series like Rewrite.

1 Like
#68

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

10 Likes
#69

lol

Air was a disaster, adapting only a fraction of the VN with zero breathing space between any of it. And ZakM has already gone over why Clannad blows.

To the eyes of a VN reader, Air and Clannad are deeply flawed and KyoAni’s reputation for quality is vastly overhyped.

4 Likes
#70

One thing I want to mention is that a lot of people tend to place far too much emphasis on animation and visuals. However I want to argue that those 2 factors are the least consequential to the experience and quality of a series.

You don’t need to have the most avant garde, and crisp looking movements to have a great series with memorable moments, strong written characters, and an inspiring narrative.

Planetarian is a pretty good example of this in VN form. Most of it’s interface is dull, and doesn’t have the best looking presentation with a bizarre text layout and a tiny rectangle scope for seeing the world (But it was cool because it plays a narrative purpose :wink: ). However what carries Planetarian is that it’s story and themes were powerful as all hell. It’s what made it such a compelling experience.

A lot of famous and critically acclaimed series suffer from poor to absolutely horrible animation/visual presentation issues, notable examples; Neon Genesis Evangelion, From the New World, Ping Pong the Animation, Kino’s Journey ect.
But are they bad series? I’d like to think not. Some of my, as well as many other’s, all time favourites.

Clean animation, and nicely drawn cuts can only take a series so far. Nobody cares if a series looks good, if the rest of it sucks, it sucks. The most recent critically acclaimed example being Boku Dake ga Inai Machi (Erased), which in my opinion suffers from absolutely dreadful story writing, despite being well directed and nicely animated.

tl;dr Critical acclaim/Success =/= Good writing.
Narrative first, Pretty colours second. (AKA Planetarian :stuck_out_tongue: )

2 Likes
#71

I couldn’t agree more

#72

[quote=“ZakM, post:61, topic:2590”]
My issue at the moment is with the tone and atmosphere that the PV gives off.
[/quote]Pretty much my reaction when the J-pop started playing. I don’t think it really fits with Planetarian’s story, which is slow, contemplative, and almost melancholic at times.

But it’s too early to tell how it all hangs together, I guess. I have to admit I’m inclined to be crusty about it anyway because I usually favor the original version of a story over adaptations. Still, it is really nice to see Planetarian get its due with full animation.

#73

@ZakM and @JDC, I wouldnt worry about that to be honest. Thats how you advertize an anime. They’re not advertizing to people who already want to watch it because they know what its like, theyre advertizing to people who will completely ignore it unless it catches their attention.

1 Like
#74

I am glad to see Mr. Junker face~ Finally~ he also quite handsome…So now I have something new to be ship hwahwahwa

Cause everytime I want to draw Planetarian fanart I always wondering about his face <3

#75

I will gladly join you in the junker x yumemi shipping! Can’t wait for the fanart >3<

#76

Personally, I’m expecting the series to open with an action scene of the Junker escaping the fire of those small drones, seeking shelter while the camera pans across the deserted city and that poppy song, Worlds Pain plays. It’s just an opening scene before we meet Yumemi, so they can get away with a bit of action to attract viewers.

1 Like
#77

Hm I actually just realized… Having Hoshi no Hito as the feature film shown in theaters is not such a bad idea. Many fans have read planetarian, doubtless more than once, and are all too familiar with the story… But how many have actually gone to the effort of listening to the Hoshi no Hito drama CD? I figure even the audience in Japan may not be familiar with that story, which I feel is a must know for any planetarian fan. So really, it ties up the loose ends at the end of planetarian pretty nicely for those who would watch the ONA, read the VN, or both

4 Likes
#78

I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of good visuals in a story. A very good writer/director would know how to make use of visuals not just to set the mood and themes of the story, but also drive the story forward. And it’s also advertising: people will still judge the book by its cover.

Besides, a lot of people wouldn’t pick up most of Key works because they don’t like Hinoue’s art (which is unfortunate, because her art isn’t that bad, and if we actually look beyond her art style, we’d notice how meticulous she is as an artist).

Of course, we can always want a great story with great visuals. Just look at Fate/zero or Bones anime. Or Ghibli for the matter. Or if the Planetarian adaptation turns out well, with that beautiful art, we have this.

I’d be looking forward to Planetarian BTW. :>

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#79

P.S. Hinoue wasn’t the artist forplanetarian xD

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#80

Whoops, I didn’t mean for it to come off that way. XD