On the “planetarian Analog Collector’s Edition” (KSLA-0142) there is track 8, which is titled “SecretVoice” and on “planetarian Analog Collector’s Edition Hi-Resolution Data Disc” (KSLC-0018) Side B - Track 4 it is titled " ゆめみセリフ", which loosely translated means “Yumemi’s speech”.
Does anybody know what the speech is about? Just curious, Thanks.
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Wild guess, but it could be referring to her planetarium conference?
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Planetarian is probably one of the most beautiful novel I have ever read ! The projection scene and Yumemi becoming more likeable through the story are the best parts for me and I adore " Gentle Jena "
. I took 4 hours to read it and it was probably enough but I would have liked to know more about the universe of Planetarian. It wasn’t as sad as Clannad or Little busters but the feels were here and it was really refreshing. I think the message of the story is pretty similar to Rewrite’s
( reach the space in order to let life survives)
but it was easier to understand there. Reading it after Harmonia I liked Planetarian as much as its successor. I recommend it for every person who haven’t read it yet ! 
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I can’t believe I didn’t do this sooner… This will probably be the first of many of my posts on planetarian topics. Ever since I listened to the podcast many years ago I’ve always wanted to explore more of the Christian themes of planetarian because the story itself was a big reason why I came back to faith in the first place. Looking back at all the posts here, I am reminded that there was already a ton of analysis regarding the Christian themes here but I know that there is so much more to explore so I will be doing so in probably all my posts for this series. So here is part one out of who even knows anyways. It’s always possible that I edit these posts upon doing more research but feel free to ask questions and stuff.
The first topic I want to address is the style of the ending. Some of this stuff has already been discussed before, but I want to put my spin on it because I think Suzumoto is a genius writer whether he intended this stuff or not. So people have talked about how the ending is different from what you would expect from a Key work, especially if you put aside Hoshi no Hito for now. This ending is probably intentional to emphasize how the Junker has changed, even if the catalyst for that change is no longer alive. But I want to relate this to the Bible because I’ve been reading a lot of that lately.
So you may or may not be familiar with the fact that there are four books of the Bible that tell the story of Jesus Christ. These are the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. For the most part, they tell the same story but from different perspectives and for different audiences. All of them talk about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. That’s cool and all but one of them in particular, I believe, is similar to how the ending of Planetarian is written. Previous analysis above has established essentially that Yumemi parallels Jesus. At the end of Planetarian though, Yumemi doesn’t come back after death, so are we missing out on the resurrection aspect? Is Suzumoto’s interpretation of the gospel just fricken wrong? Actually this is probably just a question I’ve thought about but I’ve concluded that no, its not. Interestingly, the gospel of Mark is the only gospel doesn’t explicitly say that anyone has seen the resurrected Jesus. Instead, the last chapter, chapter 16 depicts two of his followers discovering an empty tomb with an angel telling them that Jesus is risen. In most versions of the Bible starting from verse 9, there’s a little note that says, “Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include verse 9 to 20.” Verses 9 to 20 which supposedly are not in the earliest manuscripts detail the resurrection stories present in the other gospels, specifically about Jesus’ appearance to his disciples. So basically at the end of Mark, you get this kind of cut off point where you don’t have confirmation about the biggest question of all time because that’s for you to decide. If you believe that Jesus has indeed risen, then the logical answer is to follow him as he truly conquered death. If you adamantly believe that the resurrection is not true, then Christianity as a whole has no value in your life at all. If you’re unsure, then you can read the rest of the Bible.
As this question relates to Planetarian, we too are left with a similar question of whether or not Yumemi lives or dies. It’s not so much whether she physically lives or dies, but rather if she lives in our hearts. The junker’s answer in this case is of course, yes. At the end, he carefully removes her memory card, placing it in his waterproof container which stores his most precious treasure, and puts it in a place that physically is the closest to his heart that he can put it.
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Guess I should share this here! I recently wrote a review of planetarian for Vooks, a Nintendo news site. It’s a pretty surface level review of the story but I didn’t want to spoil it too heavily for new readers! It was an interesting experiment in trying to sell a visual novel to people who probably wouldn’t otherwise care about it.
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Ah, so I haven’t gotten to analyze this aspect quite yet but I’ve been kinda curious if anyone thinks this is important. I still hope people respond to my last post… but anyways here’s the question. So one person in this topic, @Wizzerd, commented about how the snow coming back at the end signifies that the seasons are changing which also reflects the Junker’s change in his heart. However, I feel like there may be more meaning than just that in the context of the planetarian story. We know that one of the side stories is named Snow Globe so I feel like the snow at the end has to have more meaning. So what do you all think that is? I’ll probably give my take on this question in a week or so.
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In Hoshi no Hito, the rain has been replaced with snow as well.
Perhaps the Junker surviving and Yumemi persisting through the memory card is supposed to be foreshadowing for Hoshi no Hito as well? That those dreams of stars haven’t gone away and indeed do not go away because someone is there to pass on the art even after the Junker passes on? The snow globes were a way to make sure folks remembered the planetarium, so it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to think of the snow as an in-universe symbol to remember the stars by, would it?
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Well, I guess here’s my take on it…
Snow can have a lot of different interpretations in a story. My first idea and interpretation of the snow at the end of the VN is something like it represents the ‘death’ of Yumemi. Well, according to my research, snow can portray or can link to ‘sadness, death and hardships’ so I thought that I can connect it with the story. But it’s not that negative at all. While it does means ‘death’ it can also means as ‘clean, new beginning’, so we can add the idea of Junker’s change of heart as a sign of a ‘new beginning’ after Yumemi’s death.
So the snow for me in the end means is the influence of Yumemi’s death to Junker, and the start of his clean, new beginning as a different person.
If we add the idea of Hoshi no Hito, it really does make sense. Like I said earlier, it also portrays ‘hardships and sadness’ and I think it fits with the story.
Also, snow can also be interpreted as ‘purity or innocence’.
Okay, another thing to add about the "A Snow Globe"
I guess this is my another interpretation:
One interesting thing I see is how they described the snow globe, I’ll quote it here:
The snow inside it just goes round and round in the same place, never stopping…
A promise that goes round and round inside that tiny memory card, huh…
This is the one of the few things that stood out to me the most. Aside from the fact that it was used as a souvenir for the planetarium plus connecting it to the previous post that was stated above earlier which is really a great point, I think I can add more to that.
The snow inside the globe and the snow globe itself represents the memory card and the promises and memories stored inside of it. It just stays in one place, it never fades or leaves inside the globe. We can relate this to the promise that the Junker and Yumemi made at the end, and the plot of Hoshi no Hito, or actually, even from the very beginning. Yumemi’s promise to the staff plus the events of A Snow Globe, I think the connection of snow globe does make sense in the overall story… It’s like this memory card and the snow globe are more than just things, it means ‘promises and memories’ and making a connection between the two is really beautiful, at least that’s how I see it.
I hope I make sense…
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Like a fine bottle of scotch whiskey, planetarian ages quite well, and the experience gets better with each sip
After having finished planetarian a fourth time, this time on Switch, this is the best way to state my thoughts on this. The more that I read this VN, the more that I appreciate what it has to give.
Seeing Yumemi’s actions in the planetarium feel like a dream; it’s as if every re-read I have is a reincarnation of her. I just can’t take out of my mind the sacrifice and love she had for the world at the end, and seeing her childlike innocence once again just melts my heart. With every silly quirk she shows, I can feel my heart being ripped apart, knowing full well the destiny in store for her.
The message of the novel also ages quite well. It’s about loving humanity, and about getting past our differences and working towards the unreachable cosmos. This is very much my dream in life, and it saddens me every time I see people arguing over politics and society. Why can’t we all just understand each other? Why can’t we all love each other? Why can’t we all work together and reach our hands to the stars? It is these questions I lament as I read this VN.
After all is said and done, this is all just fiction. But if people can learn from this story; learn to love and understand each other; that alone could make this world a better place. That is my reverie.
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First of all – general impressions. This is probably the best kinetic novel I’ve ever read. All of the Narcissu vns are fantastic, but this is something else. I can’t think of a vn that communicates so much in so short a time - it’s honestly really impressive. Yumemi is the best - she’s thoughtful, caring and so precious, and her death made me scream in sadness when I first read it. Interestingly I believe this is one of the few times in a Key vn where you cry out of sadness. While there are many scenarios in Key works that cause you to cry (such as the projection scene), generally the events that are happening aren’t fundamentally sad. Yumemi’s death is. It’s heart wrenching. Just initially seeing her body half destroyed is like taking an arrow through the heart. But even then, Yumemi is still happy that she could fulfil her duty, so it’s not entirely sad. The premise is also such a contrast to the majority of Key’s other novels (especially at the time it was written), but it still manages to stand up as one of Key’s greatest works. It’s also really approachable – every time I meet someone who likes anime or anything along those lines I tell them to watch/read planetarian as it’s so easy to get into and despite being released almost 15 years ago - it holds up extraordinarily well. I also believes that it manages to communicate what I believe is the essence of Key – hope. More specifically, I believe planetarian presents the idea that you have faith or religion then you will always have hope. Yumemi maintaining faith in humanity despite the events that have happened is just one example of that.
Next up – analysis. This isn’t the main thing I wanted to discuss with planetarian, but it’s something I feel should be pointed out. I’m still writing up my proper analysis.
@MagusVerborum has already been touched on how orange is a really effectively used colour that emphasises the themes and symbolism of planetarian due to its natural association with hope (among other things), but I thought I should draw attention to the others colours used to a similar extent. The main colours I want to cover are blue, red, green and grey.
First of all, let’s look at Yumemi’s design, which mainly consists of the colour blue with some elements of red. Blue has several possible meanings, darker blues are generally thought of as a colour of intellect, while lighter blues are generally quite calming colours. Since Yumemi’s hair is a light blue and her outfit is dark blue, she communicates both of these elements. Due to the way the colours are distributed in her design, Yumemi herself could be considered the calming figure, while her intellect could be representative of her knowledge of the stars. However, I believe the concept of her being a calming figure is more important. The use of light blue is really good design considering Yumemi’s role working in the planetarium - she’s meant to be an approachable figure, so it only makes sense that she’d calm people, but it’s also really good design when you consider planetarian’s religious elements. In Iconography, blue signifies concepts such as heaven, and the kingdom of God, which is really significant when you consider how she asks the God of robots to ‘not divide heaven in two’. Blue and red are also the two key colours that Jesus is generally referred to as wearing, so the fact that her design consists of those two base colours only furthers the idea that she’s the robot Christ. Now let’s discuss the significance the colour red on Yumemi. Red is typically associated with strong emotions, which I think is really important when you consider Yumemi’s nature as a machine. While she may be a robot, there’s no doubt in saying that she has very strong emotions and beliefs, which she expresses throughout the novel. One really nice detail about this is the fact the star on her skirt is red, and I think this is also the logo of the planetarium. It emphasises her strong love towards her job and the stars as well as Yumemi’s faith in humanity, which is something that Yumemi constantly comes back to refer to.
Next I want to discuss Yumemi’s ribbons. Her ribbons vary between orange, blue, red and green, with the most common colour being orange, but let’s consider the others as orange has already been discussed. The most prominent case of Yumemi’s ribbons being blue is during the projection scene. I find this really interesting since that scene emphasises the themes of hope represented in planetarian, especially considering she says lines such as ‘Mankind will be able to solve all of its problems…’ – so you might expect her lights to be orange to emphasise that sense of hope. I believe they’re blue to help convey Yumemi’s faith. While society may crumble and humanity may start to die, the stars will always be there, and will always be beautiful. That is one of the messages I believe the projection scene is trying to convey. I think the fact that blue is an incredibly prominent colour in that scene emphasises that message in general. It makes the Junker and the reader feel calm despite everything that’s happened in the world of planetarian. The contrast of a beauty that will never disappear and a world that is on the brink of death is what causes the Junker to have faith in the stars and become the star-teller. Blue is used to emphasise that stability and help to strengthen that faith. I also want to point out how Yumemi’s ribbons turn blue after the Junker tells her that the projector is repaired, just before rehearsing her ‘Why don’t you come to the planetarium’ speech. Every other time she’s done this, the colour of her ribbon is green. I believe this is the case because she now has a sense of calmness and relief which is not normally there when she’s practising.
Red appears when Yumemi is apologising or showing concern for the Junker, which emphasises her regret and worry due to the previously mentioned reasons. One of my favourite uses of this is when the Junker is about to leave and he mentions he might not make it back alive - her ribbons instantly turn red without even saying anything and it just conveys the concept that these ribbons represent her feelings so well. There are a lot of subtleties about Yumemi that are conveyed when considering this and it was really interesting skimming through the vn just looking for changes in colour at certain points.
Green is generally associated with concepts such as nature, tranquillity and good luck. There is also evidence to support that the sight of the colour green can relieve stress. Yumemi’s ribbons usually turn this colour when she’s doing something extremely simple or rehearsed (such as standing out in the rain rehearsing her lines, attempting to recommended/sell goods or answering simple questions). The only significant exception to this as far as I can tell is when there’s a projection happening. I think this can be considered Yumemi’s ‘neutral’ colour. Anytime this appears she’s doing something so natural that it doesn’t contain that much emotion. Not to say that these things aren’t important to her and that she doesn’t care about her basic everyday tasks, because she obviously does, but it’s more about the idea that she’s done these things countless times, so it comes naturally to her. I believe that green is used to emphasise the natural state that Yumemi is in while preforming those tasks, but I also think in terms of the context of her working at the planetarium it makes the most sense for that to be her normal colour. This is because similarly to blue, green is a colour that helps aid people and sends a reassuring message to anyone who sees it. It also serves to emphasise the fact that Yumemi hasn’t accepted the world in its current state. Since green is also associated with nature, it naturally contrasts with the ruined city, which Yumemi is not used to seeing. So despite the world she’s use to seeing being destroyed, she still acts natural, as shown by both her green ribbons and her overall character traits. I think it’s really clever how this single colour was used to merge so many different concepts - it really is a testament to the amount of detail in planetarian.
Now onto the final colour that I want to discuss - grey. Grey is quite a contrast to all these colours – grey objects are generally thought of as emotionless. Now when you look at every scene outside of the planetarium, everything is grey. The streets are grey, the city is grey even the sky is grey. It emphasises a world that has lost all emotion which serves in stark contrast to the world which Yumemi presents in the planetarium. It even emphasises the concept that the Fiddler Crab is a robot devoid of feeling, unlike Yumemi. This is quite a simple thing to do, but it is still very effectively used in my opinion.
In general, colour is skilfully used to emphasise feelings. The one other thing that I also considered when looking at all the use of colour in all the designs is the Junkers lack of a design. Since the symbolism of colour is so prominent, I can’t help but wonder if the Junker was not given a design because it might create a contrast between what the reader is feeling and what the Junker’s design makes you think you’re supposed to be feeling. This actually follows quite nicely into to the use of names in planetarian.
I think the Junker isn’t named for a similar reason to why he has no design, so he can be a blank slate for the reader to interpret. Names hold quite a lot of importance in planetarian. An example of this is ‘Jena’, which has a meaning a long the lines of ‘patience’ and ‘endurance’ in Sanskirt, which is significant considering Yumemi states that there was a 15 year period between Jena being used, so there’s a clear connection there. There’s the also the obvious case of ‘Hoshino Yumemi’ – Hoshino means ‘star’ and Yumemi means ‘having a dream’ (I can’t speak Japanease so please feel free to correct me), so it’s very appropriate Yumemi got that name. So if the Junker were to be given a name, he would lose that blank slate, he would have some meaning, which again could cause issues with how the reader perceives him. The anime can get away with this because events unfold through mostly a 3rd person perspective, so there’s less association with the character (unlike the visual novel which maintains a 1st person perspective throughout the majority of it). So basically, the vn has so many significant subtleties that it can’t superimpose anything onto the Junker (and thus onto the reader) except the basic scenario because otherwise there would be meaning behind it, which is what planetarian is trying to avoid with the junker specifically, or at least that’s what I believe.
Wow this turned out longer than I expected. 
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It happens
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A thing I picked up on immediately was the red, or rather, when I looked at it, I understood it as more of a pink. See, Yumemi can’t blush or the like since she’s a robot, but something on her oughta turn pink so we know when she’s flustered. What does, but her ribbons?
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That point about Yumemi blushing is really good, and I definitely think it plays into how the ribbons represent her emotions at specific points in the story.
As for whether you consider the ribbons red or pink at certain a time - I don’t think matters too much since the meanings of red and pink are very similar (because they’re similar colours), however, from what I can tell, pink is more associated with forms of love, while red isn’t specific to an emotion. It’s because of this why I personally consider red more fitting, since her ribbons change to that colour in very different situations (being flustered by the Junker, being concerned for the Junker etc…), so she’s expressing multiple different feeling with that colour. Although similarly to blue, pink is a calming colour, so that might play into why it’s used as well. But there are definitely arguments to be made for both colours.
So as I promised I’m writing another part to my analysis of Christian themes in planetarian. If you want to see the first one, it’s here. Of course, since this is religious stuff, I’m talking about my own beliefs as a Christian. So with out further ado, let’s get on with part two.
I’ve been thinking about Yumemi’s invitation a lot recently and how this is reflective of the Bible. JDC explored these concepts generally before but I want to be a little deeper with this and focus on some keywords. I originally was going to focus on one, but I eventually figured that these two relate deeply with the story of planetarian together. The two words are grace and faith.
The other day in my Japanese class we got to learn a bit about how to do calligraphy and because it was one of the available options, I chose to write this.
So this is grace (megumi) but I didn’t get to write faith. But anyways, in the Christian context, grace refers to something that is not deserved yet freely given. So this mostly, but not exclusively used to describe the salvation that we believe in because God gives it to us even though we didn’t deserve it because of our sin. The second part is faith which of course is basically just trusting, where in the Christian context it means to trust that God exists and has power to do the things he promised. One easy connector between the two ideas is from Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Basically, it means that salvation is only attained by faith in Jesus, not by our own actions. Another way to put it is that God extended an invitation to us that if we take it and trust in it, we will be saved from sin.
So Yumemi throughout the story continues to invite people to the planetarium. As much as I would like to type it all out it probably isn’t necessary; you get the point. (Sidenote: Yumemi recites a full invitation seven times, which is God’s number. Don’t know if this is actually intentional but I also found that the number of tracks in each drama CD is also seven so hey…) Interestingly, the invitation is never directed at the Junker in particular but rather to anyone who is willing to listen. This is similar to how the salvation is extended to all in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
However, that’s only one aspect of grace present within the story. A much more fascinating part to me is how the Junker is counted as a special 2,500,000th customer when he really isn’t. While grace often refers to salvation, it also can refer to other gifts given from God because nothing good is really deserved by sinners except death, as shown in Romans 6:23, which says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So getting back to the Junker’s special treatment, it really reminds me of a story Jesus tells in Luke 15:4-7. In this story, Jesus talks about a man who has 100 sheep who upon realizing one is lost, leaves the 99 to search for the lost one. After he finds the sheep, the man urges his friends to celebrate with him because he found his lost sheep. Jesus ends by saying that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 righteous people who didn’t need it. In this same way, Yumemi doesn’t treat the previous visitors to the planetarium exactly specially. No others did she make a bouquet for or require a commemoration speech from. And heck, he wasn’t even the 2,500,000th customer yet he was still honored and celebrated as though he was.
Just as interesting, is the Junker’s response to all these examples of grace. In the beginning, the Junker is obviously irritated. He doesn’t even care about the difference of being the 2,500,000th customer. But in chapter 3, The Junker’s Reverie 1, his attitude starts to change little by little. As he intends on leaving, he thinks, “Although I said it gently so she would understand, I did not have the tolerance to stand her for much longer.” A little later the thinks, “These robots, without a scrap of malice in them, were treasures that had been destroyed along with the old world.” Finally, the chapter ends with Yumemi saying, “I will be awaiting your return with all my heart…” At which point the next chapter comedically begins with him back in the projection room. So he might not really have a particularly strong faith, he has to believe that there is something worth staying for.
So the way the Junker is transformed in faith is probably one of my favorite things in this story. The projection scene as we all know is pretty dang great. But once the commemorative projection starts, the power goes out. Yumemi doesn’t really know what to do but the Junker says, “Continue the projection. Your voice will be enough… If it is about the stars, then I will be able to see everything. Just from you speaking, I will know all of what it is that you want to show me.” Yumemi responds by saying, “You must really love the stars, Mr. Customer. I am truly honored to have you as a customer of our humble establishment.” This exchange is definitely one of my favorite interactions in the story. The Junker demonstrates his faith and trust in Yumemi. He is by this point completely accepting the gifts of grace he was given before, the first being in the planetarium itself and the second being the commemorative projection. And he is only able to do this by faith. He even thinks, “All of this coming from my mouth was nonsense. Even I didn’t understand why I was saying these things.” He acknowledges that realistically, it doesn’t make sense, but that’s not going to hold him back. While this faith may look blind, he truly does see what needs to be seen. Yumemi’s response reminds me of what Jesus says in John 20:25 where he says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” in reference to his resurrection.
There’s finally one more instances of the Junker being transformed by his beliefs and faith. Right after Yumemi dies, the Junker has these thoughts in his mind. This entire final monologue is another of my favorite quotes from this story too. “I looked up at the sky that was stormy without end. And then, I dropped my grenade launcher into a puddle. I would not need such a thing, not where I was going. The Rain was still falling, even now. Her heart was secure next to mine. I began to walk. Where were the stars now? Where would I have to go in order to see them? I walked forth into this fractured world, yet my thoughts were forever of the sky.” The Junker doesn’t need to see the stars because he knows in his heart they’re there. He no longer needs a weapon because he doesn’t live merely to survive but to seek and tell of the stars. He continues to have faith in everything that Yumemi said and seeks to fulfill what she wanted to do. Again, his actions to an outsider, or maybe even to his past self, make absolutely no sense. But to him, who has seen what is truly out there, this is what needs to be done.
So I’ll end this with yet another passage that I think is really fitting, at least for me. Romans 8:24-25 says, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
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For those of you who cant remember planetarian who want a recap of planetarian here it is:
Welcome to the Planetarian where you meet your new waifu, Yumemi. As all cute waifus do, nonsense is being said such as “Yes I am a little broken, uguu and a bunch of embarrassing lines from Yoshino himself.” After been given a beautifully made bouquet of flowers, you (the Junker) finally gets feed up from being told a spoiler from Summer Pockets resulting in a deal that if you fix Ms. Jena, Yumemi will call in people for the planetarian, thus avoiding conversation with her and resulting in less headaches.
Once your done you are rewarded with being branded an alcoholic and are given a docters cure being watching the presentation for the 25,000,000th person to arrive at the planetarian (this presentation being on Little Buster Memes.)
After this presentation its time to head to the Junkers Tesla Vehicle. Although the Junker can walk at a solid pace, your Robot Friend can’t walk faster than a Km/hr because if she does the bees will fly out from the bouquet of flowers.
Because Yumemi is so slow an enemy stand appears. This stand is the “Yumemi Killer 2000 Tears 2.0” and its ability is to make the reader cry everytime this scene happens. Because nobody wants to cry the reader combats the tears with “ORA ORA ORA” But you lose to the enemy stand shouting, Muda Muda MUDA!!!"
Suddenly before the reader starts to cry Yumemi uses her stand ability “Self Sacrifice” and her final lines are said, “Omae wa Mou Shinderu.” The enemy stand only has the ability to say, “NANI?!!” before the “Yumemi Killer 2000 Tears 2.0” gets shot to pieces. Thus the enemy stand does not make you cry.
In the end both you (the Junker) and Yumemi get a happily ever after eating a picnic next to the car in the RAIN
On a more serious Note:
Have any of you managed to finish planetaian without crying at the end?
Hopefully you enjoyed my recap of the story plantarian even if it wasnt true at all.
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All the same, there’s something to be said for how she replicates interacting with a human being to the point of having visual indicators for biological functions she doesn’t have, especially if a theme of Planetarian is humanity, and the humanity that a machine can have even in a very inhumane world.
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I was looking for some insight into anthropomorphism and found this:
Anthropomorphism ( https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/anthropomorphism )
…Extreme examples of this type of behavior, however, are also linked to psychological issues and social concerns, such as an anxious attachment to objects that leads to hoarding, forcing wild animals to behave in unnatural ways for the sake of human entertainment, and social acceptance of androids (robots) that undermines the unique qualities and value of humans.
Well that’s an interesting view, considering that what we see in planetarian is a post apocalyptic world where human life and civilisation has been treated by humans as something only to be destroyed en masse and all but eradicated. I think the question of whether making or attempting to make robots as appealing and human-like as tech allows has the unintended consequence of devaluing human life is not one that Key were intending with this work, but nonetheless it does raise the interesting issue of whether anthropomorphism of robots is actually a desirable goal.
Of course, the dangerous robots in planetarian are distinctly non humanoid, strictly functional and without any regard or limitation to the “Three Laws of Robotics” unlike Yumemi.
So…on the other hand does anthropomorphism enable us to treat robots/AI with the same respect as we expect in purely human interactions, and maybe prevent the usual sci-fi nightmare scenario of runaway AI outpacing our ability to control it and seeking our destruction?
Well, we can otherwise just enjoy it as a wonderful short story!
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My interpretation was she did that because the Junker was the only person she’d seen in years, so to her it was a significant event, so she prepared everything she could to try and make the Junker tell other people about the planetarium and the stars after he left (and in many ways, that worked considering later events). In this case, I consider Yumemi’s grace as a means to build the Junkers faith - it’s those continuous acts of grace done by Yumemi that causes the Junker to gain faith in Yumemi, the stars and humanity despite everything he’s been through. It also emphasises how despite how cynical you are about the state of the world, or how doubtful you are about what might happen, you can still have faith in something. Examples of this are the previously mentioned case of the Junker gaining faith, but there’s also the case of Yumemi having faith in humanity despite everything around her.
Now this is something I’m quite curious about - If Yumemi has faith, which in a religious context means to believe in God and his actions, then which God is she having faith in? Because she mentions the God of robots on several occasions, generally asking him to not divide heaven in two, so one might consider that, but if she believes in humanity so much, then maybe her faith is in the God of humans and his power to allow humanity to redeem themselves. To be honest, I think it’s a bit of both - since she asks that heaven is not divided in two, then she must believe in both humanity and robots, so I think it naturally follows that she believes in both the relative Gods.
Only by using the skip button.
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