Planetarian - Hoshi no Hito Discussion

If I remember correctly (and I often don’t remember things correctly), that scene was not in the original Drama CD/Light novel of Hoshi no Hito. But regardless, to me it seems like a callout to Yumemi’s wish to “not split heaven in two”. In a way, it’s a representation of, after the Junker’s death, him and Yumemi meeting once again in the afterlife.

There should be no proof of this actually happening nor is it something implied by the story beforehand. So, to me, it all seems like fanservice to have them meet again.
But it sure as hell is damn good fanservice :naze:

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C-
There are differing versions of Hoshi no Hito, but the drama CD always had all the content. The difference is in the written versions. First, we have the official light novel which is a third-person narrative showing the perspective of the kids. Second, there was a thing posted on Suzumoto’s blog (Shirane has a post on it). This tells of the scene when the Junker met some other junkers after the VN and also of the scene with Yumemi. Even in the original light novel though, the “Goddess” still went to his room to pray, so it was all kinda implied.

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Thanks for your answers I think I understand this scene better now ! :happy:

Okay so I finally got round to listening to this - time for my analysis. I have two things I want to comment on, and a third that is being written up.

Firstly, general Impressions: This made me cry. A lot. Like dang, that ending really took me for a ride. This is a really beautiful follow up to the main story of planetarian. It brings a lovely sense of closure to the Junker’s story, and allows us to see the extent of which Yumemi’s beliefs had on him. I had seen the anime before, but this is my first time looking at the audio drama. There is clearly a lot of religious symbolism in this, which is no different from all of the other pieces of media that take place in the world of planetarian, but similarly to the original VN, it is not the focus of the story, and it wasn’t the thing that initially stuck out to me, so I’m only going to briefly mention several concepts that allow the religious significance of this novel to become more apparent. First of all, one should consider the stargazer as someone akin to a priest – someone who represents a religion and aims to pass on their beliefs to others. It naturally follows how the Junker acts in relation to everyone, and why he acts very similar to Yumemi. I’ll go into the specifics about this later. Second is the use of the stars. It is clear how near the end of the novel, they are used to represent heaven, with one of the adults mentioning how the Junker has gone to a place above the sky, where one cannot reach, which is exactly how the Junker describes the stars to the children when they ask what a star is. Third is the use of the goddess. Despite the adults not wanting the Junker to stay around for long, it is not because they do not have belief, in fact they do, just not in him – in the goddess, who could be perceived as the god figure of their religion. This is potentially one of the reasons why they don’t want to be affected by the Junkers beliefs, because they might have a potential change in religion. The adults only have a change in heart when they see the goddess pray to the Junker when he dies – to them, this is symbolic of him being a holy figure of their religion, and that makes them more accepting of their beliefs, which means they’re willing for the children to follow the ways of the Junker since the goddess approved of him. Generally, the term religion and belief are interchangeable, since they both represent the concept of having faith in something, which generally follows through all the content in the world of planetarian.

Secondly, I want to discuss the parallels between this story and the original VN: There are many times where the events of Hoshi No Hito directly correspond to the events of the VN, and there are quite a few parallels between Yumemi in the VN and the Junker in Hoshi No Hito. One obvious case is during the projection scene, where at the end, the Junker almost directly quotes Yumemi’s final line about how if one finds themselves in darkness and unable to see the stars, then they should remember the stars they just saw. One really nice touch is how the Junker says ‘That is a little reverie of ours’ – ‘ours’ referring to him and Yumemi. The Junker also never shows any negativity towards any character in the audio drama, similarly to how Yumemi shows no negativity towards anything in the VN – they are both very accepting people. Another example is how the Junker dies at the very end, similarly to how Yumemi dies at the end of the VN.

Next I want to look at the comparisons between the three children, and the Junker during the VN. First thing I should mention is how the children are not like the Junker. In the VN, the Junker shows very little interest in what Yumemi has to say when they first meet, however, the children are instantly curious because they had never seen an outsider before. In my opinion, this is the biggest difference between the characters, and is representative of how adults are more likely going to reject new ideas, while children are more accepting of them. This concept of adults rejecting ideas is also shown when they refuse to let the Junker stay – many of the adults complain about how he is of no use to them because they believe that nothing will come of him showing them the stars, and how he’d be of more use if he had goods to sell, or could help to produce children. This shows that similarly to the Junker in the beginning of the VN, the adults are incredibly cold, logical and unaccepting of ideas that don’t show an immediate benefit to them, so there are still elements of that within the story, just not presented by the children. It is for this very reason why I think the Junker chose to have the children help him – because he knew they’d be the most likely to believe in his and Yumemi’s views. Now onto how the children and the Junker are similar. In the VN, the Junker helps Yumemi set up the projector, and in Hoshi No Hito, the children help the Junker to set up the projector. Another example is that in the VN, the Junker expresses the idea of carrying on Yumemi’s dream, and helping to tell people about the stars (e.g. becoming a stargazer), and similarly, the children also want to become stars gazers as well. There’s also the fact that both the Junker and the children replace their most treasured item with something that is proof that they are stargazers. After Yumemi’s death, the Junker replaces his cigars with Yumemi’s memory card, and similarly, the three children replace their cross with Yumemi’s memory card.

To me, all these comparisons are used to represent the idea of passing knowledge and faith from one generation to another, in hope for a brighter future. Given the post-apocalyptic world of planetarian, it is very easy for pervious knowledge to get lost – the children even question the Junker a lot about aspects of the world, so given the Junker knows he’s dying, he tries to pass on his knowledge and beliefs so that they aren’t lost. In the VN, Yumemi does a similar thing by acting as if the world hadn’t been destroyed, essentially making her a survived relic, but if she didn’t survive, the Junker would have never have become the Stargazer, and that knowledge and belief would have never been passed on. I also think the scene before the Junker dies is very symbolic of this. The goddess comes to see him and he tries to find his memory card (most likely to see if he could put it in the goddess and bring back Yumemi), but he realises he gave it to the three children, and soon after, he falls into an eternal sleep with some of his last words being ‘But… Those three will be fine’. This is him realising that he has passed on all that is needed, and there’s nothing else he can really do in this world, so he decides to rest. While quite sad, it shows that he can entrust the world to a new generation, and he believes that they will do his work justice. There’s also something from the Junker that emphasises this idea of passing knowledge from one generation to another. During the flashback where the Junker breaks his leg, he asks himself ‘What number am I? How many have come before me, ever since the first idiot who gazed at stars from his cave?’ The Junker is fully aware that there have been many people like him before. This also returns during the scene in heaven with Yumemi. The Junker implies that everyone (or at least many people) in the audience are stargazers – more specifically, during the presentation, the Junker says that he is one of many generations of stargazers, and he will now join them in the front seats. So the idea of multiple generations of humanity sharing their beliefs and knowledge is very prominent throughout this story, and it encourages the listener to do that as well.

Overall, I loved this story. I still think in terms of a pure plot point of view that I prefer Jerusalem as it covers very different topics to the VN, but this this a very close second, and works as a beautiful contrast to Jerusalem, and it emphasises all the beliefs presented in planetarian.

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Just gonna write a quick few things down as I now have fan art to do, this was amazing it was very interesting just seeing the change in character from before the Junker was the stargazer and after became the stargazer. The bible says “By Beholding you become changed” which the change in the Junker really shows. I wont bother writing anymore despite how I want to because i need to draw and whatever I end up writing Idiology has probably already written to a much greater extent than I would do. I may write stuff later after I get a day of thinking through this.

Jerusalem Spoiler, Its possible that were the kids dwell is the underground chapel due to how its mentioned that its a library and that they found a Christian Cross. I believe somewhere in the story they mentioned the remains of a fire.

Please leave some suggestions for what scene to draw as soon as possible.

I mentioned this in Discord chat but I’ll bring it up here as food for thought WRT planetarian and this story in particular.

This is a bit different in Hoshi no Hito really as it’s the projector which has the holes and the light shines outwards rather than in. Could this be a metaphor?

Also an Inuit saying: “Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy.”. The real stars of course are obscured, another metaphor?

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The final thing I want to discuss is the use of music: For those of you that aren’t aware, I did an analysis of every track in the planetarian soundtrack in the Planetarian - General Discussion page, and how each track is used to represent certain themes and concepts throughout the novel. Now, I did this before I actually listened to the Hoshi No Hito audio drama (I had seen the anime adaptation before though), and I’m actually really surprised how many things actually followed through to this (and other things that didn’t). I’m going to go through each of the main things that stuck out to me, in the order they’re presented in the audio drama:

The general ‘Hoshi Meguri no Uta’ motif: In planetarian, the melody line within this piece is used within multiple tracks under a similar name (e.g. Hoshi Meguri no Uta (metronome)). It is easy to associate this motif with Yumemi due to how it’s generally used within the original novel, but I also put across the idea that this is also potentially the Junker’s theme. This held up really well when listening to this drama, because this motif is generally only used when the Junker is around. One could argue that most of the tracks in planetarian use this motif, and the Junker is shown in most of the story, so it could just be coincidence, in which I say yes you are completely correct, because there are very specific cases where the tracks are and aren’t used which stood out to me. The exception of this idea of the motif being related to the Junker is during the beginning of ‘Visitor’, after the Junker is rescued from the snow. The ‘Honky Tonk’ track plays and the only reason I can think of why this theme is used there is because it’s the only track that conveys any sense of quirkiness, which makes sense given the situation. However, in track 5 (Treasure), ‘Ame to Robot’ is playing when the children are going to get their treasure. This is one of the only times when the Junker doesn’t appear in the drama – and this track plays instead of any of the ‘Hoshi Meguri no Uta’ pieces, which is significant of the Junkers lack of presence. So basically, that argument can go either way, but I personally think this concept still holds.

Hoshi Meguri no Uta (Metronome): This is the track that is used for the most part of the drama. In my original post I stated how it represents the Junker’s awareness of the passing of time, and how he doesn’t much time left to do what he wants. The same concept applies here - he knows he’s dying, it’s one of the reasons he’s so happy to have found some disciples to carry on Yumemi’s message, so in many ways, this track is used almost identically to how it’s used in the original VN.

Hoshi Meguri no Uta (Winter’s tale): Contrary to what many might expect, this piece is used during the projection scene, where the Junker shows the three children the stars. Given the original novel, you would probably expect Gentle Jena to be playing at this moment, and while yes it would have been perfectly appropriate, this piece works better in my opinion. In my original analysis I suggested that this piece is used to represent the moment when the Junker starts to become the stargazer, and it has a similar use in this. As soon as the Junker shows the three children the stars, they want to become stargazers as well, so similarly to how this piece is used in the VN to show Yumemi making the Junker believe in the stars, and making him want to dedicate his life to showing people the stars, Hoshi No Hito uses it to show the Junker making the children believe in the stars, and making them want to dedicate their lives to showing people the stars.

Mattaki Hito/Perfect Human: In my original analysis I proposed the idea that the small flourishes in sound represented sparks of electricity leaving Yumemi’s body. Since this is used during the Junker’s death, that doesn’t exactly follow. However, I did say this piece acts as a requiem mass, which still holds given the context it’s used in. It gives the listener a reason to mourn over the loss of the Junker. Also the title still has some significance. If we consider the Junker through his life after the events of planetarian, he tried to spend his life bringing hope to others – he acts as an ideal figure. Even when he’s dying, he never once shows an ounce of negativity to anyone at the village – similarly to Yumemi, so even though he may not be a perfect human, because that’s impossible, he is trying to live up the Yumemi, who can be perceived as a perfect human due to her nature throughout her life.

Hoshi No Sekai: I already discussed how this piece is used to represent concepts of hope through instrumentation among other things, and that part does still hold. This piece plays when the children close their eyes and realise that they can still see the stars. To me, this piece is now Yumemi’s theme, as it represents when someone has fully encompassed Yumemi’s belief in the stars - the children do not need a projector to see the stars since the stars are engraved into their hearts. In many ways this can also be considered Yumemi’s theme in the original VN as well, especially if you consider planetarians religious connotations and the origins of the melody of this piece, but that’s something I forgot to mention during my original analysis. So since this is now considered Yumemi’s theme, this piece gives a suggestion that Yumemi is now a part of the three children, which is because they now truly believe in what Yumemi believed in – she has offered them faith and they have accepted it. I also want to mention how this is the one time that this piece is used, and the ‘Why don’t you come to the planetarium speech’ isn’t said – well except it kind of is, just not in a conventional way. During this scene the Junker states ‘The stars will always be shining in the path in front of you. Because the stars you see at the planetarium is something you can never forget’. This is similar to Yumemi’s line ‘The beautiful twinkling of eternity, that will never fade, no matter when.’ – the concept presented by both lines is incredibly similar, so even though it may not be the exact same line, what’s trying to be conveyed is pretty much the same – the idea that the stars will always be there, and will always be beautiful.

Gentle Jena: This is played when the Junker goes and see’s Yumemi in heaven, which causes the average human being to start crying. I mentioned how in the VN, this piece essentially acts like planetarian’s hymn, and this once again extends into this story. This piece first starts playing when the Junker is asking Yumemi if there is only one heaven, and whether he can be forgiven. This is essentially the Junker praying to Yumemi, so the use of planetarian’s hymn makes sense, as it’s trying to convey is strong belief and faith in Yumemi during this. While in heaven, there are many people in the planetarium. The Junker describes them all as stargazers, and they’re about to witness Yumemi’s projection. I mentioned in one of my other posts how Yumemi’s projections act very similarly to a religious ceremony, and it only naturally follows that in many religious ceremonies, people sing hymns to express belief and worship. So if everyone in the planetarium is a stargazer (which can be considered as someone who follows Yumemi’s ‘religion’) and are there to watch Yumemi’s projection, that it’s natural that a hymn would be played, so that’s why Gentle Jena is used.

Itsukushimi Fukaki/Deep Affection: This is used at the very end of the drama, when the children are discussing the Junker’s treasure, Yumemi’s memory card, and then you hear Yumemi giving her ‘Why don’t you come to the planetarium’ speech. Once again, this piece represents how in death there is hope – even with the stargazer gone, the children still retain all his beliefs despite his death, and this memory card is proof of that. The ‘Why don’t you come to the planetarium’ speech is once again said, and it is proof that despite how there is no-one left in the world who knows about Yumemi, she still lives in the thoughts of others.

Gentle Jena Extended: I was proud of this. I had no clue that it was used at the very end of the audio drama, but the concepts I presented in my original analysis were on point and extremely accurate in my opinion, despite its lack of use in the VN. This piece is used at the end of the CD – there’s nothing happening except this music. In my original analysis I talked about how this piece acts as an epilogue to the original VN, and how it expresses the idea of the Junker telling people about the stars and how the multiple parts of this piece represent more people believing in the stars. This view held up really well as it still holds for Hoshi No Hito, except instead of the Junker making more people become stargazers, it’s the children. One thing I found really interesting when comparing this to other things in the world of planetarian was that in the VN, only one person was made into a stargazer (the Junker), while in this it was three (the children). To me, this symbolises growth in belief, and how with more and more generations, more people will become to believe about the stars and become stargazers. Using this song at the end represents this, and only emphasises the points that I made in my original post. Plus, if you consider how the theme of passing knowledge and faith from one generation to another is really prominent in this, it only makes sense that this track would help to convey that. I also made a point about how if you actually listen to this track, you become a part of what it represents, and that still holds here, just in a slightly different context. In my original post I argued about how if you looked up the soundtrack, you are part of a collective group of people who believe in the themes of planetarian – and the same argument holds here. If you liked planetarian enough to look up the side stories, you must have liked it a lot, in which the same argument holds, especially when you consider how you have to wait until the very end, after ‘Hoshi Meguri no Uta’ to here this. It’s kind of like waiting for an after credits scene in a film – you’ve got to like it enough to wait until the very end, even if you think it’s over. To me, this is an incredibly fitting way to end the Junker’s story as it shows how had an effect on the world, and how their beliefs will be forever passed on, both in the world of planetarian and in our world.

So that covers many of the significant tracks, but I should also note that there is a piece used in Hoshi No Hito which isn’t in the official soundtrack. During track 6 (Goddess) there’s a piece that plays when Ezula tells the children that the stargazer is no longer needed in this world, and they reject that concept. This is the only time this piece is used in the audio drama. This could have just been used as filler as since there isn’t a piece with a similar feel in the rest of the soundtrack, but part of me wonders if this is supposed to be the theme of the children. It’s impossible to tell since this piece comes up only once, but it could represent how each generation has something new to bring to the world, as represented by an all new piece of music.

So the soundtrack emphasises this idea of passing knowledge and faith from one generation to another, because most of the tracks are used in a similar context as the original VN, so it shows how events are repeating, but at the same time, it also shows how the world is slowly changing, and becoming something better.

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As I mentioned in my planetarian post that the Junker needed to put effort into being able to learn the truth about the stars by fixing the projector Gena. This is also true for the three kids as they needed to put effort into creating the umbrella so they could see the stars. Just an interesting parallel that I noticed and thought i’d mention.

Also with Idiology’s earlier post about how the children where accepting and the adults were not. Just a little bible parallel when Jesus talks about the need to be willing to accept things like a little child in order accept the kingdom of heaven (the stars) he does say “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.” It is noted that the change in the Junkers character from the beginning of his meeting with Yumemi planetarian to the projection scene his character slowly starts becoming more childlike with a more open mind with willingness to accept the stars. By the time he meets the kids his character was completely changed into a more humble, kind and patient character. The kids already had an open mind with their want to see the outside world which is closer to the stars than underground where all the adults did their best to keep them shelter underground to keep them as far as possible away from the stars.

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Quite a wonderful thing, to experience the world of hoshi no hito once again. The world where the eternal rain had turned into eternal snow, but the light of the stars, in the form of the stargazer, still shone on the world, granting the future generation hope that they can still carry on towards the eternal goal for the stars.

There is one mystery, though. Exactly why did their goddess suddenly rise up, and kneel at the stargazer’s deathbead? For that, we’re going to have to go into Jerusalem spoilers:

I think that there is absolutely no doubt that this village was built on the remains of the underground sanctuary of patagonia. And the goddess is the sole remaining robot in the army of killer robot nuns made to protect the religious group. For that, it follows that the robot would recognize the cross given by Levi, Job, and Ruth. I also have no doubt that this is what activated the robot once again, and find the cross-bearing stargazer.

But what does this mean to the robot? Why kneel? Allow me to try and understand this robot, the same way we came to understand yumemi. Yumemi had proven that there is no greater satisfaction for a robot than to be allowed to serve their original purpose. What, now, was the original purpose of these nun robots? To serve and protect the religious group. As wicked as their intents may have been, the robots themselves were innocent. They merely desired to protect and serve any being they deemed human. Once the robot recognized the stargazer as human (due to the cross he was wearing), her duty was once again reinstated. After many decades of waiting, the robot once again found her purpose in life, thanks to the stargazer.

And the junker, now the stargazer, was able to provide salvation to two innocent robots in his lifetime. If that ain’t an achievement worth dying for, I don’t know what is

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Thanks you have answered my old question with further details so It’s very more clear for me now ! :happy:

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With the scene where the stargazer meets with Yumemi again is what i think makes this being a drama cd instead of a visual novel really special. In this scene we are in the same situation the Junker was in when he experienced the projection. no visuals just the sound of someone talking. The fact that this is a drama CD leaves only that option to listen and imagin the scenario of what is happening. With my listen through of Hoshi no Hito, during that scene the thought that goes through your head as Yumemi speaks is that of the stars which at least for me put me in the same situation the Junker was in during his view of the projection scene. Its as if you (the listener) is being asked, “Here are the stars, do you accept them?” Its really cool and makes it a really special moment that feels really real and awesome. That could be due to the fact that my room was cold when I was listening as if i was in space and I had my headphones on everything was silent but Yumemi. Just a cool touch with the for of media chosen.

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One of the most notable difference between planetarian and Hoshi no Hito is how planetarian’s rain becomes snow. While it might not have that much significance in the overall plot, it does have some interesting connotations when considering certain characters and events in the world of planetarian.

Firstly, Cjlim mentioned in the Planetarian - General Discussion how rain/rain water is used to represent sin, and this concept is still relevant. At the end of planetarian, after the Junker leaves the city the rain starts to turn to snow. Given how the Junker’s goal is to help spread hope and faith throughout the world, the change of rain to snow shows how humanity is slowly starting to not be drenched by sin, or at the very least, sin is becoming less apparent in the world. Now let’s also consider the nature of snow. Snow is produced from rain when it reaches a cold enough temperature, and when it melts it becomes water. Using the previous logic, this symbolises how sin can potentially be reintroduced/become more apparent in the world under certain circumstances.

One thing to note is how the children are told not to go outside because of the snow. This is significant because when you think about it, if someone went back into a warm environment after being out in the snow, then that causes any snow brought in to melt into rain, symbolising sin to be reintroduced to a person. This might be a symbolic reason of why the adults don’t want the children to go outside. Contrastingly, the Junker/Stargazer starts out in the snow, and has most likely spent a lot of his life in the snow. Considering how he spends his life telling people about the stars, he most likely brings in snow into the warm environment, causing sin to be introduced. This is even shown in Hoshi No Hito when the adults discuss the Stargazer. They mention how they wish he could offer more in terms of goods among other things, and how he is just another mouth to feed. It is most likely the case that the adults have rarely if not never had to go outside because they have enough resources inside the church, so this can be represented as characters living with a lack of sin. When the stargazer came into the church, he also brought concepts of sin with him, causing it to become more prominent within the adults. As to why sin isn’t prominent within the Stargazer, this might be because of his strong faith, or significant exposure to the endless rain that came before the snow - he has accepted sin, but that doesn’t stop him from wanting to help humanity gain faith. The children aren’t affected by this either because they have already been exposed to sin since they’ve gone outside before and thus they consider sin a natural part of them, or because the Stargazer gave the children faith in the stars.

Next thing I want to mention is how snow affects Hoshi No Hito’s environment. Snow is the one of the few weather conditions that conceals the environment. An example of this is how the three children find a rosary when digging through the snow. If we consider the events in Jerusalem, given how Hoshi no Hito and Jerusalem most likely take place in the same location, it is most likely that the rosary found by the children is either Salinger’s or an ornament from the religious group based at the church. What’s interesting about this is how both these things are associated with sin. I already mentioned in my Jerusalem post how Salinger presents the seven deadly sins, and the religious group that used to be based at the church is most likely the same one who wanted the Achtneun unit that had the ability to kill people. So in this case, snow is used to conceal sin, which could be symbolic of how humanity wants to avoid repeating the errors of the past and work towards a better future. However, in Tircis and Amante the earth is frozen, representing an Earth where all sin is concealed (most likely because all of humanity had already died), so even though sin was concealed, humanity still ended up dying. This presents the concept that sin must be accepted in order to live.

So snow is quite significant when consider how sin is presented in Hoshi no Hito. I personally interpret all of this to show how one can only grow by accepting sin as a part of them. While the transformation of rain to snow may represent how sin is disappearing from humanity, Hoshi no Hito expresses that it is only those who have accepted sin as a part of them can grow, and make humanity better.

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One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is how Hoshi No Hito presents information being lost or forgotten over time. I already mentioned how one of the main things presented in the story is how information and faith is passed from one generation to the next, so upon re-listening I thought it’d be appropriate to discuss this how forgotten information is presented.

The main way this is presented is through the interactions between the Stargazer and the three children. One of the first cases of this is where the Stargazer asks the children if they know what an umbrella is, in which they reply with no. Given the nature of the world and how the adults emphasise to the children that they shouldn’t go outside, it naturally follows that there would be no need for an umbrella and thus do not know what one is, but this is a very simple example of the knowledge of everyday things being lost through time. Later on within the story, one of the children mentions how there are a lot of books in one area, but they cannot read them, which is another example of this.

While this may be a naturally occurring process throughout time, there is some significance when considering specific items in the story. One of these cases is the Goddess. As previously stated (Jerusalem spoilers) it is heavily hinted at that this story takes place in the same location as Jerusalem, and that Goddess was one of the robots that Salinger used for murder. Now all of the characters (minus the Stargazer) are unaware that the Goddess is even a robot, which on its own potentially shows that the knowledge of robots has disappeared, but that’s not the point I wanted to make. The fact that all the villagers worship something that use to be used for sinful acts symbolises how all things can be forgiven over time. Another thing it also emphasises the importance of objects from the distant past. While we may not directly know when Jerusalem happens in the overall world of planetarian, it is clear that it was during a time before people were unaware of humanoid robots, and thus it is a very old object. Since objects and information gets lost over time, it makes sense that this robot would be beloved and respected, similarly to how one loves and respects an item from an ancient civilisation.

Another example of items having significance is the rosemary that the children have. To the children, this is their treasure, most likely because they have no idea what it is and have never seen anything like it before. Though unlike the adults (who just want to worship and maintain items from the past), the children are willing to share what’s precious to them, allowing other people to be exposed to the past. This mentality is most likely one of the biggest reasons why the children found the idea of becoming stargazers so appealing.

Finally, we have the memory card. Due to the Stargazer’s death, the memory card represents another piece of lost history as none of the kids know what it is exactly. This is an interesting contrast to the rest of the story because the majority of forgotten items are explained to the children. To me this shows that it is impossible to preserve the knowledge of everything – something will always be lost to history, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t leave it to the next generation. In Tircis and Amante, somehow the memory card is used and Yumemi is revived, even though during this story it seems as if all hope is lost. Thus it shows the benefits of leaving something for the next generation despite the circumstances, even if the only thing left is a word.

So whilst knowledge and faith is passed on from one generation to another via the Stargazer, one also has to remember that each generations Stargazer will learn their own things and then pass that new knowledge and faith to the next generation, allowing each generations faith and knowledge to grow in a never-ending cycle.

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This was a cute story and really good entry into the Planetarian canon. Having the story where the Junker gets to pass on his love and knowledge of the stars to the next generation, and seeing how the children fall in love with the projections and want to work to carry on the message of the stars - just as mankind has always passed down the stars as a symbol of hope - ties up the Junkers story very nicely and gives the larger Planetarian universe an uplifting feel that goes beyond the ending of any one its stories.

I mentioned a similar thought I had in my post for Chiisana Hoshi no Yume, but Hoshi no HIto reminded a bit of Owari no Hoshi no Love Song, this time I kept specifically thinking of the track Flower Garden. The idea of humans being trapped underground with poisonous air on the surface world is an interesting parallel between the two worlds. The use of the post apocalyptic setting in Hoshi no Hito seems to be to explore human society this time, as opposed to Chiisana Hoshi where it is used more to explore human nature on an individual level. This story showed focused on the way the politics of the town were affected by being in such a world, and how knowledge degrades or is passed on. These are different themes than what appear in the song, but I still find the similarities noteworthy.

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I am assuming you mean “addition” instead of “entry” to the planetarian Canon. This is probably the best they could have done for a continuation of the story. They certainly didn’t lower the quality, compared the original but followed the masterpiece with another masterpiece. This certainly would be my favourite cd drama.

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I’ve had several things I wanted to talk about from long ago that I just never felt ready to write about but seeing as podcast is coming up soon I’m just gonna post it all, even if it might not be as developed as I wanted it to be. If people ask questions and discuss it I’ll be able to elaborate on my ideas a bit. But first I’m gonna comment on a bunch of things people have said previously that for some reason I simply never thought about replying to. Just like with my other posts, especially in regards to Christian themes, I don’t know if Suzumoto intended it all but I’m gonna analyze it as if he did. I’ll start with some of my responses to other posts and then get to some of the other themes that have not yet been explored.


Considering I just relistened to the drama CD this blog post shouldn’t have surprised me at all since its essentially the same in the audio. There is one difference that caught my eye and it was this description of the scene near the end.

This becomes relevant with the fact that Itsukushimi Fukaki is one of the main songs in this series. I actually was thinking about this a while ago with the vn but this blog entry written about Hoshi no Hito lends more credence to another parallelism with the Bible–the concept of the Bride of Christ. This is a theme that occurs in a few different places throughout the Bible. It becomes most prevalent in Revelation chapter 19 and 21 but it also appears in Ephesians 5, and the book of Hosea among other places. The basic idea is that Jesus Christ is the bridegroom, and typically the Church (the entirety of all saved Christians) is his bride. In Revelation, after all the battles and apocalyptic events, the two are married and become one. This is also mirrored in the unification of Heaven and Earth but we’ll talk about that in just a bit. Anyways, the marriage idea is kinda weird and isn’t often talked about in Christian circles but it is still a very biblical idea. Basically, in Planetarian this theme appears but is of course genderswapped because of all of the ideas presented in the general topic that allow me to just say that Yumemi is like Christ. Therefore, the Junker, now Hoshi no Hito, is like the Church and is to be wedded to her. The added bonus here is that Itsukushimi Fukaki is traditionally a song played at Japanese weddings. I’m honestly not sure why other than the fact that the title is translated as Deep Affection. After all, the Japanese lyrics still practically follow the English lyrics. Aside from that, I would love to elaborate more on those specific scripture references, especially Hosea, but don’t worry, I’ll elaborate on Revelation 21 later.

Edit: one more marriage image in the story is the bouquet. It’s not super solid but considering that the bouquet is the icon for the game, it should be relevant, even if for something small. I initially thought of the bouquet as like an obligatory thing for this landmark customer, and it is. But there’s also a lot more thought put into it then simply that. In Snow Globe, Yumemi suggests something about making a bouquet because a customer will be coming soon. This doesn’t actually make a lot of sense for a robot but that part isn’t super relevant. The relevant part is that Yumemi promises that she will find real flowers for the Junker (if I remember correctly). Since they aren’t real flowers we can’t read into that symbolism but it’s the thought that counts. Yes bouquets are presented at celebratory ceremonies but they’re also a part of marriages. And what better promise exists than a marriage. This symbolism for me explains the usage of the fake bouquet as the icon and ending screen of the original vn and then ties in to Yumemi fulfilling the promise with a real bouquet (this is at least shown visually in the movie) when the Junker arrives in the heaven for both humans and robots.


I’d actually say a better representation would be a missionary rather than a priest. This line of thought is helpful for me but it probably won’t be relevant until I make a post on an entirely different topic.


If you don’t mind me asking, where’s the scripture reference? I just don’t know what translation or where this comes from. The context may be prove even more relevant to the analysis after all.


I’m gonna continue along this line of thought, especially with the kingdom of God because this is super interesting, especially in relation to the prior drama CD Jerusalem. By the way that reference is from Luke 18:17 (or actually Mark has something similar as well). In the drama CD Jerusalem, we know that Salinger believes the church shelter to be the kingdom of God. After all, that’s what the religious organization called it. However, in the Bible, the kingdom of God is not really a physical place. This is a pretty complicated topic so instead of explaining it myself I’ll just put this video here which explains it pretty well. The heaven in this video is essentially one of the main ways of thinking about the kingdom of God.


So as we see from the video, the kingdom of God is not exactly a place we will travel to but rather it will come to us and the end of the Bible story is the reunification of heaven and earth. So Salinger was wrong to believe that the underground shelter was the kingdom of God, but by the parallels given from the vn, the Hoshi no Hito is like a missionary bringing the gospel of the stars to the physical shelter. When the stars are made known to the children, and they believe, that is when it truly becomes the kingdom of God. I don’t know about you all but I feel like this concept is awesome and really ties together the two stories.


One more point regarding the reunification of heaven and earth and the bride of Christ since they are basically the same idea. In Revelation 21:2, the bride of Christ is also described as the New Jerusalem coming out of heaven. Verses 3 and 4 continue this thought of reunification as it continues, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” I totally forgot about this back in the general topic but I was theorizing that this idea is actually where Yumemi gets her prayer not to divide heaven in two. In the same way that the Hoshi no Hito wishes for the same thing, Christians are taught to pray as Jesus did, that God’s “will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And in this story we of course do see that the Junker ends up in a heaven that includes both humans and robots, just as they had wished.


Finally here’s one last point regarding lost knowledge and the contrast between this story and the original vn.

In my last relisten I found it interesting that during the projection scene, the Hoshi no Hito and children are discussing constellation and he explains that Orion was believed to be an able hunter to which the children ask what a hunter is. I think this is a pretty interesting contrast to the original story where during the fiddler crab fight. The Junker says, “even though we had once extended our reach into the vastness of space, nothing had really changed. Mankind had now even created for itself game to hunt and had equipped itself with fangs that it had not by design been given.” The hunting aspect that was so ingrained in the identity of humans has now fallen away in this age. Whether or not that’s a good thing is up to you to decide.

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