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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
