It’s a modified version of William Blake’s poem And did those feet in ancient time. Suzumoto removed the mentionings of England and such.
The sisters’ thing isn’t detailed in the novel, and I don’t believe we ever found anything on it.
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Further to what HeliosAlpha wrote, I found this, although I don’t know what short story it relates to
https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/isaac-asimovs-laws-of-robotics-are-wrong/
For example, in one of Asimov’s stories, robots are made to follow the laws, but they are given a certain meaning of “human.” Prefiguring what now goes on in real-world ethnic cleansing campaigns, the robots only recognize people of a certain group as “human.” They follow the laws, but still carry out genocide.
Definitely seems to me that Salinger is enacting his own warped form of ethnic cleansing here.
It’s a pretty damn bleak story all told, and quite a surprise to me coming from Key.
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It seems to be from the Foundation series which is a much bigger work than I, Robot which is really just a short anthology. Actually it seems The Naked Sun is where the planet with the racist robots is introduced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics#Definition_of_"human_being"
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Wow this was more in depth than what I expected. This was a fun one to look at because while the religious connotations are a lot more literal of the surface, but there are still some elements which are well hidden.
One of the key things that I picked up from this was the concept of sin, and how it’s presented and feeds into everything within the story. Throughout the audio drama, the seven deadly sins are presented through the interactions between Murdock and Salinger while inside the kingdom of God. I’ll go through each of them:
Gluttony – Salinger states that the kingdom has enough food and electricity for 500 people for 10 years. He even mentions how there the kingdom has high quality liquor, so not only does he emphasise the amount of resources, but also the quality of the resources. He is fully aware that everything presented in the kingdom is more than enough to satisfy two people in their lifetime - thus gluttony is presented.
Pride – Salinger takes pride in the development of the robots, and how he was able to get around the 3 laws of robotics. He even says ‘Even now I at least think I worked very well for what I was payed.’ He even wanted to test the capabilities of these machines to see if they could be stopped.
Lust – This one was what gave away the use of the sins – from everything I’ve seen so far in the world of planetarian, this is the only time where anything of a sexual nature is implied that heavily, so this stood out to me a lot and got me thinking about why it was included. It’s when Salinger states that if Murdock stayed in the kingdom of God then he could do whatever he wanted with the robots to pleasure himself. He specifically says ‘There are also women you could want. They have such functions. You can choose any of your liking and have your fun.’, so it’s pretty clear that lustful intentions are implied here.
Envy – While discussing how he came about the kingdom, Salinger states ‘It’s been my dream to once visit this nursing home. Half of it was jealousy of the poor though’. Now, while yes there is a subtle difference between jealousy and envy in general, in this context I believe that the words are interchangeable.
Wrath – This is presented when Murdock attempts to burn down the base, turning the kingdom of God into a hellscape. Salinger’s yelling and screaming at Murdock during this is more than enough to emphasise uncontrollable anger and rage, which can be interpreted as wrath.
Greed – It is clear that Salinger wants the power of the robots, and the resources presented in the kingdom of God to himself as that is the entire reason he joined Murdock on the mission – to check the robots capabilities and to go and enter the kingdom, only for it to be sealed off to others later.
Sloth – Given the amount of robots presented within the kingdom, it is clear that Murdock would have many servants to assist him over the years, and given the amount of resources in the kingdom, he would never have to do any work with maybe the exception of robot maintenance. However, given how many robots there are, it wouldn’t make much difference if one broke down – he even states ‘I wouldn’t mind it if you destroyed it when you grow bored’
Now I think the use of sins is significant when you consider the significance of the base. It’s deep underground, very deep underground. One would naturally associate the concept of heaven with the sky and stars, anything above us by beyond our reach, but by contrast, hell is generally presented as being below us, in this case, deep underground, and I think that’s what the kingdom is representing – hell itself. Now, while this point of the kingdom representing hell isn’t entirely new in itself as several other members have already pointed this out, from what I can tell, most people interpret it as the kingdom becoming hell only when the fire happens, and I personally interpret it quite differently. I would like to introduce the interpretation that the kingdom in itself was always hell, and that Salinger is a representation of the devil. First of all, there’s the previously mentioned use of the sins, which are all mentioned or expressed in one form or another by Salinger, but then there’s also the fact that he helped to develop the robots that would kill people. This is symbolic of sin being introduced into the servants of God, making them become fallen angels, and servants of Satan, which is only emphasised by having the robots named after famous saints.
Now let’s consider the kingdom. While in general, the kingdom is presented as a haven for people to live in, the context of how it was established has quite a few unfavourable details. First of all, there was the original religious group that was set up there and bought the robots that were built by Salinger, and they most likely knew they had protocols to kill. As far as I can identify, it is never made clear why the religious group chose to do this, but my best guess would be to punish people for their sin. This introduces the concept of groups of people wanting to do Gods work for him, causing them to punish people for one reason or another, all in God’s name. This argument follows to the robots created by Salinger – they believe they are killing demons in the name of God, but because of the way they perceive what a human is. This is a very extreme argument of why one should not punish in the name of God, because at the end of the day, one’s perspective of sin is only defined by ones perspective of the world. So, to have all these concepts surrounding what is believed to be the kingdom of God only emphasises that while the kingdom may have association with God, it is under a false pretence, which God would most likely disapprove of. This concept extends to the idea of using religion as a false pretence to perform certain actions. A simple example of this is Salinger’s use of rosary, which he originally states is used for protection. While one would naturally associate this with religious protection, in actuality it’s what allows him to be seen as human, so the false implication of religion causes this item not to be questioned, and since it’s that rosary that allows him to partially control the robots actions, this item also emphasises the idea that religion under a false pretence can be used to control the actions of others.
Now I want to discuss how Murdock fits into this entire thing. To me, this story is about Murdock going to the depths of hell, fighting off the devil’s temptation, and Murdock being forgiven by God. Clearly if the kingdom of God is actually hell, then the first part of that structure makes sense. As for fighting of the devil’s temptation – Salinger tries to convince Murdock to stay in the kingdom of God with him since he has taken a likening to him. It is at this point where most of the deadly sins are presented because he’s trying to make Murdock give into temptation, and commit sin. However, Murdock sees Salinger for all the crimes he has committed and refuses the offer immediately. It’s shortly after that the kingdom of God is set on fire by Murdock, which is representative of hell being presented in its true form. While escaping, Murdock manages to fight off Salinger, but he doesn’t kill him, which I believe represents the idea that the devil cannot be killed by the likes of man, since sin will always remain in the hearts of man. However, shortly after, Salinger gets dragged back to the burning kingdom of God, which if you consider Salinger as the devil, it makes sense that he’d get dragged back there, as it is the place where he belongs. I also really like the fact that it’s the rosary that causes him to be sent back there, because I feel like it’s symbolic of God wanting to keep him in hell, which is also fitting considering the title of the part in which this happens is called ‘Bell Chimes and Atonement’. Also, it is around this time when Murdock recites/sings ‘And did those feet in ancient time’. This is the single most contrasting thing in the entire audio drama in my opinion, because while every other use of religion is used falsely, or misguidingly, this is used legitimately by Murdock to give him the strength to keep going. It suggests the idea that even during dark times, one should not give into darkness, and there is a promise land awaiting for you– hence the use of Jerusalem. It is because of this contrast why I think this story is called Jerusalem, because it wants to emphasise the legitimate belief and power of religion when perceived correctly. As for the very end, one of the robots tells him that God forgives all sinners, and Murdock takes this in shock, because he doesn’t believe he can be forgiven for everything he’s done. Now, like I mentioned previously, if one perceives these robots as fallen angels under the devils hand, then it follows that with the devil defeated and sent back to hell, some of the angels are free of his control, so I think this is symbolic of an actual messenger of God telling Murdock that he can be forgiven. This is also emphasised by the use of church bells at the very end, since church bells are used to repel demons and unclean spirits, and in some cases, also cleanse sin. I also think this once again expresses the concept of atonement mentioned in the title of this part of the drama.
This was a really good listen, it had so much to pick apart that it’s almost at the same standards of the original VN in my opinion. Definitely my favourite of the audio dramas.
7 Likes
This is my favourite of the drama CDs. I don’t have any analyzations on it, just praises to sing. Excellent use of audio all around, intriguing setting, compelling story, thoughtful themes, and just action packed. I was rooting for Murdock once it was clear that he was the protagonist. Wish I could have more of him being awesome and fucking things up for selfish bastards during the war because he’s best protag and boy material easily.
I didn’t think I was going to actually going to try to analyze this, but now while I’m typing it out I’m thinking of stuff about the nun robots. Planetarian shows us that robots are people, so the fate of the nuns seeing anyone without a rosary as a demon is kind of sad. Could robots be seen as angels and demons? The corrupted robots definitely are demons in a sense, and the sister at the end of the story telling Murdock he could be forgiven could be an angelic messenger of god. Angels were created to serve humans, just as robots were, but robots were made by us while angels were made by God the creator of everything. Angels are immortal and much more powerful and competent than humans - robots have good memories and lots of skills built into them. But at the end of the day it’s humans themselves who are better because we have the passion of humanity. We weren’t born special with superpowers like how angels and demons are. We love, we create, we wonder at the world, we feel. So while Jerusalem has a different message and theme from Planetarian, I love it all the same. Maybe even more, because this kind of theme about humanity and badass action appeals to me more naturally. @Idiology 's post on this thread is my favorite interpretation about the themes of Jerusalem other than my own.
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A bit surprised with just how the story changes from a snow globes really cheery atmosphere to the really dark atmosphere of a Jerusalem. I also noticed that robots can be angels and fallen angels like Dora and what seems to work well with the bible as well. We have Satan (Salinger in this case) who actually corrupted a large portion of the angels (1/3 if your interested) and they just like Satan cause harm to the Human race instead of protect humans like they are tasked with. This also explains why the three laws of Robotics are ignored as the fallen angels don’t follow their design, the robots don’t follow the design. I haven’t read Asimov’s I,Robot since mid 2015 (yr10) but I do remember all of the short stories are actually all heavily linked to at least one of the his 3 laws if not more than 1. (Its not like the movie, the book is just a bunch of short stories). Another Interesting thing is that if these sisters are fallen angels its interesting how they reside underground instead of earth as all the fallen angels reside on earth instead of heaven. I am not to familiar to the Catholic church to notice any parallels between this story and the church but it would be interesting to find out.
Overall, its really hard to think of this as planetarian but its still really good and would recommend to anyone (Unless they are on a heavy budget as the pricetag is quite high for an hour.) I don’t remember there being any conformation in the story about Murdock surviving or dying at the end but it would be interesting if he is the Junkers friend that he mentioned died in planetarian but it would be interesting if its true although I do think it implies that Murdock dies. Eitherway great story.
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Seem like this Jerusalem part have many confusion about many its parts that fans still need to understand more.
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Okay let’s talk about Jerusalem’s music. For those not aware, I did an analysis of planetarian’s entire OST on the Planetarian - General Discussion, and while the majority of it doesn’t feed into Jerusalem, I still thought I should leave a link to it.
Just like many other aspects of the audio drama, Jerusalem significantly contrasts how music is used within the original VN as well as the side stories. For one, this side story doesn’t use any of the tracks from the VN, with the exception of Human Warrior, which while was in the VN’s audio test, it was never used in the novel. Another thing to note is that (spoilers for all the other side stories) this is the only side story with no Yumemi. Now in my other music posts I talked a lot of how the majority of the soundtrack can be associated with Yumemi and the Junker and concepts they present, so in that regard, it makes sense that the majority of the OST isn’t used. However, what is interesting is how there are still several music tracks (besides Human Warrior) used, none of which has been officially released by Key, which honestly makes this analysis a bit of a pain since I can only listen to the tracks through the audio drama, and I can’t use track names to infer anything, so this analysis is going to be a bit weaker than the others in some regard, but there’s still quite a bit I want to talk about.
First, let me discuss one thing that is really apparent in Jerusalem – the majority of the audio drama lacks music, however, despite the lack of background music, there are still constant atmosphere sounds produced to help fill the silence. Examples of these background sounds are the wind and church bells while outside the church, and the sounds of a fire and an electrical humming (which I assume is a radiator) when inside the church. This is actually quite similar to how in the original planetarian, there was no music playing during the battle against the Fiddler Crab – the only sound that could be heard was the rain and gunfire. In the VN, for the most part, there was always a lack of music when Yumemi wasn’t present. This story is meant to be taken seriously. This isn’t a happy story, and it wants to convey that, which wouldn’t be possible given the fact that much of the soundtrack in the VN is quite playful and or hopeful. In real life, there isn’t a constant background track that plays to suit the mood, so the lack of music combined with the sounds created by the environment help the listener to be immersed into the audio drama. The lack of music also emphasises how this story is a contrast to the VN.
The first piece of music that plays is during the beginning of ‘Mission Complete’, when some of Murdock’s troops are being shot at by the robot in the church. It’s a very heavy, rock styled piece, with the electric guitar driving the melody, and a heavy drum beat driving the pulse. It’s a piece written for action scenes - it’s meant to help raise the intensity of fighting. This type of piece comes up a notable amount during Jerusalem. One interesting thing to note about this piece is how it stops as soon as the audio drama turns to Murdock’s perspective during this scene. It emphasises a disjoint between how the fighting is being perceived and what’s actually happening. This is also emphasised when Murdock says that it looks like everything is going fine, while in fact on the battlefield, one of the troops got shot at, despite it seeming like it was impossible.
The next track that plays is during ‘Sister’. It’s an eerie piano track that plays when one of the robots first speaks to Murdock, and Murdock realises that Salinger is involved with the robots. The track comes back when Murdock finds the trees in the underground shelter, and Salinger’s footprints. This track is used to emphasise mystery - before Murdock entered the church, the focus of the audio drama was fighting, but now several new elements have been introduced into the plot, and that causes the direction of the audio drama to shift, and this track emphasises that to the listener.
The next track that plays is ‘Human Warrior’, which plays during ‘Sister’, where Murdock fights one of the robots. This track comes back later in ‘Kingdom of God’, when Murdock is fighting against several of the robots. Similarly to how it’s used in the planetarian anime, this piece is used during the battle between man and machine. It is an electronically composed piece – there are no conventional instruments that could be substituted for the sounds produced, which emphasises the cold and emotionless nature of the robots that Murdock is fighting. One could argue that this isn’t the case because the first piece used in Jerusalem used an electric guitar, which is a very conventional instrument, but during that scene, no-one except Salinger knew that they were fighting a robot – they thought they were fighting a person, so the use of conventional instrumentation during that scene helps to maintain that façade.
A new track plays when Murdock finds Salinger. It begins with a constant ticking in the background, keeping the pulse of the piece, which could represent the constant beating of both the characters hearts. It’s a fast and tense standoff. More parts are slowly introduced as Murdock explains his logic. The piece does the same thing when Salinger explains more details about the robots. This is used to emphasise the reveal of the mystery. As more information is presented by each character, more parts are exposed to help to emphasise that which one was not previously aware of. The constant ticking also starts to become less noticeable as the number of parts increase. This shows how the characters are getting more relaxed to the situation since they understand more about each other. The music fades out upon the mention of ‘The Kingdom of God.’ This is a really interesting choice placement for the music to stop. For one, it emphasises the importance of this point – the audio drama wants you to pay attention to it so it makes it more notable by stopping the music. Second, it’s an interesting place to stop because of the connotations it has about the Kingdom of God. During the scene, both the characters are revealing the truth of the situation to each other, so since the music stops when the Kingdom of God is mentioned, that would suggest that the Kingdom of God is a lie, which it is in many regards.
Another track is played during the start of Hellfire. This piece consists of a synth and an electric guitar among other parts. A small thing to note about this piece is that it’s in 5/4 time signature – not much significance there but I thought it was something I should point out. There are two sections to this piece to consider. The first section consists of several notes which are repeated over and over. This plays when Murdock is considering his options on how to manage the situation. This could represent how Murdock is repeatedly going over every possibility in his head – redoing many different scenarios. The second section is a more free flowing and expressive section, with constantly changing melody and harmony lines. This plays when the robots start talking. This most is to most likely give the scene a bit more of a heroic feel to it – it makes Murdock seem like a hero, fighting the villains, which contrasts how most of the other battle music is written. This piece stops when he kills the perusing robots.
Next we have the use of the track ‘And did those feet in ancient time’, which is also called ‘Jerusalem’. This piece is an English Hymn, and many consider it as England’s unofficial national anthem, however the audio drama changes some of the lyrics and removes the mention of England, but many aspects of the original piece remain the same. During the scene this is used, Murdock is talking about how he has nothing left. To me, this song represents his faith, and it holds everything dear to him. The original hymn talks about how one shall not stop until they have built Jerusalem on England. This idea of building a paradise is what’s driving him to keep going despite the loss of everything in his life. The music even stops when Murdock says ‘until Jerusalem is built upon my country’, which only emphasises his dream even more. Another thing to note about the piece is the instrumentation – it’s using sounds that replicate very conventional, classical instrumentation, which contrasts the rest of the music in this audio drama. This makes the music more like the music in the VN – it’s meant to convey feelings of faith, and given the piece’s background as a hymn, it makes sense to use traditional instruments. Also, similarly to the VN, this piece is based of a hymn, just like how Hoshi No Sekai is also a hymn. So the title of ‘Jerusalem’ is used because of this piece – it is the one time the concept of faith is properly presented to the listener, which is significant because faith is one of the main themes of all the planetarian stories.
Finally, there’s the ending song, ‘Brave New World’. This is the only unique ending song in the sides stories, and the way it’s written has a lot of significance, so I’m going to go through this piece, line by line, and talk about how the lyrics are relevant to the world of planetarian. I’m going to make this a separate post just for ease of formatting and reading.
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Okay, here’s my analysis of Brave New World:
(Verse)
‘Rain of sadness falls. The world is crying. People are repeatedly fighting, why?’ – Clearly talking about how there is a never ending rain in the VN, and how many people (such as the Junker) have to fight for their survival in that world. ‘Why?’ could refer to a lot of things. Why did it come to this? Why are people still doing this? But all these questions suggest that this should never have happened in the first place, and that humanity should be doing what it can to rectify this.
‘In the cold rain, all alone, I once again recall how you were hurt. Why? As no-one can endure pain in their heart, people are searching for warmth and peace today as well.’ – I believe this refers to the Junker, and how he’s thinking upon Yumemi’s death. As shown in Hoshi No Hito, he has come to the realisation that despite how the world acts, people do not want to live in pain anymore, so he helps people find the warmth and good in their heart by showing them the stars and giving them faith.
(Chorus)
‘Holding countless sins, to find a reason to keep living, we will love people unending tomorrow as well.’ – To me this is basically saying that we must accept sin, both in ourselves and each other, and it is because of our flaws that we must strive to find meaning in our life, and work towards understanding and loving each other for who we are. This is similar to how in Hoshi No Hito the Junker has shown that he has found his meaning in life, and that he shows no negativity to people no matter how hostile they are to him.
(Verse)
‘The wind of grief blows. The world dries up. How come people are hurting this planet? Why?’ – This is most likely referring to the constant wind in Jerusalem, as well as how nuclear weapons and deadly robots have had a terrible effect on the planet, but the constant wind could also be referring to the detrimental weather that the Junker has to experience through his life. The use of ‘Why?’ is similar to how it’s used in the first verse.
‘Today as well, we question if words are powerless. While avoiding pain, people are always walking’ – This brings up the question as to whether the power of words and belief have no effect anymore. I mentioned how in Hoshi No Hito, many of the adults refuse to listen to the Junkers words, and refuse to acknowledge the stars he wants to present. In this scenario, words are powerless, because the adults don’t see the practical value in them, and this lyric ties directly into that.
(Chorus)
The instrumentation gets reduced for the next line. It makes the piece feel calmer, and makes the listener pay attention due to the contrast in sound. It helps to emphasise the one of the messages the song is trying to present.
‘In this continually repeating age, let’s live on treasuring the miracle of life always, always, always.’ – This brings up the concept of how time repeats itself. Again, Hoshi No Hito has a lot of parallels with the VN, and it emphasises how acts are repeated across generations, and how information is passed from one generation to another, so this lyric is basically saying that each generation should treasure the fact that they are alive. This is really important when you consider that in the world of planetarian, it is very difficult for children to be born, so as one of the characters says in Hoshi No Hito, it just makes children more special.
‘Holding countless sins to find a reason to keep living, we will love people unending tomorrow as well.’ – Already covered. I just put it here for consistency.
There’s a sudden change in key signature at this point (all the parts shift up in pitch), which usually represents the sudden climax of a piece. One thing to note about the next section is that it’s in English, this means that the song wants to emphasise the importance of the line. It’s also where the title ‘Brave New World’ comes from.
‘Please make us discover the brave new world. I must feel a certain season by recalled heart. Pray for us to shine indefinitely. Somewhere long… long… long…… way we meet for you, for me.’ – I think that this is the Junker asking Yumemi, or maybe God, to look over humanity, and to guide humanity in the right direction, into a brave new world, and how one day, humanity should be able to meet Yumemi or God.
This line is then followed by another key change, with the melody line being sung with only the word ‘la’, and the electric guitar doing what it wants, and the piece gradually fades out into nothingness. To me this ending represents humanity starting to walk along that path – a path to a better future, which is what this song is about.
So while this piece is used in Jerusalem, I think it’s very much a story about how the Junker views the world because of Yumemi, and what he wants the world to become. Despite most of the music not being in the OST, Jerusalem’s music is very well crafted and placed, and it’s worthy of being a part of the world of planetarian.
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Jerusalem was a pretty intense story, rife with symbolism and subtext. While that did make the story quite impressive in a way, that also meant that it didn’t quite sit well with me. See, I’m the kind of person that prefer meanings behind stories be told through the motives and emotions of characters, rather than the symbolism portrayed in the environment. And while Jerusalem had an interesting story nonetheless, all of the meaning behind the story was lost on me. And with that meaning lost, it turned out as just one of many examples of how robots of the world were pushed by the greed and of humans to go against their initial purpose. It’s something that was already heavily implied by planetarian, and I’m sure this is only one of many stories in this world like this. Perhaps if we got more insight on the motives of the religious group, or even motives on the robots themselves, it would have piqued my interest much more.
However, there is one emotion I would like to talk about in Jerusalem: Betrayal. In one of the recent VNs I read (not gonna say which one it was because that’d be a spoiler), an interesting topic was brought up. In times of war, only those with wills of steel can continue fighting for lofty reasons such as “world peace” or “justice”. What keeps soldiers going and fighting are the comrades that they fight for. And what struck me in Jerusalem the most was Murdoch’s flashback as he poured the bottle of cognac. We see his round of drinking with his comrades: Manson, Diaz, Chow, and everyone else involved with the mission. But we also see Salinger as part of them, raving about the glories of the Martini. I have no doubt that, during that celebration, Murdoch saw these men as his comrades. And, even in the earlier parts of the story, they show that, while he has a mission, he also continues to fight to defend these comrades of his (Salinger included).
And, after realizing Salinger was the one behind the mission, I feels as if his reason for fighting was all for naught. The man he thought was a comrade ended up as the reason for the rest of his comrades’ deaths. And, at that point I had no doubt as to why he was willing to waste that fine bottle of cognac to create that living hellhole.
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I really liked listening to this one. It was a pretty big departure from the other two Planetarian stories I have experienced so far, but in that way it was kind of refreshing I suppose. Plus it was good to have a story that more closely shows how messed up the world has become.
They did a great job on the audio design for sure on this drama. I liked the tension of the sniper scenes, and when Murdoch encountered the multiple robots and they are all praying for him in unison as they hunt him was pretty eerie feeling.
I have to admit that I never read iRobot. Honestly this bookclub has catapulted it up the priority list quite a bit. I was familiar with the laws of robotics before Planetarian, but only vaguely. I really liked the detail in this that robots had to be tricked into thinking that humans were something other than that in order to be able to kill. Though practically it is hard to think of how someone working on the software for a robot directly, and had control over the hardware, would need to resort to that as opposed to just being able to just being able to design them as desired to begin with.
I generally process stories that center around robots as reflections on human nature. After all a robot’s otherness is defined in contrast in their lack of humanity. The “artificial-ness” is contrasted with “natural” human. The main visual novel plays to this a bit more as Yumemi is a real character, and the robots here are more of a force to antagonize Murdoch. But the image of the mal-programmed (misguided) robots who wont stop until literally shot in their faith (the rosary weak point) was still pretty powerful.
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Completely agree with your thoughts on the audio design, It really had an uneasy atmosphere when there was no music from planetarian like there was in the game and a snow globe. It really is quite eerie and unsettling. The audio was the biggest things that made me feel that it wasn’t even planetarian but an entirely different IP. Also nice pickup with the “artificial-ness” and the “natural” contrast. I hadn’t thought of that but the fact of how the robots talked and acted really lacked character and made them feel artificial. The story really does imply that they are fundamentally different from Yumemi and the fact of Yumemi being of “natural” personality really does contrast with the “artificial” robots. Good job on the pickup.
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One aspect of this I find confronting is how, this story is largely the antithesis of the rest of planetarian. At times, it almost feels aggressively anti-christian, a world where even nuns can kill humans in the name of God. It’s left up to interpretation how to take the final scene. Is he receiving forgiveness from God, or is the killer robot just recycling the same speech as always?
This gets even harder with regard to Hoshi no Hito, as this reveals that the goddess was in fact one of these killer robots, and the reason she bowed before the Starteller was because he had the rosary in his possession. It offers a godless explanation for an otherwise miraculous scene
But I guess that’s the thing. It’s meant to be confronting, much like how Christian faith confronts people to believe even when the option to not believe is just as a valid. It’s hard to swallow, but I suppose the true form of miracles is that they exist in that razor’s edge superposition of meaningless and meaningful, and it’s up to the individual to accept them as truly meaningful experiences.
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I think rather than being “anti-christian” the feel of this story is a bit more “anti-establishment”
Murdock himself is heard praying before some of his shots in Mission Complete section so he himself seems to be a character of faith. But his faith is something he has maintained by experiencing camaraderie and through memories of a home he no longer has. It is more self actualized - and in that way almost ties into a sense of hope.
This contrasted with nuns, who come off as more “devout” but have been led down an evil path by those who had power over them and controlled the narrative of their faith. A demonstration of sorts on how people who may otherwise be good can be manipulated to do horrible things in the name of their religion. The nuns were programmed to be faithful (the way some people are raised to be faithful) and were not really able to question the power structure that they were a part of. Their devoutness (paired with the robot aspect) becomes a blindfold where they never face the fact that they have been killing humans and not demons. The nuns are arguably “innocent” in that way, but were lead down the path of evil by those above them.
I think the final scene plays into this as well, because of the ambiguity. We feel like the recycled line may be an actual act of forgiveness because in that moment the nun robot and Murdock have faith in the words. Murdock’s resonates and wants to be forgiven, and that resonance creates a connection between Murdock’s faith and that of the nun robot - highlighting similarities in a way, while not letting go of the differences that brought us to this scene.
So by the end I had a feeling the story is more skeptical of organized religion than it is actually anti-religious.
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Just gonna mention a few things notes I thought about during my second readthorugh of Jerusalem. Hopefully you enjoy it. Don’t expect you to read it as its pretty long. Some of these ideas could be interpreted quite differently but that in someways jut adds to the discussion in the forum.
Personal thoughts on Music and Atmosphere
I personally find that the atmosphere in Jerusalem is completely different that planetarian and a Snow Globe.
The atmosphere in this one doesn’t have that happy family friendly vibe seen in the previous too but instead has this showing of how the world changed in the 30 years that the war happened. The music really helps to this as the silence really adds to the atmosphere in the later half or the rain in the early half. If you want to know more about the music read Idiologys post on his music analysis.
Part 1: Bell Chimes and Gunshots.
I kind of found it interesting that before the fight Murdock is talking to a sister, are these sisters indoctrinated too like the robots? After all in order to get past the three robotic laws he changed the definition of what a human is to a demon. Salinger programmed robots so its quite possible that as theses are dressed as nuns and the fact that he didn’t didn’t have any emotions when they died, that he is the leader and is using those under him as just pawns to further his goal. As each country does, this could be a representation of that.
This conversation with Murdock and the sister happens before the actual bell rings and the gunshot fires. By the time it rings again in pt 7 the retrieval squad has already arrived which shows that the entire story arc of Jerusalem takes only 30minutes as Murdock mentionjed in part 2 that the retrieval squad will arrive in 30minutes. Also just for the fun of it, shoutout to 07th expansions new series, エルサレムのベールのなく頃に。(When the Jerusalem Bells ring)
Part 2: Sniper in the Bell Tower.
The fact that the sniper is snipping from a building to those on the ground could show that there is a level of arrogance from the sniper in the tower as they are below them. This kind of staging is used in anime and manga all the time as the one who is higher up looks down on others so this isn’t that far a fetched idea especially when the sniper believes those that she is snipping are demons. It could also be that as demons come from hell below the earth that could also be a parallel but I doubt it.
The original goal is to capture the sniper not kill it. Hostage use maybe? Intel maybe?
The bullet from the sniper is moving faster than the speed of sound.This could maybe be that the progression of the destruction of the war is happening faster than the effort for the war to end, even Murdock said war really shouldn’t be happening with the world in its current state or bullet moving faster than the speed of sound could just a narrative device to show her power over he others.
Part 3: Mission Complete…
This event is during the 30 year war prior to the events of planetarian. At least 10 years through the war as one of the soldiers that died’s country no longer exists.
The Rosary is the power source of the nuns who have the same face. Is this trying to convey that soldiers that follow a leader have no personality
Where this fight is happening is the city Jerusalem was once according to Murdock.
Murdock and his opponent are both snipers and one shot the other kind of like the saying, You use the sword you will die with the sword, except this time is a gun.
Salinger is newest to the Murdocks squad.
Murdock killed Dhaz, this is due to mercy reasons but also just adds the darker tone to Jerusalem in some of the tragedies and trauma that happen during war.
Part 4: Sister
The base is underground by the entrance at he back of the chapel described by Murdock as that of a bomb shelter.
The snipers body got shot in half but still functioned showing that despite what happens to them they still follow their leaders and their role in war.
Part 5: Kingdom of God
There is a robot storage under the ground, these robots were imported for a religious group heavily implied as Christian due to the mention of Armageddon after 1000years.
Murdock is very perspective based on how he was able to deduct facts like; the word she Salinger used to describe the snipper, the fact that Salinger acted in a way that would make it easier for the soldiers to get snipped easier. This somehow reminds me of Yuuji from Grisaia no Kajitsu.
24 people died before Murdocks platoon showed up which is too lots of 12 (A symbolic number.)
There is enough electricity and food for 500people to the survive for 10 years and valuable supplies inside the church like alcohol inside the church. This shows some of the results of greed during war which is cool.
All the Robots were named after saints
Part 6: Hellfire
Murdock can barely move his right hands fingers due to his wound in his shoulder and then later Salinger gets the same kind of result with his arm getting shot off which kind of shows the war mentality of and eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth.
There is a library of books in the underground but not disks as Murdock mentioned. It could be symbolism that this church has a vast long history
Alcohol is being used to destroy the life source (oxygen supply) in the Church which could imply the traditional religious believe that alcohol kills you.
Part 7: Bell Chimes and Atonement
Murdock may have died immediately after the the story but didn’t die during the story therefore of the original 7 (including Murdock) in Murdocks squad all of the others die. 7 is a symbolic number for good and 6 for bad. Murdock was the final person or 7th while Salinger was the 6th person to die who was evil in the narrative space.
Some of the destruction of this world is shown by the fact that Murdocks family is gone and his country, Great Britan was erased after 38 Nuclear bombs.
Salinger died by the own robots he programmed which is an ironic way to die but goes nicely with how he indoctrinated his subjects and died by his own laws he indoctrinated them with.
This arc of Jerusalem is just one example of how two squads can end each other without a victor just like many of the countries that were destroyed with no winner.
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So I relistened to Jerusalem today and the thing that stuck out to me the most here was the mention of the Divine Comedy. It’s pointed out in chapter 6, Hellfire, because after Murdock escapes the lower basement area, he comes to the library and finds high quality alcohol along with the Divine Comedy book to which Murdock comments that the person seemed to have good taste. I had never actually heard of this story before so I looked it up and it turns out that it’s the set of stories written by Dante which describes his view of the Inferno (Hell), Purgatory, and Paradise (Heaven). From a quick read of the wikipedia page, I learned these few facts that I think relate pretty well to this story.
Dante’s Purgatory describes the seven deadly sins which while being prevalent in Christian (or at least Catholic) thinking in general was mentioned by @Idiology as appearing in Jerusalem.
Also in Dante’s Purgatory, Hell is portrayed as existing underneath Jerusalem.
Each of the three sections (Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise) end with the word “stars.”
This last one to me at least seems like the only connection between this story and the stars other than its connections to the rest of Planetarian’s stories. This is because stars are never directly mentioned in this story.
I feel like I could probably benefit from reading the Divine Comedy for the purpose of this bookclub but I know I won’t understand a bunch of it because a lot of it relies on Catholic theology (especially all that purgatory stuff) so I don’t know if I’ll actually get more in-depth analysis on this particular topic but I’m curious to see what you all think.
Super sidenote: imagine if the later FripSide song “Sister’s Noise” featured in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 2 was just the spouting of these nuns…
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