Discussion topic for planetarian’s Hoshi no Hito animated movie.
Please mark references to other side stories and outside works, such as the other planetarian drama CDs, with [spoiler] tags, providing adequate context in parenthesis.
What would you rate this route?
0 voters
I’ve just watched the movie… and I can’t even describe how much I liked it.
Everything in the movie is well done imo. The events in the movie are well presented and at the same time they did a great mix between the new events and the web series events… And overall it’s just beautiful.
You can also tell by watching the movie how they’ve slightly changed some parts from the web series in order to make it closer to the Junker’s perspective… Some soundtracks had been changed in order to fit that as well…
I’m just so satisfied with this movie… And I think I can recommend it to anyone who haven’t played the VN or watched the web series.
Yeah it was done really well. Theres a lot of recap in the movie of the main game scenario but it’s paced really well within the telling of Hoshi no Hito.
You could easily let someone experience this as their first taste of Planetarian, it’s done good.
We also met Taito Okiura, the president of David Production who casually strolled over to us while we were waiting and had a chat with us. Spoke English. Got to gush about how we love Planetarian (and JoJo) and he was really happy with how we loved the movie. He also thought Kaza was pretty cool when I showed him.
Having just finished the special pre-screening of the movie together with @RyuuTamotsu, @Glenn_Irish, @Rabla and @Kluck, I figured I’d make a write-up of the whole structure of the movie. This post will definitely have spoilers of the movie, but if you’ve already listened to the drama CD and would like to have an idea as to what the movie is like, then feel free to read on. Otherwise, skip to the last paragraph to see my final verdict on the movie.
The movie starts with a view of the city in its heyday, with Yumemi giving her famous monologue in the background. This reminds me very much of the intro of the VN, and I was wondering when they would give homage to this scene. We are then transported years into the future, as we see an old man struggling in the middle of a blizzard, carrying a sled full of stuff, suddenly collapsing and slowly buried by the snow.
We then see the next day, where a group of women are looking for a group of children who seem to have snuck out during the day. They came from the ruins of what looks like a medieval-style church, with windmills in the background, definitely not a scene you would think was in Japan. These children they are looking for we all know as Levi, Job and Ruth. We see them hiding from the adults looking for them, but then stumbling on the body of the old man in the snow. They take him back to their underground shelter and, after discussing with their leader, Ezra, they realize that the man is the famous “man of the stars” who finally made his way to their underground colony.
After getting a glimpse of the daily life of the people in the colony; mostly women, everyone helping out maintain a crop of vegetables for sustenance, and people complaining about the man of the stars being too old to help populate the colony; we return to the three kids who are summoned by the man who reminisces about his past. I was taken aback most by an image of a prosthetic leg in the background before this happens, considering we all know what happened to his leg, back in planetarian.
This is when we are introduced to a flashback. I thought it would be a short one, but it ended up dragging on. As a person who watched every single episode of the net animation twice, I was starting to get pretty bored with it, unfortunately. There were some cool differences, like the shifting around of BGMs, and the lack of perception from Yumemi’s side, but all-in-all it was the same as the net animation. However, after the special screening finishes, we are suddenly transported to the world of the future.
The story continues with the man of the stars now giving the children their next task: building the planetarium. Much like the drama, CD, we see how Job and Levi build the planetarium, while the man teaches Ruth the inner workings of his planetarium device. We also, of course, hear them overhearing the worries of all of the other citizens in their colony. Worries that he is taking up their food without contributing back, and whatnot.
Once the work on the planetarium is done, he leads them inside their makeshift planetarium, and introduces them to the world of the stars. They leave enlightened with the stars, and spend the rest of the night talking about it, while the man is approached by Ezra once again. He tells her how he would like to bring them along and teach them the way of the stars. As a person who has heard the drama CD before, I know just how well telling his plan to Ezra ended up.
The next day, though, the kids one-up him and tell him that they want him to teach them the way of the stars. They say this as they exchange their treasure: a mysterious cross-like object. He accepts and, in exchange, takes off his waterproof case. This is where the story stops and we are brought back to the past, and the remaining story of planetarian. This is where my view of the flashbacks started to change. I started to feel as if I was reminiscing just like the junker. And as I saw the entire story of them going around the town, encountering the fiddler crab, and him finally saying goodbye to yumemi, I definitely felt this sort of bittersweet regret to it, rather than the despair I felt upon watching it for the first time.
The flashback ends, and he gives them his own treasure. Not all is well, though, as he is now confronted by the rest of the colony, and is told to leave once and for all. While the kids have a hard time accepting it, the man begrudgingly accepts. The kids go off to pray to their “goddess” and ask her to let the man stay, as they are approached by the man who gives his final farewells. However, he is taken aback upon seeing their goddess, who many of you who have seen the key visual of Jerusalem may be familiar with. He goes up to the goddess and touches her, and something reacts, as we see the cables, along with the cross-like pendant he received from the kids earlier, turn green. This is all suddenly stopped as he is suddenly brought down by a coughing fit and is rushed back to his bed.
As he lies on his deathbed, things get weird. We see the goddess suddenly moving and walking, towards the mans bed. He sees her as he gives his dying breath, and she kneels down in prayer in front of him. This shocked me the most because in the drama CD, I thought he was hallucinating about the entire thing. Well, no matter. We see the man slowly walk in a field of clouds, suddenly turned back into his young, junker self, opening a pair of steel doors (I thought they were supposed to be pearly gates?) all to see an image of the planetarium. Inside are all the staff, and all the visitors that Yumemi showed him, with Yumemi herself taking front and center, holding a bouquet of white flowers. This is when the emotion just hits you: God did not split heaven in two, and despite him failing to bring Yumemi back in his lifetime, we know that both of them are given solace in their next life.
Ezra returns shocked to see their goddess moving and kneeling in front of the man, and we are shown his burial later, as Job, Levi and Ruth commit themselves to spreading the word of the stars they learned from this man who taught them this twinkling that never fades. And the movie ends with the credits scene: Hoshi no Fune, as performed by Lia, plays as the credits roll, and a ship-like object, likely a satellite, remnants of the developed world, slowly drifts down the horizon of stars.
Final verdict: Hoshi no Hito was an amazing adaptation. It was able to get you totally engrossed into the events of the movie, and is made in such a way that the emotion strikes you exactly as the director intended. While I did not enjoy the first share of recaps, I do not think that they were, in any way, badly placed. I guess I just had a bit too much of planetarian in one go, that having it again soon after failed to entertain me, but I’m sure after I watch this movie again in a few years, I will appreciate every single second of it. Bravo david production, bravo Naokatsu Tsuda, and bravo the entire staff of the planetarian project. You done good.
Now go listen to Jerusalem and Tircis and Aminte! 
Lots of scenes in the movie will have more impact if you know what they’re referring to.
Does anyone know if Funimation has announced Hoshi No Hito to be licensed, or the likelihood they’ll license it (if they haven’t yet)?
I’ve seen many positive things that people have said about it, and want to also be able to see the movie.
Unfortunately, I don’t think anybody has announced any sort of localization for Hoshi no Hito 
such a nice film, too.
(I actually don’t think even the fan community has worked on any sort of subtitles, either)
Fansubs are finally out. Haven’t watched it yet, but I’ll edit my comment when I do
THEY PLAYED “PERFECTLY HUMAN”! I WASN’T EXPECTING THAT!
Man, i cried. Absolute fantastic and you don’t really need to watch the ONAs to see this movie.
Props to David Production. That scene near the end almost gave me a heart attack. So sad…(+Perfecly Human playing in the background)
10/10
Pretty good.
I loved it, it was super cute.
I also cried a lot towards the end.
Pretty good, I tried to hold my tears because I already seen the 5 eps but what killed me was pretty much the ending.
Nothin better than to cry cuz of Key works
The illustration of the contrast between “hope” and “despair” was the most impactful idea for me. The emotional journey through Yumemi’s naivety and resolute hope, in this world already ended, the Starteller’s quest and the hope that he embodies, was so powerful for me. 
God damn that was good. Its been a couple years since I read the KN and this got me really interested in Planetarian again. I will actually go listen to the drama CD’s ASAP and maybe I’ll rewatch this after that. The ending was a bit overly soppy but the build up was really well done so its all good.
There was also a lot of talk about the sound changes from the ONA so I might watch those to experience that.
I can’t wait to see everyone’s second reactions after they come back from watching the drama CDs 
So since the movie intertwines what was originally two separate stories, the climaxes of both end up towards the end of the movie; this has good and bad effects. For the good, having the two scenes so close together for the first time made me realize the parallel between them. When Yumemi is shutting down, the Junker says he came to get her. When the old man is dying, he asks the goddess if she has come to get him. The bad effect is simply that I think that the moments become too dense. You have a matter of minutes to recover from Yumemi’s death instead of the full hour you would have if you read/listened to the originals in tandem.
On a similar note, the movie actually makes a pretty big change from the original Hoshi no Hito. The “treasure” the old man receives from the kids was definitely not a fancy sci-fi necklace before. It’s supposed to be a shoddy rosary. I guess they didn’t want to have crosses all over the place, but it also creates a more technical link between the goddess and the treasure. I’m actually not against the change for this reason because it goes along with a very big theme of planetarian: the ambiguity of whether the robots are acting on programming or benevolence. Not that that question didn’t exist with it being a normal cross, but back then you required more context about that particular robot.
I certainly enjoyed watching Hoshi no Hito. I had to hold back some of my tears but they ended spilling out of course. 
I personally enjoyed how the Junker had come so far along his journey since the very beginning he had met Yumemi and told his tale to Ezra with Levi, Job, and Ruth having them consider how important the stars were to him and sharing his knowledge and experience so that they might one day become the next generations of “star-tellers”.
“Gentle Jena” is still one of my most favorite Planetarian tracks that’s very deep and emotional as you can imagine the starry skies and see how vast and wonderful our universe really is out there.
The end scene was probably the most beautiful and wonderful part that was really heart-warming. Yumemi and the Junker reuniting once again after quite a long time was so amazing! Seeing Yumemi crying for the first time really got me going and how everyone was gathered together to greet the Junker was so incredible.
It was very worth waiting to watch the movie after having read the VN and the anime adaptation for quite a long time. I may have to go back and listen to the drama CDs again and maybe some time to rewatch it again.
There’s no point in bringing Yumemi’s body. It’s mostly destroyed and extremely heavy. Bringing her memory chip is enough, but he collapses as he’s trying to put it in the Auchtneun unit.
Well,obviously that Junker was extremely missed Hoshino until the rest of his life right?So maybe he could…oh forget it.Oh and the nun robot at the church,has she got her own chip inside already so that she could walk around like that,right?
Uhh, unconfirmed. They have protocols and information, but the Auchtneun unit was produced way after Yumemi (15 years if I remember correctly), so it’s not certain that they would use the same memory storage.
