An adaptation of the visual-novel by Key, 'Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito' combines the story of the
original work with an expansion that extends the narrative with content from the 'Hoshi no Hito'
light-novel sequel.
In the future after much of the world has been devastated by nuclear and biological warfare, a young
scavenger or 'Junker' exploring a quarantined and abandoned city comes across a service robot still
faithfully awaiting customers in the rooftop planetarium of a department store. Against his pragmatic
instincts he helps the robot repair the planetarium's projector: a decision which will change both
their fates.
(Source: Anime News Network)
Planetarian is a Japanese post-apocalyptic visual novel developed by Key, whose previous works also include Kanon and Air. It was released over the Internet on November 29, 2004 for Windows PCs, and is rated for all ages. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, as well as to mobile devices. Key defines Planetarian as a ‘kinetic novel’, since its gameplay offers no choices or alternate endings: the player proceeds through the story solely by reading. In 2016 the visual novel receives an anime (which adapts the main game’s story) and a movie adaption. The author describes Planetarian: Chiisana Hoshi no Yume as ‘A certain woman's story’ and Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito as ‘A certain man's story’. Hoshino Yumemi is the robot working at a shopping mall. She was created by a group of scientists to advertise the planetarium she was working in, as well as to help customers. One day, however, the humanity shows its true color and the world we know no longer exists. Humans still exist, though, but it will take you awhile to find even one. Anyways, the poor robot still fulfills her duties, but does it rarely, since electricity is quite a big rarity. However, this dead city still has many valuables and because of that, The Junker chooses this city. Running away from the robots that still protect the city, he finds himself in the planetarium, where Hoshino Yumemi works. At first, he regards her as a threat, but after some time he reconsiders his attitude towards her and even stays to help her repair the projector. Planetarian: Hoshi no Hito focuses on all the important parts of the anime and extends it so we learn what happens after the anime. I am not going describe anything about the movie, because it will just spoil you the whole thing. All I can say is that this movie puts a period to the story of Planetarian and it does its work pretty well. If you are looking for an extremely dark and dramatic story, Planetarian is definitively what you are looking for.