As of 2024, I have now seen a total of four anime based on Visual Arts/Key's properties: Air, Kanon (The 2006 version, not the Toei version), Clannad, and Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet. I have no plans to watch Little Busters or Rewrite, nor play their visual novels at the moment. Planetarian is based on Key's kinetic novel of the same name. Unlike a regular visual novel, a kinetic novel offers little to no choices or branching paths that affect the plot in any way, and its narrative is completely linear, being more like a digital picture book with music and voice acting than a game, though that's not to say kinetic novels are bad. Planetarian got adapted into an anime in 2016 by David Production and for the most part, it was pretty well received. I actually did watch the first episode years ago, but because I was deep in anime burnout, I didn't watch the rest of it until this year. I do wish I could have watched this a lot earlier, as this is a pretty sweet, heartwrenching anime that's a pretty faithful adaptation of the game.

In a dystopian future, mankind has fallen. In their hubris and greed, they brought calamitous destruction down upon their own civilization. Now only embers and wreckage remain, and what few humans survive eke out a meager existence in the ashes of this empire. The Junker is one such survivor, scavenging among dead cities for usable junk. But when he stumbles across a planetarium in an abandoned apartment store, he meets Yumemi Hoshino, a robotic assistant who is somehow still functioning. Yumemi knows nothing of the destruction outside; sworn to her duties, she still advertises for a starry performance that will never come. At first, the Junker is put off by her constant talking and nearly leaves her alone...but he has a change of heart to the point of offering to repair Yumemi's projector. Their unlikely meeting will reveal that no matter how dark our skies become, there is always starlight beyond.

Remember when Kyoto Animation used to adapt Key's games into anime? I clearly remember when it was first announced that JC Staff was going to adapt Little Busters and fans went absolutely apeshit over it. Not really sure what prompted KyoAni to stop, but luckily, unlike with Little Busters, Planetarian's animation was handled by David Production, and from what I can tell, the reception to this decision hasn't been anywhere near as bad. I'm only halfway through the game myself, but the anime does a pretty good job of bringing this slice of Planetarian's ruined world to life. The faded backgrounds give the crumbling world a stark dreariness about it, and provide an effective contrast to Yumemi's overly ornate cute moe girl design and cheerful recitations of screening times and special events. The actual planetarium segments and the background imagery that pops up when Yumemi goes into her actual presentation are nothing short of beautiful and manage to do their job well. The animation itself doesn't really rise above functional; not so limited that it becomes a slide show on the level of The Way Of The Househusband, but isn't strong enough to elevate the characters and the source material. The same goes for the soundtrack which, while nice to listen to, isn't very memorable.

That being said, Planetarian's strengths come from both the main characters and the narrative. The cast for this is small, focusing only on Yumemi and the Junker, and we get plenty of time to get to know them and what drives them to do what they do, making their relationship convincing and their inevitable fates all the more tragic. The fact that this show is only 5 episodes long, with said episodes ranging between 10-16 minutes long, demands it tell its story as efficiently as possible, and I'm glad to say Planetarian pulled it off with aplomb. Another reason Planetarian's overall story works so well is that it shows quite a bit of restraint when telling it and its themes. It doesn't feel the need to constantly hammer you with the sadness of its setup, such as with overlong monologues or melodramatic scenes showing the characters crying all the time; Yumemi's optimism contrasted against the dilapidated state of the world around her does that already. Everything the show does plays on contrasts and contradictions: At one point, when Yumemi is doing her presentation, her exaltation of humanity's wish to go into space has a brief image of Icarus falling out of the sky, an acknowledgement that what makes humanity great is also what makes us terrible. Not every story needs a grand, epic, sweeping narrative in order to be good. Sometimes even simple stories can be genuinely great if you know what you're doing. On that note, I'm not gonna watch the movie, because most of it is just a recap of the show, and what little new footage it does have, while providing a good epilogue for the show, doesn't justify spending more time with the movie than you should.

So yes, Planetarian as an anime isn't the strongest story out there, and its production is middling at best, but its fundamentally strong storytelling and characters are able to overcome its limitations. Granted, I know others won't agree. Some may find it great, others might find it to be cynical and emotionally cloying or manipulative. Honestly, I think Prima Doll fits those descriptions far better than Planetarian ever could, mainly because Planetarian isn't completely banking itself on cute moe girls, and its writing and characterization is far smarter and nuanced. Yeah, I'm still not over just how bad Prima Doll is. Though for all I know, if I were to rewatch stuff like Kanon and Air nowadays, I might feel differently about them compared to when I was younger. I will say that I'm glad I saw Planetarian because it does manage to be good on its own merits, VN adaptation or no. I ought to finish the VN while I'm at it.