Yumemi and the Junker ventured out in the rain this week, in an episode that basically put giant sirens on both their heads to announce the emotional contrast being drawn. That’s perfectly okay, though – the show isn’t unsubtle in a way that at all harms its storytelling, and Planetarian’s clear focus is actually one of its greatest strengths. While I do tend to prefer shows that give their characters time to come alive through texture, archetypal stories like this told well are also a fine type of storytelling.

You can check out my full review over at ANN, or my notes below!

“Drunk with Alcohol”

The trip and slow picking herself up is both darkly comic and sad. She is not equipped to survive this trip

It actually seems a little unbelievable that he’d let her come

Yumemi can only parse the destruction of her city on an immediate, one-event-at-a-time level

It seems like the Junker just doesn’t value his life that highly. In this world, when you die, you die

The show’s visual limitations are a bit more meaningful in this episode, since we’re not trapped in one room. It’s clear the direction just can’t be that creative

Her wish to God is “please do not divide heaven in two. Do not let there be a separate heaven for humans and robots”

“To make her wish come true, I’d have to take her out of this city. But can I do that against her will?” Yeah, he’s grown quite fond of her

She represents a “drunkenness,” a sentimentalism this world cannot afford

He makes his pragmatic case for her leaving, but her programming acts as a kind of faith. “Jena and I are willing to wait until the end of time”

He can’t say he wants her to come

And he goes off to fight, ordering her to stay there. The same story as her last protectors

Her words inspired him to dream too, of traveling between colonies showing off her projections