Response to Planetarian

This was my second visual novel, the first I went through was Juniper's Knot, and I am unsure how popular or well known that one is. That was a few years ago now but I have been familiar with visual novels for a while since I've been going to anime conventions for about six years now and have heard about them there before. As a whole I find the idea of visual novels intriguing and so far have enjoyed the two that I've played through but I think the pacing is a little frustrating for me. I read quickly and listening to the audio slows me down as I play through. The small bits of text given at a time also slow me down and while I liked having the visuals to see the characters or the landscape I felt like it was only necessary in certain parts because through the rest it would remain almost the same for entire chapters. I think if there were just slightly more interactivity or change in the images throughout it would enhance the experience. Visual novels show both the multimodal and intertextual principles mentioned by Gee as they relay information via images, short clips of moving images, text, and audio. 

Screen Shot from planetarian

Visual novels seem to fall somewhere between games, manga, and ebooks. They are a great solution for people who struggle to focus on a book or are looking to relax and go through a story without needing the interaction of a game. I can see the appeal of being able to have an image right there as you move through a story and especially in the final few chapters it was useful to see what the machine they were up against looked like and the general danger and despair of this post-apolocalyptic world. I know people that dislike books and reading because they find it boring and I feel like visual novels are ideal for that because the interaction between text, audio, and visuals creates an immersive world that the reader can move through without getting distracted or bored. It also exemplifies the amplification of input principle as the gamer/reader are minimally interacting with the story but they are receiving a lot in return. While clicking through you see Yumemi responding to the narrator/Junker, you see the Junker fixing the projector, you see the projector finally working, and you end with the battle between them and the machine that arrives. All of this is viewed and heard as you progress but as the player you do not put in the effort and are able to sit back and simply watch it unfold. It feels somewhat like a cutscene of a game at times in the way that you get the feeling of a game but you are a passive bystander rather than an active player. 

Screen Shot from planetarian

I do think I would read more visual novels because I did like the two I've read but I think I would need to browse through different ones to find stories I really connect with. The story in planetarian was interesting and reminded me somewhat of a post-apolocalyptic Chobits, which also has robots that look incredibly human and with which humans can feel a connection. The connection between the Junker and Yumemi develops over the course of the visual novel and I think both the history of this world and the history of these two characters comes across very clearly throughout. The transition from him seeing her as a malfunctioning robot to seeing her as something more, as a robot that has felt the same loss, the same confusion, and the same fear that he has, is well developed. Moving from the beginning 

Screen Shot from planetarian

 That same movement happens for the reader as you move from seeing this robot as something curious initially when you find out that it is abnormal to encounter anyone in this world, much less a functioning robot. Then there is the slight fear when you discover that malfunctions in robots can be deadly for humans that interact with them and they are considered highly dangerous. Through seeing her careful handling of the bouquet she has prepared and her dedication to the show it starts to become clear that she is lonely and trying to do the only things she knows how to do in order to keep feeling like nothing has changed. In the end she acknowledges that there have been no visitors for many years and that she can see the world has changed but she kept the show running whenever she woke up regardless of those changes. Her thoughts on heaven for robots and humans and her hopes that the two would not be separated because she cared so deeply for the humans she once worked with shows the depth to which Yumemi has taken on the emotions that humans have. Even though this is all from programming and malfunction she appears to have become emotionally human. 

Screen Shot from planetarian

The game being referred to as a nakige for its emotional impact is very accurate, I believe, as it makes the reader feel a connection to Yumemi and the Junker and it shows the pain they endured over the years through this apocalypse and the end brings that emotion to the extreme by making the reader feel the emotion of the two characters and their friendship as they struggle to stay strong for each other against the mounting danger from the machine.