Planetarium 100th Anniversary: Your Younger Childhood Friend from the Astronomy Club Guides You Through the Stars — Dreams, Healing, and Her Feelings

The cast, the script, the direction — every time it's reliably great quality, so I can just relax and enjoy it. It's a story about going to observe the stars, but the generous amount of "everyday life" depiction leading up to that point is so heartwarming. Ah, if only I'd had a youth like thi... nah, never mind. I had absolutely nothing like this, how dare they, damn envious. Right now as I'm writing this review, it's winter, just the right season for stargazing, and it made me want to go look at the starry sky again for the first time in a while.

I was drawn in by the fantastical atmosphere of the jacket art and bought an all-ages audio work for the first time, and it was amazing! First of all, the way the childhood friend Hikari-chan calls him "Onii-chan" is way too cute, and I grin every time she says it! (I love characters who are guileless, innocent, and earnest.) And throughout the whole thing, the warm yet slightly bittersweet atmosphere is irresistible...! (Ogi Pote-sensei's illustrations, full of that sense of transparency, match it perfectly.) In the practice sessions for her planetarium narration, Hikari's speaking style and calm tone as the "narrator onee-san" bring out a different charm from her usual cheerful self, and it was really wonderful...! (You can really see the skill of the voice actress, Hidaka Rina, shine here!) And the scene where she holds a bit of loneliness in her heart over the protagonist's path in life — someone she's been with since they were little — but still sends him off with a smile, was so earnest and endearing that I almost cried. Let's go look at the stars together again sometime, Hikari...

An audio work a little over an hour and a half long. It's about going stargazing with the heroine (Hikari), a childhood friend who's in the astronomy club. The voice actress is Hidaka Rina. Given how active she's been in anime and other media, her performance was flawless. It does include ear-cleaning, which is practically a staple in all-ages audio works, but that's not really the main focus — it also has a strong side as a voice drama expressing Hikari's feelings as a member of the astronomy club. The bonus content was also substantial, and I enjoyed things like the bonus mythology commentary and the voice actress's talk segments.