SAIKANO: THE LAST LOVE SONG ON THIS LITTLE PLANET

Plot

The story begins with Shuji, a high school student in a Hokkaidō coastal city, walking up to an observatory and reminiscing about his girlfriend, Chise; there he finds her exchange diaries that she purposefully left behind. The ensuing story is narrated by Shuji through flashbacks while reading Chise's diary. Chise, a fellow student in his class, declares her love for Shuji at the beginning of the series. However, Chise is very shy and Shuji is insensitive: neither know how to express their feelings very well, but they do indeed have feelings for each other.

One day, while Shuji is shopping in Sapporo, unknown bombers attack the city in broad daylight. He and his friends run for cover, but notice a fast and small flying object shooting down the enemy bombers. Separated from his friends, Shuji wanders through the wreckage - only to stumble upon Chise; here she has metal wings and weapons - apparently grafted onto her body. She tells him she has become the ultimate weapon, without her knowledge or consent, and that she is seen by the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as the last hope for defending Japan from imminent invasion. In the anime, it is not apparent why Chise was chosen to be the ultimate weapon or why the country is under attack. It was not until the OVA episodes were released that an explanation for Chise being chosen was offered: her body has the highest degree of compatibility with the weapon system. (In fact, later in the OVA it is mentioned that Chise had been "over-developed" and was so much of a weapon that she would kill anyone regardless of what side they were on. This fact is punctuated by Chise vaporizing the Special Forces building where she first became the ultimate weapon.)

This story, as suggested by its subtitle "The Last Love Song On This Little Planet", is primarily a love story. It focuses primarily on Shuji's and Chise's reactions to her increasingly powerful destructive abilities, and the relationship between the two.

A number of minor characters who do not necessarily know of Chise's role in the war have sub-plots that concern everyday people in the context of war: a woman whose husband is constantly away from home, a school boy who joins the army to protect his girlfriend, a girl whose civilian boyfriend is killed in a bombing, and others.

Characters

Main characters

Chise

Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Melissa Hutchinson (English)

She is the main female character of the story. Chise is a shy, clumsy girl with very little self-esteem and has poor grades in everything except for World History. She was constantly hospitalized in Tokyo during her elementary years, and thus, has very few friends (except for Akemi). She starts dating Shuji, with Akemi’s help, and tries to make her relationship work with him despite his apparently aloof personality. However, Chise is very inexperienced and does not know much about relationships to the point she reads shōjo manga for advice. She was turned into the ultimate weapon against her will and the series revolves around her and her fading humanity. Chise tries to come to terms with her new weapon body by convincing herself that she’s protecting the one she loves, but comes to admit to herself that the only thing she can do is to destroy. She feels horribly guilty for all the pain and death she has caused and shies away from Shuji, believing she doesn’t deserve any happiness. As Chise’s weapon-side starts to take over, her heart stops beating, her body lacks warmth and her sense of taste and touch are dulled, but other senses (especially sight) are accentuated and she’s basically immortal. However, a second darker persona starts to emerge halfway through the series, a cold, ruthless machine that delights in her growing, destructive powers and killing people without mercy. In the end, her love for Shuji is the last of her humanity she can cling to. It's implied at the end of the anime and manga that Chise has become a machine that is god-like in its immortality and destructive power.

Shuuji

Voiced by: Shiro Ishimoda (Japanese), Mark Atherlay (English)

He is the main male character of the story and narrator of the series. He is a somewhat antisocial 17-year old high school student who gets higher than average grades and used to be on his school’s track team. Shuuji is very unsure of his initial feelings for Chise and feels that their relationship is more trouble than its worth, though his feelings deepen as the story progresses. At first, he wanted to break things off with Chise, but he then changes his mind and wants to give the relationship another try. However, things get complicated when his first love, Fuyumi, reappears in town. He is the only civilian who knows Chise is the ultimate weapon and promises that he will never divulge her secret. Shuuji is torn by this side of Chise; he loves her deeply, but he is terrified of her weapon capabilities. This causes a very noticeable strain on their relationship and he finally succumbs to Fuyumi’s advances because of this, although it is unclear whether he actually has sex with her as she desires. Shuuji is feeling constantly guilty and useless because his irresponsible actions tend to hurt Chise and because all his loved-ones are dying around him. Later on in the series, he comes to accept his love for Chise and vows to protect her at all costs. He’s the only human being left alive in the end--thanks to Chise’s sacrifice in the anime and thanks to her desire to spare him from annihilation in the manga. The manga ends with him entering a giant ship which claims to be all that is left of Chise--she says she has been trying to get "big and strong" so she can protect him in this way. He is left alone in a spaceship flying away from a devastated Earth, with the human Chise in his heart. It is unclear whether or not the spaceship is an actual spaceship or if Shuji just went insane and imagined the whole thing. The anime changed this into them having another go at life in the memories of his past. In both endings, without food or water, Shuji's fate is unclear.

Akemi

Voiced by: Yū Sugimoto (Japanese), Amy Provenzano (English)

She is a childhood friend and classmate of both Chise and Shuji. Akemi is also Chise's best friend, and usually gives her advice on love. A typical tomboy, but she has some insecurities about her appearance, always questioning why any man would fall for her. She always comes to Chise’s defense whenever Shuji inadvertently hurts Chise verbally. She harbors a secret love for Shuji since she was young, which he is oblivious of, but still encourages Chise to confess to him. She later starts dating Atsushi, knowing that her love for Shuji is unrequited. Akemi gets fatally injured due during an earthquake that hits their little town, and with her dying breath, she tells Shuji her real feelings.

Atsushi

Voiced by: Tetsu Shiratori (Japanese), Joe Wyka (English)

Shuji’s best friend. Atsushi is a mature, open, down-to-earth guy who holds a fascination for the military. Atsushi always looks out for others, as can be seen during the Sapporo raid where he's desperately trying to keep his friends out of harm's way. He decides to join the JSDF to protect the girl he loves, Akemi, despite being aware that she will never love him back. When he’s finally in the army, he’s appalled at the bad state the country is in, and never knows what exactly the weapon “Chise” is since the other soldiers never gave him a clear answer. He dies when Chise destroys the city he’s in, holding Akemi’s photo in his hand.

Tetsu

Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (Japanese), Abie Hadjitarkhani (English)

Regiment leader, Fuyumi’s husband, and the sole survivor of Chise’s first platoon. He’s very much like Shuji in terms of looks and personality and that’s why Chise is initially attracted by him. He treats Chise like an ordinary girl, not a monstrosity, and even goes shopping with her; this makes Chise like him even more and finds understanding and compassion in Tetsu. Later on, he gets injured during a fight and staggers to his quarters to hide, but four enemy soldiers were waiting for him and open fire. He dies shortly from his wounds, but manages to tell Chise that he loves her, mistaking her for Fuyumi. He's one of the characters to be featured in the OVA, where Mizuki, his former commander, was shown to have a crush on him.

Fuyumi

Voiced by: Miki Ito (Japanese), Elaine Clark (English)

Shuji’s first lover and Tetsu’s wife. She used to train the track team when she was younger and her students called her “Fuyumi-senpai” because of the close age difference. She had an intimate and inappropriate relationship with Shuji when they were younger--the manga shows her giving him detailed instructions for pleasuring her--and keeps bringing this up when she seduces him. She hates feeling lonely since her husband, Tetsu, is never home since he’s always away in the army so she decides to take comfort in Shuji, who has a remarkable similarity with Tetsu. Shuji finally stops her advances after Tetsu dies, saying that the only person he wants to protect isn’t Fuyumi. She admits she has always used him to fill her own physical and emotional needs, slaps him, and rides her bike to her parents’ house, never to be seen again. In the manga version, she is seen in her parents' house, helping her sick father and reminiscing about Tetsu the night before Chise destroys the city.

Mizuki

Voiced by: Ai Orikasa (Japanese), Brooke Campanelli (English)

Seen only in the OVA, Mizuki was the prototype for the weapon system which would later be used on Chise. She was an officer who was badly wounded in an attack, but returned to the battlefield because of the prototype weapon system. Initially disdainful of Chise's behavior, and bitter because of her body's inability to use Chise's advanced system, Mizuki began to have second thoughts after seeing what the new system was doing to Chise. She then became an elder sister/motherly figure to the young girl. She also had a crush on Tetsu, her former deputy. Realizing that she was about to die due to extensive damage to her body, Mizuki decided to do one last mission to prevent Chise from going berzerk. After her body gave out in the battle, she activated her self-destruction system. But, she managed to return Tetsu's lighter to him.