In The Future Earth, colonisation on other planets have become viably possible, thanks to humanity's achievements (both scientific and technological) progressing significantly over many centuries. The downside is with Earth being on a state of decline, as humans no longer rule the planet as its dominant species.
But this does not stop Sui, a happy-go-lucky teenage girl who runs an inn in Tetsunagi island, from having a heart-warming travel across the futuristic city that she is currently in. Joined by her talking sloth Neri, both she and her new companion trek the city in various random but interesting ventures of their own, meeting other talking animals and people along the way.
Twilight Star Sui and Neri (黄昏星のスイとネリ Tasogare-boshi no Sui to Neri) is an Iyashikei manga written by Pan Tokunaga. It was serialized in Comic Cune from May 27, 2020 to September 27, 2021 for fifteen chapters, which were compiled into two volumes.
Twilight Tropes
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The manga takes place in the 26th Century, specifically in the year 2531. However, despite the futuristic setting, most of this manga's world is seemingly within the present. Things like analogue radios and outdated architecture styles that are considered out-of-place in this era still exist in Tetsunagi.
- Anachronism Stew: Inverted and Played With. In contrast to many cities outside of Tetsunagi who all adapt futuristic technology in the 26th Century including commercial passenger spaceships, maglev trains, multi-layered buildings, multi-purpose cards with uses including a transit card, a debit card and a Tracking Device, as well as smart glasses, most of Tetsunagi suffers from anachronistic standards and technologies that are akin to the 20th and 21st Century than the 26th Century. Examples including:
- Paper bills and coins, things considered obsolete and unheard of at least in this era due to the existence of multi-purpose cards with one of its purposes being a debit card, are commonplace and are still used as the town's main currency. Lampshaded and Discussed by Shida as she wonders what century Tetsunagi's people even are as they still use cash as a form of payment.
- Sui's portable radionote is a much more egregious example of this, as what is considered an ancient technology from the 20th Century still exists in a very futuristic era where it's considered a vintage museum piece. And it still works despite the seemingly ancient age of the device.
- Most of the houses and buildings seen in Tetsunagi, including the Kutsurogi-no-Yado inn, have an architectural structure that is considered commonplace in the 21st Century, but are extremely out of place in the 26th Century. The Souvenir District, for instance, is heavily reminiscent of a Japanese neighbourhood in the 21st Century due to really old buildings that are out of place in the future era.
- While trains are present in Tetsunagi, as seen in one panel in Chapter 7, the trains that were used are older, ancient models (in this story's future perspective) used on elevated railways (à la El Trains), which are commonplace in the 21st Century, rather than the maglevs that are always present in other futuristic cities in this era.
- A minor example. The Lost Technologies by Mori that he sells are considerably ancient in nature, as nobody but himself knows what they are, yet they are still existing in this era. And also fully repaired by him.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Sui acts as the boke, while Neri is the tsukkomi.
- Bookends:
- A part of Chapter 1 shows Sui and Neri fishing at an abandoned fish farm facility at night. Chapter 15, the finale, also shows the duo fishing at the exact, same spot of it, also at night.
- Also in the first chapter, there's the duo leaving the facility gazing the stars from above, where the same thing happened at the end panel of Chapter 15.
- Cartoony Eyes: Sui's eyes are drawn in a cartoonish, art-like manner, where she has unusually large colourless lens, black irises and with colourless sclerae. Oppositely there's the more cartoony style of Shida and Neri's eyes, which don't have lenses at all. Similarly the sclerae of both their eyes themselves are colourless.
- Casual Interstellar Travel: Class-3. In this story, travelling from Earth to other planets for casual reasons is very common in this world, which would take days to reach one planet to the other. Commercial spaceships are commonplace and have been used akin to a commercial air travel, making it accessible to laypeople.
- Character Title: Titled after the namesake protagonists of the story.
- Chekhov's Gun: Shida's card that Sui and Neri used to travel to the other part of the city gave her the exact location when she looked for both of them. She was able to rendezvous with her, Neri and the unnamed boy after disappearing for an unknown amount of days.
- Concert Climax: Non-romantic version. The penultimate part of Chapter 15 shows a concert, where Sui, Neri and Shida watch from a distance.
- Credit Chip: Most of the planetary colonies uses technology-based credits as currency through a multipurpose card, but Sui's home town on Earth still uses physical cash as one. Discussed by Shida as she pondered at the prospect as to what century they were still in to use cash as an accepted form of currency, despite cash being considered to be an obsoletely ancient form of payment.Shida: Still how on Earth do they only accept cash...? What century is this...?
- Decade Dissonance: On one end, there's most of Earth's cities and its colonised planets inclining more into the technologically advanced far future, complete with advanced technology including spaceflights. On the other, there's Tetsunagi island, the complete opposite, where it is an enclave, ipso facto, resembling more of a 21st Century city than a 26th Century city. It still has remnants of cultures and architectures in the distant time period, which are considered very outdated in this era, in spite of having future tech lying around in the open. That doesn't help that the inhabitants of Tetsunagi still uses coins and paper bills as its own de facto form of currency in a world where tech-based Credit Chips have undoubtedly become the main form of currency both on Earth and its colonies. The difference is much more obvious when Sui and Neri travel through another city by ending up at the last elevated train stop, only for them to be greeted with a city that is significantly different from Tetsunagi, where it has all the hallmarks of a futuristic city.
- Double-Meaning Title: Its alternative title, Sui and Neri of the Twilight Planet. The first meaning of the title is the Character Title itself; the second part of the title, "The Twilight Planet", is an Ironic Echo that subtly represents Earth's decline as human's home planetnote .
- Earth That Used to Be Better: With Class-3 Casual Interstellar Travel being commonplace in this story, many if not countless planets have become the home of most Earth humans, with Shida (who studies at a grad school in another planet) and Yurayura's grandson (who was born in another planet) being the most known examples of people not from Earth in this story. It is affirmed immediately from the radio broadcast in Chapter 1 where the government would colonise another planet known as 104M and with D93 expecting 30,000 visitors within November. As a result, Earth in this story is on its way to becoming a footnote in the history books as its population has decreased to a rate of 3%.
- Every Device Is a Swiss-Army Knife: The card that Shida has functions as a debit card, a multi-use transit pass for the train and space shuttle, a Tracking Device and a digital log that stores all of the card's transactions. They prove to be of use, when Shida tracked down Sui and Neri via all of them during their venture to another city.
- Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better: All of the animals are seen walking in an upright, bipedal walking position in Tetsunagi, at least, as animals outside of the island are still non-sapient and quadrupedal.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Looking closely into Volume 2's table of contents is a briefcase where a date can be seen: December 24, 2531, which shows that the manga takes place 500 years into The Future. However, given the radio announcement in the first chapter about Planet 104M to be colonized within "next month" as well as D93's projected arrival of thirty thousand people in November, as well as Shida revealing to be on a vacation, the manga's approximate time setting is set no further than October 2531.
- Funny Animal: It features animals that have been currently mingling with the humans in mundane situations in the 26th Century. They also act, dress, talk and even walk bipedally like a human, which makes them completely indistinguishable from their non-sapient ancestors, despite being originally born from them. This only applies in Tetsunagi as animals beyond the island are not sapient.
- The Future: The manga takes place 511 years in the future (from when the manga was released in 2020), specifically 2531, where technology has advanced to a point that planetary colonisation and interstellar spaceflight is anything but a possible reality. In a sense of irony, it is how Earth's decline came to be, as Earth's humans have colonised other planets, leaving no reason for Earth to be still considered as humanity's home planet. In addition all animals in Tetsunagi are now bipedal and have had human sapience, which makes them barely distinguishable from their non-sapient animalistic ancestors, but elsewhere they are non-sapient.
- Hair-Contrast Duo: Dark purple-haired Shida is mature and calm, while bright, blonde-haired Sui is bright and energetic.
- I Will Wait for You: Non-romantic version. After the concert Shida says her final goodbyes to both Sui and Neri, with Sui herself promising that they'll meet each other again "out there" in the future, which is the said planet where Shida's grad school is. Shida fittingly responds with an "I'll be waiting" to both of them, while gazing one last time at the fireworks.Sui: We'll see you again out there.Shida: I'll be waiting.
- Insignificant Little Blue Planet:
- While Earth is still humanity's home planet, as well as the manga's main setting, there are clear indications of the planet being in a state of decline. One such case is lampshaded by Shida, who spent her current education in a grad school on another planet, who pointed out that humans can simply emigrate out of Earth to other planetary colonies to pursue their own dreams.
- The first chapter of the story drills the point hard that planet Earth's population has reduced to 3% as new planets including D93 have already welcomed thirty thousand people once November ticks in. Adding insult to the injury is the radio announcer revealing that the government has announced the colonisation of another planet, 104M, within the next month, thus further adding Earth's population decline and gradual obscurity into the public conscious.
- Discussed in Chapter 9, where a group of musicians from overseas visited the inn in Tetsunagi in preparation for the Autumn Festival. During the bath segment with Neri and the band, the band members themselves had sentiments regarding the state of their home country. The guitarist wished hot water back, with the saxophonist claiming how terrible pollution and infrastructure made their home country a completely dreary, bleak place. The lack of music venues added any sense of motivation into them visiting Tetsunagi, which is a complete contrast due to bustling activity and the animal community, before departing out of Earth after their concert during the Autumn Festival.Saxophonist: We've got terrible pollution on top of the increasingly more terrible infrastructure. You've got lots of activity here thanks to the port and animal community... But where we came from it's real dreary. It's also got barely any music venues to speak of.
- Iyashikei: It focuses on Sui and Neri's relaxing, yet comical ventures across the futuristic city.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Humans and anthropomorphic animals coexist on 26th Century Earth. Heavily Downplayed as this only occurs in Tetsunagi; animals elsewhere are still non-sapient.
- Lost Technology: The broken, ancient pieces of tech that Mori has been collecting are considered so much older and dated centuries past that barely any average human in his world knows what those even are.Mori: Now there's probably nobody around that has even heard of this toy.
- Loyal Animal Companion: The sloth Neri. He is mostly with Sui in all of her travels.
- Minimalist Cast: The characters Sui, Neri and Shida are the only recurring characters of the manga, as the other characters they encounter are either one-shot or simply appearing without any dialogue at all.
- Misplaced Wildlife: A common example in Tetsunagi, where most of them including bears, sloths, pandas, dogs, etc. are seen residing in areas that clearly do not fit to their original habitat. Granted though that they are used to the city life without any problems at all...
- Neri, a sloth, is seen within Japan, despite the animal being mostly seen in the tropical rainforests of South and Central America.
- Mori, the alleyway polar bear, lives well in the city with a warm climate. That is due to polar bears in real life being an always arctic animal not clearly accustomed to live in a warm, temperate environment, often leading to their deaths via overheating.
- Modern Stasis: A Downplayed example where Earth, despite being five centuries into the Future, has the looks more fitting to the modern era than the futuristic era. Tetsunagi Island, for instance, suffers from Anachronism Stew, having things like banknotes (paper coins and bills), old technologies like the radio that Sui has and architectural designs more reminiscent of a modern Japanese town. Outside of Tetsunagi, however, is a completely different story where cities there are very futuristic, with things like maglev trains, artificial intelligence, as well as uniformly-built and multi-layered buildings.
- Moving-Away Ending: While Shida had plans to leave the island in order to go back to her grad school in another planet through a space shuttle, once her summer vacation finishes, the end of the manga shows her finally parting ways with both of them and presumably went back to the planet where her grad school is, moments after the concert and her vacation's conclusion.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Overlaps with Cartoony Eyes. Unlike every characters in the story whose eyes have black irises and virtually no sclerae, Sui is the only character in the manga who has a colourless sclerae.
- Public Bathhouse Scene: In Chapter 9, Neri and the band members are at a public bath within the inn, with the band members themselves conversing about their plans to leave Earth after the festival in Tetsunagi before recounting how their home country is rife with problems including pollution, infrastructure and the lack of venues for their band to perform.
- Ragnarök Proofing: The items that Mori collects and even repairs are considered centuries old and ancient for this world's era. Most of them happen to be in a working condition, with one example including the Tamagotchi-esque handheld gaming device that the main characters obtained from him. And it still works, despite being over centuries old!
- The Reveal: The old lady and the sloth that Sui encountered (as astral projections) are revealed to be Dead All Along. They were the descendants of their ancestors in Tetsunagi through a union between humans and sentient animals, as well as a group of unnamed researchers, a long time ago. Originating from the now-abandoned research lab, the proto-civilisation of Tetsunagi was created by humans and animals who travelled across the sea in raging weathers, but the expedition, while it was successful, was not without its tragedies, where a few never made it to the island. Despite the rather tragic circumstances of their journey, many who are fortunate to escape the inevitable doom themselves lived in the island and created Tetsunagi in the first place, thus birthing the community seen in the present.
- The Remnant: Earth is clearly in a state of decline, as it is just a former shell of what it once was, thanks to the advent of colonisation.
- Ridiculous Future Inflation: In one panel of Chapter 3, there is a shot of fruit prices in the future, where an apple costs 64,000 Yen (477.37 USD), a banana costs 96,000 Yen (715.95 USD) and a peach and a grape that both cost over 160,000 Yen (1,193.30 USD). Lampshaded by Shida, as she claimed that it costed an "arm and a leg" to buy one.
- Shout-Out: The ancient handheld gaming device that Mori showed to Sui and Neri is based off of the real-life Tamagotchi gaming device from 1996, albeit the interface is far more futuristic and lifelike.
- Sick Episode: In Chapter 8 where Sui falls ill, which was initially a case of common cold, during their preparation for the Autumn Festival, when Shida took notice of it.
- Slice of Life: While the manga is of sci-fi genre, it heavily focuses on Sui and Neri's daily adventures around the city with no overarching, world-ending conflict.
- Stock Ness Monster: The handheld gaming device Mori shows to Sui and Neri projects the hologram of a plesiosaur-like creature. He explains that it's an imaginary animal that people thought existed rather than a prehistoric animal as the two initially assumed, suggesting it was based on the Loch Ness Monster or a similar cryptid.
- Talking Animal: All of the animals seen throughout the manga are both capable of human-level sentience and most importantly human-level speech. This was lampshaded when the ambiguous-looking polar bear that Sui and Neri encountered had recounted how their animalistic, non-sapient ancestors still lacked sapience and could not talk in the past, while showing what appeared to be a vaguely similar-looking Tamagotchi gaming device, albeit in holographic form. This trope does not extend to cities outside of Tetsunagi, as the other city that Sui and Neri visited virtually had no animals capable of human-level speech and sentience, as shown with the mice they briefly encountered.Mori: (showing the handheld console to Sui and Neri) This is an imaginary animal that people thought existed, apparently. It's from back when our ancestors still couldn't talk.
- There Are No Adults: Sui was never in company with adults in her life and was never even accompanied by at least one of them, including her Invisible Parents. The closest one that is considered an "adult figure" to Sui is Neri, despite being the same age as her, though his size limits him to accomplish bigger tasks most adults do. It played out when Sui fell ill in Chapter 8, with Neri telling Shida that Sui lacked any adult company when she was growing up, and he regretted not being able to carry the Ill Girl back to their residence due to his size and Shida (an adult) was the one who knew firsthand of her illness.
- There Are No Police: The unnamed city that Sui and Neri visited don't have a police station or any police existing around its streets, as it is a virtually non-existent concept within that said place.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Played With between Sui and Shida. Sui is a Bifauxnen who wears very boyish clothing and has a boyish haircut, but is a Tomboy with a Girly Streak as she is into more feminine things including cute animals like Neri, as well as cute toys. Shida has a longer hair and dresses femininely, but she is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak, as she is into more masculine things like engineering, specifically her Goal in Life being in the world of space development.
- Underground City: One of the known underground districts, District 7, is revealed to be a subterranean city from where most animals live including Den and Mori, which is vulnerable to flooding. Often times most of their residents are underground people, as in the case with Den who is not used to the above surface. This led to a minorly awkward staring moment towards Sui and Neri when he goes above the surface.
- Urban Segregation: Downplayed as there is no explicit focus of segregation in the story. Tetsunagi island and the city within it is distinct in its nature, completely the opposite of what a future city is. It includes a more jovial environment, an animal and human community, and technology and culture that is a blend between the past, present and future. But outside of Tetsunagi's borders, the other cities are a total contrast, as it has all the traits of the city in the future, where robots once crawled around it, only for the machines to be left in a state of decay. There's the city in overseas that the band members once lived, which is on a much rougher shape, where signs of urban decay including rampant pollution and declining quality of the infrastructure becomes an everyday nightmare for the band members themselves. It became a motivation for them to visit Tetsunagi for the Autumn Festival before leaving Earth.
