Makabe is waiting to find out his fate as we see who he really is.
What They Say:
JAXA has begun announcing the results of the final astronaut selection exam. Makabe Kenji receives the first phone call. As Kenji waits to learn his fate, he reflects on his motivation for wanting to be an astronaut.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the announcements now starting to roll out, the tension is certainly there. And for some, like Mutta, it’s made worse by the way those around you act. He’s wishing his mother had gotten some luckier food in order to help get the day going, She’s even more amusing in that when she says that she’ll get a cake if he gets accepted in order to celebrate, he knows it’s more that she just wants cake herself more than anything else. His parents have certainly been interesting to watch as this goes on with how they treat their two sons and what they’re doing with their lives. Not that Hibito really gets treated all that much better in the end, but there’s just enough tweaking that goes on with Mutta, unconsciously it seems, that it always feels like he’s getting the short end of the stick.
While there’s enough tension there as the calls start going out, we get to spend some good quality time with Makabe, who himself is getting the call as we saw before. What’s welcome, yet not, is that we get a good bit of time spent with what a normal day is like for him, from his wake-up routine to how he gets to work. It’s definitely interesting, especially from my curious Western perspective, to see the differences and similarities to it all and the way he narrates it. But it’s also layered with some real reflection about his life which makes it interesting to see how he views himself and the way it all circles around to how his life would change depending on how this phone call goes. So much is wrapped up in one decision that he’s waiting on, which he feels is dragged out, that it just ramps it up so simply yet so beautifully.
While his work life is a big part of things, and often considered the primary focus of many Japanese, we also get to see a good bit of time spent on his more personal side. The show dips back to his college years where we see how he met Yuki, who became his wife and the mother of his daughter. It has that sweet simplicity to it that’s hugely appealing, especially since she’s more and more curious about him the more she learns about him. There’s some really good stuff about all of this, but as it comes down to those final moments where he’s just sitting there on the phone, his daughter occupying herself and his wife sitting so close by waiting for the news, you can’t help but to become incredibly tense. It can go two ways of course, both of which with its life changing aspects, but seeing the real result and knowing what it means just hits all the more now that you know all about Makabe and his family. It feels far more real and worth spending an entire episode about.
In Summary:
Space Brothers may annoy some people with how it’s doing things here, seemingly by going character by character to some degree, and giving them an episode in which to understand who they are outside of JAXA and the testing as they await the results. It’s likely only going to happen fro three characters, but giving us a story with Makabe first really does a great job in humanizing him in a big way and making him someone that you can really resonate with, especially going forward. I’ll admit that I want a lot more Mutta at this stage to see where he’s going to end up, but what we get here is definitely welcome and finally fleshes out this character in a way that was definitely needed and well done.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.