What They Say:
After a long wait, Mutta learns that he passed the final exam. With no time to enjoy the moment, he is immediately whisked away to the press conference where the other new astronauts await.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a more personal method used to welcome him to becoming an astronaut, Mutta had a hard time for a good part of the wait to learn the results. But it’s something that definitely made a lot of sense when you get down to it with the quirks of his path to getting there and the connection he had with Hoshika, the man that told him. It’s something that goes back to the youth of Mutta and Hibito with the time they spent at JAXA and the impression they left on certain individuals there that makes it work. These kinds of things do happen and having it play out in such a natural and engaging way really made his being accepted something emotional and engaging to watch. Especially with how he saw his mother hiding behind a tree and really showing such joy for her son that we haven’t really seen before.
With his being notified, everything moves fast, yet slow. A press conference is the order of the day and the trip there is one that allows Mutta to get to know Hoshika a bit more and it’s rather relaxed, but problematic since they’re being delayed in traffic, which will make him late for the conference. It’s all a bit surreal for Mutta though since he finds himself now moving in unexpected ways, his life dramatically changed by this whole event and process. He does have to face a minor gauntlet to get to the press conference, but it’s helpful since it shows him some of those that didn’t pass and that there are certainly no hard feelings. But nothing can prepare him for the press conference itself (though you wish they dealt with the bandaid he has on) in which he gets to learn who else has passed. Which definitely gives him something to be very excited about.
The conference allows for an easy re-introduction of all the characters that passed, though there’s also Mutta’s really big crush on Serika that comes into play as he’s probably even happier that she passed than himself. After all that’s happened, it’s good to see the reaction the group gets, but it also becomes clear that Mutta definitely has a good deal of popularity due to his connection to his brother, but he has a long way to go before he’s as smooth as Hibito when it comes to press conferences. The post-conference material slows things down a fair bit, but the series really needs these reflective moments to let it all sink in for Mutta with what he’s accomplished and to see how everyone is responding to it, giving him a real sense of where he stands now and who he’s with. There’s some fun comedy to it as well, largely from Furuya, but that helps to cement things even more.
In Summary:
Space Brothers has reached a big point over the last few episodes in showing us the acceptance or rejection of various applicants, all leading up to Mutta’s big moment. Everyone that needed it got their time in the spotlight and his is the one that goes the biggest for obvious reasons. This episode brings him directly into the spotlight of the world in a new way and it’s wonderful seeing how he’s still very much himself and has quirks about the whole thing but still manages to win everyone over with his charm. The way we see how others react, from the JAXA administrators and staff to the crew up on the moon and the press themselves, it all comes together very well and makes for a fun and rather heartwarming episode that conveys exactly who Mutta is. And likely inspires a whole other generation of kids watching it to want to be like him in the world of the show.
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.
