What They Say:
Mutta and Nitta backtrack through the desert, looking for Nitta’s cell phone. But Nitta cannot find it in time to answer his little brother’s call. Has he lost another chance to reach him?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The subplot that’s been part of this arc with Nitta has had its moments, but it’s also one that has also annoyed me a little. It’s understandable where he’s coming from and the importance of the phone call and his brother, but it’s also something that doesn’t feel like it would be dealt with in the way that it has been here. It works to help humanize Nitta in a new way, and he’s definitely needed it considering some of his past material, but there’s just a sense that it’s pushing the bounds in a way that doesn’t make the larger storyline going on here with the survival training work well. It’s a distraction in the midst of important, albeit early, training that they’re undertaking. And even if you do have a training supervisor who’s understanding, it sets a bad precedent.
The show does move to a bit of an interesting area since it does deal with Mutta as well. Nitta’s view of those two brothers is one where he thinks they must be close, but he doesn’t understand the dynamic of their relationship and it’s something that Mutta does get to explain a bit, including some of the times they went to fists in order to settle things out, which brings up some painful memories for Nitta as well when it came to dealing with his brother. This does help him in some ways though, especially considering the difficulties they have in finding the phone. But it also shows something for Mutta as he thinks about his past and it just reaffirms for him that they have to find the phone because it’s important for brothers to understand each other.
With the way events play out for Nitta in regards to the phone, it is good to see that it leads to not only some bonding with Mutta, but also the others when back at the camp and the stories are explained. It also touches on some of the others as well as it goes back to the recent party they all attended where they got to know each other a bit more. Though Nitta is the focus, it also touches on some fun things with Mutta since he remembers what Amanti had said before and ended up being right about, which leads him to worrying about the disaster she predicted would befall him. In general, as this story slowly plays out, we get some nice time that helps to bring everyone closer together, and hopefully towards dealing with their more immediate problem in a straightforward way.
In Summary:
Space Brothers does, unfortunately, sometimes draw things out a bit too much. While there are some decent subplots running around the series that we’ve had in times past, the one with Nitta and his younger brother is one that has been on the less interesting side, if only because of its placement within the current storyline that’s being explored. It just felt out of place in general. But there are some very good moments to it along the way that helps to bring everyone together and that’s a big part of its goal, while also having a few fun moments along the way. It all draws to a close in a way that is not the usual though and that helps to at least keep that aspect of it realistic, even if we do see changes elsewhere because of Nitta and his larger goals in life. It’s not a bad story, but it just felt out of place for me.
Grade: B-
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.
