What They Say:
Mutta’s proposal to improve the lunar rover is received well. But he still hasn’t convinced Chief Butler to let him train for lunar missions. Desperate for ideas, Mutta researches Chief Butler’s history for clues.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While you have to ignore certain things that you would have expected to be done for any lengthy time spent on the moon in the previous episode, the ideas and execution was fun since we got to see Mutta work his connections for once and bring in some good people that excited to just be involved. Public/private enterprises are risky for various reasons, but something like this – at the stage the space travel is at in the show – definitely works well to advance what can come next and to ensure that it’s not all a complete government operation. Of course, you have to have the right people on both sides, so seeing that get sussed out here is fun, both in seeing the enthusiasm of the car maker and the curiosity of the NASA side of the equation.
The higher ups are definitely impressed and take on the proposal, and that leads to its own hurdles to be jumped over as well. For Mutta, that means spending more time as an engineer for awhile with the project, but it also has Hibito’s struggles coming into focus as there is the hope that since Mutta will be fast tracked for this project, it could inspire Hibito to get his rear in gear once again and overcome what he’s dealing with. Mutta has a lot of good things going on and seeing him adapt to the change once again – this time to something similar to what he was doing before he went to JAXA – is nicely done. There’s also some good, if sad, continuing subplot material with Sharon and what’s going on with her as Mutta keeps hoping for news and only sees that fewer and few letters are arriving from her as she struggles to cope with her situation.
Mutta also deals with his flight training some more here as he goes through some research and is coming to that period where he really wants to feel like he’s a pilot and can achieve something. This brings a few choice flashbacks from different people about pilots that had similar experiences and difficulties, including one that left the program entirely after an accident, which ties in to Hibito’s problem. The show also brings some good material, sometimes slightly awkwardly played out, with those in positions of power about the various projects thinking about their own trajectories. When it comes to Chief Butler, there’s an amusing thing that Mutta puts into play for him that makes it clear that he understands who he really is and that he can carry his dreams into space as well.
In Summary:
Politicking and management aren’t exactly the most thrilling areas of storytelling for many, but there are so many books and other media that utilizes it well to tell engaging stories that I absolutely love that Space Brothers does try to adopt some of it for their own use. What we get here is some very smart moves on Mutta’s part to figure out what’s going on and who needs to be greased in order to achieve his dreams, but to grease it in a way that serves everyone’s needs and desires. The project with the windshield gets some solid movement here and we also get some really fun stuff with Mutta, whether it’s his flight time or the research he does, and it all just leaves me thoroughly engaged and loving it.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
