Mutta’s journey to the stars is slowly progressing, if he can stand the media spotlight that is.
What They Say:
When the robber known as the fire extinguisher man strikes the restaurant where Mutta is, he’s in trouble. But once the dust settles, Mutta has become a national hero for capturing the criminal. However, it appears there’s more to the story.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While things for Mutta were looking pretty dire on the committee that that’s choosing who will be selected, even though he has a strong backer now, events in America are set to overtake everything at this point, which is a good chunk of how life goes. While training, skill and determination and count for a lot, sometimes it is just luck and the bigger picture that comes into play with who succeeds and who fails in the world. The right time at the right place is a common phrase for a reason, and Mutta’s chance encounter in America that lands him on national news with an easy international pickup are exactly what he needs to really cement things for him. Its his quick action and thinking that really drives the nail home for his chances.
Mutta’s recounting of events, while kind of downplaying it in his own way, really gathers a lot of attention but largely because of the others in the restaurant at the time and how they talk it up in such a huge way. It’s really fun watching this unfold as time goes on but what really sells it is when Hibito sees the newscast and truly understands what it was that happened based on his lengthy knowledge of his brother. There’s a real cuteness to his laugh as he starts into it, but you also know that while he’ll be playful about it, he’ll also do the right things since he knows the politics of this as well for both agencies and what’s at stake for all involved in the publicity side.
Mutta’s life has some very cute moments afterward as we see how there are a few fangirls into him at this point and even Serika is trying to get in touch with him. There’s a lot of good character exploration time, in the bathroom of all places, that also makes it clear what it is that happened and how it hangs on him. But what it is that really strikes home from his incident is that the NASA folks are picking up on his ability to really memorize things and retain it in a useful way. It’s coming across a little bit as a parlor trick in some ways, but there’s also the importance of something like this that you can see coming into play further down the line in the series. It’s an important foundation moment made true again.
In Summary:
Space Brothers isn’t exactly working hard and fast to achieve certain benchmarks in its pacing, but it’s doing things in a way that really makes you like and care about the characters. It’s easy to see why these two men are brothers and what it is that keeps them together even after all these years. There’s a very good sense of hope and adventure here but it’s all thoroughly grounded in the reality of everything and that keeps it very engaging. But it also knows how to be silly and light in a way that makes you love the characters all the more. While Mutta is definitely the one that’s taking the lead right now, Hibito gets some very good moments here throughout that really does a great job in making us understand him more as well and connecting with him in an honest way.
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.