What They Say:
To follow his brother Hibito to the moon, Mutta will attempt to become an astronaut at the age of 32. Unaware of his own talent, Mutta chases his dreams to get back in front of his younger brother.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Space Brothers has certainly been working a fun arc since it moved to Houston and got the gang involved in the various challenges. While the desert survival park didn’t do too much for me, I’ve been really enjoying the way everyone is working together through that and this one in particular in an effort to get the rover to work. The gang managed to make it to the actual tournament day itself, which wasn’t always a given based on their progress and lack of help from others that are supposed to advise, but they did it and still managed to draw in some key help as things started to get more difficult. With the way the rain hit, the team is now trying to accommodate their rover with the supplies they have on hand, and that may give them the edge they need to make it through it.
The teams have all taken different approaches to solving this problem and it definitely looks like based on the surface problems that Mutta and his group will have the most difficulties. But it’s also safe to say that the team being challenged like this will lead them to a greater success and understanding of the process than those that might glide through it successfully. Adversity breeds greater talent and perseverance. The episode does spend its time going through these kinds of motions and seeing the way they hunt up for different parts is great, but most especially at the hotel where Mutta goes through things left by guests and is drawn to a wonderful little piece of nostalgia for me. A bright red LEGO astronaut figure. There’s just a sense of connection with something like that that it warms my heart immensely with the attention to detail.
While the various launches go on to good effect, it all comes down to seeing how Team E does as they finalize their rover package and put all their faith into the launch and results. There’s some great personalization that comes with it, and as Pico notes, the fact that they connect what they’re doing with names helps to reinforce that they understand that real people will be involved with all of this someday. Though Pico was disconnected from them all from the start, he definitely warms up to them in his own way here and that definitely shows some great changes in him. Though they don’t win, which is realistic, they achieve more than anyone thought and really make an impression on certain key individuals.
In Summary:
The show throws in a wonderful little twist at the end, but the main focus of the episode is the last minute struggle to make things work with the rover and the actual competition itself. The struggle is a bit much in some ways since they’re the only ones making a real change to their plan, but it’s one that shows this team to work different than the others because of the way they’ve have to struggle through everything they’ve been doing for a variety of reasons. The competition has a great sense of lightness to it, not tension, which most assuredly helps to make it a fun and engaging watch rather than something that leaves you on edge. Not everything needs to be that way and I definitely love that they’ll go with this approach. Between all of that and the little nod towards the end that could have greater impact in the future, Space Brothers continues to just move effortlessly through its path while entertaining and engaging.
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.
