What They Say:
“Hibito’s Disorder”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Space Brothers has done well to focus on both brothers for awhile now, especially after the lunar mission, but we’ve had some background issues coming up along the way that are coming to a head here. With Hibito having dealt with some stressful situations while on the moon, the effects of it have been visible to some degree but are now surfacing even more. A test of a spacesuit while being underwater has him panicking as it brings back all the buried memories of what happened after the accident and his near death experience. It’s not something you come away from without facing some sort of issue and while he’s likely felt it to some degree, it’s all hitting home very hard now as the panic attack sets in while in front of everyone, to the point where he realizes he’ll never be able to EVA again.
This all hits him hard since it’s something that’s going to kill a big part of his career, but also even more important to him, it will remove something that he has long wanted to do with his brother in achieving their shared dream. Even worse will be the PR fallout in a way since Hibito has become so popular in Japan. But his concern is about his family, which also includes Sharon. The bits of flashback are minor but good for establishing what he’s feeling and seeing the struggle inside of him about understanding the kind of disappointment that will be felt by him and others when he reveals what’s going on with him. It’s not blunt or anything and it’s kept under the surface, but you can see the cracks in the surface of what he’s feeling and how it’s starting to come out.
Thankfully, the episode doesn’t wallow in this constantly as it spends a good bit of its time with Mutta on lighter but still very important material. His work with the design team continues on in trying to figure out how to get the buggy to not have the same kind of accident on the lunar surface and that involves weight issues as well as budgetary since adding weight adds more cost to shipping it to the moon, which is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Amusingly, though not unexpectedly, Mutta is using his connections to the Japanese auto industry to figure out how to fix the problem since there are connections to his past work. There are some really nice moments here, especially when he talks with his former boss that he headbutted, as we see the enthusiasm ramp up for what he has planned to try and solve it.
In Summary:
With so much of the early part of the series focusing on Mutta and then increased time with Hibito, I’m definitely enjoying the blend of both characters in different areas taking up time here. It’s the kind of sequence where events are circling each other and will have an impact on each other, so dealing with it in this way works nicely to give each their due and build up their own storylines that will intersect, all while others guide and nudge them along because of their own beliefs and views on it all. There’s a lot of good stuff here overall and you have to really sympathize with Hibito while being all excited with seeing what Mutta is doing and going through. A very good and enjoyable growth episode overall.
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.
