What They Say:
Hibito is worried about the upcoming test that will decide if he will be allowed to return to space. Uncertain, he turns to an unexpected person for advice.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Getting Hibito back on track in the previous episode really did come down to the obvious aspect where he simply had to say that he really wanted what he was doing again. That’s something that he had to come to when he was ready of course since he was struggling with a real fear based on what happened and having someone unable to handle that in these kinds of situations that he’ll face is definitely problematic. With him having conquered it for the most part and able to really surmount it in a big way going forward, seeing him make that final step towards recovery was definitely nicely done, especially since Chief Butler has just been waiting for him all this time to see if he’d actually turn the corner on it.
Going back into the training is definitely proving difficult for him though, but he’s doing his best to really cope with the stress and strain of it all. But as far as he’s getting in the actual training, it’s having fallout along the way. We see him making progress while at NASA, but on the cab ride he takes later, the psychological effects are definitely making an impact on him as even being in the confined space of a cab is getting to him. So much so that he’ll walk home in the rain from there rather than deal with the confined space again. It’s hard to watch Hibito go through all of this considering the progress he’s made and knowing that he’s panicking more now about the upcoming test to see if he can really rejoin the program and start to move forward again. And he’s also dealing with the problem of knowing that if he fails, he’ll be letting down Mutta a lot too since they both have a dream to be in space together some day.
The two brothers do spend some time together here and it is interesting to see how they are, something that we’ve seen regularly over the series that has been enjoyable. Hibito is trying to talk to Mutta about his problem, though Mutta’s being his usual kind of disconnected self and not really getting it until Hibito makes it clear, which is good that it’s not danced around for too awful long. The show spends some very good time together with the two of them where it doesn’t go deep or really meaningful in certain ways, such as dialogue, but there’s an understanding and kind of brotherly series of moments here that helps Hibito to really get himself together and to start figuring out the right approach to going forward. It’s not blatant, it’s not a big aha moment, but rather just a small, slow progression towards him reaching for his goals once again rather than being afraid of it.
In Summary:
It’s been an interesting road in getting Hibito back on track and with what he’s facing with his panic disorder, it’s good to see that it wasn’t all resolved in a single episode. He faced a significant mental problem with what happened on the moon, to the point where he walked off to die in peace, and coping with the fallout from all of that months later definitely works nicely to show just what kind of struggle it is. He’s had his ups and downs and now he’s finally talked to Mutta about it since the two are together again for a bit and it helps that they share so much that even in their own restrained way, they communicate a lot to each other. A very good if small and subtle episode that nudges Hibito forward in the perfect way.
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.
