What They Say:
Mutta has been chosen to go to the moon. First, he will serve as Vince’s backup. Now, Kenji and Nitta must learn what the future has in store for them.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Space Brothers has done a good job of working through the various problems that the brothers have been facing, even if you can be a bit unnerved by the potential relationship that could exist between Olga and Hibito if only for their ages. Olga has served as a kind of inspiration and muse for Hibito in getting his career back on track so it’s easy to see a kind of attraction forming from that. We also saw Mutta’s time in the NEEMO mission play out well in a way that really made him shine even as he grappled with some serious friendship and competitive issues that arose from it, so his mind has certainly been occupied. But it was good to see that, in their own way, the two brothers were able to talk about Hibito’s problems that helped cement Hibito trying to really get past it so he can achieve their shared dream once more.
The focus shifts more to Mutta this time around, which I can definitely appreciate. As much as I like Hibito, I love watching the kind of awkward way that Mutta advances towards his dream and the people he interacts with. I also love that he has complete faith in his brother to get past this and move forward himself. Because of what Mutta has accomplished so far, he’s been given the plum assignment of going to the moon as his next full mission. But that’s still going to be some time away and in the interim, he gets to work by being Vince’s backup for the mission he’s going on, which means doing everything that Vince is doing for awhile and learning everything to gain more experience and understanding of an array of systems. Mutta’s shocked that he gets to be the next Japanese person to go to the moon, but he’s just so excited in general with the backup mission that you can imagine that he’s not processing the big news fully just yet. Which is totally Mutta.
While Mutta is obviously a big focus here, it’s also good that we get to spend some real time with a few of the others from the training segment. Both Kenji and Nitta have gone through the trials all the same, but not everyone can get slotted right way. Both of them are kept fully in the program after a good talk by Chief Butler, who makes it clear that they have plenty to look forward to but that now is not the time that they’ll be making it into space. It’s the last thing any astronaut wants to hear that they’re not going or being assigned a mission to train for, but the pair are finding that there are other things ahead of them with other training they get to go through. You do have to feel bad for both of them, especially with how Kenji has to break it to his daughter, but it’s actually quite welcome that they cover it at all and some of the adult aspects of it, as well as how a child reacts. It may be a bit overdone (my kids never acted like that) but you can see it as a cute externalization of how Kenji may feel to some degree.
In Summary:
Space Brothers does some of what it does best here in a way by working through how characters cope with finding out about how their future and their lives will proceed. We’ve followed a few of these guys for quite awhile now beyond Mutta and seeing how their assignments come down, how they grapple with the news and break it to others is definitely instructional for some. Balancing that with the joy we get out of Mutta, deservedly earned because of how he approaches the missions and training sessions unlike others, helps since we really want to root for him and everyone else. He brings such a child-like joy to it that it’s really easy to get caught up in him, which is why it’s useful that we get the balancing act here. The future is bright for all involved, just more so sooner for some rather than others.
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.
