At the start of the episode, Hibito only had 8 minutes of oxygen left. The oxygen ran out at the 17 minute mark. Substracting from that the 3 minutes of recap and opening, about five minutes of a flashback. And then you come awfully close to going through the actual time that Hibito went through. In real time! That was bloody intense.
I really thought that the creators would end up killing off Hibito, but the build-up was perfect: his rescue is very believable in the end. In the end what saved him was that one of the buggies was nearby. The creators pulled a few tricks, but having the Brian arrive at the last moment… thanks to all that build-up it got away with it.
The detail I probably loved the most here was the way in which there is no wind on the moon, so tracks don’t get erased. I mean, the last episode was great because we got to see a souvenir that Brian Jay left. This time though, we also got to see his footprints that brought him there. It’s a small detail, but so powerful, considering that he died afterwards.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)
Brilliant episode. I also have to say the transitions in this series are just fantastic.
The people who make this show surely know how to string out their cliffhangers. I was quite literally on the edge of my seat throughout the episode and at one point I genuinely thought they’d killed off Hibito.
The ghost of Brian Jay has hung over this series, but never quite so much.
The bit where CAPCOM said not to count down. That was strong, as was when the guy at JAXA said not to tell Mutta – had they had communcation, it would have been different, but he didn’t want Mutta to see his brother’s life(oxygen) draining away.
This is really a wonderful series, and one of those shows that gives you real hope for what anime can be.
I begin to watch Uchuu Kyoudai since a couple of weeks ago,
love it!
WTF!! Brilliant episode but they could’ve shared oxygen together if he was equipped with the tubing!!
The tubing came out of Brian 3, so Hibito & Damian cant share oxygen between the two of them.
Why ain’t the suits equipped with it already?
What I liked was the portrayal of Brian Jay. Up till now he’s been the senpai who died tragically and set the high-water mark for coolness and reliability. Here we get to see him being the intrusive, goofy ‘annoying big brother’ character. It puts a nice wry edge on all the drama and the relief that he’s right, AGAIN, and makes Hibito the little brother twice over.
Again a good episode.
However lets be honest the 1 key reason the ‘tension’ can work is that the communication link between the astronauts and NASA has been severed. Otherwise once Hibito came out of the ravine NASA would have informed him that Brian 3 is on the way to the ravine opening, as im sure whilst watching episode 42 you may have assumed that this was what Azuna asked Claude to do.
So if you came to this conclusion, t was an expected resolution. However I must admit for a moment there I thought they had thrown a red herring and actually were going to kill of Hibito, with all the dramatic silence being used during those moments an all. Although again the show manages to really nail characterisation. Their portrayal of Briian Jay was great and tied everything up perfectly.
great episode
What did really an big impact was the scene where hibito was suffocating. I think in all movies where someone was in this position they lay down and are like heavy breathing but more or less motionless. I wonder if this is really the case.
This episode was seriously bad for my heart!
There’s now way they could kill Hibito off right??!! But then it got down to seconds, and the Buddy et co was 12 kilometers away, and i wondered if the rest was of the story would be Mutta carrying on the dream for both of them, and I shouting ‘nooooooooo!!’ at the screen
only at the end could I breathe a sigh of relief.
Bravo Space Brothers, they really know how to create drama and suspense
Not to get overly picky with well-scripted drama, but…
I’m gathering that Brian3 roams the surface near the moonbase gathering regolith, breaking it down to its component elements and so getting oxygen from it. So that explains how it’s free to come came meandering along and save the day.
…so he stops it somehow?
Brian 3 was being controlled from earth by NASA.
There was one point where Azuma asked Claude (guy in charge at NASA) for a favour, and I think it was to move Brian-3 (the oxygen machine) to the point Mutta/JAXA predicted Hibito would be – since Claude was unwilling to have Freddy and Buddy meet them there. I also think that’s why Azuma was on the radio near the end, trying to contact Hibito to alert him that oxygen was nearby. So it wasn’t that Brian-3 was meandering around; he was sent.
…and full credibility returns to an already great episode. Thanks!
Ever since they introduced the Brian machines, I’ve been expecting the storyline to work out this way. But the power of the characterization and storyline was such that I still was bawling like a baby and on the edge of my seat.
Also some nice playing around with the idea of whether the dead are powerless or have important stuff to do in the afterlife.
“I really thought that the creators would end up killing off Hibito”
I love Space Brothers, but the suspense factor has never worked for me here. I mean, when you just get a new OP featuring Mutta and Hibito, it’s hard to imagine that they’d really kill him off. Likewise with Mutta’s exams; he’s always going to get ahead no matter how long it takes for the phone to ring. However, it was still interesting to watch SB do something very serious for a change. I just never doubted for one second that he would be saved.