Category: Series which were Dropped

I’m just including episode 52 in this entry so that I can comment on the new OP and ED. I love them! They are unmistakably Space Brothers, but they feel so retro! The OP reminds me of this cheesy beach music, while the ED starts out dull and boring, and suddenly explodes in this really well sung piece that actually perfectly symbolizes parts of the story, and the quest of both brothers to reach space.

But yeah, episode 52 WAS a recap. That’s the only flaw of Uchuu Kyoudai at this point: the excessive flashbacks. Episode 51 took nearly five whole minutes before it got to its new content. What could be the cause of this? Budget restraints? Is the manga not long enough ahead? Not enough staff?

Either way though, when episode 51 did start for real, it was really, really good. It really took its time again, to focus on the difference between Nitta and his brother, and Mutta and Hibito. I really like how Mutta and Nitta both are jealous of each other. The episode also showed some progression in Nitta’s brother, and it did so with a lot of heart. Nothing that Nitta did when he was in the desert had any effect on that, but it was the fruit of Nitta and his mother, constantly having patience with him and encouraging him to actually do something with his life. With this, the first step was set.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

With this episode it’s finally time for Nitta to tell his story. We’re at episode 50, and he was already building up to this episode from the moment that the second exam started. Back in like, episode 13 or something. It only became obvious in the current arc, though. Nitta is basically the opposite of Mutta: the older brother, whose younger sibling is just a complete failure. A neet who refuses to do anything.

That cliff-hanger of last week indeed was really evil, but in the end what made it the most annoying was not the fact that I wanted to know what happened to Nitta’s brother, but that it ended just as it got really good (that’s something I noticed with a lot of other series with nerve-wrecking cliff-hangers). This episode just commenced to head for the most obvious solution as if it’s nothing. Of course, an astronaut should not be allowed to head into his own direction. That’s complete suicide. Sure, they will lose the challenge there and there will be some consequences, but in the end it was the only right thing to do here.

And with this we’re nearly one year in, and still going strong. At the start of this series I never imagined that this show would go on for more than a year. This would have been a crappy episode to end with by the way. “Yeah, we’re in the middle of the desert with a ton of potential left. Bye bye!”
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Damn you, Space Brothers! Damn you!

Uchuu Kyoudai is a brilliant and amazingly inspiring series, and at the same time it’s completely evil. Now that we’re back on a training mission again, this evil side of its has really shown again, in the form of some of the most addictive cliff-hangers I’ve seen since Giant Killing. The reason why this show is so evil is because it seems to make a sport out of it: how can it make the wait for next week as frustrating as possible?

These past two episodes. They were so chock full of hints for the future of this series. And this series didn’t even attempt to hide them: it’s like: “har har, you’ll only find out about this later!”, with “later” varying from five minutes to 20 episodes. As if the prophecy wasn’t enough already, these episodes just kept referring back to it, fully aware of what they did. Uchuu Kyoudai is a series that’s always looking to the future. And god, I love this series.

The thing also is: every time it hints at something, the eventual pay-off is something different from what it seems at first. This was most obvious with that snake (god damn whoever thought of that), but also Nitta and his brother at the end. I knew he had issues with his brother, but I never expected things to be as serious for him to blow off a survival mission like that. And then there are the little things. Like that shirt. Damn, it’s completely irrelevant, but I want to know what’s on that shirt!
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Anime has many golden rules. One of them is that whenever there is a prediction, MAKE SURE TO PAY ATTENTION TO IT. It’s very important foreshadowing for later, trying to be cryptic in one way or the other. The way in which Uchuu Kyoudai did this though was quite original. I mean, we basically got the message that things would go well for Mutta, with a very big thorn lurking in the shadows. What really piqued my interest: what the heck is that thorn? What is that fortune teller like? I love how we first need to understand her in order to be able to understand what the hell that prediction meant.

For the rest of the episode, it was excellent build-up. The thing with this episode was that we got to see the characters in an off-day, when they’re trying to become an astronaut, but instead trying to settle down. Here, everyone is looking for a house, getting used to their new country, attending a party. Now this is how you flesh out characters: show them in different situations so that they can show off their different sides.

We’re also getting a few more glimpses of the new characters to be added to this series, but this episode mostly was about the old cast. Hinting that they’ve got a few nice back-stories coming up. Seriously, this pacing would drive me crazy if the source material wasn’t so good though. Imagine sitting through this pacing with bad characters who constantly get on your nerves? It’s a good thing that this show has an awesome cast that makes every minute worth watching here.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Time for this show to catch up on some of the developments for the characters that are going to be important for the new arc: the one woman who has previously had no background, plus the guy who will be the instructor for the main cast. Both developments that were really welcome. Yet again this show proves that it can be amazing when it just picks a character and somehow gives this one a memorable backstory.

Beyond that there were lots of small moments, like with Serika and her family, Kenji and how he analyzed that strange message that both he and Mutta got, it’s great to see some old faces back again and even some of the new characters who didn’t get any attention look really interesting to watch and I can’t wait before they too can get their own bits in the spotlights.

Oh and it’s been a while since Mutta made me laugh as much as what he did here. It’s both a combination of how he couldn’t be funny when Hibito’s life was on the line, and that this episode was just that hilarious. He did not have many jokes, but the ones he had made me laugh uncontrollably. I especially liked how he just went ahead and dressed as silly as possible, now that he was in astronaut jumpsuit anyway.

Also, about Ena: she has four siblings, and even the youngest is an adult. More series should do that!
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

After what feels like months of watching Hibot struggle for his life, we finally get a “normal” episode of Space Brothers. For the series’ standards, it is an uneventful episode. It’s meant to build up for later, and introduce the upcoming arc, which will focus on Mutta again as he travels to the USA in order to meet the top astronauts out there. A teaser line-up showed quite a few different characters, so that really sounds promising here!

In the meantime they also took their chance to give Sharon some character with her husband. They’re two people with a great passion for watching the starts that came together. It’s a nice little detail, but nothing more. What caught my eye the most about this episode was how she reacted when she learned what Hibito went through: they didn’t provide the full details for the fear of confusion.

Still, this series has a habit of a lot of dead very inspiring people. There’s Brian, then there is Sharon’s husband, and didn’t Serika’s father also die? Death plays a very big role in this series, but in a different way from normal. And the thing is that I keep thinking that this will be some hint for the future, but in the end everyone manages to survive.. It’s quite annoying, but well played from the creators. Just know that you can’t keep pulling stuff like this…

Also, did they spell Nanba Mutta as “Namba Mutta”? Is that his official English spelling? It’s a bit weird to have that ‘m’ there in Romanji.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

Here is a question: how do you best recommend this series? I mean, it’s absolutely fantastic and it has some of the best writing out there, but it will be incredibly long. For people who have no life it will be easy to check out, and I think students also can find the time to sit down and watch. But what about the people who don’t have a lot of free time or patience? I mean, I can only handle this series in my life because there is only one episode coming out each week. What’s the best way to make this huge length of 100 episodes lose its intimidation?

I mean really: this series deserves to be watched. This episode actually brought tears to my eyes with its charms. The scene in which Mutta and Hibito talked to each other again had so much build-up behind it. In the past arc, Mutta only did one thing. But the past episodes made sure to put so much meaning into that little action of his. This episode then really took its time to show their conversation, skipping away the time delay for storytelling conveniences, while acknowledging that it’s still there.

Also, a small detail: when was the last time in which we saw a small child who was still changing his teeth? Yes, it’s small, but I really appreciate the detail that this show put into it. Every single one of those details shapes the characters, and this show does it better than any other anime currently airing.

Also, the comedy is back again. I sure missed it. But I love how this show can pull a joke when you don’t expect it. Buddy in particular was hilarious in this episode, with both his memories of Brian, and his reaction to Damian’s state.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

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)

Holy crap, Space Brothers, what are you doing to me?

Oh my god, the cliff-hangers just get more and more aggravating with this series, especially now that Hibito’s life is on the line. And here this episode comes and makes things even worse. Not by picking the cheesy route by making things escalate even further. No, Space Brothers is evil. It uses the fact that it takes twenty minutes for a buggy to arrive at his place. And puts in another Brian reference at the end of the episode. Holy crap, you are so evil, space brothers.

Also, I didn’t think it was possible, but it happened: Space Brothers will continue past 50 episodes! In fact, it’s getting moved to a Saturday evening timeslot. That’s prime time there! I don’t know who the producers are who made this possible, but whoever you are: you rock! Heck, this means that there is a very good possibility that this series will end up with a hundred episodes. And it already was one of the best of the airing series when it started! I can’t believe that there will be another series with that kind of length, that isn’t a shounen series.

The disadvantage will be that it’s a very intimidating series to watch. But heck, 100 episodes of Space Brothers, consistently delivering heart-warming and nail-biting episodes. This will make sure that the creators can really take their time. The danger of dragging on of course still remains, but I think that this has been wonderfully balanced so far. Even this episode: the reason why it rocked was because it kept dragging on the fate of our two astronauts. That’s how you make use of slow pacing. This is not like the series is padded for the sake of padding, it really adds something.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)