I’m glad that Kanata no Astra doesn’t beat around the bush with the game changing revelation last week. Once they learn about Quitterie and Funi’s DNA match, they figure out themselves being clones from their respective single parents. It makes total sense as one of the common themes they all share is the neglectance from the parents, by design no less. But allow me to take a moment to dissect how good and bad this revelation gets. In order to do that I’m gonna address it from most to least effective. At its most effective, this twist asks the very question of their existence. They have been born as lab tests and now are being thrown away by their original selves. The weight of it sure is hard to dismiss. Secondly, as soon as we learn about the truth, we proceed to the perspective of the adults, who make it clear that they wanted to erase their clones from existence. It partly works as a tense reminder of threats of them returning home: there’s no home to begin with. On the less positive side, they do want to return home! Goddamnit, why don’t you just settle down somewhere and perhaps enhance yourself with skills and experience first?
Other aspect from this twist that I’m still not quite convinced is that Kanata no Astra frames the adults as cold-heart monsters, to the point (at least at this point) it feels implausible in both logical and psychological sense. Transplant memories to create younger self of yourself is legit, but explain to me why they spend all that time to raise them then toss them away like this? Isn’t it better to just kill them for their body parts? It would make more sense to me if this whole trip is an experiment instead of this “killing them softly” fashion. In addition, this episode makes it crystal clear that the adults don’t see their clone counterparts as their children. I totally get that, but aren’t they a part of them as well? I find it hard to swallow the way they treat their own “body parts” as cold as dead meat.
Putting those aside, the latter half of the episode deals with them coping with the news, and good news: they’re coping pretty well (or at least they appear that way). As Kanata goes to confront each of them, they all take it realistically well. It’s a neat trick that Kanata no Astra displays, as doesn’t matter how many thrilling twists and turns, we need the cast who has solid chemistry and worth caring for, which it succeeds. This second half also touches on the nature of personalities. Like Zack asserts that the environment plays just as important roles to determine someone’s personality, the clone kids already grow out of their original adults and become a completely different person. Just like Quitterie and Funi, though share the shame origin, grow up to be different individuals. We also have the whole proposal hijink between Zack and Quitterie, sadly it does very little to me. These humor-attempts are like a bitter chocolate within the whole package for me.
Finally, Kanata no Astra drops another bombshell at the end when Polina (and we) realize that it isn’t Earth they wanted to go back, but the planet Astra. Again, I applaud the ambition, not for the actual execution. It’s essential that in this very journey we are following the kids’ point of view. By making them an unreliable narrator as this late of a game feels more abrupt than narrative-grabbing. If we’re willing to overlook the presentation though, it opens to lots of interesting questions (Kanata no Astra is good at that, that’s for sure). Given how Polina was asleep for 12 years, it’s safe to assume that something happened to the Earth during the time (she’s aware of that) and the adults surely were around during that time. “Memory transplant” does ring a bell here, so it could be this Astra world is the artificial world created after the fall of Earth, but then how many survivors out there? How large it’s going to be? Hopefully it’s larger than the group of the parents.
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The manga mentions that the reason the parents kept their kids around even though they didn’t like them is because in order to body hop into them, the kids needed to be a certain age for it to work. Zack’s father mentions that the clones needed to be between the ages of 22-35 in order for the body hopping to really succeed, and the kids were all 17, with Funicia being 10, so they were too young for it to work, along with the Genome Act cracking down on collecting people’s DNA so as to prevent clones from being made. Quitterie’s mother even mentions that she specifically trained Quitterie in the realm of medical knowledge as a means to prepare her brain and body for the body hop.
Thanks for the clarification. Seems like the anime speeds up the manga’s events, hence a lot of explanation from the manga is lost in this adaptation. I have no qualms about that though, it’s fun to dissect and figure out details like this.
Yeah, I’m noticing the anime is leaving out certain details as well. While I do commend the anime for trying to cram 5 volumes of material into 12 episodes and managing to make it work somehow, I still feel like the anime could have benefited from being 24-26 episodes long. Oh well.
As far as pacing-wise and plot-revealing, the anime has done a pretty great job. As the anime-only watcher I don’t feel it rush and I appreciate the way they don’t spoon-feed us by obvious exposition (although if you’re really tough-maker, the scene where the adults gathering in this episode could count as one)
I think they address the issue of parent’s sociopathy sufficiently. They have given them up to be raised by other people or just fully neglected them to avoid forming emotional bonds. The athlete who raised his “son” personally seems like an especially self-absorbed, egotistical individual. And you can expect a certain small percentage of sociopathic individuals to exist in the society and to be on top of it. In this case they just got together and hatched this scheme.
Maybe it’s just me be I hold an opinion that in this situation, the very first instinct the adults have would be protecting them, not because they regard them as their “children” but more like they are parts of themselves. But then again, these adults might be the exceptions of the norm.
“but explain to me why they spend all that time to raise them then toss them away like this? Isn’t it better to just kill them for their body parts?”
Because a tragic trip (together with use of unknown technology) is easier to frame as an accident than murder, and it does the most important thing: it gets rid of the bodies. If they disappeared one by one and just one of them was found by authorities, the entire “Council of Evil” would get fucked. I wouldn’t be surprised if bodies of any death are investigated in detail.
It’s also worth noting that this is a futuristic setting, so things you can get away with today are probably tougher than in their time.
“In addition, this episode makes it crystal clear that the adults don’t see their clone counterparts as their children. I totally get that, but aren’t they a part of them as well? I find it hard to swallow the way they treat their own “body parts” as cold as dead meat.”
Why? A lot of people would view clones as nothing but artificial, many never come to view their children as anything but tools or a nuisance, and these people even made extra sure to not bond with their clones. Whoever came up with the idea probably did not select people who are likely to get sentimental as their allies. Even before this reveal, it was clear that most of these parents were fucked up human beings (with exception of Aries’ mother).
“Given how Polina was asleep for 12 years, it’s safe to assume that something happened to the Earth during the time”
Not necessarily. Mind you Charce’s background story: they mention a year in AD calendar, but events of that year are nothing alike to what happened in our timeline. Why would they use AD and start from an old year is a question that still needs answering, but very possibly our astronaut was sleeping for much longer than 12 years.
What nobody brings up but I find confusing is this: how can their languages be the same?
“but very possibly our astronaut was sleeping for much longer than 12 years.”
That’s a good point. Like much of its mystery, “12 years” is just an assumption from the kids. Well, I’m intriguing to see what the show will have in store then.
“What nobody brings up but I find confusing is this: how can their languages be the same?”
That has an explanation too near the end. I’ve read the manga, so I know.
Very nice review, Mario 🙂