More about the romance in this series: there are actually other guys who try to hit on Serika. And it’s in a non-creepy way. After watching so many “will they won’t they”-romances, it’s so refreshing to see one that actually handles it well. Every part of the romance in this series feels natural instead of contrived.
In any case, I love how this show plays around with its narrative and keeps its viewers in the dark. There are certain scenes that this show blanked out on purpose, only to reveal them later when it fit in better. Or take the part in the interview when after it finished, everyone stopped by a certain alley, of which we later learned contained a series of portraits of Japanese astronauts. This series has a ton of small touches that tell so much about the characters like this.
Mutta also was as hilarious as usual. Again the details around his crush on Serika are hilarious (that photo!), but the interview question when one of the interviewers suddenly started talking in very bad Engrish. The cotnrast between Kenji’s answer couldn’t be bigger. I also love how insightful the discussions with him after each test are: the creators use his character well for that.
Furthermore, after this we’re in for something completely different.. This series doesn’t linger in endless exams, because the next few episodes show a small side-trip to Hibiki at NASA in order to show a different side of the astronaut business. And to keep us in the dark for a bit longer on whether or not Mutta made the exam…
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I will be 100% upset if he doesn’t pass the exam.. :/
This is where I stopped reading the manga. So far, so good. As long the show maintains its balance between drama and comedy it’ll easily surpass Planetes, a similar anime in the scifi realism department.
still good
Somehow the pace seem slow or something is missing, i probably like it more if i were to marathon it.