OP change! And it’s a shame, because this one is far from as memorable as the first op. In fact, the vocalist is pretty cheesy. The only thing that makes this worthwhile is the weird danging. That was pretty funny, but in terms of music it completely failed to grab my attention. I really like the new ED though. he song is excellent, but the idea behind it is also just wonderful.
In any case, this episode turned Fukuda awesome. It’s unusual for this series to devote an entire episode to a character other than Mutta, but Fukuda turned out to be a brilliant choice for this. His back-story could have been cliched with the wrong developments: workaholic parents are definitely nothing new and I’m still hoping for series as Zone of the Enders and Supernatural in which both parent and kid are adults.
Here the creators used this cliche in order to give Fukuda an exceptional amount of will-power. His trait isn’t that he’s a workaholic, but rather that as a workaholic, he failed to accomplish anything he dreamt of in his life. Using that as a background, becoming an astronaut is something like his last chance, and he’s willing to go for it even for the sake of his daughter, or perhaps he’s trying to do this in order to be able to face his daughter, after lying to her so many times. this show loves not showing crucial bits, and I’m very curious indeed how his daughter thinks of him right now.
His glasses breaking were brilliant for this, because the drama that this created was excellent, seeing him push himself way too hard.
Rating: **+ (Excellent+)
Another part of this episode I really liked was Mutta describing all of the other characters. And as annoying as Furuya is I’m growing to like him a lot more. I hope that the next couple of episodes will start to focus on the other groups a little more as well. Especially group C who we haven’t really seen any of.
I was wondering who did the OP and found out it was Sukima Switch (it makes sense because the vocalist is pretty distinct). The ED was done by Angela Aki.
hehe
I read the review and was confused by the typo ‘weird danging’
like I seriously thought they added the word ‘dang’ in the song or something.
A very good episode. I loved how they explored the characters, and their reactions to a situation. After hearing Fukuda’s background, I really feel like rooting for him! But if only 2 out of the 5 in the team can make it, this makes me sad.
I also liked how we learnt more about Furuya, I did find him annoying, but I like that they’ve developed him, and it’s good to see how his job has influenced him.
I still can’t decide which series I like the best, with four that I like for different reasons!