Pardon me for just including two episodes in one entry in my attempt to catch up to the backlog I created on holiday, but at least these two episodes fit with each other as the intermezzo between the third and final exam. And seriously, even in an intermezzo this series is just amazing. It’s like the creators looked at the cast and went “You know, we don’t have enough awesome characters yet. Let’s create another one!”. Azuma is a wonderful addition to this series.
There was so much going on in these two episodes, but the big focus of this was Hibito’s preparation to take off into space, while Mutta waited for the exams to start. Azuma was this really famous astronaut who Hibito passed in order to be able to participate in the upcoming shuttle launch. These episodes were very vague on how he feels about the ordeal, and this episode clearly stated that a few times, but it also gave a wonderful explanation of who he was and what he accomplished. The personal bond between him and Hibito was really subtle, but a great addition.
And the comedy was as awesome as usual. The creators especially used Apo great, and this dog really breaks a lot of habits for animal mascots. For one he doesn’t force himself into every episode (he was gone in the episodes in which Hibito did not matter), plus he knows when to be cute and when to take things down. The waking up masks were hilarious, but at the same time he also was great when just watching Mutta train.
And the ending of episode 25 was just wonderful. I didn’t suspect that that would be the point where Mutta’s parents would meet Serika, and the way in which they dropped all sorts of hints on her was hilarious, only made better by that director breaking the fourth wall announcing the ED. An which I still consider to be among the best EDs of the year by the way.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)
Yeah, thats what I am talking about. You can have a story moving forward and still do charakter development. So refreshing compared to the last episodes. And Serika is back, yay.
Just want to comment on episode 24.
Space Brothers is just great! okay you had the cliche of the japanese otaku but that moment with the image of the two brothers walking side by side on the moon was a moving moment! Lots of funny moments. loved that virtual basketball game, and also we found out more about hibito.