Storytelling is a matter of balance. Not doing too much, and not doing too little. At one point, Space Brothers managed to nail that balance perfectly. I wasn’t bored for a minute and it stood consistently among my favorites. I think the height was where Mutta heard that he got to be an astronaut.
The pacing already was a bit wonky during Hibito’s arc, which took a bit too long, but really: that desert arc was just not good. They spent ages in there, and what was it all for? A bit of development for Nitta, plus the cast fot fleshed out a tiny bit (but way too little for the standards of this series). Not to mention those huge amounts of recaps. What was supposed to be a small build-up arc took bloody ages to get finished. I don’t care whether this is for its timeslot or manga. The creators could have easily just made a second season in 2014 or something. This decision to keep going really brought down this series.
Episode 56 thankfully picked up things again, and it’s now up to that druk Pico guy to make up for all of those mistakes. This episode made a good start, but they’re not quite there yet. I like the whole story around the malfunctioning parachutes, and how they’re really going in-depth to how the acident could have happened (using Hibito as the next one to use that system also really helps). I also like how the current assignment requires everyone to use their own unique talent (like Mutta with his automobile experience). Now get the pacing of this arc right!
Rating: 5/8 (Great)
Following the manga I don’t think theres anything to worry about here, it will at least in my opinion in an episode or two return to form.
This is considered a long-running series for the mainstream, so it can’t just “take a break,” and rather than just the timeslot change, the time of year calls for a slow down in quality production. The recaps are mostly just something that “has to exist” for the best balance between quality, sales, and public face.
It turns out Pico has a spin-off detailing what he did in his childhood….http://myanimelist.net/anime/1639/Boku_no_Pico