Title: Space Brothers collection 3 on Blu-ray
Director: Ayumu Watanabe
Music By: Toshiyuki Watanabe
Studio: A-1 Pictures
U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23
U. S. Release Date: June 30th, 2015
Format: Blu-ray / 13 episodes / 325 minutes
Genre: Sci Fi, Slice of Life, Action, Drama
Age Rating: TV 14
Overall Personal Grade: A-
Synopsis:
Contrary to popular belief, the hardest part about becoming an astronaut isn’t being shot into orbit while sitting on top of the world’s largest fireworks display. Nor is it coming back home in a fiery reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. No, those events, while momentous, are easy compared to all the studying and training required to actually get to those points.
The hardest part of all is the waiting: waiting to see if the technology for a mission will be ready in time. Waiting to see who gets selected for each crew. Waiting to see if the weather is clear for each launch. And waiting to see if everyone makes it back home alive. That’s a lesson that Mutta is now painfully learning twice over, as he waits to find out the result of his JAXA exams and watches while his younger brother, Hibito, prepares for his own historic journey to the moon. Will Mutta finally pass and move on to the next stage of his own training? Will Hibito’s mission end in success or tragedy? The tension mounts as the countdown begins!
Commentary:
Space Brother Collection 3 keeps on giving us a reason to come back and it allows us to feel good about what is going on. It is maintaining the simple straight forward approach to telling this positive slice of life. The fact that Hibito is headed to the Moon and Mutta show honest jealousy tell a lot about how the writers approached these characters. Brotherly love and sibling rivalry does exist in the world and to reflect is with a honest viewpoint is refreshing.
We also get to discover a little more about a few of the other characters that was nice to see and gave us a break from the mononuclear view of Mutta and his long wait. I’m not sure that it should have taken 13 episodes to ge through this part of the story, but it is clear that there is no rush to get to the end.
Overall Grade: A-
It is very clear that this series will loose plenty of viewers because of the length and that with it being a slice of life with a simple dose of reality mixed in will make it less than attractive to most anime fans who are looking for the flash and fan service of most other anime being offered up. It has also become somewhat disheartening that current anime stories are loosing their way to the magical girl or psychic world with plenty of panties and bouncing female goodness that I find Space Brother out of this world refreshing. Give me a story that makes me smile and at the same time re-enforces the goodness and humanity and the optimism for the future then I will line up to watch it anytime.
All I can say is that you need to watch Space Brother because it is a good story that will do not harm to anyone and shows us that hard work and preparation just might get you what you are after. And it is also really good.
