Space Brothers Episode 98
What They Say:
Troubled by Hibito’s disappearance, Mutta’s performance begins slipping. However, a conversation with Chief Butler reassures him.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Hibito’s story didn’t exactly dominate in a way in the previous episode, but it was interesting to see how things are going in his particular world. While he’s achieved a lot and moved past the problems that he had, at least in a controlled situation, he’s still not made it past the higher ups who don’t have the same kind of faith that Chief Butler does about his getting back into the program. And that’s going to keep Hibito from really getting back in the swing of things since he’s not going to be assigned any missions. Which is understandable, but there’s also the PR side that’s being ignored a bit since part of each mission in an agency like this has to focus on it. The dangers of Hibito are certainly real, but there’s more to it than just that which is being missed. And for Mutta, his concern is only starting to grow.
Because of what he thinks he knows of what’s going on with Hibito, he’s finding himself a lot more distracted as time goes on and with what he has to do with his own mission. To make matters worse, similar to how it was when the brothers were kids, Hibito has seemingly gone missing again for a few days now and that’s raising different kinds of concerns for him and the agency. It’s definitely interesting to see how everyone is handling it, but also because with Mutta we get a bit of his natural frustration with his brother but also the way we get to see him doing standard chores and living that comes from being in Houston. It’s a bit slice of life in a way with how see him going about things, but it’s kind of refreshing from an adult perspective to see adult characters doing some mundane things even while preparing for space flight.
Things take a more interesting turn story-wise when Butler gets in touch with Mutta since he can’t get a hold of Hibito and fills him in on what’s going on, including the push by some to petition for Hibito to be reinstated. Mutta wants to get involved in helping to fix this, but it’s also made clear that if he pushes too much, he could lose his shot at going into space. These issues are all firmly in Mutta’s head and that’s just making his training in general to be difficult, especially with Vince at the helm since he ends up rubbing against him the wrong way repeatedly. You have to feel for Mutta since so much is going on, but it also factors into the training as he has to handle these kinds s they can come up when he’s actually in space and unable to do anything but still perform his job. So it’s important that it can be handled while others are doing what they can.
In Summary:
With Hibito largely out of the picture here at the moment, it’s all about how everyone is reacting to what’s going on in different forms. I really continue to like the approach that Chief Butler is taking in trying to get things done right and his frustration with it, as well as the way when he talks to Mutta that the two really are on the same page when it comes to Hibito. It’s management material, but damn good management material, which is incredibly hard to do. There’s a lot of mundane material here in a way that’s gone through while everything is going on, which is how life actually works, but there’s also a beautiful tease just at the end that leaves you feeling so hopeful as the series inches closer to its finale.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.