Space Brothers Episode 99
What They Say:
Hibito’s disappearance is distracting Mutta during training and he makes a critical mistake. What will Hibito do next, and will Mutta be able to get his act together before the actual launch?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With Space Brothers getting a film this summer that provides more back story to the characters youth, it’s kind of nice in a way that at the start of the show here, we go back to the beginning a bit as well as the brothers have their UFO encounter. But it also goes to show that the brothers are very much on a good path, one that had Mutta leading the way when they were young, but now has Mutta catching up and eventually moving past him, which is how he feels since it seems like Hibito’s career has ended up in that place where it can no longer progress because of what happened on the moon and the fallout from it. These kinds of threads and the way its visualized is very nicely done and definitely shows us how, over the past ninety-eight episodes, events have lead us to where we are now.
With this in the back of his head, Mutta is still going through the program well enough and is doing what he can to understand the mission ahead, taking to it well but with a bit of distraction to him. There are a few familiar faces moving through his life at this point since there are many people that have a lot of concern for Hibito, and for Mutta as well, which reinforces the family aspect that does come from this fairly elite group of people and those that watch over them from the ground. The show spends some time with Nitta as well, which is good to see, as he talks to Mutta about how some of those that he knows that went out of the program ended up in related fields that have given them a whole lot to like about their life. It’s a bit of careful reassurance, but also a reminder that there has to be a life outside of the program itself.
A lot of the problem that exists here is the fact that Hibito has essentially disappeared, and even when he leaves Mutta a note about leaving NASA, it’s done in a way that can’t be taken too seriously. For Mutta, the problem is his distraction overall as it’s causing enough small ripples in his performance that he needs to get it under control. Which we do get with the whole CAPCOM piece that he’s training for as it goes ahead a ways to give us a launch and to see a big piece of history put into motion for humanity in general with the start of the Mars missions that will have Vince and his team making history. Granted, there’s a whole lot of in-between material – that hasn’t even been done in the manga yet since we’re so close to it here – that getting this taste of the future is just wonderful in its own restrained way. And touching upon most of the main cast that we need to is done as well, which just adds that little bit of extra love to it.
In Summary:
Space Brothers hits its end mark here in a rather beautiful way as it takes us from the past to the present and to the future as we see the way they have been close, apart and close again only to find their paths will most likely lead them to the same place. The different in the routes is what has made up their lives and now that we have Mutta firmly planted in NASA, we get a great story there of achievement while knowing that Hibito’s is progressing as well, somewhere out there, with the goal of the two of them being on the moon some day. And while we don’t get it within the series for obvious reasons, you can feel that it will happen and that it will be a most beautiful thing. Space Brothers is a series that defied the odds – one that I thought would last a season or two at the most – but ended up going for a hair under a hundred episodes. All without fanservice, outlandish antics or hot springs episodes. It was technically smart, paid proper respect to the premise and had such an attention to detail that you could be totally drawn in by the beauty of training – and management – of places like JAXA and NASA. I cannot recommend the show enough.
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.