Take A Pick Tuesday: Space Brothers
Have you ever stood outside at night, even in the crowded
cities that had skies to indifferent to show the night, hoping they would give
you a rare view of stars and the moon, to look up and wonder, to look up and
hope. We know so much about them, we can fear them at times but always there is
something about looking toward them, sometimes they ride on our dreams,
sometimes they are the destination for our dreams. Well if you recall that feeling or maybe now
or have always wanted such a feeling then I can easily recommend Space
Brothers. Parts that make it up, the
parts funny, the parts inspirational and all parts wonderful it looks at what
it is to dream, big, big enough to take you beyond earth, beyond anything you could imagine.
The story is about
two brothers whose childhood dream it was to go to space. They witness
something strange once when they were younger, recording the sound of animals at the time, which helps them decide that they want to explore the vast
unknown. When the younger brother Hibito decides that he wants to go to the
moon and beats older brother Mutta to the punch of declaring it, Mutta says he
wants to go to Mars. Because an older brother must always be ahead of his younger brother. Though both settle on the notion of going together as
brothers to the moon. Fast forward to them as adults and things didn’t go as it
seemed it should since that faithful night. For Hibito he indeed became an astronaut
as he is set to be the first Japanese Man on the moon. When asked in a press
conference the reason why he wanted to go, he says it had been a shared dream that both him
and his older brother had shared.
So where is
Mutta, you can say he strayed from the path a bit and ended up working for a
company where he designed cars, in fact he was a star designer until he head
butted his boss. Of course this meant he lost his job, although to his credit
had been because his boss was mocking someone in the newspaper and that person
happened to be his little brother. Having done it though had caused him to be
blacklisted from every company, so he returns home to reevaluate his life,
wondering what happened to the dream he had of going into space. When had he
stopped believing it was possible?
When his brother
catches wind of his predicament an opportunity would arise unbeknownst to
Mutta, an application for the astronaut candidacy exam would be sent with his
name by his brother and mother. Soon he would be accepted to part take in it at
JAXA and would be constantly tested to find the resolve to believe in himself,
in why he wanted it and learn that if you have a dream than you should truly never
let go of it. Right away there is a special feeling about this show, just like
explorers that go to the stars, you feel something moving in the show, this
wonder, this hope.
Having dreams in
life is shown as being an important single driving force and how it moves people no matter what is going on in their life and of course no matter the consequences. Mutta is an extremely human character, funny
as is the show at times, very often actually well balanced with it's touching moments, he dismisses any notions of the perfect anime
character, and if anything he’s the perfect human being flaws and all. He’s him
or in some ways us, which is special when a character like that shows up in any
medium, tall skinny and with an afro alongside his 5 o'clock shadow and funny
face expressions that go so well with his usually well dressed ( mostly in a
suit) appearance. His humorous nature
goes well with his touching relations to many of the other characters as it is
for his brother, capable of love despite what self-desire finds at times or how inconvenient how he might wish otherwise, he is unable to resist the urge to sacrifice
it for others. Having to go over it at times in consideration and at times to
throw caution to the wind is part of what makes Mutta Namba such a compelling
character.
As much as Mutta
underestimates himself he is underestimated by others even more, not all, there
are friends he makes, certain ones whose friendship grows through the series to be something powerful, something that has meaning to you but instead at times the people that have to make the decisions
that could allow him to continue or fail will be the ones that find something they believe they should underestimate him for. Even though there is
someone and really there always has to be someone, that can see the great things
he can be capable of.
Though he’ll wrestle with it regardless of what he can
accomplish occasionally he’s allowed to be proud, as well as believing
he is more than someone who is in his brother’s shadow. If that was true that he lived in his brother's shadow than no one told his brother,
who idolizes him openly even though to each other few emotions will be exchanged
when they are apart, in each other’s thoughts you will see a bond like no
other. Still what makes Mutta so special is what makes other people root for
him, sometimes waiting for him to step up to the plate, sometimes to knock it out of the park.
Hibito is indeed
an accomplished person though what makes his character so interesting is he
really doesn’t think much of it, he has that wonderful desire of just going to
the moon. So it seems to us he can do anything, even though he seems to think
more of Mutta, his fellow astronauts, those living and those that passed and the
astronomer that was a mentor to both him and Mutta, Sharon. A character who is a
mother figure, a teacher figure and a core reason for their desire to go to the
moon. Even if it was Mutta's declaration to her one time that it was just him and
Sharon, that he would help with her dream of building a Sharon Telescope on the
moon to allow astronomers to see further into space, to see places they never could
before. There were plenty of moments between Sharon and Hibito or both brothers share with her that keep it as one of the constant motivations for them in their aspirations and hope. Even so Hibito has many things
that haunt him, that drive him, that will come to cause him to doubt himself
and the great dangers that comes with such a dream are ones he has to face, at
times alone. At times when he believes he is alone will be the times he faces it with many others.
It’s interesting
how they introduce pieces of it to you later on giving you a complete picture
of the character who could go do something when he was younger and not realize
how dangerous or how great it was he managed to do. Also Hibito garners a lot
of attention for what he’s set to do but he hardly think about it, it’s a little
beyond him though he puts up with it, you’ll see astronauts who despise the
attention all together and some that were born for it. So for someone who is already getting rooted for you'll find yourself surprised when it is you're rooting hardest for Hibito and it's a great feeling when you're doing it.
Space Brothers works
closely with JAXA and NASA and it shows, considering it’s probably the closest
to accuracy in a anime you’ll actually get about space. I mean the show managed to give the first voice over from space for crying out loud when an astronaut used his actual voice for his anime version. They managed to record his voice despite him being on the international space station. The exams Mutta will have
to go through along with other characters he’ll befriend and you’ll also root for
will show how intricate the process can be.
The grueling choosing process is
fascinating as it is at keeping you on the edge of your seat, as it is for some
of the people choosing the candidates, their personal connection with the
agency, of their younger life, of space, even to characters like Mutta. Sometimes it feels downright unfair and sometimes it feels the exams never really end and let's face it when you're sending people to space and choosing which ones will go of course it won't.
While they may
be rivals you hope for some of them to be together at the end though you really
won’t be able to tell who it will be. Mutta even has someone he falls for, Seki
Itho who like him has an important reason in why she wants to go to space, to
be exact, her desire to reach the International Space Station, her explaining it
to you at first is more than enough reason to root for her but actually seeing
the reason later on is enough to break your heart. Many of the character’s
dreams are like that and the show knows how to lay out drama and complexity,
whether happy or sad it’s easy for so many episodes to bring a tear or several tears to
your eyes. Seki like Mutta is extremely intelligent, she’s also athletic, with
an appetite to match, despite all her reasons you can see quite often that what
she’s going to eat is equally important to her. There's even a scene where she's doing work and by her desk or pictures pinned up of food. Can’t say I blame her.
If anything Mutta
seems to remind Seki of her father, one early scene that came shortly after
introducing the character is when she sees him looking at the space suit in the
glass case, trying to see his face reflect off the helmet as if he was in the
suit. It reminded her of what her father had done and later he’d catch her
trying to do the same. There’s so many of these scenes I truly wish I could
write about all of them. You have other characters like Kenji who keeps shaking
Mutta’s hand, someone with a wife and a little child and whose reason though
coming from another direction is just as important, a life where he dreamed of something more when going through every day with work he didn't want to actually do, wanting to trade dismal grey skies and settings for a place closest to space where his mind can truly be appreciated. Though the cost of even
reaching being an astronaut shows quite often, even in the most simplistic of
ways, time. In Kenji's case if he goes to space along with training he could miss several years
of his child’s life and even the testing and preparation for such a thing can show the effects on his child and the strain it could put on his wife.
The exams at
JAXA can seem a little impossible at times for other reasons, especially one reason in particular, when you’re kept in the
dark of what it is that actually want out of their candidates and be warned
even when it seems like they’re not being tested, they’re being tested or are
they? Yup it’s long road if you can even get there, that’s why it’s so important
for all of them, Mutta included to find reason in why they are doing it. Even
at his lowest Mutta can find it, when he goes to visit Houston Texas where NASA
is and Hibito is training.
Between foiling a robbery of a man with an
extinguisher accidently and befriending an important little character who also
happens to be a little dog named Apo short for Apollo, he’d find why it is he
wants to pass so much. In himself, through his friends ( astronauts that work with Hibito and others at NASA, as well as a kind couple that are his brother's neighbors). Even if it seems like a snowball’s chance in hell. It
shows Mutta might still have untapped qualities you’re unaware of, such as his
internal clock, his precise attention to detail of which Hibito is the opposite
of.
Being as informative and legitimate as they can about space,
the show doesn’t shy away from the danger and risk of space travel. Some you see are devastating to see even if
they are in the past, others happening during the present or enough cause for
you to become a nail biter. When not scaring the pants off of you they also
show some interesting ideas. Now I’m not caught up on all the things NASA has
developed but the show brings interesting answers to the predicaments that astronauts
have to face, such as a way to map out the moon in order to avoid craters which
normally would be impossible to completely avoid. While developing this with
budget constraints, even the questions of flying cars, their practically and
what certain ideas like those could actually offer are brought up.
As well as recreating a space station or adding to it's construction during training under water, developing a way for light to come into the station through panels. As well as various other solutions to issues that they have to face, perhaps making rechargeable stations for vehicles, to allow them to go further as well as other small adjustments that could mean life or death for any of them, Trust me
though most of these are brought up in unexpected ways. It also shows you answers to everyday problems where the answers
might lie in places like NASA, who find them while trying to solve the questions
so few ask but need to.
There are also
various training exercises in preparation or such emergencies even with the
risk of dying and shows hazards, it seems to comfort the hope that you won’t
find future scenes that knock around the idea of hope that is such a powerful
theme around your head like it’s bruised and defeated. You even get to watch the majority of the
decision making well beyond JAXA, we’re talking in NASA too, and also obstacles
even when you reach being an astronaut like the allotted time you may have to
wait to go on a mission. Yet despite all
of this it’s like Sharon says hands to her chest, you think on what would be
the most fun to do. You’d be surprised how the concept helps you to hang on to
your dreams.
All of it is worth
it for the breathtaking scenes of takeoff or landing, everything you seen in
the show bottled up in that moment, shook up and let out like lighting and
fire. They are beautiful, quietly intense, sometimes epic scores that capture
the moment, having their chance to add to something even more momentous, exhilarating,
and even terrifying. With everything at stake you’ll be relived if at least
some of what happens goes alright. If nothing else you’ll get a profound
respect for something that if often overlooked in our daily lives, things that
places like NASA mange to do. Asking what the point in anything is would be
ridiculous to people in that line of work, it would be to discover. The moments
are countless and whether watching it again or thinking about it will drive out
the moments you first felt when you watched it.
Space Brothers is definitely about the journey but in a different sense
than you’ve seen, a vivid and detail account of the steps take to pursue a
dream and once having it to go further.
What seems like
crushed dreams or really them taking various forms proving they could never
die. Taking form they shape us and it shows in how detailed the characters are
as is the story, everyone has their reasons. This is one of those shows that
ends and you say I don’t know what to do with my life although, it might ask you
to push for your dreams once it comes into focus. Just as soon as you’ve
absorbed everything from the series and there is plenty to observe. It’ll
forever keep that feeling that when you look up to the stars no matter what’s
happening anything is possible and that is a beautiful thing indeed. If you
don’t believe that then you’re the one that’s going to have to face Apo.
A Podcast Companion
*Need more otaku time, well for more
ideas why not hop on to the newly minted podcast Rats On A Plague Ship. A
podcast that speaks on all matters of geekdom with yours truly and my fellow
co-host Sal Almaraz. The true cure to when the hours feel like they drag!
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