(L+CR) Uchuu Kyoudai (Space Brothers)

[GoldenLand]

I love that Hibito is being given post-accident anxiety issues to deal with. It's great that he didn't get some sort of permanent injury from the incident; I was worried for a moment that they were going to say he'd got some heart damage or something like that. But the anxiety thing is something he can work on. I can understand him not wanting to tell Mutta about it. I have to wonder how Damian is getting along after the accident too. Hibito's situation was so frightening that it would be strange for him to get off scot free the way he seemed to at first.

Mutta giving up his space on the back-up crew to Serika was really sweet. I think he would have done it anyway even if he didn't have such a big crush on her, since getting to the Moon is still his priority and if he was turning down the place it makes sense to recommend someone who has a burning desire to go to the ISS, but still, that was a nice thing to do for her, and it's even nicer that he hasn't even told her that he was the one who got her the place; he's a good person who wants to do something to make her happy without even getting her gratitude in return.

Also, thank goodness that Serika is likely to get her wish to go to the ISS! It would have been such a downer if she hadn't got that job. The ISS wasn't going to be running for a particularly long amount of time more, so time was of the essence.

Mutta had to continue to have some obstacles in his way before getting into space, and being stuck with the buggy engineers is a good way of doing that. We've looked at various different aspects of the space agencies' job. Parachutes, flying, and now buggies. And Mutta is a former car designer, so this fits him very well.

It was decent of Vince to give Mutta that bit of encouragement as he left him there. After all, Vince hasn't been to the moon yet either. In a way they're competing with each other.

The Hibbit sections of the anime are seriously wince-inducing, in several ways. I can't wait for them to stop.

[hamazura]

just wanna ask japanese manga reader (if there are any...)
how far is the manga now? go to moon,mars,jupiter,pluto,blablabla etc
answer me in PM please if u know

[Utsuro no Hako]

Well they spent significantly less time on recaps for this episode and we got some actual plot development.

I do wonder why it's so hard to make the rovers heavier. Sure, they're limited on how much weight they can take with them to the moon, but why can't they add some light weight trunks and have the astronauts fill them with rocks once they get there?

[ookamigirl]

Has the luck of the bothers switched places?
Things aren't looking good for Hibito.
Just like Shannon, he's going through a crisis of his own.
Mutta's engineering capabilities sure came in handy.
Apo was really cute this time ^^

[SeijiSensei]

I wonder how the NASA brass will take to Mutta sub-contracting with Miracle Car? Doesn't he know how government bureaucracies work?

Why isn't Hibito seeing a psychiatrist?

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I wonder how the NASA brass will take to Mutta sub-contracting with Miracle Car? Doesn't he know how government bureaucracies work?

Why isn't Hibito seeing a psychiatrist?

Apparently the shows creators don't know that North America has those ?

Does seem to be a bit of an extreme idea to put Hibito into these situations right out of the gate. That can be a way to get over phobias, but also might give him a heart attack...Talking about his near death experience on a couch or something might be a better start than this.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Apparently the shows creators don't know that North America has those ?

After watching WataMote, I'm not sure the Japanese even know that psychiatry exists.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

After watching WataMote, I'm not sure the Japanese even know that psychiatry exists.

I take it you haven't seen Kuuchuu Buranko or Ghost Hound?

One other thing I noticed in this episode is that the animators have "matured" Hibito in subtle ways. I saw it especially in the conversation with Sharon. Since his near-death experience his facial features seem to portray a depth of character not often seen in the pre-"Yaay!" period. Maybe I'm just seeing things that are not there, but Hibito does appear much more serious than before, and not just in his speech and behavior, but in the way he is drawn as well.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I take it you haven't seen Kuuchuu Buranko or Ghost Hound?

Yeah, I know on some level the Japanese have therapists, but so many series have characters suffering from severe -- and often very obvious -- disorders without anyone ever suggesting the possibility of counseling. WataMote is easily the most extreme example; the entire story would be over if somebody gave the main character a prescription for Paxil.

[Dop]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

One other thing I noticed in this episode is that the animators have "matured" Hibito in subtle ways. I saw it especially in the conversation with Sharon. Since his near-death experience his facial features seem to portray a depth of character not often seen in the pre-"Yaay!" period. Maybe I'm just seeing things that are not there, but Hibito does appear much more serious than before, and not just in his speech and behavior, but in the way he is drawn as well.

Well observed, I'd not really thought of that but now you mention it I think you're right!

Spoiler for ep.73:

Mutta's solution seemed quite sensible in many ways. Soften the suspension to cushion the bumps, and his navigation system looked do-able.
Putting up a lunar GPS would involve launching a load of satellites to orbit the moon, so his idea of using already available 3D mapping to generate a route-map displayed on the windscreen looked quite plausible.

[Kanon]

With the recaps and the Hibbit segments, the episodes are getting really short. It's not as bad as One Piece yet but it's getting there.

The solution Mutta came up with was very interesting. It's efficient and it doesn't seem like it would cost too much money. Mission accomplished.

[Kirarakim]

I still like the story overall but I have become less enthused each week. I don't know if it is because each episode seems slower or because there is no episode count.

I probably would never have started if I knew it was a series that was not going to have a set ending (I believe in the beginning we were given an episode count of 48). The only reason I didn't stop watching is it is so rare to get a series about adults. But in general I try not to follow long running series.

So while I still think it is a good series I am starting to lose interest. I still have to watch the latest episode.

[FlareKnight]

A pretty solid solution by Mutta. Nice that his work in the past actually is helping him in the present. Also shows that he did have some good coworkers back there. That solution is a clever one that is certainly doable. Considering how the scenery on the moon is pretty much the same it's a good idea to give them a kind of digital road to follow that will help keep their focus and let them avoid any unexpected pitfalls.

[ookamigirl]

Peter is pretty LOL sometimes..
Mutta truly is an engineering genius!
His ideas really surprise and amaze me at the same time.
The flying cars and flashbacks to Mutta's time at the car company were pretty nice.
Interesting episode this time.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

The recap length each week is significant, but I think I'm actually more bothered by the 30-second "thematic" recap not having been changed since the flight school plotline has already been resolved.

For me, Mutta's buggy solution seems affected by Technology Marches On: Windshield-projected items have been rolling out in luxury cars for the past few years, and likely would be widespread in cars 12-13 years from now, in the series's setting. The navigation method itself isn't too complex, even without a satellite-based navigation system.

It seems to me that using that many microturbines to lift a car would be less weight-efficient than using a few larger turbines to do the same.

[GDiddy]

Originally Posted by Kirarakim

I still like the story overall but I have become less enthused each week. I don't know if it is because each episode seems slower or because there is no episode count.

I probably would never have started if I knew it was a series that was not going to have a set ending (I believe in the beginning we were given an episode count of 48). The only reason I didn't stop watching is it is so rare to get a series about adults. But in general I try not to follow long running series.

So while I still think it is a good series I am starting to lose interest. I still have to watch the latest episode.

This is the way I'm starting to feel:

I still enjoy the story for the most part but I"m not having fun watching this and it feels out of habit now. I'm going to still stick until the end, because I want to see how Mutta and Hibito end up but if I had've known this was going to run really long with no end in sight, I don't think I would've stayed.

But there's no anime other than a few titles that have adults presented in a somewhat realistic matter...and that they're not cops or Survey Corps or someone's parent

[Utsuro no Hako]

I don't mind the length of the series, but the filler material is bothersome. Between recaps, credits and Hibbit we're down to about 15 minutes of content each week. It's to the point that you could skip every other episode and not miss anything because the recaps are so extensive.

I see that since they've cut back on the amount of actual content, the manga scanlations have gone from keeping pace with the anime to being ten chapters ahead. I'm giving serious thought to switching to that so I can just get the story without all the filler.

[Tenzen12]

Anime is running out of manga content and it should catch up with it in few episodes (And it's becoming rather obvious.)

I wonder how it will affect this show when that happen

[SeijiSensei]

Rather than projecting a map for a human to drive, why doesn't the buggy drive itself?

I'm with Endless Knackwurst thinking the solution seemed a bit lame given the state of current automotive technology. It takes guts to set a story twenty or thirty years into the future. The technologies cannot be implausibly advanced beyond current reality, yet still advanced enough to be "science fiction." Dennou Coil handled this problem extremely well, and Space Brothers has too for the most part. This story about the buggy seems a bit behind the times when it comes to automotive technologies.

I laugh every time I see the car protruding from the Miracle Car building.

GPS wouldn't be hard to implement especially if the satellites were aligned to cover the 35% of the moon's area that the Kagura II mapped. Even without GPS, if the 3D maps were good enough, the routing should be pretty easy to plot. If it were up to me to design the hardware, I'd include a small surveillance robot that could scamper out ahead of the manned vehicle to check for obstacles or the occasional alien being.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

If it were up to me to design the hardware, I'd include a small surveillance robot that could scamper out ahead of the manned vehicle to check for obstacles or the occasional alien being.

A few episodes back I had suggested attaching a camera on a mast over the rover that scanned ahead... they don't have to worry about trees and bridges, so height is less of an issue. Using more of today's auto technology, put a laser rangefinder/radar up there also. It shouldn't weigh a huge amount (certainly less than 300 kg), would give a few seconds' more warning, and they'd be able to improve their maps as they go.

Car protruding from building: Considering that the boss's desk is shaped like the driver's seat and dashboard, I wonder if some top exec has their office, complete with car-console desk, sitting in the "windshield" area of the car in the building.