So many things can delay a launch; will a lost dog be one of them?

What They Say:
Two days are left before the launch. First, the lunar lander Artemis goes into space on Mars V. Afterwards, Hibito and the rest of the crew will head into space on Mars 1.

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While much of the series has naturally been about Mutta, it’s also spent some good time with Hibito. Often we get it in the context of his relationship to Mutta, but there’s been a good bit of attention paid to the fact that he is the one that is going into space and to the moon at that. With it just down to days before the launch, there’s certainly a lot of excitement going on and even Hibito is getting all excited and keen on what will come. With multiple missions at hand to get everything up into space for the overall mission, there’s a lot involved and we get a good little bit of education about it early on in a fun way here.

The show delves nicely into the mechanics of the operation, giving us a Mars V launch that shows the Artemis getting into space and all the excitement that comes with it. That spills over more into Mutta than one might expect, though it’s conflicting with the way that he feels like he’s never really shown true support for Hibito. With his giving up early on the dream of space because of how hard it was, and seeing that Hibito went and achieved it, there’s certainly some issues still there, but Mutta knows that he needs to do more overall. But it also shows just how dedicated that Mutta is and his real potential as he’s made it as far as he has now and has the support of so many. But that support gnaws at him too since it comes back to him not giving it properly to his own brother.

The launch day event itself is a mixed bag of events, especially since the weather is so unsettled and causing the whole launch to potentially be delayed. There’s a lot going on with this mission and as noted, Hibito has a special role as the first Japanese to go and the youngest as well for a moon mission, so the press side is strong. Seeing the small movements here as everyone comes to watch but knows that things are uncertain is intriguing as it shows more of their personalities in a way we haven’t seen much of before. There’s a good bit of tension that comes into the show at this stage for a number of reasons, and the somber weather definitely adds really nicely to it. The bit towards the end to add some drama with Apo just left me unsettled though since I don’t like to see dogs involved in this way.

In Summary:
Space Brothers has handled the American side of the show quite well overall, but this episode plays a bit loose with things, realistic as it may be to some degree, with the two American kids brought into it. With the spiky hair or mohawk and one of them cussing up a storm, it just takes you out of things more than it should. While most of the American aspects of the show have complemented it well, this is that rare time where it just distracts instead. There’s a lot to like with the episode overall though as it inches us closer to a launch that must happen and we get to see Mutta struggling just a little bit more over his relationship with his brother, something that has eaten at him for years.

Grade: B+

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.