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「有利な男と走る女医」 (Yuuri na Otoko to Hashiru Joi)
“The Man with the Advantage and the Running Female Doctor”
At this point, I’m really starting to wonder what it is that’ll put Mutta ahead of the other candidates. The only aspect that really shines so far is his strong desire to succeed and I’m sure that most, if not all, the others struggling through these tests feel exactly the same. Over the course of this episode, Mutta comes face to face with just how under qualified he is compared to everyone else who’s taking the tests alongside him. His endurance is lower, his knowledge is inferior (though why he would need to know the former administrator’s hobbies is beyond me) and despite his resolve, his confidence is lower.
All that trumpet playing he did as a child apparently paid off though, allowing him to come so very close to being the candidate with the highest lung capacity. If only he hadn’t lost concentration at the last moment! It was good to finally see Mutta succeeding at something, if only for a few minutes, and if he had to lose to anyone, at least it was the girl coming out on top of all the physical tests.
Speaking of Serika, I was hoping we’d see more of her this episode (not just for Sawashiro Miyuki) and wasn’t disappointed! The latter half of the episode focused quite a bit on both her and her past. She seems to keep a very detailed diary about the important events of the day and… the food she ate! Maybe it goes along with being a doctor and wanting to keep track of her diet or something, or maybe she just likes food, who knows! Wait… is she actually writing rather than causing mysterious squiggles to appear?
I once heard that certain types of girls often compare potential love interests to their fathers (disclaimer: I have no idea how true this actually is). If this is the case, then Mutta’s strange actions in the face of the spacesuit – mirroring Serika’s father – seem a good indicator of what’s to come. Not to mention the romantic cue being played as Serika notices said actions! Or the frequent smiles and blushes! Or the fact that she thought he was suspicious! Wait, that last one is a little off. Regardless, I’d say that if it was relatively obvious in the previous episode that there would be romantic feelings involved, in this episode it’s blatantly so.
Perhaps it’s a little unfair, but most of the candidates seem to believe that Mutta has an edge – what with being the elder brother of an astronaut and all. Perhaps this does give him some sort of advantage – it’s entirely possible that those going over the applications and test results might consider him a more promising choice based on hereditary traits (and a certain amount of bias). This edge, however fictional it may be, means that should he fail, Mutta will fall even harder. In the eyes of the other candidates it would prove that even with an advantage over them, he still couldn’t cut it. I wonder if Mutta will be able to handle that sort of pressure.
Even though they may have been teasing, the two young candidates had a point. Mutta could have asked Hibito for details about the tests he’d have to undergo in order to allow him to be better prepared for them (particularly that secret test). I somehow doubt that the questions on the written exams would be the same though! But perhaps, in the long run, it’s better if Mutta gets through entirely on his own merit. If he were to rely too much on Hibito, would he really be taking steps to put himself back in the lead?
Random thoughts:
- Mutta no ecchi! It’s fairly obvious how the doctor knew what kind of thoughts Mutta was having…
- My suspicions about Kenji being the cool and collected type seem to have been spot on given how he calmly analyses and justifies their chances of success in a logical manner.
- Looks like there are still great reaction faces everywhere!
- Pacing felt a teeny bit slow this episode, but it looks like we’ll be seeing Hibito again next time (presumably undergoing zero-gravity training)!
- Fun fact: ThinkPad is the only laptop brand certified for use on the International Space Station (tip courtesy of Zephyr)!
Preview
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Omake
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Firstly let me get the fanboi out of me first by saying I’m like totally a Mutta x Serika shipper already. Secondly, what no cap of Mutta’s though bubble during the examination?
Some of my thoughts on Serika. She seems like the stereotypical professional woman who feels she excels in everything because that is the only way she will get ahead in this patriarchal society. In this episode we see that not only does she beat all the boys, but she absolutely dominates in the tests. Also, she has neat handwriting for a doctor.
This is purely speculation, but it seems to be the general way most plots develop,
Show Spoiler ▼
Ah! I knew I forgot something. Here, super secret 37th cap!
Honestly, she doesn’t strike me as that type of person at all. She just seems to be really determined to become an astronaut(probably inspired by her father).
I like the pairing (and I love the fact that neither of these characters are especially good-looking – just plain, ordinary people). But it’s a bit off to see Mutta crushing on Serika in one scene, and then hear Sawashiro Miyuki voicing young Mutta in the next. She doesn’t do much to change her voice so that just comes off a bit odd for me – not a choice I would have made.
Ahem… I’ll most certainly get down-voted again just for saying this… but the fact that she doesn’t vary her voice much lately (on top of the fact that she’s in so many concurrent series) show she is doing too much.
LOL ed through the whole episodes
As did I. I was laughing so hard, by the end of the show I had tears in my eyes.
Man, I’m really enjoying “Space Sundays”. Between Mouretsu Pirates and this, I feel like a kid again reading about space exploration. Kinda…..
Loving those Lenovo ThinkPads in the Space Photo.
Back in college 10 years ago, a lot of ppl used Thinkpads and they were built like a tank. I’ve seen them fall from open backpacks into the ground and still work like if nothing happened.
Hey guys, help me out here.
Unless all of you Uchuu Kyoudai watchers know japanese, where are the subbed versions for this? Or did the fansubs name this one with another title?
You’ll probably find it under ‘Space Brothers.’
Indeed it is. Thank you for your help mate
I’m with Kou when it comes to shipping Mutta x Serika. Spaceshipping!!! All aboard the Mutta x Serika Spaceship. XD
I’m wondering, if the candidates are staying in a nice hotel, how do they pay for it? I mean, Mutta’s current job as a car repairman doesn’t seem to pay a lot. Is JAXA funding their stay at the hotel? Or does the cash come out of the individual candidates’ pockets?
Imagine if this happened:
Show Spoiler ▼
I FEEL SO MOON! XD
Since they all seem to be staying in the same hotel, I would guess JAXA is probably funding it… unless it’s the only hotel anywhere nearby!
I LOL-ed the first minute into the show and by the end of the episode, there was this silly grin on my face. Mutta’s such a dork but he might just be my favorite character of the spring season
Great shout out for ThinkPad. I’m a long time supporter of that boxy black piece of tin can 😉
Well, he is an accomplished engineer and, as we seen in the previous episode car repair scene, he is competent not only in design or theory, but can do more hands-on stuff. These younger guys might have more endurance, but that’s not gonna help them much when oxygen regeneration module break down halfway to the Mars.
That may be true, but there is a minimum level of fitness required to be an astronaut (which Mutta will hopefully have passed) and as Kenji mentioned, you need to be above average in all aspects.
Mutta may have excellent mechanical and design skills, but it’s likely that all the other candidates are also highly skilled. To top this, the general selection process for an astronaut favours someone who is more of a jack of all trades than a specialist – it would take an extraordinary event for Mutta to be chosen solely on his merits as a mechanic. A situation would have to arise in which he could prove that he would be invaluable on the mission for those reasons alone. Of course, it’s entirely possible we’ll see that happen!
I couldn’t stop laughing when Mutta started thinking of Serika during the exam.
Don’t think of that now! Later!
I really enjoyed watching Mutta feeling like a total dork when she spotted him looking into the visor- then he catches her doing the exact same thing.
I get the suspicion that the way Mutta is going to be “ahead” of Hibito in life at the end of the show is that he’ll get married before him, to Serika, right after they get back from the moon or something…
Another nice show!
Just watched the 3 eps.
Interesting to see how astronauts get selected.
Anyway, the website for the coming live-action movie:
http://www.spacebrothers-movie.com/
Thanks for the link! That made me want to see the movie!
Nothing to do with the actual episode… but when you said “I once heard that certain types of girls often compare potential love interests to their fathers”, I just thought of Sankarea (are you watching it?) lol, not a good comparison I know T_T
OH! And I do think that’s true to some extent… learned in psychology that females tend to look for significant others that mirror their fathers =S
I am watching Sankarea (and enjoying it too)! I’m pretty sure that if Rea compared potential love interests to her father, it would be to find someone as different as feasibly possible! 😛
Interesting to know that it seems to be true from a psychological viewpoint – I’m guessing it’s something that’s buried pretty deep in the subconcious rather than a concious decision though!
I think Mutta comes off across a lot better to the people around him than he does to us viewers. Remember that though we get access to his inner anxiety and worries, the way he responds to stress is to keep his mouth shut and not say anything. Check out screen shot #26 for a great illustration of this.
Sad thing about this program is NASA will never do missions on the moon nor any other planet. We have to wait for the new power house China or Russia to see man on Mars.
Space the Final Frontier lol and our last salvation.
I had a longer reply to this, but the internet screwed up.
Suffice to say the Russians have just as many funding problems as NASA, probably more, so don’t worry too much about them outstripping NASA. The Chinese have good momentum, but it’s going to take them a lot of time before they can match NASA’s technical know-how. Don’t count NASA out yet. Although it’s true NASA has funding issues.
My main hope is the new civilian space sector, which is growing at an amazing rate and has finally begun putting actual ships in space.
just wait until China (or lesser extent Russia, although I highly doubt Russia can do it, better to hope for developing nations like Brazil or China who hasn’t done anything in space and therefore have more upside) to send a few people to moon and announce their plan to set up a permanent moon base with telescopes that can zoom into white house’s bathroom. US and NASA will set up a moon base within 2 years. US won’t lead space frontier, but just an sliver of imaginary military threat comes along, we are there in a heartbeat.
The reason Mutta needed to know the guy’s hobbies is because that’s the kind of trivia crap that the Japanese associate with really hard tests. They learn by rote memorization, meaning they tend to learn lists of trivia, often rather minor trivia at that (I lived in Japan).
I love Japan, but there take on testing always frustrates me.