「犯人はこの中にいる」 (Hannin wa Kono Naka ni Iru)
“The Culprit Is in the Room”

There were no major surprises this episode but rather the confirmation of everything we’ve been able to deduce about what’s been going on. It would seem that everything I speculated in episode fifteen has proven true – JAXA has been assigning tasks to further build on the tensions that are already present and they’ve been doing it via the regular health checks (partially at any rate). This episode actually decided to come out and reveal that everything so far has been done to cause stress – I’m not entirely sure why that was necessary since it seemed pretty obvious anyway.

Given that these green cards are designed to simulate situations where someone makes a mistake (and possibly doesn’t want to own up to it too, though that’s probably a lesser concern), it’s rather ironic that such a mistake would actually occur within the team without any influence from JAXA. Serika’s decision to finally come clean about the food shortage to Mutta (who has impeccable timing) must’ve lifted quite a weight – we’ve seen just how much she’s been suffering silently by forgoing her own meals to try and hide it. Mutta’s knowledge of the green cards plays in her favour too, since he immediately makes the assumption that it was done at JAXA’s orders (I guess she was lucky there). The scenes which immediately follow worry me a little. We can see that Hoshika has registered Mutta’s attraction to Serika and we’re aware from the preview that he’ll be getting a green card next week. Why can’t I shake the feeling that it will be designed to create tension in that particular relationship? To drive a wedge between the two and see how they cope?

There was also something rather heart-warming about the handshake following Mutta’s sudden recollection of Jennifer’s words on the green cards. Somehow it paved the way to restabilising the relationships within Team A – for those moments at least, they were back to how things were prior to the clock breaking. Mutta truly is one of the most suited to be an astronaut – it was his perceptiveness and choice of words that led to lessening the tensions that were continuing to build. None of the members really want to cause this stress – that much can be seen from Furuya’s reluctance to continue setting the alarm off on a daily basis. Not a single one of them is a terrible person. Team B isn’t quite as lucky on that front – I can’t see them managing to relieve tension in a similar manner.

tl;dr: @MoombaDS – With revelations and Mutta’s charm, tensions in Team A finally relieve a little. #SpaceBros

Random thoughts:

  • I don’t think Mutta deals very well with lack of sleep…
  • Trust him to come up with the correct answer and also throw in a dumb one!
  • I wasn’t expecting to hear that Fukuda and Hoshika took the tests together back in 2008. It’s no surprise though really since tests only happen infrequently and we’re aware that both had participated in them at some point.
  • Who are they?‘ It’s not quite the ‘ehhh’ some people may have hoped for, but it’s close!

Full-length images: 02, 04, 05, 06, 08, 10, 17, 22, 27, 29.

 

Preview

Omake

19 Comments

  1. I’m glad I can count on this show to bring some levity to my anime enjoyment. After this weeks SAO and Accel World, I needed a palate cleanser from all the heavy gloom those two came with.

    Namzor
  2. Dunno, i begin to lose interest to follow this Anime. Lately it is to much “Big Brother” is watching you.

    Someone knowns, when they get out of this Tube? Until then it is only “Mind Yedi tricks” stuff. No real progression.

    Well, this Test is about to select 2 out of the team at the end. right?

    Germanguy
    1. Checking the manga again, they’re covering around 2-3 chapters per episode, 1 volume of the manga each 4-5 eppisodes of the anime. At this current rate, it’ll take another two, maybe three episodes to finish the test, not counting the long epilogue that follows. We’re currently finishing vol 4 and Hibito launches to the Moon on Vol. 7 and returns to earth around Vol. 9, but it’s interwoven with Mutta’s story.

      If you can’t tolerate the story in Space Brothers as currently is, I don’t think you should continue to watch it. Because I’ve read till Vol. 17 so far and it’s about the trial and tribulations of the astronauts on earth than anything else. After the test yeah Show Spoiler ▼

      Even in the manga outside Hibito’s moon mission they are barely scratching the training for another mission to the Moon, and Mars seem so far way. If you can’t tolerate how they manage the story on a two week test, imagine a 6 months trip to Mars, if ever they do, since the manga hasn’t yet.

      Kamui04
  3. I think the outline scene of Jennifer was a bit too drawn out… it was funny at first, but to repeat the whole thing is a tad too repetitive for my taste.

    Having said that, the episode was very entertaining indeed. The contrast between A and B’s team dynamic is so large, I’m seriously at a loss on how they could not choose most of Team A (yeah, I don’t really like Nitta that much) as opposed to everyone else (even the forgotten Team C).

    Although, if I was in such a test environment, I wouldn’t have needed to have been told about the “green cards” to comprehend that something fishy was afoot. Maybe it’s just the conspiracy theorist in me, but when something goes wrong in a controlled (and monitored) environment and nothing of the sort had happened for the first 10 days, the logical conclusion would be that there was outside influence.

    And Serika’s thought process on the reactions of her teammates is exactly the same way I would have judged them if I were in her position. I LOLed at Nitta-super-saiyan XD

    Ddadain
  4. Only he knows about the green cards. And he may not reveal to everyone what he knows. Maybe he’s not suppose to reveal it. In any case, serika is still on the hook with the rest of the group. I cant wait to see how they react.

    hwighting
  5. Seriously, you did not know how hard I laughed when Mutta came to the conclusion that Serika received a green card! AHAAH! Mutta’s judgement of Serika clouded his mind because of feelings!

    I don’t know why people are getting bored of this anime. Just enjoy this as it is and not for the plot. This is the kind of anime you should be watching after a hard day at work!

    underMebius
    1. Well i dunno… Lets try this

      It is nearly the same for me like Star Trek TNG and Star Trek (The Bajor Space-station) Series. In TNG we get to see new “Galaxies” and so on. the Space-station used Shuttles to travel. But at the end, they stand on the same Place, on the Space-station. So the Progress happened around them, while they stand still.

      it is nearly the same here for me. Hope i could bring my toughs better now

      Germanguy
  6. In this episode some truths have come out. Though all these truths could be deduced from the previous episodes,it was a sort of tension reliever to see them in this episode. But there should be no repeats of the same incident. On the whole this episode was a very entertaining one.

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