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「白煙天国」 (Hakuen Tengoku)
“Smoky Heaven”
Well I never thought Mutta would be one to launch into a speech about justice. Okay, that’s not entirely true – it’s something I can definitely see him doing given his personality, but it still made me laugh under the circumstances. Especially when you add the hypocrisy of his statements while on the air to the mix!
I have to admit to being a little bit disappointed with this turn of events – this is possibly the first time the series’ humour has actually got in the way of allowing something both serious and exhilarating to take place. This was a chance for Mutta to shine and show off his abilities, but instead the entire event was resolved through an elaborate series of mishaps. While on the outside, it still works in Mutta’s favour (most people are unaware that it was accidental), it just doesn’t sit right with me when I know that he could have done something about it while actually using his wit and skills. Maybe I should have expected it given how frequently humour has been used throughout the anime, especially around Mutta, but that doesn’t really improve the situation in my eyes. It feels like a missed opportunity to show us viewers that even Mutta can be serious when the situation calls for it.
Back to Mutta’s TV debut, I’m not surprised to see him get carried away and launch into a motivational speech about truth and justice (especially since we all know how the American population is portrayed in media). If Ozzy’s slight omissions hadn’t been enough to get him to fully take advantage of the situation, the expectant eyes of the audience (especially a certain pair) would have been extremely hard to resist. Sometimes it’s easy to tell people what they want to hear, especially when you know how disappointed they will be to hear something else.
Ozzy may have bent the truth a little (particularly in his neglect to mention Appo), but he still came very close to the truth when he spoke about the culprit. Mutta may not have realised it at the time, but I’m sure many viewers (myself included) were tipped off by his observations regarding the lone man eating an expensive meal despite his poorly-kept appearance. They often say that you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their shoes and their general state of maintenance, but I’m not a psychologist so there really isn’t a great deal I can say on the subject.
The look on Hibito’s face as he hears that Mutta is on TV was priceless to behold. I have to wonder whether he’s feeling a little bit of jealousy deep down – Mutta has become a hero to the public now. To see him go on a talk show to boast about the skill his brother failed to exercise in an earlier training simulation might be a little hard to bear. Not only that, but all the reporters who would usually want to talk to Hibito – the ‘Samurai Boy’ from Japan who’s training to be the first Japanese person to go to the moon – now want him to talk about his brother instead of himself. Any normal being would be hard-pressed not to feel at least a little jealousy here. But then again, Hibito’s loyalty and pride towards his brother likely trumps that.
As the episode closes, we finally have some new plot points to mull over. With the discovery of Hibito’s will, it looks like the anime is finally about to start delving into the dangers of spaceflight. I would imagine these wills have some relation to this ‘Brian Jay‘ that Hibito seems to look up to. The way the scene was handled and the lack of his presence so far strongly suggests that he’s no longer in the world. If I had to guess, I’d suspect that he was killed during an accident, either in training or on a mission, though this remains to be seen.
Random thoughts:
- ‘Luck is what you make of it.’ It really is – anyone can be lucky, but it takes some measure of skill to put that luck to good use.
- There’s something funny about how Director ‘Fires-of-Evil‘ Nasuda claims to have liked Mutta.
- What?! They haven’t eliminated buffering by 2025?! Nooooooo!
- Oh, I somehow forgot to talk about Mutta passing. I guess it was a foregone conclusion by this point though. That and the fact that it was dragged out so long it feels as though it became a lesser plot point.
- I’m sure I’m not the only one happy to see that Serika and Kenji are finally back next week!
Full-length images: 04, 08, 17, 33.
Preview
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Omake
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Yaaaay, Mutta passed! 😀
I’m a bit annoyed too about the lack of Mutta using his skills, but hey, I’m just so glad he passed in the end. ^_^
I been through life and luck is one part of excelling your life. Never let go a great chance when you think this will be a great benefit(Of course you already checked and guaranteeing it through research of course) to you.
Even if we have the skill, without luck, everything is just the same.
Mutta already should have been an astronaut before if he had better luck. Its just that his bad luck keeps his confidence down every time it occurs resulting to no confidence in using his full potential skill a.k.a afraid of making mistakes.
I really think that bad luck is also part of good luck cause you can only see experience more things than a lucky person has.
There was a funny omake in the manga when Mutta was celebrating and planking on the walls, two guys walked in on him, paused and walked right under him.
Here it is.
http://imgbox.com/aatzM0dG
Mutta would be good at karuta!
Actually, I find it extremely hilarious that Mutta ended up saving the day due to his bad luck. It’s just so typical of him!
I don’t think that Hibito is jealous of Mutta since he looks up to him truly.
Also, It was eerie and ominous on how Hibito wrote wills and is prepared to die and how their parents are prepared for him to die. It’s just so sad. Your dream job would of course have any danger. I was happy throughout the episode but felt saddened about that. It’s just so sad. T_T
Overall, I’m liking Uchuu Kyoudai more than I expected. Even more so than this season’s favorite Sakamichi no Apollon.
Saki Achiga-hen + Uchuu Kyoudai marathon will really make you happy throughout the day.
Lastly, Uchuu Kyoudai has the best ending this season, hands down. It seems so.. wistful and sad yet at the same time quite happy and and, well I really don’t know how to explain. It’s just filled with a mix of emotions and I really love it.
Hmm… I for one would have been disappointed with Mutta saving the day in traditional anime fashion – it would have been OOC both for him and the series. I see this as a long overdue balancing of the cosmic scales, and the larger message that “sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good” is one I’ve found to be true.
I also don’t see Hibito as jealous of Mutta at all. I think he found the whole thing rather hilarious.
I agree that it’s extremely unlikely Hibito is jealous of Mutta.
As to the former, Mutta is training to be an astronaut and while sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, leaving everything up to luck in the dangerous situations astronauts are constantly subjected to would probably not be a great call. We know Mutta has at least some of the skills required to be an astronaut – we’ve seen him demonstrate them, though always out of context from the profession he’s aiming towards. What I really wanted to see was Mutta prove that when faced with a situation similar in nature to what he might encounter as an astronaut he can conquer it on his own merits alone.
I was expecting Mutta to headbutt Fire Extinguisher Man in anger, but hey, all is good in the world of Uchuu Kyodai. The Agony of Doha has been avenged. XD
With the American media calling him a hero now, it seems to me that Mutta has tapped his inner “Ciaphas Cain: HERO OF THE IMPERIUM” persona; while allegedly running away to save his own skin (as he himself said to Ozzy), he sees Apo and tries to save the dog, ultimately doing a “heroic” deed in the process by sheer luck. Leave it up to the American media and the audience to further inflate his reputation.
If my guess is correct, Mutta’s not-entirely-undeserved reputation for heroism will come back to bite him in the near future. Should Mutta become an astronaut (of course he has to succeed eventually, any other outcome would leave us anime-only viewers platinum mad), he’ll probably volunteer, or be volunteered for the hardest missions, where he use his skills, luck and determination to get the job done, which will further inflate his reputation.
Namba Mutta: HERO OF JAXA. XD
Solar eclipse mentioned in the anime.
I think it is very interesting that this event happened by chance. Just a few episodes before the slick-haired dude said that luck is a necessary attribute of an astronaut, and lo and behold guess what? Mutta has luck on his side.
Dem American girls…