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「久しぶりの空」 (Hisashiburi no Sora)
“A Long-Awaited Glimpse of the Sky”
At last the day has finally come! Perhaps it was intentional, but the sheer length of time this arc ran for has led to an enhanced feeling of empathy for the candidates in their freedom. It’s almost as if the producers wanted us to experience exactly what they were feeling as time pushed on. Had it only been a couple of episodes devoted to the two weeks they’d spent sealed away, the final conclusion would probably not feel anywhere near as relieving as it actually does. That’s not to say an Endless Eight situation would be a good thing, but the continued development through each episode actually made the arc entertaining to watch. Or at least it did for me.
As usual, this episode has a lot of focus on dreams. Upon exiting the building (it seems those who guessed that they were still on the JAXA premises were correct!) and seeing the sun for the first time in weeks, Mutta stops to stare at the moon – essentially the embodiment of his dreams. While the others continue off into the distance, obviously relieved to finally be free, Mutta’s first thought is still a fixation on outer space.
Rather than tell us outright exactly which two from Team A (and of slightly lesser importance, Team B) were chosen, the episode instead gradually wheedles out a few of those who were not selected by their teams, namely Kenji, Mutta and Furuya. Given that only one additional person will be chosen to accompany those six (according to the preview at any rate), either Kenji or Mutta will end up being left behind and Furuya certainly has next to no chance of advancing. A fair bit of time is actually spent making sure we’ll definitely feel bad for the latter when he doesn’t succeed this time – his big dreams born from such a small source (not all dreams have to be propagated by something major) and that he refused to give up on even when he realised that he couldn’t succeed under the original testing requirements contribute to this. While his refusal to be deterred regardless of the apparent impossibility was admirable, Uchuu Kyoudai shows us once again just how much of a role luck plays in everyday life – the chance he was given only came about because someone else – Baba Hiroto (Hirose Masashi) – had faced a similar situation and done something about it. Even if Furuya is left behind this time, we can rest assured that he’s unlikely to give up trying.
So the really big question (which I had hoped would be answered this week) remains – who is going onwards to what will hopefully be the final stage in the selection process? Of Team A it will be two of either Serika, Nitta or Fukuda. I wonder if they’ll somehow decide to make an unusual exception and take both Kenji and Mutta? I guess we can only wait and see!
tl;dr: @MoombaDS – The third tests finally come to a close in yet another episode with a focus on dreams. #SpaceBros
Random thoughts:
- Good to see Nasuda remains as eccentric as ever!
- They say you can tell a lot from a person’s signature – Kenji’s signed puzzle certainly seems like a testament to this.
- Despite his attempts to copy Kenji’s style, Mutta’s afro is having none of it.
- Nitta totally came out of nowhere! He’s a ninja!
Full-length images: 02, 03, 08, 20, 30, 34.
Preview
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Omake
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This episode… made me SMILE 🙂
Totally LOVED how it ended XD
Now onto the future! SPACE, the FINAL frontier~!
They torture us :). We know know that 2 of 5 not made it. Still 1 to go…
Looks like they learned to build up Tension and keep it high 🙂
I didn’t know Furuya was THAT short! My 14-year old sister is taller than that! 156cm! Furuya’s short!
Anyways, I’m thinking the one who won the Rock Paper Scissors were Serika and Nitta. Fukuda, Furuya and Mutta lost.
Argh! Next episode can’t come sooner!
NO…. why can’t we know the Rock Paper Scissors results?!! NO……
My guess is that Serika and Fukuda won because of that emphasis earlier that, with a completely objective measure, they would have probably lost because their times as astronauts would be much shorter than the other three. So to have Mutta’s RPS method reverse that outcome would be ironic.
Agreed, I think it was Serika and Fukuda as well. Both have shorter timetables to enter space so it would make sense to have them go first. From a story standpoint ofc.
I think Serika is a shoe-in. But to be honest, I think it’s going to be Nitta. Crushing the old man’s dream is dramatically a stronger story than seeing Nitta lose. Of Course I would love to see Fukuda on his way toward space. While Nitta (The Rock) ends up as a yoga instructor surrounded by alot of beautiful lightly clad women!
Natsuda claps just like me. no wonder hes such a likable character.
I just realized – I’m too tall to go into space! NOOOOOES!!!
*dreams have been shattered*
According to performance scores, Serika and Nitta were on top. After the rock paper scissors, it was implied that the most qualified won anyway. Nitta would have shown a much stronger disgruntled reaction if he lost, as he knows he got the best scores and least liabilities. Serika, being the main character’s love interest, is probably protected by plot armor.
I’m waaay too attracted to Serika. Help.