And so, we unofficially are joining in this 12 Days of Anime business.
I guess the term here is yay!
I say unofficially because it started on Saturday, and yet, we’re starting on Monday. The reason is because Naru suggested we take part in it last Monday, I sent out emails to some of the team just to get a feel if they wanted to take part, then either Wednesday or Thursday I sent an email asking if anyone wanted to do anything and left dates on what to take. We all took dates. So yeah, we’ll be running past the Christmas Day deadline, but uh, we’ll accept our punishment with class. Or…grace I guess.
Anyways, enough apologizing. I better talk about an anime that has not had a very favorable 2013, and that, is Space Brothers.
Space Brothers is a long running seinen manga by Chuya Koyama (Serialized in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning Magazine) that eventually got an anime, and that anime started in April 2012. It has not stopped since. That means it has not stopped trying to convince everyone that Mutta, our Afro protagonist that pulled a Zidane to his boss, won’t eventually go into space and land on the moon with his more accomplished younger brother, Hibito. Now, in a way, for a premise like this to still keep going since last year is great. Usually these types of anime fail to get any high ratings in Japan, and there’s no high school setting or anything like that in here to maintain that much interest. And yet, it actually had its time changed because it got solid ratings. The problem is that it has to get cheap, since the longer a series goes, the more it needs to pad time so it never catches up to the manga. Now all of a sudden, it feels plodding, and with Mutta getting no closer to ever getting into space (or even spending some fine time with his love interest, Serika), it also feels like a waste of time. Last year there were a healthy amount of people talking about the series. Nowadays you can probably find maybe 5…or 6 people. It’s now gotten to the point where if it’s long running, it’s not worth the time anymore. You can also assert that you can find more mediocre anime to waste your time on, but even with my fanboy glasses on, I can tell A-1′s taking it easy with the anime and letting the manga do most of the work, which is not conductive to getting people to stick with you.
But despite all that, something in Space Brothers compels me to keep going week after week, and even when I get behind, to catch right back up. I have no idea why, other than maybe it’s a shot at my psyche. After all, I was once a kid too, and I had dreams to go places. Well, I mostly just wanted to do something big, and as far as I know, I haven’t exactly done that. And now watching this 30 something year old manage to go through all these ridiculous examinations JAXA’s been putting him through (and yeah, there’s a lot of them) and manage to succeed anyways is, in a way, kind of a reflection of where I am right now. Or maybe it’s because Mutta makes me laugh a lot. Or maybe it’s because NASA and space is involved. Or maybe Space Brothers is just a good weekly watch. Nothing that’ll blow me away, but also nothing to make me give up on.
Anyways, short spiel on Space Brothers is over. Now I’m talking about what turned out to be the best stretch of the anime, and it happened at the start of the year. It was essentially the last time a lot of people were hyped over an arc in this show, and it revolved around Hibito and his time in space. This, hands down, was the best arc of the series (and maybe still is). Some people complained about the realism of it or something like that, and yet, I was captivated. Why was I captivated?
Because Hibito wasn’t going to die.
“I’m not going to die. I am NOT GOING TO DIE!!!”
He’s the main character of a long running series, so of course he’s not going to die right now. Anyone can figure that out. Yet there I was, as Hibito was essentially getting crushed by air and was screaming and grabbing at his head because of the pain, spent and nearly tearing at that entire scene. The buildup to it was excellent, where you had no choice but to worry about Hibito’s life, but also Damian’s life. All of the decisions leading up to it — for example, when Mutta’s suggestion of where to place the buggy was not listened to — added to that rush. The music had fit that moment as well. It all came together to a point where I was worn out, tired, and could only feel ecstatic that he survived. For 2013, there hasn’t been a lot of anime that have impressed me too much, but I always know Space Brothers will at least be a reliable watch every Saturday morning. So as the anime continues to motor on into 2014 –and probably will continue to motor out of more people’s eyes because of its length — this moment with Hibito will definitely stand out, since it was one of the more intense moments of the year for me.
