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CANSAT – the quicker picker-upper.
Now that I’ve dated myself with that reference, on to Space Brothers #59 – “Rocket Boys Under an October Sky”. As expected, this was the continuation – and seemingly the conclusion – of the show’s homage to Homer Hickham (who tweeted about it this week) courtesy the backstory of Pico and Vince. And to be honest, I’m mostly glad it’s over – there were moments, but on the whole the sequence didn’t really work for me.
I don’t necessarily have issues with the realism of the story. The notion of such a small town such as this existing in the time frame suggested isn’t nearly so outlandish as some younger viewers have complained. Indeed the only real difference between Pico and Vince’s memoir and Hickham’s is time – somewhere between 40-50 years, depending on how old those two are (I’m guessing 40-ish) – and location (Minnesota vs. West Virginia). In the context of the story that latter distinction doesn’t matter a lot, but the former is undeniably important – a lot more mines were a lot less profitable in the first decade of the 21st Century than in the late 1950’s, and a lot fewer fathers would be pushing their sons to work in them. But there are still some, even today, so while the story feels oddly dated as presented here it isn’t totally out of line.
No, my problem is with the execution. Sometimes Uchuu Kyoudai can he pretty ham-handed with the cultural observations of other countries – it tends to do better when looking askance for humor then when trying to be earnest and heartfelt. So even if this flashback was a failure, as we know “an earnest failure has meaning”, and I guess that’s in the stronger bond between Mutta and Pico (and Vince, which will matter more going forward). But dramatically it was kind of a bust – the seiyuu sounded pretty silly, the dialogue was cornball and it was pretty clear all along what was going to happen to Rick Turner (Okitsu Kazuyuki). If Pico and Vince were to be humanized via flashback, I would have preferred a much shorter one – for most of the last two eps I’ve been thinking how much more interesting it would be to listen in on Mutta’s bar conversation with the two of them. We know of at least one interesting thing Vince apparently said – “Team E has had the most accidents, so they’ve improved the most.”
Once that was dealt with, things picked up considerably. We got a very solid dramatic moment when Azuma and his team arrived on the moon – after a rather pompous poem from Freddy Saturn – a scene whose only fault was that I wish it had been longer. Seeing Azuma and Hibito reunited at last was pretty powerful, given what’s passed between them – even Hibito teared up, though to be honest the most moving part for me was the thought that Azuma was finally on the moon himself, after giving up his seat willingly to the Moon Bunny. There was also a tease of the Comeback Competition, which proved Pico really has come on-board with Team Mutta – he tipped them off that there had been spotty rain showers in the desert, which could prove an obvious problem for Mutta’s sponge tires. What will Team E do, likely given only an hour to jury-rig something to deal with mud or even puddles? It seems as if help may come from another Japanese team in the competition, via the man in the “Sea Diver” T-shirt.
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ishruns
May 26, 2013 at 5:23 pmI remember watching October Sky as a kid. Had this feeling of nostalgia throughout this mini arc but couldn't figure why. Thanks for that. As for humanizing them, it really didn't do it. It showed us why they're in the space industry but not why they;ve become so cold or lazy (guessing this will come up later).
Still I want to watch October Sky again. Loved Jake Gyllenhaal in it.
SixFlags
May 26, 2013 at 6:28 pmI didn't know such a movie or book existed. I am looking forward to check the movie out. The summary sound quite sweet!
Thanks for the references!
ishruns
May 26, 2013 at 7:20 pmIt is one of the best coming age movies I've seen in my life. The acting was superb and the rocket aspect was brilliantly handled. Inspiring but real.
ishruns
May 26, 2013 at 7:20 pmA real father and son movie.
Nadavu
May 26, 2013 at 10:55 pmHmm, the scene where teenage Pico is standing with teenage Vince in the aftermath of Rick's death, you can see Pico fishing in his pocket, almost pulling something it out but then letting it go. It was probably that piece of rocket, but I kept thinking it might be a flask instead.
also, I liked how Kitamura and Serika couldn't tell if that asian looking guy is Japanese, Korean or Chinese. Apparently, there really is no way to tell. of course, if you think you have the gift, you should check out the tests in http://alllooksame.com/
Beckett
May 29, 2013 at 4:35 amYeah I thought that was pretty funny too. If this had been an American show I would have thought it was just semi-offensive ignorance. But this is a Japanese show. Are we to assume that even Japanese people can't tell the difference between themselves and Koreans or Chinese? Not even gonna lie I'm gonna feel a lot better about the fact that I can't tell the difference if this turns out to be true.
Nadavu
May 26, 2013 at 10:59 pm(I'm just going to copy-paste myself from the oreimo thread):
I'll try to keep it civil, though it's hard. do you realize that if someone wants to know what happens next, he or she can very easily find that information without your intrusive 'help'? What you're doing is called spoiling, not due to some lingual coincident, but because it quite literally spoils the fun for those who do not want to be forcefully exposed to this information. I'm not sure what your motivation for doing this is. If you're just spoiling for the joy of spoiling, then I guess I'm wasting my time with this reply. But if there's any chance that you are unaware of how immensely annoying your behavior is, then let me assure you that it is just that, only more so. So please, PLEASE don't do it again.
admin
May 26, 2013 at 11:58 pmNext one goes in the spam folder.
Maxulous
June 2, 2013 at 8:19 amProbably partly because I watched the set of episodes in a batch, I liked the Pico/Vince backstory slightly more than I'd thought. The Space Bros. hallmark corny sentimentalism and historical realism notwithstanding I felt how they handled the inevitable death of their buddy successfully mournful and moving. A proper impetus to get them where they are now. Ultimately Picos part felt more relevant to the current events of these episodes – but I'd say I definitely like these two characters more after seeing this.
Conversely I didn't approve of the sudden shift to the moon where Hibito delivered a frustratingly flat reaction to Azuma's arrival. Azuma is a more interesting character than Hibito, so any unlikely shift of focus onto the former is welcome.