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This Week in Anime - Astra Lost in Space is Off to a Stellar Start


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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:38 pm Reply with quote
I liked the first 2 episodes, but wish it did things differently and can't help but feel like the story is massively rushed. The first 20 days is space were completely skipped over. Apparently there relationship literally stayed the same over that time period (there first real time with each others), strange considering the ship they're on seems to be for short distance shuttle trip, so probably no personal quarter or anything like that, you'd think that would cause some tension (along with the limited amount of food).

The first planet was also just a walk in the park, apparently all the food and water is perfectly safe for consumption (something which would be unlikely even if you stayed on earth), the atmosphere is perfectly breathable and gravity is the same as earth. This makes the whole ordeal feel like a walk in the park, so to compensate they introduce the black hole, which just feel arbitrary and random. The only danger came from an incredibly stupid and poor sighted decision (how did the little girl see a flower from the ground? and how did no one see her climb the tree?). Instead they should have made the survival aspect far more important and dangerous.

Also the limit of 20 days for water seems a bit strange, the ship is pretty big, why not bring way more water on it? I'm assuming the water is necessary for the engine (otherwise they should just have everyone stay on the first planet and have the pilot go back to civilization on his own in one trip) but there must be way to fill the tank from the inside of the ship. I think an explanation more like the log pose from one piece would have been better, or really just some technobabble.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 5:41 pm Reply with quote
@meiam
To be fair, the manga skips most of the in between travel time between the planets as well, maybe only showing a few things, but by no means all 20 days. Since apparently no one has character revelations on the ship, it's not the worst thing to skip.

So glad that a 5 volume manga is being made into a 12 ep anime (as opposed to 16 volumes of a 35 volume manga Rolling Eyes )! I feel like it'll end up being just the right length for this series. I'll probably binge it at some point, having already read the manga. Maybe let my mind slip some more on some things (I literally forgot spoiler[who the traitor is, because I recall it really barely mattering in the end])

As for a hidden gem with some similar concepts (trapped in space, traitor, etc), I must insist people watch They Were Eleven (though they know why they're trapped on the ship in this case, it's part of a space university entrance exam and they went willingly, but the traitor thing is still there and the small group of strangers getting along on a spaceship thing)
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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Posts: 2385
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 6:28 pm Reply with quote
I really liked the manga and I like what I've seen of the anime so far, even if they do sacrifice some things that made sense in the manga in favor of some leaps in logic (Why get rid of the rope?!). I do think Funicia's high pitched crying is kinda shrill and annoying, though.

Still wondering how FUNimation is gonna get around to figuring out how Quitterie and Funicia's names are pronounced.
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partially



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 702
Location: Oz
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 6:37 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, I am not sure why there is so much gushing over this. Its setup is banal and it is just chock full of tropes and no interest. In the entire setup, we learnt nothing much more than there are a bunch of rich brats on space camp, and they get lost. Seriously half of that you learnt from the title. The extent of backstory we learn (for any of the characters) is some flavourless sillyness over a teacher dying on a hike. And it makes up for its tediousness by throwing in slapstick and hijinks. Now I love space sci-fi, it is my favourite genre by far. But this is just crap, it brings nothing new to the table, not a shred of originality and is boring to boot. Are people just liking it because there has been such a dearth in the genre of late?

For all its problems even Infinite Ryvius was a better show than this one. They Were Eleven if we want to go even more classic which has already been mentioned.


Last edited by partially on Tue Jul 16, 2019 6:40 pm; edited 2 times in total
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 6:38 pm Reply with quote
zawa113 wrote:
@meiam
To be fair, the manga skips most of the in between travel time between the planets as well, maybe only showing a few things, but by no means all 20 days. Since apparently no one has character revelations on the ship, it's not the worst thing to skip.


I didn't mean rushed in the sense that it's skipping stuff in the manage, I mean rush in the sense that there's obviously should have been 1-2 episodes dedicated to there time in the ship together because locking people in a small area would obviously force them to interact with each others, far more than being on a planet would.
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Kougeru



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 5521
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 9:48 pm Reply with quote
I'm watching 26 shows this season or something like that and this easily had the best first two (er...3 in terms of length I guess) episodes hands-down.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:05 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
there must be way to fill the tank from the inside of the ship.

They did show them pumping water from a stream through a hose. They may or may not have placed it manually.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3629
PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 10:19 pm Reply with quote
I really enjoyed the first two (technically 3) episodes so far. Hopefully it continues to be this good for the rest of the series.

Only two nitpicks I have are the timeline (barely 40 years in the future and there's already space camp? Not to mention that older woman went when she was child...) and that there's only one perfect route home. At least add a little tension with the crew having to decide between two planets even just once.
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:04 pm Reply with quote
I'm wondering how they're making a 300-day trip in five 20-day hops.
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Dfens



Joined: 08 Feb 2013
Posts: 459
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 1:58 am Reply with quote
While the show isn't perfect I enjoyed it so much that I actual went out and acquired the 5 volume manga series and blew right through it all in like 2-3 days.

Not to spoil anything but over the series it explains many things people are wondering or nit picking about. The only draw back is latter on the various plot twists may turn off some fans of the series, and while it didn't affect my liking of the series I can understand if people end up complaining about it.

So to start off it's not going to take 300 days to travel the total 5012 light years distance. If they could travel straight home non stop it would take about 3 months but without unlimited food and water that is just not possible. Now if they stop at 5 planets and resupply then they can do the trip in about 100 days if the last 20 days of supplies holds until they reach home. One thing to take into account how long it takes them on each planet to acquire all the food and water that they will need this will make the trip longer than the 100 days of space travel.

As for advance space travel in only 40 years for civilians much less a bunch of kids on a field trip/space camp type of adventure this will be revealed later on. When it comes down to the route their is only one when you take into account that they only have 20 days of supplies, so no matter what type of planet it is or the dangers they might face they're stuck with these 5 planets on the list.

The ship has plenty of crew quarters, the water problem of only 20 days is because of various factors. Their is 9 people in total and each needs so much water per day, water for showers, cooking, laundry, toilets, and also mentioned in the manga can't remember in the anime they get oxygen from it for the ship. They could stretch the water even longer if they really ruff it and go into pure survival mode but they want to maintain hygiene, physical and mental health, and if possible comfort. It's not like they are in such bad shape they need to starve or put their health at risk.

Their will be ups and downs on the trip back, but one thing I can agree with is the crews lack of caution and treating unfamiliar worlds like a god dam field trip. Many of situations and dangers could be avoided if they took 2 seconds to think things out before leaving the safety of the ship to forage for food and water. This parts always had me screaming at them over and over.
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zenbud



Joined: 02 Jan 2019
Posts: 96
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 2:37 am Reply with quote
Kanata no Astra isn't the first manga on Shonen Jump+ to be adapted (and the manga wasn't digital only, it had print volumes) but EDLive and Gunjou no Magmell.

Also, Jump+ isn't that related to Jump aside from the name. Not only they have different editorial but they have manga not focused in teenagers. The interview was even published here.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:33 am Reply with quote
Dfens wrote:
The ship has plenty of crew quarters, the water problem of only 20 days is because of various factors. Their is 9 people in total and each needs so much water per day, water for showers, cooking, laundry, toilets, and also mentioned in the manga can't remember in the anime they get oxygen from it for the ship. They could stretch the water even longer if they really ruff it and go into pure survival mode but they want to maintain hygiene, physical and mental health, and if possible comfort. It's not like they are in such bad shape they need to starve or put their health at risk.


Wait, so the manga goes out of it's way to specify that the water isn't used by the ship engine and is purely for human consumption? /facepalm, sometime less is more writer.
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Spike Terra
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Joined: 21 Mar 2016
Posts: 358
Location: Maryland
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 11:16 am Reply with quote
Why would Earth Bossun try to sabotage Space Bossun (Kanata)? The sabtouer is obviously Roman as she has no counter part in this series and is secretly just writing herself into various scenes like she did in Sket Dance.

Suffice it to say I really like Sket Trek or Star Dance. It's currently my second favorite show of the season. It's only second because Symphogear will always have a giant metallic grip on my heart.
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 12:58 pm Reply with quote
With all the nitpicking here, i can already tell that the review thread for this show is going to be fun... Rolling Eyes

I couldn't care less about who needs how much water but am looking forward to some good character drama (and humour) instead which this show will hopefully deliver.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3629
PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 8:09 pm Reply with quote
Dfens wrote:

As for advance space travel in only 40 years for civilians much less a bunch of kids on a field trip/space camp type of adventure this will be revealed later on. When it comes down to the route their is only one when you take into account that they only have 20 days of supplies, so no matter what type of planet it is or the dangers they might face they're stuck with these 5 planets on the list.


Nice to know that will be brought up (re: ~40 years), thanks Smile

While I get that there is only 1 route (and I don't have an issue with that), I just think it might have been more interesting to have that not be the case.
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