Game Changer
Astra Lost in Space Episode 6
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Hat off and take a bow Kanata no Astra. They stuck the landing after that cliff-hanger last week and delivered a really compelling episode where we had reveals aplenty and then they still managed yet another bomb-shell right before the closing credits.
What’s even better is that it all seems to make sense. The reveals aren’t a ‘what the’ kind of moment but more a coin dropping and everything suddenly getting a little bit clearer as we gain ground toward finding out who orchestrated putting this group of kids together and stranding them in space.
Now, the fact that Ulgar has an angsty back-story isn’t really surprising. That his back-story intersects with Luca’s family’s is also not much of a surprise given Ulgar pulled a gun on Luca. What is new to learn is that Ulgar’s brother was a journalist and we already knew that Luca’s father was a senator against a bill that ultimately got passed. That Ulgar’s brother was investigating Luca’s father when he died, from falling off a building, is definitely worth raising an eye-brow for.
That said Ulgar’s motivation for killing Luca is still kind of stupid. Killing the kid because you have a grudge against the parent really isn’t a great move by any definition and in this case the dad already thinks the kid is dead (or had a hand in trying to kill him) so either way I’m not sure that killing Luca was ever going to be quite the revenge seeking move Ulgar envisioned.
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But Luca had another surprise to drop on the audience. Actually more than one. That said I’m not going to get into the details because I think you’ll love finding out as you watch the episode.
And just when you think it is all becoming too much of a talk-fest they throw a tsunami at the kids. Remember, after reviewing episode 4 I said I couldn’t wait to see what tried to kill these kids next? Well, here it is and I guess I was kind of expecting something water related given the planet they were on but I still had a few moments where I had to look away because I hate watching near drowning in stories.
After all of that, we get a nice moment back on the ship with everyone together and the cards now out on the table, or so we think. And then Aries has a sudden thought that literally changes everything all over again.
I absolutely love this story.
The full series review can be found here.
Thank-you for reading 100 Word Anime.
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Karandi James
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Images from: Kanata no Astra. Dir. M Andou. Lerche. 2019.
I can’t say enough good things about this show right now. There is a reason why I changed my phone’s wallpaper to this show.
But this episode was completely perfect in all it’s execution. The Luca and Ulgar relationship and everything else.
Yes, I changed my twitter banner to a shot from this, not that anyone can even really see people’s twitter banners anymore with the new layout. But it is just so well done.
“The reveals aren’t a ‘what the’ kind of moment but more a coin dropping and everything suddenly getting a little bit clearer as we gain ground toward finding out who orchestrated putting this group of kids together and stranding them in space.”
That’s it! That’s what I’ve been trying to articulate but haven’t been able to. The show’s using reveals to clarify things, not go in random directions just to be clever. I’m not only having fun watching it, I’m learning to trust this narrative more and more.
I know. It will be terrible if they make a mistake now because I trust this narrative a lot at this point given it has so far been fairly solidly constructed. Fingers are crossed that it was well through through to the end.