Astra Lost in Space

If you played an open world exploration game with survival themes, there’s a solid chance you’ll get a familiar vibe from this anime known as “Kanata no Astra”. (English title, Astra Lost in Space) Taking a page out of the sci-fi genre brings together a story of space travel. It takes place in the 2063, a time period where technology has evolved and is a revolution of growth. It’s not too often these days when we get an anime adaptation based on a manga that have already been completed. Mangaka Kenta Shinohara (best known for his work with Sket Dance) began the series in 2016as part of the Shounen Jump+ lineup. The series itself was not very popular but did eventually win the price of the 12th Manga Tashiou award. Consisting of 5 volumes, it seems a single cour adaptation of 12 episodes would make this run smooth. Or does it? Actually, the first episode premiere is a 1 hour long special and makes a strong impression to showcase the premise of the story. We meet a group of students from Caird High School before they soon get caught by a mysterious entity. The conflict evolves as these students are tossed into an unknown orbit and they resolve to return home. Along the way, you can expect this journey to bring together a lot of survival themes, character bonding, and startling revelations. But from the beginning, it’s also important to establish the principal cast. That’s why we have Kanata Hoshijima, the main male protagonist and captain of the Astra vessel. With a strong head attitude and determination, he stands as a capable leader with a dream of exploring the universe. What draws audience into his character also relies on how he can command his crew and achieve his goal. It seems every episode, the show tests the crew to tackle new challenges like an open world game. In essence, the show itself deals with space exploration while getting the audience to understand its characters. The remaining crew members consists of a balanced range of personalities. Among them is Aries Spring, the airheaded pinkhead who brings in a peculiar curiosity. Now, you’d think a show like this may feel depressing at times because of the premise. However, Aries brings together a sense of cherry energy and hope for the crew. She’s essentially the type that anyone can get along with. This is contrast to cooler and more levelheaded characters such as Ulgar Zweig or Zack Walker. Others such as Charce Lacroix and Yun-Hua Lu sparks a great interest in their characters because of their background stories and origins. The only characters that feels less exciting are the Raffaelli siblings. You can be the judge but to me, both of these girls brings little value to the overall story. If you remove either one, there’s little loss to brood over. That being said, I do think the cast is well balanced. As the space adventure venture deeper into the depths of the universe, there’s evident character bonding with great importance. In fact, character bonds is one of the most important elements in this show. In later episodes, Kanata realizes what the crew has in common about their parents. It’s a sad revelation and in truth, there’s many other secrets hidden from the crew and audience. While the show is not a mystery, it definitely sparks curiosity for the audience to see what will be discovered. Each planet they encounter puts their lives at risk as they venture into the unknown. Thankfully, the show keeps its space adventure refreshing as the crew encounters a colorful amount of planets. There are planets with strange wildlife such as Vilavurs, Shummoor with its otherworldly plants, or even a paradise with beaches such as Arispade. Hell, the show is very open to its exploration content that it sometimes feels like playing a video game. It feels immersive as if you're there with the crew. If you played games like No Man’s Sky before, this may trigger some familiarity. Thankfully, the anime has its own main story that runs much deeper than just the crew returning to their home. A word of warning though. Be prepared for character drama. There’s an unsettling amount of them that builds more and more with each episode. Some characters even begins to show their true colors. An elephant in the room also remains with the fact the true gender of Luca Esposito. It may not a big deal for some people but I can easily bet that the character can be somewhat a source of controversy. And finally, do be aware that the show retains a degree of realism despite all the sci-fi elements. When we meet Paulina Levinskaya later in the story, she reveals how fragile lives can be as the only survivor of her crew. It brings together the question if these students may or may not end up in her situation. I mean, the chances of death in this show is quite real considering all the factors. But unlike a video game, these characters only have one life and there’s no chance to restart over. Lerche as a studio takes on Kanata no Astra as their first project with major sci-fi elements. Combining with the story about space exploration, there’s actually a lot to expect when you see the facts. One of the more noticeable visual context is the letterbox format that makes each episode run like a mini-movie. This is especially true for the first episode that feels more like watching a movie than your standard television. Visually, it works for this particular show as it highlights the videographic imagery of the backgrounds. There’s a lot of open world planets and this format makes them stand out with stunning effects. The alien planets shows a great deal of colorful variety and I applaud the staff for giving each of them a form of uniqueness. Character designs are also molded with care similar to the manga. Finally, I’m surprised at how much human expressions are shown throughout the show. With the harsh and dangerous journey, there’s many signs of character struggles that are shown in the faces of the cast. Kanata no Astra is a show that I believe can be described as a ‘dark horse’ of the year. It didn’t get mainstream attention compared to some other anime but manages to capture what science fiction is about. With its sci-fi elements and odyssey of obstacles, every episode brings something new to the table. Even if you’re not a big fan of character drama, the show still works together as a fictional adventure. Did I mention, it’s one that is complete without worrying about a ‘what if’ ending? See, that’s the beauty of a show based on a complete manga. And as a space adventure, you can believe this anime is the real deal.

Kanata no Astra could be an anime that surprised several viewers. In my case, I was bewitched by some episodes until I noticed that the show is mediocre science fiction with several plot flaws and unfinished ideas. The scenario is good at the beginning; A group of students is drifting in the dark space with only one goal in mind, returning home. I was surprised to the point that I ignored the strange CGI moments when the characters looked like dead puppets in the first episode. I ignored the device created in a few hours that could diagnose if the food is good or bad witha "delicious" sound that seems ridiculous. I ignored the luck these students have during their trip with some minor risks for space travel. Everything is conveniently configured and ready for their survival. I even ignored a significant detail in the middle of the story I find hilarious. I asked myself "why people cannot fix their cars that simple, there are many cars nearby," but this group doesn't have a spaceship nearby, so ... you will understand if you watch this anime. However, I cannot ignore a plot that is not consistent, a scenario that ignores the details and uses strange ideas to create a secondary storyline. That new story is far from the survival goal placed at the beginning. The real risk is not space. In this story, space is not as dangerous as it seems, the real threat is humans, and that is very unfortunate. Also, all those "extra" additions created a strange story that I cannot stand because it is silly, stupid, the name "Astra Lost in Space" does not fit anymore. As the plot progresses, observe that the story is full of coincidences plotted by a mastermind who leaves more questions and few answers. Those coincidences created several unfinished stories that affected the behavior of the characters. For example, they are not worried about space and all the surrounding dangers, and they do not care if they cannot find food, they are concerned by a human inside their ship that could turn against them or a conspiracy group, that is ridiculous. The highlight of each episode is a mixture of dramatic events like "my father never loved me," some actions like "hey, the device found good food, this animal tastes delicious." Then, the authors added some conspiracy events "Someone is an enemy, say nothing, we have a great meal tonight" and some real survival events but with a stupid outcome like "the spaceship is failing but don't worry, it will solve somehow. " Unfortunately, the storyline is a mixture of useful elements without proper development and conclusion. Although I liked the first part, the plot, the writing, and the dialogues are very average. All these lead to unusual character behavior. They are afraid about their life and the next minute they are singing kumbaya. The characters are average. Do not come to tell me that they are stunning with a fantastic background because they are not. If you pay attention, all the characters have the same context and have the same problems, except Aries. In other words, all characters are generic like clones. The characters fill a convenient spacecraft crew: it has a hero, an expert in phytology, a genius/pilot, an expert in weapons, an expert in crafts, a medic, a singer, a villain, a survivor and a girl. The most normal character is Aries, but the plot affects her directly, sadly. The animation and art are adequate. There are some bad parts, but not so remarkable. The colors are very vivid and created a pleasant atmosphere from planet to planet. The camera angles and the speed between the scenes are acceptable and, combined with a good score, create an impressive visual wasted by a mediocre plot. The sound is good; it fills the scenes and is used intelligently. The songs are acceptable. Finally, I liked the first part, but I did not like the conclusion. I think the ending is ridiculous and affects all the characters directly in the wrong way. Here we have a good animation with a good idea but developed poorly with many coincidences that can bore the audience because it makes the anime silly and empty.

Astra Lost in Space is the perfect example of a series with earnest intentions that cannot help but undermine itself at every turn. It claims to take its story seriously but plasters it with candy-coated visuals and drawn out comedy. It wants us to buy into the survival of these kids, but refuses to give them hardship. It wants to be cinematic, but never warrants it. It wants to have cliffhangers, but fails to generate tension. It wants to develop its characters, but instead fabricates their plots out of thin air only to still drop or homogenize their stories despite that. It works passably aslighthearted entertainment, but any ambitions beyond that fall staggeringly low for the most part. To start with, the actual concept of characters being stranded in space, or being on some sort of traitor hunt isn’t original even to anime, with material such as They Were Eleven, Infinite Ryvius and Rokka no Yuusha already present. The execution could’ve made up for the unoriginal concept, being a successful blend of wonder, danger, adventure and sci-fi with character driven proceedings to make each cast member deservedly memorable in their own right. Sadly, Astra’s tendency to have its cake and eat it too undermine every one of these by forcing those aspects to take turns. For a show with “Lost in Space” in its title, it never throughout its entire run (beyond perhaps, Episode 1) communicates ANY genuine sense of danger. The colorful visuals lack any sort of grit to make situations tense, the planetary dangers are never more than minor inconveniences, and it will refer to either a forced, sappy character moment or a forced, sappy comedy moment any time you think it will get serious. The use of blood is nearly non-existent beyond a total empty consequence, and there is no visible death or even could-be threatening pursuers on their tail. Instead, Astra decides to have a beach episode on what should’ve been a hostile alien planet. Complete with forced fanservice. One episode though does seem like it would actually be about survival when the ship crashes with a broken engine. This lasts for all of.......10 minutes, before just so happening to find another ship that just so happened to land on the same planet, be the same model as theirs, AND have a detachable portion to get the ship up and running again. This did everything possible to trivialize a potential dangerous situation. It nonetheless tries to make moments feel intense by tagging nearly every episode with a cliffhanger, but most of the follow ups are either not worth it or straight up fakeouts. One twist, involving an unexpected character, has basically nothing to do with the actual point of the show and feels like it was just there to have another twist, or shatter the show’s gradually poorly conceived main setting. The one attempt to add consequence as the series nears conclusion fails to actually create a major ripple as a series about survival should make. So, yeah, the survival aspects of the plot are a complete bust, but hey, maybe all that time was really focused on enjoyably investing character drama to make this cast one of the most charming and memorable ensembles as of recent. Well, not exactly...... In my review of Persona 4 The Animation, I mentioned how the series managed to effectively juggle lighthearted, distinct character moments with a serious plot, presenting strong personalities to the entire cast with unique personal conflicts that were properly built before their prominence and still touched on after their climaxes. It even managed to effectively lead into scenes that were more serious without feeling out of touch. Sadly, Astra’s character moments, however they may be, can’t even come close to poignant. In this show, character handling is present, particularly in the first 2/3 but done in the laziest way possible. Generally, a character will have basically nothing on them at the beginning, then randomly, some event will happen that forces them to dump their entire backstory out, a “survival” event happens that said character supposedly helped with even if they do nothing for it, and then the character is instantaneously forgotten about otherwise for the entire series. This is the case with Yunhua, Quitterie, Luca and Ulgar. And the worst part about these moments is that it never feels like the characters have personal conflicts and relatable doubts they want to overcome like the Persona 4 characters. Instead, it comes across as them wanting to just not have to deal with shitty parents. Nearly every backstory is working along the exact same motif and the series only becomes more plot driven overtime, so there’s nothing interesting to really learn about them for viewers. And then other characters like Aries or Zack don’t have this attempted depth at all but instead are purely driven by the plot without any real attempts at actual change. It’s incredibly disheartening all around that this is what the show focused on so much, yet it’s so predictable, boring and lacks both interesting issues at play and palpable story effect for far too much of the show. Kanata’s the one exception to this rule since for once he feels consistently driven overtime, and that’s cool, but I still think that there was more the series could’ve done with his character arc in regards to genuine survival stakes we currently don’t have. All of these aspects are made ever more detrimental by a certain plot turn in the last third of the series. At this point, all character proceedings are dropped for a plot driven focus featuring extremely poorly thought out sci-fi and a traitor reveal that questions why the character even needs to exist and makes the character in question look like an absolute idiot for not capitalizing on opportunities way earlier that the show decided to section off for “antics” that needed to exist unnecessarily. When a series like this wants to make a plot twist that completely changes the direction of the series, don’t do it when you only have four episodes left to do it in! Doing so will make the conflict feel unearned and lacking the proper fleshed out focus. A show like Madoka Magica heavily hinting at the plot turn early on and giving it 80% of the run to be fleshed out did far more for its thematic heft than what little attention Astra gives it. It’s genuinely disappointing given the topic it attempts to cover with this is actually pretty interesting if it had any time to make impact or didn’t make those outside the field look like complete morons, but that’s what you’re given as flat as it is. Speaking of flat, there’s also the animation. While certainly having color and showing potential early on, it’s stiff to an almost painful degree. Characters barely feel like they’re moving at all most of the time, as it swaps between manga frame to manga frame at an incredibly frequent rate. Having more animation would certainly liven up affairs because there isn’t anything interesting done with the shot composition once the first episode’s space scene is over. It also would help the space setting look far more distinctive. Shows like Space Dandy are light years ahead of it, and even older series like Outlaw Star and hell, Sonic X Season 3 managed to make their space settings more interesting to look at, as well as more tense. And yet despite having color and a few semi-interesting planets early on, the animation never properly conveys grit over Crayola colors, which for a series like this riding on the survival of its characters should be required. But nope, this lack of effort contributes to the emptiness of the entire Astra experience. As for the music, it’s passable, nothing less and nothing more, which it should be better given the scale thousands of other space based projects do with their scores. Conclusion Astra Lost in Space in general could be seen decently as simple lighthearted entertainment that starts semi-well and ends better than what most of the middle comprises as, but it really shouldn’t have been. It SHOULD have been an investing space survival character drama that could have time to explore its lategame plot twist to a more thorough level, but instead, it barely touches on this with otherwise useless plot twists, empty cliffhangers, flat characters and no real backbone to anything it’s attempting. I can only really feel ashamed by the show for how many balls it tried to juggle with the simultaneous effort to throw them up incredibly slowly and drop all of them to the ground in very soulcrushing fashion.

Kanata no Astra is something done damn right. It is something that easily goes under the radar because of the dull poster, unattractive plot with generic shounen characters that has personalities that everyone can deduce. However, it exceeds bar of expectations and shoot to the top. It has a simple beginning. Everyone is lost in space, with only a deserted spaceship. Seeds are subtly planted throughout 10 episodes, waiting to be reaped and the studio excels in showing this. Blending shivering tracks and chocking atmosphere, a thriller sub-genre is slipped in that could send chills down your spine. The events unfold, the conflict rises, the twists emerge oneby one to get us and them closer to the truth. The setup of ambience is elevated accordingly with it as the camera rolls back to present the very core of the show – they are all alone. They have no one they can truly trust, no one to rely on, they only have each other. Just when all the hope seems lost, teamwork joined the room. With trust on short demand, it was not pure friendship. They have to aid each other regardless of their true intention to survive. With that, the diverse quirks of the characters are no longer just eccentricities, but the vital skills they need to survive in various unprecedented events, all while complementing each other’s weakness and utilizing combined advantages. It was a captivating portrayal of unity amidst all the uneasiness in store, and it was delivered well. In this sci-fi adventure, Kanata is the athletic leader that can PUNCH realization into others, with a bit of recklessness and playfulness. Charce, is the right-hand-man with exceptional knowledges on biology. Air-headed ArieS is the one who always seems clueless, yet serve as an important link between the members. Zack, the tech and mathematics prodigy. Ulgar, the quiet and mysterious boy with seemingly ulterior motive. The list goes on and on, with insights on the characters being revealed one by one. They are seemingly not connected, but they don’t know it yet, that they are brought together for a reason. A reason that has enclosed themselves in a frame for so long, that they would not have found their purpose and their identity in life if they weren’t together in that spaceship. And it's thrilling to deduce and see how it all tie together. The animation is handled by Lerche. This studio once handled ‘Assasination Classroom’ with its colorful characters and ‘Classroom of Elite’ with its psychological outlook. As such, facial expression and character design spells out the characteristics of each character. The characters are given a subtle clue on their expression of what they are planning to do next and a glimpse of how dead serious they can be with each of their act. It is this element that gives us, the audience a chance to do our guesses on the mystery unraveled, analyzing the extent of their action that gives away their thoughts. Overall, I really enjoy the style of the direction of the show and the story only gets better as it goes on. In the end, it connects everything from the beginning to shape the bonds created and to end the story with a perfect closure that befits their whole journey. With that, they begin their new journey. The only thing left to do now is to experience it all unfolds before your eyes.