English Dub Review: Astra Lost in Space “Planet Camp”

-Insert “Danger Will Robinson” Joke here-

Based on a Manga series by Kenta Shinohara the story takes place in a distant future where Flying Cars are finally a thing, and Space Travel is about as common-place as the greyhound bus, But it was a little off-putting for a first episode due to having the plot-structure show a pink-haired schoolgirl named “Aries Spring” getting rescued from being almost lost in the cold vacuum of space and yet it takes the historical narrative approach to show the possible events leading up to this. I’d call this a spoiler, but thankfully it’s nowhere near as bad as Hakyo Hoshin Engi’s later episodes which infamously made the moronic decision to spoil future events too-early such as character deaths weeks before we even get a chance to give a shit about anything or anyone plot-wise. As Aries in a minor exposition-dump explains to her mom that she’s to camp on a planet for 5 days called “McPa” and we’re basically seeing how this universe operates and functions through her eyes despite her comical carefree & clumsy nature which I assume is meant to be endearing because even Sailor Moon started out with this level of clumsiness.

When the Introductions happen, we’re told that only 8 students can partake in this, but given this is the first episode, the character who easily steals the show goes by the name “Kanata Hoshijima” who in the beginning knows how to make a lasting impression to the audience, but everyone else doesn’t seem impressed. Long after their journey, the students from Caird High School arrive at the planet McPa for their planetary camp yet not long after setting foot, a mysterious black-hole looking sphere appears out of nowhere and swallows up the students teleporting their asses smack-dab in the middle of space where they encounter an abandoned spaceship. Upon checking who’s present and accounted for, they discover that Aries didn’t make it on board. So at the risk of running out of boost-fuel and also ending up lost in space, Kanata goes out and rescues her but ends up running out of booster fuel for the way back, and it’s this moment where the show begins to find ways that subverted my expectations.

With everybody safely onboard the spaceship, the students decide to put aside their petty differences and introduce themselves to each other, with Zack who’s now their pilot learns that the sphere transported them “5012 light-years” away from home. As paranoia sets in realizing that the trip is impossible with the limited resources they have, the mood changes when Kanata inspires them to have hope, telling them how he was in a similar situation in a hiking trip that didn’t exactly go well, but inspired by his dying mentor he helped his classmates survive seven days in the wilderness. In addition, Zack finds planets the students can potentially resupply on and a route to get back. With newfound respect for the dude compared to earlier, the students decide to nominate Kanata as the captain and name the spaceship the Astra after seeing the Latin phrase “Per Aspera ad Astra” on a plaque inside the spaceship. (The literal translation to that phrase means “through hardships to the stars”) And thus their journey begins!

Our Take

This was an excellent start for a first episode to set the tone for what to expect. While I’m glad the tradition of stranded in space stories is continuing, a show like this is going to be highly character-driven and so far only one or two of them are pretty obnoxious. Not to mention the corny and comedic moments which worked half the time, and the planet-hopping concept seems like a cool idea and given the unknown, they could encounter, It makes me wonder why Star Trek never made an Anime themselves. (They did have an Animated series in 1973, but never an Anime where they could go crazy with creatively bizarre & intricate Alien designs like Space Dandy did.)

The whole space theme itself makes for some intense moments that only occur when you least expected it. And the 2nd half emphasizes that with its recurring and genuinely bleak & perilous moments, leaving everyone to ponder about their future which is a realistic way to approach a situation like this. These are all teenagers who are limited to specific skill-sets and unless they can cooperate and somehow adapt, they have no chance getting out of their troubling scenario.

With everyone now introduced and everything well established for a 40+ min first episode, let’s see what happens next.