English Dub Review: Asteroid in Love “Everyone’s Summer Break” ; “Hoshizaki Festival!”

Overview:

The club realizes that they have to do something for the upcoming fair, and meanwhile, Sakurai has a lot of doubts about her future.

Our Take:

Both episodes have to do with the club, but also with Sakurai’s uncertainty. From a very young age, she seems to have been concerned with her dreams, and mostly, whether her dreams are realistic or not. Even though we’re not shown her past explicitly, she is always focused on her future, whether her future is attainable, and has become more and more disheartened as she grows up by realizing that what she wants and reality are quite different.

When Sakurai goes to the geology fair, she really does light up. Because she’s with Mira, who is finding out about these details for the first time, Sakurai becomes the expert. Most importantly, Mira has a good time, and even buys stuff on her own! It’s a bonding moment between the two of them, but also, shows Sakurai’s discomfort with herself. Mira has a dream, as farfetched as it is (wanting to find and name her own star) and isn’t discouraged by it being so distant. Still, she hasn’t given up, and Sakurai by contrast feels much more lost.

The club also has a hard time maintaining practicality and dreams– their stuff isn’t exactly marketable, and wouldn’t really work in a school festival setting. However, the club instead puts their heads together to make a boring rod; specifically a boring rod made of agar and sweets that they later turn into a tiramisu. All the food they made for the festival were themed with either rocks or space, and they also had accompanying information to teach people facts as they ventured inside. It’s a good combination, and it sure made me hungry too. I wanted to try everything!

However, the club’s cafe being a success means that there is no simple way to do things. Not everything is so straightforward, and there are ways to get across your passion in indirect methods too. Sakurai is proud when she gives a tour of the cafe and explains what everything is based on. She is also much more confident about stepping down and leaving the club’s leadership to Ino. All the girls played their part, but I felt that Sakurai’s arc in this shone the most.

Altogether, cute story. Being able to find yourself, and find confidence through something fun, but also something that is important to you– that’s pretty good. I like these kinds of stories.