English Dub Review: Asteroid in Love Episode 10, 11, 12

Our Take:

With the dawn of the new year comes new club members; specifically two: Sakurai’s younger sister Chika, and Nana. While they don’t share the same passion for astronomy that the main two do, they are instead interested in other things: geomancy and meteorology. Geomancy came as a surprise, but it’s interesting to see the emotional stakes that people can put into the sciences, even outside the bounds of tradition.

What ends up being the driving force is Konohata’s application for a summer trip to a JAXA station. She ends up passing and potentially leaving Manaka behind- but then Manaka decides to also apply and push herself forward. Even if she wasn’t chosen, she still makes her own space and puts herself into the ring with nothing but her own passion and enthusiasm- and it works! Konohata’s dream isn’t just something Manaka picked up, but something she has come to love and believe in, in her own right.

However, in the end, the two of them don’t discover an asteroid. I thought that the series would end with them discovering something, especially with the fact that they got such a good opportunity with the program, but that’s not how things turned out. Despite that, even though it’s their joint dream, the two leave the program satisfied. They have made new friends, had a good time, learned new things. They not only learned about the sky and astronomy, but also all sort of fields that have to do with it, for example, geology. It’s not just about learning one thing, but about broadening scopes and perspectives that can contribute to their awareness overall. It didn’t end in traditional success, but it still made them more well-rounded and more knowledgeable people, and that’s a success too.

It’s a cute way to end a show. It’s also a nice reminder that sometimes success isn’t linear, but you can still enjoy the path there. I really appreciate the fact that it never makes fun of the girls for having a seemingly unobtainable dream. It may seem like it’s far off in the distance, but it’s never seen as impossible. With luck and training, they can get there one day. For shows like these, it feels like someone would inevitably be a naysayer– but that doesn’t happen. The people at the program are very supportive. Their friends are very supportive. Honestly, it feels nice that even if real life doesn’t match up, that the girls can be allowed to dream.