English Dub Review: Asteroid in Love “Exciting! Summer Camp!”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

  Ms. Endou has an outstanding idea for the club’s summer camp experience. She wants to take all the girls to spend a few days in the country with her grandparents. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. It’s not like they plan to spend the whole trip gumming down hard candies and watching Murder She Wrote. The reason for this unorthodox trip is because her grandparents live pretty close to a couple of great museums, one that focuses on geology and another run by JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

They hit up the rock museum first because Sakurai might’ve exploded otherwise. She and Inose devour the near-infinite amount of rock displays and are flabbergasted to see some of the actual rocks that are depicted in textbooks.  Sakurai guides the other among rocks that represent months, cities, and even the passage of time. The others, even those not interested in geology, are rightfully impressed.

Toward the end of this visit, Sakurai allows Mira to whip out the big guns. This red-headed trickster requested our heroine bring a curious rock she found at the river. It looks like it could be a fossil, but its markings aren’t as clear as the ones depicting whole fish or dinosaur bones. Anyway, Mr. Geologist has a look at it and explains that many rocks that look like fossils are often pseudo-fossils or “fakey, fakety, fake fakes.” But then, he lets loose the big reveal that this particular rock is a fossil! Gasp!

The next day, at JAXA, Mira and Ao ask around about discovering new asteroids. Unfortunately, the expert they’re looking for works in a different Japanese facility. D’oh!

Elsewhere, Morino reveals that she wants to be an astronaut and the gang is super supportive. Sakurai and Inose seem to enjoy space knowledge almost as much as their rock learning; and Sakurai has actually been studying space in her spare time. Double gasp!

Back at the country house, Gramps—who is obsessed with space himself—shows Mira and Ao a flyer for an annual asteroid finding retreat that is very hard to get into. In fact, this elusive class is even harder to join because the application deadline has already passed. Ms. Endou admits that she participated when she was a girl and encourages her students to apply next year.

After an excellent bar-be-cue, instead of going home on the last day, Inose begs the group to visit Japan’s premiere map-making museum. Holy crap, Endou’s grandparents really do live in the epicenter of EVERYTHING! Anyway, the little blondie is ecstatic and appears to enjoy this museum more than the other two combined. Uh-oh. It looks like the Earth Sciences Club might be branching off to add another science!

 

Our Take

The thing is, there is not a whole lot of conflict in any given episode of Asteroid in Love. Even though the initial concept made room for much friction between the rock girls and the space heads, so far, the two sects have gotten along famously. And what about Ms. Endou? Seriously, let’s have a raucous round of applause for Ms. M-Fing Endou! She may be a space ranger herself, but she’s equally good at considering all of the girls’ feelings. I mean, she even made a last second detour to sate the little map girl. Why? Because she’s incredible!

What’d you guys think about that scientist from the geology museum? I can’t say for certain, but it feels like he really wanted to work at JAXA but was never given the chance. Sure, he probably thinks rocks are fine, and appreciates the responsibility his superiors have entrusted in him, but deep down he wants to be an astronaut. It must destroy his heart every time a girl like Morino comes through his museum’s doors talking about the space station, weightlessness, and Tang. Plus, even though he helped authenticate that fossil, it’s not like he gets to name it. It’s not a bloody asteroid!

Even though we got a brief pre-credits scene, I didn’t really miss Suzu in this episode. Every girl on the trip had a lively personality, so if an amateur baker had been added to the mix, things would’ve gotten out of control. I like Suzu okay, but she does not play well in a large group. She’s such a dominant personality, and her semi-dirty mind is enough to draw attention away from what really matters. And on this trip the focus needed to stay on the rocks, maps, and outer space.

Wow, those grandparents had some pretty loose lips regarding Ms. Endou’s childhood. You ask me, the student/teacher relationship should have an air of mystery about it. Seriously, as soon as the students know too much, they’re going to use it against that poor teacher the second shit hits the fan. On the other hand, now that we know Endou has wanted to discover a comet for years, are Mira and Ao in danger of having their presumptive discovery stolen?

A word of advice, ladies: when you find your comet, don’t tell anybody who doesn’t already work at JAXA. And even then, make that person show you three forms of picture ID, minimum!