Space Brothers - Episode 44

Somehow, against all the odds, a major disaster has been averted on the Moon, bringing with it a sense of "relief" that this word does not even begin to express, whether it's for those directly involved, the group's Earth-bound overseers or us, the viewers.

With all that drama and tension set aside for a time being, this episode really deals with the "clean-up" for that incident - in the first instance, this means getting an already-recovered Hibito and the injured Damien back to the moon base for treatment, and after a good kip Hibito seems fighting fit, while his colleague is going to take a few months to recover entirely.

Once everything has settled down again, Hibito finally gets to speak with his brother, and after having been regaled as to exactly how things panned out in the wake of his accidents he's confident that three people were primarily involved in saving his life - Brian Jay, Azuma, and (of course) Mutta himself.  The dream of the Nanba brothers standing side-by-side on the Moon is still very much alive - a perfect note upon which to move this series into its next phase.

The problem with delivering so many gripping, edge of the seat episodes in succession is that the comedown is always at least a little disappointing, and while it would be harsh to aime the word "disappointing" against this week's Space Brothers - it's a much needed tonic to see everything right with the world after what has gone before - it has none of the power of those previous instalments to impress.  Despite that, there were still some wonderfully subtle moments to be found, mostly in Mutta's reactions to the news that his brother is safe and his first conversation with Hibito after the accident - it's that sort of human side to space travel and the relationships of the show's characters that Space Brothers has proved to be so proficient at, and it's the kind of thing that wins it praise even when it isn't firing on all of its dramatic cylinders.