Space Brothers - Episode 16

It's Sunday morning, and that can mean only one thing - it's time for another episode of JAXA Clock Adventures!  Or Space Brothers... I forget which.

In spite of Mutta's protestations that the broken clock in their team can surely only be the work of JAXA, it seems that nobody else quite believes it - not least Mutta himself, who already knows who the actual culprit is; worst still, the culprit seems completely unapologetic even when confronted with that fact.  The trouble is, this knowledge is making Mutta act even more suspiciously that normal, which further ramps up Yasushi's suspicions, in turn upping the stress levels within the team - a situation not helped by Serika withholding knowledge of a dwindling food supply, and eventually by an attack of the phantom alarm in the middle of the night as it comes to plague Team A.

Meanwhile, Team B is arguably in an even bigger state, as their alarm clock problems are supplemented by a breakage to their clock to further ramp up the tension within the team.  In particular, Makabe's actions are continuing to stir up trouble with his rival, who seems determined to do him down no matter what he does - a train of thought only exacerbated by Makabe's inability to track down the source of the nightly alarms.  Are our teams going to make it through the final four days of the exam without going for one another's throats?

As much as I'm still enjoying the tight and surprisingly dramatic focus on current events within the series, this week's Space Brothers almost felt a little too leisurely in its pacing, taking quite a long time to ramp things up relatively marginally.  I suppose I can forgive it that on this occasion, and we certainly seem to be nearing the climax for this particular stage of proceedings, but we're at the point where I'd like to see this arc wrapped up sooner rather than later before it risks outstaying its welcome and threatening to spoil would should be a fantastic climax to its current activities.