Space Brothers - Episode 26

As we reach the final interview for our prospective astronauts in Houston, it's crunch time for all involved.  Or is it?

While the Nanba brother's parents seem incredibly relaxed despite the fact that one of their sons is a few days away from launching into space while the other is facing a potentially life-changing interview, Mutta himself is understandably decidedly nervous - a situation not helped by his vigorous exercise of prior days coming back to bite him.  On top of it all, an attempt by one of his interviewees to recreate the "loose screw problem" Mutta came across in a previous JAXA interview goes horribly wrong, with disastrous (yet admittedly hilarious) consequences.

Still, that embarrassment aside the whole interview goes without a hitch despite the presence of Azuma - in fact, the entire interview is a little too easy in terms of its tone and questioning, to the the point where Mutta wonders what the point of it is.  In fact, he's exactly right to do so, as there is no point to the "final" interview other than to mark closure of the selection process in the candidates minds - it's hear that the real selection process begins in earnest, as those making the selection look to choose their final picks to proceed while the would-be astronauts are relaxed with their guard down.  Possibly not the best time for Mutta to try and make Azuma's acquaintance despite the advice of others to leave him well alone, then...

All of this makes for a fun and fast-paced (by this show's standards, anyway) instalment that moved things forward nicely while also making the most of the inherent comedy that can be found from Mutta's personality and reactions to things - enjoyable stuff indeed, and what could be a necessarily light-hearted instalment given that it feels like we could be reaching a real dramatic crux of the series over the comings weeks as Hibito heads to space and Mutta's dream reaches a make or break point.