Space Brothers - Episode 47

As the start of their basic training under NASA approaches for our astronaut candidates, preparations continue for those involved, whether it's finding somewhere to live or otherwise.

For Mutta's part, his worries are already beginning to grow thanks to Kenji changing his mind about telling his friend something which seems to be important about their forthcoming training - a little secret that Murasaki ultimately lets him in on, namely that he can expect a number of people to drop out early on in the programme.  Delicate flower that he is, Mutta worries that he might be one of those not to make the cut early on; a thought that he quickly dismisses.

However, if we were looking to earmark anybody who might have to drop out of proceedings early, it seems that Nitta is that person, as we're treated to hints about some kind of family strife regarding his brother which we can only imagine coming to the fore later on in the series.  Then again, is there also bad news in store for Mutta after all?  A fun party trick from a so-called fortune teller at a gathering of the astronaut candidates takes a potentially less than enjoyable turn for Mutta when he asks for his future to be divined....

While we've most certainly reached another of Space Brothers' slower segments, this week's episode still seeds a few more important points to set things up for the story arc to come - Nitta's current situation is an obvious one to highlight, and dumb though it seems to see scientists and the like taking so much stock in a fortune teller it'll be interesting to see whether there's some genuine bad news in the pipeline for Mutta.  Again, it's where the series gleefully depicts the unfolding dreams of our would-be astronauts as they work to achieve their goals that is the real pleasure of this series, and that shows no sign of stopping any time soon.