Space Brothers - Episode 62

There's relief and joy all around as Hibito safely makes his return to Earth - well, almost all around.  So just what is nagging at Amanti exactly?

Of course, the reason for this is immediately obvious enough - it's her premonition regarding Mutta that is very much still on her mind - but for a while this takes a back seat as Hibito readjusts to life back on Earth; an exhausting prospect having spent so long in low gravity before returning to find discover that even walking around in gravity six times stronger can be pretty exhausting.  After putting a brave face on it for the crowds gathered to witness the landing, Hibito and his fellow crew can finally get the rest they deserve.

This lets us return to Amanti's concerns as she finally spills the beans about her premonition - it seems that she's foreseen some considerable grief for Mutta, but witnessing Hibito's return has confirmed to her that it isn't he who will be taken ill by the circumstances she's predicted.  But who, then?  Mutta and Hibito's parents seem perfectly healthy, which leaves Mutta worried but flummoxed - however, a visit to the US from Aunt Sharon as she pursues her dream of having a telescope installed on the moon tells us everything that we need to know, and come the end of the episode are suspicions are confirmed.

I don't very often have cause to moan about an aspect of Space Brothers, but I have to say that Amanti's "psychic power" seems so at odds with the rest of the series and its scientific bent that it's decidedly hard to swallow, and now this storyline has fully come to fruition it simply feels like a needlessly clumsy way to introduce Sharon's illness when it could have been achieved in a far more organic way.  Still, with the promise of Mutta learning to fly a jet alongside this human drama, I'll forgive this clumsiness if the wider story beats bear fruit.