Space Brothers - Episode 65

Having reached at least some sense of being able to put Sharon's illness behind him, it's time to refocus on his jet pilot training again having fallen behind the rest of the group already.

While the others prepare to take their first flight, Mutta is still stuck in a classroom taking his make-up test to prove he's capable of moving on to the next level of training - an issue which also puts him at the back of the queue when it comes to being assigned an instructor.  While most of his Japanese peers are assigned to the top ranking T-38 instructor, Alexander (who boasts a haircut not entirely dissimilar from Mutta's), our protagonist finds himself assigned the least popular instructor... one who is at least a familiar face.

In others words, that very instructor is Deneil Young (not Neil Young, I hasten to add), who Mutta last met during the launch of Hibito's shuttle to the Moon.  Despite being somewhat wheelchair-bound certainly hasn't quashed Young's need for speed, and it's his thirst for that kind of speed and performance that is directly responsible for him being an unpopular instructor, given that few of his charges can cope with his way of flying.  One notable exception to this is Hibito, however, who was also trained by Deneil - perhaps finishing bottom of the class in the initial exam isn't such a body blow for Mutta after all...

Having at least somewhat put its depressing recent fare to one side, we can now at least concentrate on what could be another fun and fascinating arc as T-38 aircraft pilot training begins in earnest.  I do worry slightly that the series is caught in a repetitive spiral of "team Mutta up with an eccentric failure, only to find that he's actually a kindred spirit and something of a genius" given this is how the previous arc panned out, but it feels like we're nicely set up for some entertaining weeks ahead if the early interactions between Mutta and Deneil pan out throughout the remainder of this story arc.