Space Brothers - Episode 84

After the initial shock of discovering that only one of them will be selected for the next lunar mission, Mutta has quickly found the resolve he needs to fight for his place, even if it means thwarting Kenji's own lunar dreams as a result.

Having initially agreed to cut his suggested parts of the scale lunar base they're tasked with building, Mutta has now rescinded that decision and insisted that they should go ahead with their original, more grandiose scheme.  But does he have a plan to back up these words given the small amount of time available to the group?  Well, no, at least not initially... but if anyone can put together an impressively pragmatic plan to get things done, it's Mutta.

Thus, what seems like merely an attempt to join forces with Andy and work extra long hours to get more done turns out to be entirely false - in fact, Mutta's goal is to work smarter rather than harder, putting his engineering nous to good effect by increasing their capability to transport and move materials massively by thinking outside of the box and making full use of the vehicles and staff provided to them.  It's unarguably clever thinking that even Kenji struggles to argue against, meaning that it's his turn to fall into a self-pitying depression, albeit a brief one that Mutta himself quickly ensures he's pulled out of.

This current story arc of Space Brothers continues to make full use of everything at its disposal, while succeeding in providing another of those wonderful moments where Mutta's intellect and pragmatism come to the form in a genuinely impressive way that ultimately makes for something of a feel-good episode as it also moves on to thaw the brief "cold war" of sorts between himself and Kenji.  Whether these shifts have come too soon to the point where they might threaten the value of the next few episodes remains to be seen, but it's certainly another highlight to add to the growing list provided by this ever-enjoyable series.