Review of Astra Lost in Space
“Space, the final frontier, this is the voyage of the highschool Enterprise. Their continuing mission, to return back to their home. To seek out new planets and maintain their supplies. To boldly return from where no man has returned before.” Sit back, relax and make sure to keep log recordings of each day as I present to you the anime review for Astra Lost in Space. Lets begin shall we? Story: 7.5/10 Our story begins with our main cast of characters looking forward to spending one week camping on an extraterrestrial planet. However, when they land on the planet to begin their camping a mysterioussphere appears in front of them and without knowing what it is, they approach the sphere. But the sphere starts sucking them in and they get sent to a different part of space. Thankfully, there is an abandoned ship nearby they use to prevent getting drifted away into outer space. With their goal set to return back home, they set a plan of hopping between planets, maintaining their supplies and to return home, all while discovering the reason why they were sent into outer space.
Imagine Star Trek meets the 2013 theatrical film Gravity. Given the situation they are in, it would make sense that they would enjoy exploring these new planets and checking out the wildlife while also gaining supplies. But they also got to be cautious because this is uncharted territory and they are stranded in space. The show justifies balancing the two due to the nature and experience of our main cast and all they want to do is explore the planet they have never seen. Wouldn’t you? But it also gets fairly predictable at times where the main cast lands on the planet, explores it, gets some supplies but some unknown factor happens that jeopardises the cast and they must work together to survive. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen all of the time and we do get some surprises that keeps the viewer hooked and add some unpredictable elements to it.
Where this show does shine though is its mystery elements. It gives you questions early to make you theorise as you are watching the show as to why are these things happening. Why was there a mysterious sphere there? Why was a ship conveniently at the place they got transported? Why only our main cast was sent to another part of space? It makes you think as to why things are the way they are. The show also does a good job of delivering bomb shells that throw a wrench into your thought pattern. It makes the unpredictability factor of this show a really good hook that makes you want to watch the next episode. At times though, some plot elements that were dropped made the answers pretty f**king obvious, but it makes up for it by making the execution of revealing those answers well laid out and still left and impact on the rest of the story. So even though I was right, it still kept me hooked because of how well those answers were delivered. However, a couple of the reveals left me puzzled as why these things happened when they could have done this to change it, or explained it with more care when it gets revealed. The only explanation I got that these were plot holes that a mystery shouldn’t have. And could have easily been avoided but didn’t for the sake of the plot. It wasn’t a massive glare and didn’t affect the main mysteries but they were noticeable when you think about it.
Characters: 8.5/10
The way our main cast evolves in this series gives some extra depth to them despite them starting out as rather stereotypical characters. From Quitterie being a stuck up b**ch, Ulgar being the loner type or Charce being a pretty boy. They all have their stereotypical personalities we have seen from other shows. But they start to grow as they realise their situation and we learn that there is more than meets the eye for some of the characters. Some of them still retain their stereotypical personalities throughout the show but they expand on it to give them this depth that makes the characters enjoyable to watch.
Their rather innocent sense of wonder when exploring these worlds could agitate people as they are not being cautious enough. But lets not forget, they are teenagers that got thrusted into this situation. They aren’t trained astronauts sent to explore uncharted worlds, they are trying to get back home. They are exploring these worlds because they haven’t seen ecosystems this close up and are trying to gather supplies. Without this innocence, then the worlds wouldn’t seem as interesting or something you would want to explore without someone being in shock and awe.
Animation: 8/10
I don’t know why the show went for a 16:9 picture for most of the series but it did. Other than that, the show does look really good. It’s more colourful than I was expecting as the worlds look rather vibrant, even ones that don’t have a lot of life on them and the cinematography in this show is well done as well; always angling at the right time to get the best effect. Some cgi is used in this series but it isn’t glaring and sometimes used to good effect. This is especially true in episode 1 where they are stranded in space and you see Aries drifting in space, helpless and is unable to do anything. That is good use of cgi there.
Sound: 7.5/10
The show’s ost is pretty varied with various tracks to match the situation and add to the atmosphere. It is good but get overshadowed because the two notable soundtracks from this series that are REALLY good. The first one to talk about is played during episode four and is sung by one of the main characters, Yunhua. This one stands out because of the context that this behind this song such a timid girl has such a beautiful voice. The second one is perhaps the most notable one and plays whenever there is some kind of revelation or tense moment happens and you hear this sci-fi horror soundtrack with a heartbeat like beat and then the sudden use of foreboding instrumentals to make the scene more nerve racking than it should be. It’s an excellent tone setting soundtrack that is without a doubt the highlight of the ost of this series.
The opening and ending sequence in this series is rarely used in this series as the show would just rather get on with the story. Whenever they do show the opening and ending though, they are rather solid. The opening "Star*frost" by nonoc is a character showroom kind of opening where it just wants you to show who is the main cast of this series and not much else. The song is nice and upbeat as well so there is little to complain here.
The ending sequence "Glow at the Velocity of Light" by Riko Azuna is solid as well. It mainly a slideshow of the characters having their pictures taken during their time on the ship or on the planet. What I like about it most though is that instead of using the same pictures, they are updated every time so when the ending is played, we see some of the things we didn’t see on display. It’s a nice reminder that the characters are trying to have a good time as well as trying to get back home.
Conclusion:
Astra Lost in Space remains one of my favourite anime this season for several reasons. Its mysteries, its characters, the sense of wonder and exploration, its cinematography and the ost all combine for a rather enjoyable experience. While it does trip up at times in its story, the way the show overcomes it and I can still enjoy it means that some of the story elements really do work in this series. It is a shame that this show didn’t get more attention than it deserved because it is, in my opinion, one of the highlight anime this season that I would easily recommend to watch.
My Personal enjoyment: 9.5/10
Overall score: 8.2/10 Recommendation: Watch it