Summer 2019 First Impressions – Astra Lost in Space

In the year 2063, travelling through space has become commonplace. Eight students from Caird High School, along with one child, set out for a school camp on a nearby planet. However, the students are then mysteriously transported 5,000 light years away from home, with no way to call for help. Aboard an abandoned spaceship they call the Astra, these nine students slowly try to make their way back and figure out why they were transported in the first place. – ANN

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode Summary: The first episode is double-length, but I’ll endeavor to keep the summary succinct.

Aries is excited to be attending space camp, but that doesn’t mean her scatterbrained ways are in check at all. After almost forgetting her passport, she dumps her suitcase at the spaceport and ends up getting her bag stolen. Luckily a kind stranger, who she learns is a boy named Kanata from her high school, helps her out. After she and her classmates gather, they board the ship for camp. They’ll be spending a week on Planet McPa, a nature preserve where they’ll be relatively safe. No sooner does the group set down on the surface than they’re confronted with a strange spherical object. Their curiosity turns to horror when the entity begins to engulf the group one-by-one.

When the students come to they find themselves floating in space in orbit around the planet. Luckily there’s an abandoned ship nearby and they make their way toward it. After the students take stock of who’s present, they realize one of their number is missing. The missing individual is Aries, who’s spinning out in the void of space with broken thrusters on her spacesuit and no other way to move of her own volition. Kanata takes charge, channeling the words of his late mentor, and through some stroke of luck and some ingenuity the group manages to get everyone back on board.

Once the ship is powered-up, the group learns something horrifying. They were not, in fact, in orbit around McPa, but have somehow been transported approximately 5,000 light years away (a trip of several weeks’ length at the current maximum speed of space travel). They only have about three days’ worth of food and water, and the ship can only hold about 20 days worth when stocked. It’s only by sheer luck that they find a path to navigate that should provide them the ability to obtain supplies and make it home. Now that they’ve learned the extent of the challenge, the crew needs to address possibly their greatest challenge – learning to get along with one-another, and to use one-another’s talents toward their shared purpose.

Impressions: I was beginning to get frustrated because most of the new anime premieres thus far had been rubbing me the wrong way. Luckily this series came onto the scene when it did, because it’s almost exactly to my tastes and has renewed my energy a little bit.

I’m not really a fan of space-faring stories that are just stress and horror. I have a fear of emptiness, of suffocation, and of being isolated and alone, so sci-fi/horror properties that play up these aspects aren’t really of interest to me as a viewer. What I do really like are stories, usually set in space, in which a character (or characters) is up against extreme odds of survival and must address these challenges using their wits and the supplies at hand. This first episode demonstrates a lot of those types of storytelling elements. As soon as the team lands on their camp planet, the challenges start kicking into gear and the characters are forced to think and act quickly to save themselves.

Kanata, the brash leader-type character, has a motto taken from his late mentor, a teacher who helped guide him on the path toward space exploration. The motto is essentially, “when things start going wrong, just act tough.” I went on a personal journey throughout this episode’s 45 minute run-time to decide how I felt about this particular piece of wisdom. I think a lot of wrong can be done when someone acts tough or competent without actually being such, and in fact they may even run the risk of putting other people in danger if they try to act beyond their mental or physical means. On the other hand, when people are stressed or frantic and can’t make a decision on their own, they often seek out the certainty of those who are able to come to some sort of conclusion. In that sense, I can sort of see the value in that saying, even though I’ve never really been a believer in “fake it ’till you make it” ways of approaching the world.

The downside of acting tough is that by definition it usually requires bottling-up or ignoring one’s actual emotions. If this were a one-man show I’d be a bit more concerned, but since this series has an ensemble cast I expect that they’ll all have the opportunity to learn from one-another. While there are plenty of introductions to go around throughout the episode, both through on-screen text and via dialog once the characters are ready to set off on their journey, there’s really not an opportunity to learn all that much about the characters individually even considering the episode’s longer length. This is the problem with series that have large casts, and by design the show will have to work harder to distinguish everyone and ensure each person gets their chance to contribute throughout the story.

This episode had just about the right amount of tension, and managed to stay compelling without being too over-the-top. The only real issue I had with it is that its cast is all pretty young (and I assume the story is aimed at a younger, or at least broader, audience) and that’s reflected in the tone of certain scenes. Usually these sorts of stories are told through the use of adult characters, and while older people are certainly not immune to big emotions, the overall maturity level tends to be higher. This episode has its share of goofy hijinks and high school emotional drama, and while this material doesn’t take away from any truly serious scenes, I feel like the potential is still out there for it to hamstring itself at a crucial moment.

It’s difficult for me to convey the extent to how much I enjoyed this first episode. While it’s definitely not top-tier in terms of storytelling or visual style, the blend of drama, problem-solving, and human interaction that it has displayed already feels very classic and entertaining. It’s great to have my interests piqued for a sci-fi series again; it’s been much too long and I’m excited to fix that.

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Pros: The episode features characters working-together and solving problems. Introduces some interesting ideas about acting tough in the face of adversity.

Cons: There’s some silly high-school drama since the characters are so young.

Content Warning: Isolation in space, hyperventilation/suffocation, death by falling from a large height (not detailed).

Grade: B