Of course he hasn’t. He just really likes shampooing his hair. Daww.
Yikes, sorry for being all quiet on the blogging front lately. Let’s just say it’s been an exceptionally busy past couple of months both at and outside work. Anyway, I’m back now (minus Crusader though, as he’s busy with his last finals this week) and ready to fangirl over our favourite astro boys in episodes 5-6 (epi 7-8 post coming soon). Basically, in these two episodes, Mutta got on an airplane in order to catch-up with Hibito courtesy of NASA’s family support thingummy as Hibito preps for his lunar mission, and meanwhile some stupid twat back at JAXA wants to kick Mutta out of the running for the new astronaut selection because he found about a certain not-such-a-big-deal-anyway headbutt. GRR. Cue lots of brotherly (tough) love moments, a bit with a dog, and the adding of Hoshika to Mutta’s list of BROS. And, as if all that wasn’t enough, there was also Dat Hair. Seriously, I no longer know which is more awesome: Mutta’s, Hibito’s, or (young) Hoshika’s ’doo. Either way, the bonding between all of the fellas in these episodes, both together and apart, was really interesting, and I particularly liked seeing how Mutta and Hibito interacted with and motivated each other….
Well said, Samurai Boy.
Firstly, even though Mutta’s jealousy went into overdrive in epi 5, I was surprised with how little Hibito spoke to Mutta. The empty spaces in Hibito’s apartment while the two of them were dancing around each other making small talk seemed to say more than anything either of them actually communicated to each other. Thankfully, this was not a sign of any lessening affection between them, but rather an indication of how well they know and need each other. For example, while Hibito’s ‘You’re no longer fun anymore’ (or something to that effect) seems just as childish a thing to say as any of the digs that Mutta had just been making at him, Hibito’s words show that he has far from given up on Mutta and wants to motivate and challenge him to be the best that he can be.
Don’t worry, Mutta; he’s just putting his nutty brother on a pedestal.
Moving on to epi 6, seeing pilgrim Mutta at worship in the holy land of NASA’s Johnson Space Centre was a hoot, and it was also nice to see his cosmic joy being rekindled by all the shiny gadgets on display. Unfortunately, a certain idiotic interviewer back at JAXA has to go and ruin everything for the audience, as we RAEG at the possibility of Mutta being kicked out of the running for becoming Japan’s Next Top Astronaut due to the discovery of his Zidane moment. The tension was also hiked up further through the use of further flashbacks in this episode, where the Namba boys’ visits to JAXA as kids not only provided some light relief (always fun giggling/ dawwing at them in chibi-astronaut-otaku-mode), but also highlighted how much and for how long Mutta has wanted to achieve his ambition, which at this point seems so-near-and-yet-so-far for him. Thankfully, though, Hoshika’s involvement in the current interview process at JAXA and the revelations regarding his back-story were a well-timed and well-woven-in new thread amongst all the colourful proceedings so far. Finally, as if to make up for how little we’d seen of him up to this point, there were lots of Hibito in awesome-mode moments, as we saw him in training while also breaking various impressive records for said training. Of course, what was just as impressive if not more so while all this was going on was Mutta’s attention to detail (e.g. noticing that the two seconds difference between two of Hibito’s laps while he was running), showing that Mutta still has what it takes to succeed in the difficult task of being an astronaut too. And finally, seeing (or rather, hearing) Hibito pretty much stating the latter to ‘the American people’ on T.V. was also rather sweet. Though, not as sweet as Mutta’s adawably embarrassed reaction. 