Is this going to be some sort of space survival series? A bunch of high school kids getting lost in space and they have to manage whatever limited resources they have in order to get home. Seems like an interesting premise to me, Kanata No Astra. And then there’s a killer on board too?! You’re trying to survive space with what you scarcely have and now you have to be wary because somebody among the pack wants to take you out. Oh wow. Truly, in space nobody can hear you scream… Aye yeah!
Episode 1: Planet Camp
Aries Spring is excited to leave for her first camp on Planet McPa organized by Caird High School. At the departure hall, she helps an old lady with her stuffs but soon a thief steals her handbag. Thanks to Kanata Hoshijima taking down the culprit. However dumb AI police bots arrest Kanata thinking he is the thief! I hope AI is not this stupid in the future!!! Aries soon meets up with the group of people who are also going to this camp. Zack Walker, Quitterie Raffaeli and her little sister Funicia, Luca Esposito, Charce Lacroix, Ulgar Zweig and Yunhua Lu. The teacher briefs them that once they are delivered to McPa, they will leave and the kids will have to spend their time on the planet together for 5 days. There is 1 more person who is supposed to come on this camp. If he does not show up, they will leave without him. Oh, here he is. Looks like the police has released Kanata who now self-proclaims as the team’s captain. As the flight there begins, Kanata remembers a flashback when he told his sensei he doesn’t want to go to space anymore and instead concentrate on athletics as told by his dad. Sensei told him to do whatever he wants and for him, it is easy to reach the skies and beyond. Thus sensei vowed to help him achieve his dream. As Kanata relishes finally making his dreams come true, sadly he notes that sensei of his has died and he hopes to repay him by seeing through his dreams.
After the kids are left on McPa and the ship takes off, suddenly they see a strange sphere before them. Luca thinks it is nothing and touches it but gets absorbed. Bad news. The rest start running but they cannot outrun it and soon all get absorbed. Kanata remembers a hiking incident in which sensei saved him and the other kids from a slippery mountain slope during a downpour. However he fell to his death shortly after. Kanata and the rest find themselves floating in space. They soon notice a ship nearby as they use their thrusters to regroup inside. But as they do a head count, they realize a person is missing. Aries is still floating out there. Her thrusters and communications must be broken. Because the rest feel she is too far out and there is no hope, that taboo word has Kanata remembers sensei’s words about such hopeless situation. Kanata will go out to save her. Tying a rope, he spacewalks to her. He is this close in grabbing her hand but then, damn, that’s the end of the rope already! Not giving up, Kanata frees himself to reach her. But with thrusters running low, can they make it back? That is when the others form a human chain and use their thrusters to safely bring them back.
Safe inside, Aries thanks all of them as Zack has finally done his analysis and survey of their surroundings. The planet below them is not McPa but an icy uninhabitable planet. They are actually 5012 light years away from it! Before everyone panics again, Luca thinks this is a test set up by the teachers to observe how well they will do. Okay, but they have to figure out how to move this ship or it will become their coffin. While Zack analyses that they can move this ship, however if they are to reach their destination, it will take 3 months. The problem: They have enough food and water for only 3 days! Plus, this ship can only carry 20 days’ worth of water. Before everyone panics once more, Kanata this time interjects and shows his true leadership. He first tells them of his tragic hitchhiking background story which is pretty known by many. Thanks to his sensei’s sacrifice, the rest of the kids all survived by the time help arrived. Basically they need to cooperate if they’re going to survive this. For starters, all introduce themselves and state the things they are good at. More good news as Zack plots a path to stop by planets along the way to restock and refuel in their bid to get home. While the chances are 50/50, Kanata says going forward results in progress. Everyone mans their stations as Kanata is officially chosen as their captain. As for the name of this ship, noting a plaque motto that means overcoming hardships to reach your goal, Kanata calls this ship Astra and sets their course for the first planet on the list, Vilavurs.
Episode 2: Wilderness
Landing on Vilavurs, looks like a hostile planet with flying beasts known as turgon! Turd-be-gone!!! HAHAHA!!! Sighs. Sorry… Kanata splits the gang into teams to do specific jobs but Quitterie refuses to do anything dangerous. Kanata promises to keep them safe. As they look for food, looks like Kanata’s survival skills in this department isn’t working. It is thanks to Charce who is a biologist expert who determines what kind of edible plants as well as identifying all the nice and cute little alien species on this planet! Don’t freak out now! This is really a strange planet with trampoline trees to parachute seeds and even sharp javelin branches. Are you sure this isn’t some video game land?! Boy, are we having fun! As they trek deeper, suddenly it’s that damn sphere! Run! But they are lost in the forest! Thanks to Aries’ photogenic memory, they manage to get out. But by that time the sphere has disappeared. Back on Astra, they discuss this and Kanata believes it will throw them back into space because he saw the darkness of it and stars in it. No use thinking about it as they need to eat up the strange alien fruits and berries to replenish their health. Kanata knows this from experience as hunger made him unable to think properly. Because Quitterie continues to b*tch about Kanata being the captain, Zack tells her off this is why she lost so many friends. Worse, Quitterie lashes out at Funicia that she isn’t even her sister! Oh great. Now we have a sulking b*tch running out into the forest and it’s going to be sundown.
As they go look for her, they ask Zack about her since he is close to her. They are childhood friends. As the only child, she was raised in a rich family by servants. This made her oblivious in how to deal with people. Then one day, mom adopted Funicia from the orphanage because she was the daughter of some friend who passed away. Mom let Quitterie took care of her and this riled Quitterie because mom never took care of her and now she wanted her to take care of a younger sister? Quitterie told Funicia off not to get close to her because nobody ever taught her how to love. When Funicia climbs onto a plant to get a vantage point to find Quitterie, the plant suddenly start to grow taller. Trapped, the damn turgon is gonna make Funicia its meal! How to save her?! Kanata does a running jump from plant to plant! OMFG is this a platformer video game?! Remember, he is an athlete! By this time, the turgon has gotten Funicia. Oh, what convenience a javelin branch is lying about. Kanata throws! And he scores! As he jumps to grab Funicia, he loses his balance. Thank goodness Quitterie having foresight and release those parachute seeds.
Once landed safely, the sisters reunite as an emotional Quitterie apologizes. She even thanks Kanata and apologizes to everyone. Except for Zack whom she still acts like a b*tch. From now on she hopes to be honest with what she wants to say. As everyone praises Kanata’s athleticism, he explains his past that his dad was once a sportsman but retired early due to injury. Thus he pushed his dreams onto Kanata and he hated it. So when he met his sensei, he got interested in space exploration. Then that mountain incident. Kanata lamented had he had more stamina or courage, sensei wouldn’t have died. Thus he restarted training under his dad not because he is taking over his dreams but sensei’s. Kanata believes he is not fit to be captain but the rest note that no one can make such critical decisions under pressure and act without hesitation. They all agree for Kanata to be their captain and Charce will be his vice. Well then, now they have this turgon meat… I don’t know how they haul it back but they did. Glorious meat. In 2 days, they depart Vilavurs. Later Zack talks to Kanata privately and shows him the communicator got destroyed on purpose. This means a traitor among them. Oh man, this is turning into Among Us too?!
Episode 3: Meteor
Kanata now sizes up everyone as he ponders who the suspect is. Well, everyone is a suspect! I guess he needs to get to know his crew more. As Astra arrives near Planet Shummoor, we learn Aries transferred to Caird recently. But the more shocking revelation as Funicia reveals that the before she got adopted, that night she heard the headmaster talking to a shady guy and she didn’t understand what it meant. She only remember a certain line because it had a line from this Beego show she liked: Put her on B-5 and illuminate them all. That is when Kanata realizes that she might have misheard because this team is B-5 and what they meant might be to eliminate them! Could this mean there is somebody out there who wants them dead? Before everyone blames Ulgar because his father is the vice president of the school, however Ulgar says his father is ashamed of his son for being a failure and pretended they are never related. That is when Kanata and Zack also share about the broken communicator. Quitterie starts to panic that someone is out to kill her. Aries tries to calm her down but is shoved away. It could be you who wants to kill me! Prove it! Standoff ends in an anti-climactic manner as Aries’ stomach growls. Oh yeah. Thank goodness it’s time for food. Can’t think straight on an empty stomach, right?
After that, they all get back in deliberating why somebody wants them all dead at the same time. They contemplate the sphere was also part of their plan and if this ship was also planted too, this means the killer intended to die along with them. Worried now that the killer might make more attempts to kill them, yeah they just jinxed it as the water pipe burst! Oh no! When was the bomb planted?! Even the gravity system starts to fail! Charce then finds a small meteor. This could be the culprit as Zack realizes he forgot to turn on the shields. They get to work in fixing the mess as we see Luca a handyman in fixing stuffs. Yunhua being a burden and useless as always, almost choking on the floating water bubble and need others to rescue her. But a disaster looms. Astra is being pulled by Shummoor’s gravity and based on Zack’s mental calculation, they only have 9 minutes to fix the power. Before you can give up, Aries remembers seeing the backup generator in the store and they can connect it to the gravity controller. Must be one heck of a long extension cord! So as they get going, the last mile brings them more trouble and time is running out. WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS ALIEN BIRD DOING INSIDE HERE?! Because of this, some safety mechanism activates and the power cannot start?! Catch the pigeon moment?! Don’t worry, Ulgar shows his marksmanship in shooting down that bird. Power returns in time as all brace for impact but thankfully Astra lands safely onto Shummoor. Ulgar returns to his room. A briefcase containing a gun. What’s this supposed to mean?
Episode 4: Star of Hope
With not much clues or leads, Kanata forbids anyone to look for the killer because all they need to do now is survive. The more people helping out, the better. Heading out on Shummoor to look for food, looks like this candy plant may be their saviour. While there are carcasses around, the gang also meet this friendly but strange Chocobo called gruppies. These birdies are kind enough to help them bring the food haul back. But when they bring it back, it stinks like hell. Looks like you cannot store it once you pluck it out from its natural environment. And sorry, you can’t eat those gruppies too! So as the team ponder their food stock, Kanata orders all to conserve food, energy and water until they manage to stock the minimum threshold for their next journey. Luca then makes a careless joke that Yunhua needs to eat a lot. Soon, Yunhua left a note that she will stay on this planet. Yup, another girl running away. Kanata goes out to find her. Remember, who is fastest on his feet? Yunhua remembers she landed an important role in a school play and excitedly told mom about it. However she was not happy and believed she will screw up. She told her to drop out of it and take a role that made her stand out less. She did. Kanata manages to find Yunhua and just when she thinks nobody cares about her, Kanata reveals everyone knows that she wears fake glasses. She wears it to keep her overgrown bangs from covering her eyes. As Yunhua continues to call herself as useless, Kanata says he doesn’t need any flashy talent, just help out. Meanwhile back at the rest at Astra, a tree starts to give out spores. Soon all starts collapsing. Oh Charce, could you have f*cking noticed it earlier and warn that this tree gives out poisonous spores???!!!
A lifeless gruppie drops next to Kanata but luckily Yunhua feeds it with this random mushroom to get it back on its feet. Soon, Charce contacts Kanata about the grave situation. Only Quitterie is unaffected and as the only doctor, she has to nurse all of them who are showing dire symptoms. Charce explains this tree is at the top of the food chain of this planet and spreads by spreading its spores to kill others. That is why there are carcasses around it so new ones can sprout. However so as not to kill everything off, there must be a balance, a method to control how many they can kill. Yeah, that mushroom, right? Kanata rushes out to find that mushroom which is believed to be at the root of those trees. It lures you to find it because you’ll survive if you do, dead if you don’t. Kanata cannot find them so what the hell does he take off his helmet?! WTF his logic that because he is not dying, he cannot find the mushroom?! Must be that desperation survival instinct he hopes to kick in, huh? At this point also, Quitterie also collapses. Yunhua is all that is left. What does she do? No, she doesn’t have super healing powers but she sings! Her singing calms everyone’s pain as we see her mom was a singer and she still loved her singing. Kanata in his death state must be the miracle needed to find all the mushrooms as a gruppie carries him back. In the aftermath, thanks to those mushrooms, everyone is alive and well. Truly a BS miracle.
Episode 5: Paradise
As everyone thanks Yunhua, it seems if Kanata had not pointed out that Yunhua is the daughter of the famous singer, Lucy Lum, nobody would have actually made the connection. Yunhua gets emotional as she admits everyone here is so nice and reliable. As a start to change herself, she cuts her hair and now she looks even prettier! They leave the planet but sadly, can’t take those gruppies along! Goodbye birdies! So sad. Meanwhile, the news reports that the 9 missing students on McPa are still not found. Meanwhile the parents of the missing kids hold a meeting at Caird. The vice president, Gert sadly announces that with search has already been suspended, they have to accept the truth that the kids are dead and to legally declare them so. However Emma who is Aries’ mom refuses to accept this. Strangely, Zack’s dad (Jed), Yunhua’s mom and Quitterie’s mom (Olive) are more than happy to accept this fate. Emma argues that the kids did not drown on McPa because their boat is intact and their luggage are missing. This could only mean they are surviving in space. Kanata’s dad (Rei) rubbishes this theory. Gert thought of this possibility too but without the government’s aid and funding, they cannot mount a search in space. I mean, do you know how freaking large space is?! Charce’s mom (Sophie) wonders if Luca’s dad (Marco) can do something about it because as he is a politician and the only one not in this meeting. Sorry, Gert was told the government can’t help them. Looks like he has his own problems as the reporters are hounding him about some DNA sampling and some illegal donations thingy.
Meanwhile our lost kids… They’re having fun on this scenic beach island on Planet Arispade! It’s so great that they might not even want to come home! And yeah, beach episode!!! Drama queen Quitterie trying to do a comeback about everyone having fun and no longer wants to go back. With this detour, Quitterie trying to egg Aries into confessing her feelings for Kanata. He was the one who saved her after all. The rest try to get back at Quitterie for Zack but Quitterie has a plan for Aries if she is going to make her confession. So we see Aries sheepishly trying to ask Kanata about being popular with girls and if he has a girlfriend. His answer: All women are my girlfriend! OMFG WHAT?! You bet Aries is no longer interested. WTF Quitterie stuffing his toothbrush up his nose?! Next day, Luca talks to Ulgar because Luca plans to stay the way he is but for Ulgar, he isn’t even close to his father and they don’t even talk. However, when Ulgar realizes who Luca’s father is, his tone changes. So back with everybody, everyone is having such a good time and making good memories here (Zack and Quitterie noting their parents are working together on some research that helps in memory transplant technology), Luca trying to make a positive note that everyone is getting along so fine, he can’t believe there’s a killer hiding among them. That is when Ulgar pulls out his gun and points it at his head! Oh my. He the killer?!
Episode 6: Secret
Kanata wants Ulgar to hand over the gun but he won’t. Thinking he wants to make demands, however Ulgar is hell bent on killing Luca. He doesn’t have a grudge on him but his father. As everyone in his family shunned him, the only one who didn’t was his older brother, Finn. He was a journalist and was investigating Marco for illegal donations at that time. However he soon died and police ruled it as suicide. Ulgar refused to believe so because why would Finn buy him a birthday present and then go kill himself? Believing Marco killed Finn, he vowed revenge and trained himself with the gun. As it was hard to get one, it was like a blessing when he found one on Astra. As the Esposito family are hereditary politicians, Luca will eventually inherit power from Marco. That is why he will kill Luca to make him feel the pain of losing a precious family member. However Luca reveals the truth that he is not the heir to the family and the one who will take over is his younger brother. Ulgar calls his bluff to save his own skin but Luca can prove it. He strips his top to show his boobs! OMG Luca is a girl?! Not quite. He exhibits both male and female characteristics although he was raised as a boy. Here is another truth: Luca was adopted! His parents couldn’t conceive a child and at that time when they were desperate to have a child, they adopted him. Only years later when they finally managed to conceive a son and discovered Luca’s intersexuality and attention soon shifted to that brother. As Luca has no qualms identifying as a man, the Esposito family has strict rules regarding a male that can only be the heir. Thus killing Luca will not make Marco sad at all. Ulgar is in disbelief such parents exist but realizes he is the same. Luca allows him to kill him if it makes him happy. Ulgar can’t go on with his revenge as he knows the truth. Kanata wonders if all of them having bad relationships with their parents is the common connection. But can that be a reason to kill them all?
Suddenly a huge tsunami swallows up the island. All except Ulgar and Luca manage to board Astra. Luca is holding onto a tree and grabbing Ulgar’s hand as well. Because Ulgar refuses to be another liability to Kanata, he lets go and is ready to drown. However Kanata drops down and saves Ulgar with a rope attached as he pulls Ulgar up. Ulgar has no more energy but Kanata has trained himself strong enough to carry him back up all the way. In the aftermath, Ulgar makes his apology as well as making his vow to become a true journalist and investigate Marco. The rest ponder if a politician would go to such great lengths for a cover up. Or perhaps Finn stumbled into something even bigger while investigating Marco. Ulgar hands the gun to Kanata for safekeeping but Kanata lets him keep it. He is the only one who can shoot with it. As they leave Arispade, their bonds continue but the guys now are having reservations in treating Luca the same way before. Yeah, Luca clicking better with the girls now. Quitterie noticing Aries and Charce getting closer. Must be so bored that some drama is needed, huh? So in order to invoke some love triangle, she hints out at them. But Kanata is just f*cking oblivious! This leads them to talk about Aries and Charce were in the same biology class before. However Aries points out she does not remember Charce in that class and her photogenic memory has her remember he was never there. She wonders if he is hiding something. Oh no. Handsome guy’s face turning twisted…
Episode 7: Past
Charce admits that he is a transfer student and only transferred in after Aries and right before this camp. Everyone loses their minds he didn’t tell them earlier and this makes him like the killer. Charce didn’t want to talk about this because he doesn’t want to talk about his family either. You see, Charce is actually a noble family from the Vixia Royal Quarter, the only planet with a monarch. When Charce was young, he often snuck out of his noble life and then met a commoner girl named Seira. He snuck her in to show her around but soon the guards caught her. In her bid to escape, she fell off the ledge. Although she did not die, she was in coma. Charce refused to listen to his family about staying away from Seira and continued to be by her side. 4 years later, Seira’s family left Vixia without telling Charce where they go and so Charce soon left the place. Lacroix is his adopted mother’s last name and he has cut ties with his friends and family. Wow, everybody crying and feeling sorry for him now! Charce feels the irony that he left all that behind but now he finds himself with a new family. As Astra approaches Planet Icriss, because of its perfect rotation, one side always faces the sun. This means scorching death. The other side is freezing cold. The only safe place is in the centre where they will attempt their landing. With Charce recognizing many hostile plants, they have to get Astra to land as quickly as possible.
A plant tries to latch onto and bring down Astra although eventually it breaks free. But it has damaged the control systems so Astra is losing altitude and acceleration. A rough landing but everyone survives. But this is where it gets worse. With the damaged parts, Astra is no longer air worthy. This means they are stranded here and have to live the rest of their lives on this planet. Quitterie cannot accept this as she starts to break down while the rest start to accept their new reality. As they divide into teams to find food, Quitterie continues to be in despair. She had dreams she wanted to achieve. To her dismay, why is Zack so calm? Because that is his job when others panic. Then he makes a suggestion. As Astra has 1 hibernation pod, he wants her to sleep in it until rescue comes. Whether it is decades or centuries later, at least she will be kept alive waiting for rescue while the rest die out. Of course Quitterie cannot accept dying alone so I guess she has to buck up and survive with them. But soon Funicia and Charce find something shocking. Nearby, there is another similar Astra ship docked! It is all messed up so they think this one also got stranded while waiting for rescue. They head inside to check. Power is still active although many of the structures are deteriorating. At first they thought all has been rescued as they find no one in the residential quarters but soon a message seen left behind seeking help. Remembering the hibernation pod, they head there and looks like someone is in it. Timestamp 12 years ago. Time to wake this person up.
Episode 8: Lost and Found
Polina Livinskaya, a crew member of Ark VI wakes up and is in tears that help finally arrives. Taken back to Astra and being treated, she explains she was on a team to find planets suitable for habitation. But Ark VI malfunctioned and they had to crash land on Icriss. Her teammates went out to survey but never came back. Thus she clung onto the slim hope by entering the hibernation pod. However the rest soon explain their weird circumstances. Because here is the bad news: Astra is also broken and they’re stranded! Oh well, I guess this isn’t help after all. Polina so shocked that she faints! My, a person who was asleep for 12 years, went back to sleep! HAHAHA! Sorry, my bad. It is then Aries comes up with this brilliant idea that nobody thought of. You see, ships are made in separate blocks for emergency purposes. Because Ark VI was damaged in another part, what if they swap the undamaged parts with Astra? Genius! And so the kids get onto docking-cum-replacing Astra with a new part. Meanwhile, Polina just realize that 12 years have passed and nothing happened. Oh no, is she gonna faint again?! Nope. She’s crying…
Later Zack and Quitterie talk about their dreams as well as their single parents who were so devoted to their research that they don’t care about their kids. Zack however doesn’t mind being alone. He once drew a portrait of his father and showed him. Later Zack saw that picture in the dustbin and although it’s not the end of the world, he noticed dad’s cold eyes like as though he was looking at a doll. Zack refuses to be like him and wants to go to space to do his research. That’s why he made a promise to be Kanata’s crew if that bugger gets a ship of his own. Quitterie is not so sure if her dreams will come true. Did she not want to be a doctor? So why not go for it? However she gets mad. What? We don’t understand. Please say it. Yeah, she is forced to embarrassingly say her dream is to marry Zack! But Zack not surprised. Because he knew they’re getting married! WHEN?! Back when they were young, Quitterie asked him to marry her. He agreed. Quitterie thought a kid’s promise was never taken seriously but looks like he did. Embarrassing. And don’t you look at her with those cold eyes like Jed!
Before leaving Icriss, it seems Polina needs to know what happened to her teammates. Actually she already knows but needs to retrieve their dog tags. They find the site where the rover sits destroyed. They look around but manage to get out of the way when plants hidden underground emerge to attack them. Spotting a dog tag on the plant, Kanata uses his athleticism to get it. A grateful Polina can now move on and have something to remember her fallen comrades. As they leave Icriss, Quitterie who donated blood to Polina, did a check on everyone’s blood types and it looks like she found that her blood type is similar to Funicia. It hints that they may actually be real sisters. Well, they sure do look a lot like each other, right? Perhaps mom left a hidden child with a friend for some reason. Why is Quitterie worried if Funicia is really her real sister? Just love her even more! When Zack does the blood analysis, he finds something really shocking. He tells Kanata that it is not that Quitterie and Funicia are blood related, they are the same person! OMFG WHAT?!
Episode 9: Revelation
Kanata remembers quarrelling with dad about all the harsh training. But Rei promised he will never let his precious body get hurt no matter what. It seems Kanata now knows what he meant by it. Zack makes his announcement to everyone. Their eagerness turns to confusion and shock when they learn Quitterie and Funicia are the same person. They can’t be identical twins because of the age factor. Thus Kanata brings up the only possible theory and the reason that links them all together: They are all clones! Although making a clone is a crime, Zack notes Jed is making memory transplant technology. Therefore it is not hard to see the possibility that they are just vessels for their parents who want a younger body. Meanwhile we see Felice Gemma meeting up with Gert, Jed, Olive and Rei. (Felice Navidad, prospero ano y felicidad… HAHAHA!!! Sighs. Never mind…). All admit to their nefarious plan to make a clone of themselves although Olive went a step further by making a clone in the name of Funicia for organ harvesting. The same people trying to use that camp mishap to cover all this up and leave no corpses. Because of this Genome Control Act, they will be done for if basic DNA tests reveal their clones. That sphere thing was also part their plan and they cannot leak it to the public. Felice is Luca’s original as he wants to be reborn as both male and female. As he gave away Luca for adoption, the rest raised their clones like their own children. Of course they kept their distance so as not to get emotionally attached to them and never see them as their own child. Meanwhile our kids are in despair that they are to be killed just because they are now useless. But Aries is confused. Because her mom is a kind person. Zack believes that from all they have deduced, it is possible that Emma isn’t her real mom and Aries just doesn’t know it. With everyone’s morale down and the girls crying, Kanata gets everyone back up as he claims they are family. They overcome hardships together so let’s give their parents a big surprise when they come home.
Kanata talks to everyone to see their morale. Luca happy with his unique body. Charce cut ties very early so he is not very affected by it. Kanata himself chose his way of life even though he has been training Rei’s body. Ulgar is so relieved with this revelation because this means he can throw all in prison with no mercy. Yunhua still sad she will lose her mom but now she doesn’t have to hold back anymore to sing. Aries even if she is a clone, her mom still treated her kindly. Therefore Emma will still always be her mom. Zack and Quitterie talking about different environments bring about different characters even if they have the same genes. To cheer everyone up, Zack and Quitterie announce to everyone that they are getting married. Everyone is in shock and super happy for them. Zack may not look like it or even show it, but he does have great feelings for Quitterie. Believe it! And so the party to welcome Polina on board also turns into an engagement party for Zack and Quitterie. As the kids can now see their home planet within reach, Polina is glad to soon be finally back home on Earth. But wait. That is not Earth. Because the continents and lands look different. However everyone is stumped and wonder if she is still unwell. So if that is not Earth, what planet is that? Planet Astra.
Episode 10: Culprit
As the countries and continents have different names, guess what’s Kanata’s theory? Polina is an alien! WTF?! Polina so distraught that when she let out OMG, the rest don’t know what is God! Holy sh*t! A world where countries and religions don’t exist? Because Aries learnt a bit of Earth’s geography, Polina realizes the truth lies in their history. So both sides trade what they learn from history until 1962. To the kids that was when World War III happened! Polina in shock because that was when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened and it averted World War III! But the kids learnt that was what led to the great war. As explained, USA and USSR entered this World War III that lasted 2 months and caused a great deal of damage and casualties. The surviving humans regretted it, formed United World Government in 1963. All countries were abolished. Humans then rebuilt and lived peacefully until today. Polina now reiterates her version of history. While no global wars, Earth was hardly peaceful and had conflicts. But the biggest threat came in 2049 when an asteroid was discovered to be in collision with Earth in 2057. Of course as we know by now, no asteroid ever hit Earth. Then, there were plans to emigrate to a new planet but how can you migrate the entire human race? Artificial wormhole. You mean like that sphere? As the technology for that was being worked on, the Ark series of spaceships were used for the migration. It is believed the kids first found and used Ark XII. Polina believes the exodus was successful and that’s why there is Planet Astra. Thus, the asteroid did hit Earth. The real one. When the kids were flung into space then, that uninhabitable planet was the original Earth! Though, they are still confused about the chronology. Current year is 2063 and if the exodus was completed in 2057, did human colonize the planet in just 6 years? They believe the adults are hiding a bigger secret.
As Kanata ponders further about the sphere, that night he goes to talk to Aries in her room. Sorry girl, he’s not here to confess his love! The ship now lands at Planet Galem, the final pit stop before Astra. As Kanata and Aries are out finding resources, suddenly a sphere attacks them. Running into a cave, the sphere then disappears. Back on the ship, it seems Kanata knows who the true enemy is but will make his move first. Talking privately to Zack and Charce, Kanata points out the killer is Ulgar! He explains vaguely why Ulgar is the culprit and how he is able to carry this sphere weapon. He plans with them to entrap him in that cave. As Charce leads Ulgar into the cave while the rest hide and follow behind, when it is about time to take action, Kanata makes an emergency contact to Charce that Funicia is missing and to abort mission to go find her. Ulgar then points his gun at Charce. When a sphere pops up, Kanata stops… Charce! He is the actual culprit and has a remote that activates the sphere! Everyone shows up and all were in this to entrap him. Kanata explains that Aries remembers Charce being the last person to be sucked into the sphere on McPa. With no way out now, Charce admits that he had a mission. As they claimed, it was indeed a mission to kill the clones as cover up. He was also to kill himself on this mission. But he activated the sphere too late since he wanted to die gazing space. He didn’t expect them to find a ship and he was the one who cut the communicator. But after he decided to work with everyone to get home and he didn’t expect everyone to achieve such greatness. Admitting he is a clone, the only difference is that he knew he was one from the start. His the clone of Noax Vix. The clone of Vixia’s king.
Episode 11: Confession
Charce can remember as far as he could that he was already a clone since young. He even reiterated Noah’s words that he was his clone and that he belonged to a king and never an individual person himself. Charce devoted his life to Noah and lived under the pretence as his son. As he was not allowed to go outside, he studied a lot and found fascination in biology as they were from the outside world. Until that act was passed, Noah told him to kill himself and passed him this remote. For the last few days, he was permitted to make some friends and perish with them. Charce agreed to follow that order. And that story about Seira? He made that up on the spot! Kanata refutes he was putting up an act all the time because he can tell from his happy face how much he enjoyed this adventure and their companionship. He would’ve taken them all out but there were a couple of chances when he activated the sphere but subsequently deactivated it. It shows he cares for his friends. However Charce says that is a misunderstanding. He pulled back because he doesn’t want to kill Aries. Before you can say he loves her, when he realizes who Aries is, his goal changed slightly. He vows to bring her back to his planet. Aries is the clone of Noah’s only daughter, Princess Seira!
We see Seira treating Charce like a normal person even if he was a clone. She also opposed to Noah’s rejuvenation plan and knew she had a clone herself. When Noah showed her the clones, he further told her they will be raised by surrogate mothers. Noah feared they will fall ill and die just like his late wife the queen. Thus the clones were their replacement. They will live forever! Seira cannot allow this so with the help of some guards, let her clone escape with her surrogate mom. She named her clone Aries which is a reverse of her name! OMG I did not see this coming despite right in from of my face! Seira continued to live normally with Charce until one day out in the woods, somebody pushed Seira off a cliff. She died and Charce was accused of killing her. Noah became sad and enraged, imprisoned Charce for a long time until a day before the space camp, he was given this suicide mission. Charce was happy as he finally found a reason to use his life. Confirming that Emma is not Aries real mother, she is actually one of Seira’s handmaids. But Aries’ whereabouts were soon discovered probably by the faction who assassinated Seira. If she is revealed to be Noah’s heir, she might take over the throne and that’s why they wanted her killed. That’s why Charce is adamant to bring Aries back to Noah as Seira’s life was already taken from them.
Angry Kanata tells Charce to STFU because the one who is most happiest with Aries is him. Even so, Charce will die for being a clone. After Charce delivers Aries, he will go back to space and die alone. This time Kanata punches him and asks if this is what he wants. He saw the world and is happier. What he wants is to live. Everybody tries to convince him to go home and some noting how they have changed so he too can change. Charce remains stubborn as he takes out a hidden remote and activates the sphere. He plans to kill himself. Kanata dashes forward to protect him. But Kanata’s right arm gets absorbed. A panicking Charce deactivates it, cutting off his arm! Oh well, better than them dying. Kanata in pain as the rest try to stop the bleeding. Kanata remains positive and reminds Charce that he is his right hand man. Woah. Literally his right hand man now! Charce regrets his actions and now he wants to carry on living.
Episode 12: Friend-ship
Charce wants to be imprisoned but Kanata refuses to hold any grudges against him as he acted on his own. For that, he wants Charce to live for his own. Kanata trusts him not to betray again because if he does, he can take his other arm! You sure?! A repentant Charce promises to live to the fullest. The gang continues to gather resources and food. With Kanata mostly recuperating and bored, Aries sometimes goes to talk to him. Once they take off, it is finally time for Charce to reveal the whole truth. Indeed there was a planet called Earth. But to escape an impending asteroid impact, humanity scrambled to find a new planet to migrate to. That planet is of course Astra that is 5012 light years from Earth. Nobody knows it because it is heavily guarded secret that lies within the walls of the Vixia kingdom. Only Noah and a few top government officials know about it. This was all to keep the peace. Many gates (the remotes) were built all over the world with 10,000 tunnels connecting Earth and Astra. With the wormhole, it was easy for humans to transport technology and resource to build their new world. Meanwhile, the migration project was revealed to the world. People got confused and panicked. This started a war that lasted for 2 months in 2052. With the wormholes, assassinations were made easier and half of the human population got decimated. The survivors regretted it and decided to reset the world by unifying all languages, discarding all weapons, etc. After the full migration was completed, all wormholes were destroyed including its technology. Charce had one because it was a spare. Vix Industries were the ones who created the wormholes and they were the predecessors to the Vixia royal family.
But it is here where it gets nasty. Because the wormhole is important to explain the history, the migration has been totally omitted from history. But still, it doesn’t make sense. If the migration happened in 2057 and now is 2063, how can humanity fully migrate in such a short time? They roll time back to 100 years! Thus now is actually 2163! Damn, here I was predicting everyone are clones!!! F*CK!!! The current generation, their parents and their parents before them do not know about this. The first generation of immigrants swore to this secrecy and slowly died out. It was a herculean task but eventually many played along to accept this new history. Though, not all history is erased as such documents are hidden within the Vixia kingdom as their goal is to safeguard this secret. With the gang realizing the real year, this means Polina was not sleeping for 12 years but 112 years! OMFG how old is Polina now! Can’t blame her for fainting again!!! Now that the kids know the truth, they are contemplating how to expose this. Ulgar believes Finn got close to this secret and that’s why he got eliminated. They need an adult to relay this information. Ulgar remembers a cop, Lieutenant Grace was the only one on Marco’s tail with Finn so he could be trustworthy. But Ulgar has no contacts. Aries suggesting sending all the info to Emma who can find a way to contact Grace. The gang start to compile all they know, from pictures to their log as proof before sending the email. Zack wonders who will ascend the throne once Noah dies. Charce believes it is an extended family of Vixia and the one behind Seira’s death. Charce and Ulgar vow to investigate this thoroughly when they get back.
When the ship finally enters the vicinity of Astra, ships soon approach them as Zack tries to make contact. Meanwhile, Noah wants to talk to Mark about the succession and the latter relishes this moment. All that he has done has finally paid off. However Grace and his men come in to arrest both of them as they have evidence of not only cloning but attempted murder. From Noah’s shocking reaction, Grace believes he knows everything. The ships respond to Astra and tell them their originals have been taken into custody. Our young ones are elated their plan has succeeded. All of them relish the most memorable moments on their journey. Many credit Kanata for his help. Yeah, his right arm was definitely MVP! A huge crowd awaits as the lost young heroes finally return. Aries and Emma are glad to see each other again. The Caird students become overnight heroes as news stations run their story, interviews were held and some even become front page of fashion magazines! With plans to release the truth, the rise in anti-government protest grows. But they are mostly calmed down when Kanata released his humorous biopic of his journey. Wow. A book calmed the angry world down? Despite the truth will cause chaos, what do you mean this is healthier than fake peace?!
Charce was never charged as an accomplice as his friends refused to testify as they claimed he was brainwashed. After Noah’s passing, Charce ascends the throne and releases all the secrets from the library for historical studies purposes. He reforms his land and gets even more popular. 7 years later, Ulgar visits Gert in prison. Ulgar gets confirmation that Marco had Finn killed. Gert regrets Finn getting killed as he was good at what he did, tracing the secrets of Vixia’s history. He wished Ulgar had died instead of him. His project to revive his son failed and now he has nothing. Ulgar vouches Finn as a good person. Gert sees shades of Finn in him. Polina is now a teacher while Funicia is a student in her class. Aries meets up with Quitterie and Luca to inform that she and Kanata will get married. They went to see Charce to get his blessing. Well, technically Aries is Charce’s daughter… Wow, it’s so strange and funny! Aries notes if they have a daughter, they will name her Seira. Gee, I want to know if clones procreate, will their baby still be a clone???!!! OMFG I’M SO CONFUSED!!! On the same day, Yunhua who is now a popular sings, holds a concert and sings a song dedicated to the man who changed her life. Kanata, if you don’t know already. He isn’t here today because he finally got his own ship and is ready to fly to space with Zack. I see he has got a good prosthetic arm too. Their mission is to scout for potential candidates to place wormhole exits. They are shocked that Charce is joining them. Hey, he is Kanata’s right hand man as promised, right? But can a king do this? Well, he is king and can do anything he wants! Kanata and co launch off in Astra. To the far reaches of space, unknown and beyond!
2063: A Space Odyssey: No Man’s Sky, Clone Wars & Homecoming
Well, it is a good thing that clones are able to grow up and live normal lives rather than having shorter lifespans and then die quicker than usual due to premature aging and other health issues from such cloning technology. Imagine me who has been given one shocking twist to another, thinking that I have seen everything and won’t be further shocked, suddenly all that feel good revelation been tossed out of the window just for this tragic ending where all the clone dies, I think I will faint harder than Polina! Perhaps go into some sort of rage first and a mouthful of profanity before passing out. Thank goodness that what we have in this adaptation followed faithfully the manga from start to finish. No strange unnecessary anime only deviation. Phew. Aye yeah.
Initially, I was expecting to find the entire series about surviving the dead of space until they reach home. In the midst of that, the killer stalking them and even murdering some of the survivors, picking them off one by one! Yes, that was what I was thinking how it would play out. Such a cruel and bloodthirsty idiot am I. Fortunately for the better part, all that did not happen and I was impressed and kept mostly on my toes with the pacing and the twist and revelations as the story unfolded throughout the journey. Here I was thinking that they couldn’t surprise me with anything more, they sure did. Other than trying to survive the planet and journey as well as finding the saboteur, suddenly they threw this curveball about clones! Oh man, I thought it was ridiculous but at least in the context of this anime, it made sense. Thinking that was the ultimate twist, they throw another surprise about the history of the human civilization! OMG. Double KO for me. And just when I thought that sabotage case was finally closed and never to see the next sunlight, they brought it back again and tied it up with all that has happened. So yes, you can say that I was quite impressed with the pacing of the story from start till finish.
It is a good topic to debate especially about cloning and the rewriting of history. But I’m going to keep it brief here. Firstly about cloning, it begs the question if they have the same rights as the originals. As we have seen, the clone kids have grown up normally and leading their own lives. So in the case of Kanata and Aries getting married, I wonder how they will classify their child! Will she be considered a clone or an original?! Perhaps both? An original descendent of a clone! Argh! So confusing! This cloning issue would not have propped up and our clone kids in the dark had not that stupid law got passed. Felt like those original adults panicked and then planned this dumb cover up murder plan. Besides, if they mostly cloned themselves for organ parts, why not just create that organ in the lab? Don’t have to grow a human and wait decades till that child grows up! I mean, they have technology to open wormholes and space travel to other galaxies, don’t you f*cking tell me they don’t have the medical technology to at least grow or clone a human organ! Dumb.
Secondly, the rewriting of history. This is particularly interesting because it serves to remind us that history are written by victors. The history we know today have been written by those who survived to tell the tale. This also brings up the issue of shaping the next generation in the education the previous generation dishes out. Because it is only via history that we can learn from the past and move forward into the future. So as we have seen, many learnt about the altered history so as to safeguard the peace and future of humanity. Can this be considered as suppression of information? Is this gas lighting on a worldwide scale? Whatever it was, now that the actual history is known, you bet that there are some who are going to be angry. Because this also had me thinking if such chaotic freedom is better than artificial peace. I mean, it is human nature to fight so in the distant future, humans may find themselves at war again because they didn’t learn from the war in the past. Rather, they did not know of it. This is a grey area because it’s like you would rather have chaotic freedom so that everyone does not lose their individuality rather than the artificial peace like everyone being the same mindless zombie clones. The same grey area that bad guys are willing the sacrifice the entire world just to save that 1 person they love as opposed to heroes who would sacrifice their loved ones for the greater good or majority.
Of course the biggest ‘star’ of the series is the fleshing out of the characters. While I won’t go so far to say that it is a great masterpiece, it is more than enough to make you want to care about them. So rather than focusing on trying to survive the harsh planets they land on and the journey of space, we are told the history and circumstances of the characters. Quite interesting and eventually, all of them has some sort of connection to the circumstances they are thrown in. Obviously with only a dozen episodes, not all can be given an equal amount of spotlight. Kanata being the leader, he has the most screen time so as to show off his leadership skills and bravery, something he needs to banish the regrets of his past. You can’t undo what happened back then but you can create your own future. He tries to keep the mood of the crew going and comes up with a few survival tips of his which either sounds basic or he just pluck it out from thin air. Whatever to boost the morale of his friends, right? Aye yeah! A little point to ponder: Will Kanata ever find his lost right arm floating in space?! I’m sure no bacteria will rot his arm, right? Yeah, that hand that saved so many lives… RIP, Kanata’s right arm. The real hero of this series!
Some like Yunhua, do not have much going on since her episode of prominence was just her history and circumstances. I don’t want to say she is the weakest in terms of character development just like Funicia who seems like the loli mascot of the series (her hand puppet Beego is the pet mascot, I suppose?), but it shows that all of them have their own circumstances even as kids. Yeah, it’s hard being a clone. Quitterie felt like she displays the most emotions and mood swings. One minute she’s crying about her hopeless state and subsequently for the most part, she’s like some kind of retorting and comeback specialist. I don’t know, maybe she’ll be a great comedian instead of being a doctor or a model, get what I’m saying? Say, did they forget about Zack and Quitterie getting married? I don’t see any sort of hint of that in the epilogue! Oh well, with Zack going to space and who knows how long that will take, perhaps the conventional family life is not plausible. At the end of the day, it goes to show that it is the power of friendship that powers them through! Damnit. They beat me in making a pun of this it became the last episode’s title. Geddit? Friendship. Friend-ship! A ship of friends! Clever. Polina holds the record for being the oldest human alive but I bet this would be a sore point because never ask any women her age…
Though, I have to admit that some of the minor characters felt rushed for the sake of plot convenience especially when the series is coming to a close. For example, suddenly who this f*cking Mark guy who is going to succeed Noah? Without any fanfare, they put someone we don’t know as the main culprit just so we can have closure that his succession plan failed. Even the introduction of this Grace police dude, it was just someone who can just make the swoop of all the guilty parties. But looking back, I think it is for the best. After all, the series is about the missing Caird students and they don’t want to waste time in focusing too much on these side distractions. Just show us enough so that we can have closure on this issue. That is why those darn originals of the clones seemed like they were never a threat to begin with. After all, they were under the perception they have gotten rid of their clones so they never planned anything beyond or having a backup plan. And that shady guy Funicia saw the night before her adoption, just some harmless guy. Red herring.
On a trivial note, somehow I see some sort of similarities of the crew of Astra and the Straw Hat Pirates from One Piece! No kidding. I mean, Kanata as the captain may not be able to elongate his limbs like Luffy but he is the captain whom everybody follows. Then you’ve got Ulgar who is the sniper like Usopp. Charce is like Sanji because of the former’s expertise in biology, he tells his mates in what to gather to eat so he is like the chef, right? Quitterie and Funicia and be Chopper’s counterpart as in the doctor and the little adorable cutie. Yeah. Zack pilots the ship so he’s the Jinbei while Luca being the handyman can be Franky’s counterpart, no? Polina being an explorer, can I say she is like archaeologist Robin? Finally this leaves Aries to be Nami? I’m going to flimsily use her photogenic memory which is good for navigation despite Aries isn’t playing a navigator role. Looks like Zoro got left out, huh? Ah never mind, I’ll place him as Kanata’s counterpart too since Kanata is quite athletic and quite a fighter.
The irony that this new world has no more countries and nationalities. Everybody is one. I wonder what they call themselves on Astra. Astrals? Astrans? I don’t know, I just want to point out how the crews on Astra are so multinational. At least based on their names. We have Kanata as your typical main character Japanese. But of course. Then we have Aries and Zack who are either USA or British. Take your pick. I believe Zack could be British since he is more uptight compared to the easy going Aries. Heh. Don’t forget the China powerhouse in Yunhua. Then we have Italy represented by Luca, Germany by Ulgar and France by Charce. I was going to think they were omitting Russia on purpose but I guess there’s Polina. I thought her name sounds Polish but that’s just me being dumb, looking at her name and judging it sound close to Poland. After all, Polina did mention her mother language was Russian. Strangely, why they need 2 Frenchies here because Charce is already one (although his Vixia could be of German origin) but Quitterie too? Yeah, not your typical French name like Marie and Louise. And Funicia could be Mediterranean origin so I’m assuming she’s Greek. So sorry Australia. You not represented, mate. (Just like how that Lazarus anime too had no ‘Australian representation’. Hah!). Or Africa too. Racist. Just kidding!
Art and animation are quite good with the character designs despite being typical Japanese anime style, you can tell them apart with their distinctive traits. The irony in my previous paragraph b*tching about the multinational characters but they all look like typical Japanese anime characters! I’m going to give them some leeway about the designs on the planets that these Astra crews landed on as the flora and fauna look weird enough. Sometimes you want to laugh at them. Like those gruppies. Uh huh. Yeah, have to at least give off that expression that you’re on an alien planet. Hey, you can’t be seeing another similarly looking giant panda on such faraway alien planet, do you?! There’s also some CGI elements but that is mainly used for Astra and some of the background environments. Thankfully, Astra doesn’t look like sh*t and I don’t think the darkness of space hid any bad CGI flaws. This anime is done by Lerche who did Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, Kuzu No Honkai, Radiant, the Danganronpa series and Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi No Kyoushitsu E.
Voice acting is quite decent with a handful I recognize such as Saori Hayami as Yunhua, Mai Nakahara as Emma, Kikuko Inoue as Sophie, Tomokazu Sugita as Jed, Rikiya Koyama as Rei, Kouji Yusa as Grace and Hiroaki Hirata as Noah. The rest are Yoshimasa Hosoya as Kanata, Inori Minase as Aries and Seira, Shunsuke Takeuchi as Zack, Nobunaga Shimazaki as Charce, Tomoyo Kurosawa as Quitterie, Kouki Uchiyama as Ulgar, Risae Matsuda as Luca, Hina Kino as Funicia, Hitomi Nabatame as Polina, Masaki Terasoma as Marco, Tetsuo Kanao as Gert, Masaya Matsukaze as Finn, Megumi Toyoguchi as Olive, Ayahi Takagaki as Lucy, Yuuji Ueda as Felice and Wataru Hatano as Kanata’s sensei. The opening theme is Star Frost by Nonoc. Sounds like a generic upbeat rock music although I find the electric guitar and some synthesizer effects to be, well, screeching. The ending theme, Glow At The Velocity Of Light by Riko Azuna is another typical upbeat anime pop. Sounds okay to me but nothing exceptionally special. The final episode’s ending theme, Astro-gou No Bouken by Saori Hayami sounds decent. At least still better than the one she sang in RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku!
Overall, I have to admit that this series surpassed my expectations and it was quite an exciting watch from start till the end. It proves that as long as you can weave and interesting story, plot and characters, you don’t need mindless bloodshed violence or even shameless mind numbing fanservice to try to wow your audience. I hope to see more of this kind of interesting anime in the future despite this 2019 one I stumbled upon chance. Sometimes getting lost in anime space does pay off. Perhaps also changing my perspective and giving me a whole new interest in this space sci-fi genre. Oh wait. I just recently watched that Gnosia… Here I go back surviving the anime space filled with crappy and mediocre shows. Hope I have the survival skills to survive long enough before I find another interesting watch. It’ll be worth it. Aye yeah!
