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Kanata no Astra
Astra Lost in Space
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Kanata no Astra

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 彼方のアストラ

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 5

Chapters: 49

Status: Finished

Published: May 9, 2016 to Dec 30, 2017

Genres: Action, Award Winning, Sci-Fi

Themes: Space, Survival

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump+

Authors: Shinohara, Kenta (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.05¹ (scored by 8,306 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #695²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #913

Members: 20,054

Favorites: 510

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 16 / 16

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Filter Preliminary Spoiler

Jun 1, 2019

Remocracy

Recommended

The story was great. Except, be warned. Around Volume 4, there are so many plot twists that you start to get kind of confused. But otherwise a really good manga.

Books 1-3 are pretty mild, they learn what happened, think about why they got "lost" in space, etc. But in Volume 4, they really start to discover stuff. Especially around the end of Volume 4 and the beginning of Volume 5, there is so much learned in such a short time that you might be confused. I would also recommend trying to read Volumes 4-5 right after each other to help with the confusion.

Mar 24, 2019

DenkiDestroy99X

Recommended

Note: (Spoiler-Free-Review)
This Manga is not what it seems like. Its so much more!

Overall 10/10.
What i loved the most was the Type of Story Telling, which is very reminiscent of Manga Titles like Yakusoku no Neverland or Shingeki no Kyojin. What i mean by that is that the Story is told from the Perspective of Characters that have very limited knowledge about the Truth of the World, which hides Secrets that one would never have expected.

What seemed like a Space Slice of Life that raised a couple of seemingly unimportant Questions at the start, and continues to portray this image until halfway through the Manga with ...

Dec 30, 2017

BluePikmin11

Recommended

I came across this series right after consuming one of SJ’s recent series The Promised Neverland. A friend I know on Twitter recommended two titles to me, Kimetsu no Yaiba and Astra Lost in Space. The latter was the one he loved the most and he told me it was a more obscure SJ title that has yet to see deserved praise. Given my sense of empathy, I wanted to look into Astra Lost in Space first to see if I would love it as my friend.

I was highly impressed with the art and character design, immediately thinking about why this has become notable ...

Nov 25, 2020

AchyutPSingh

Recommended

I started reading this manga on Shonen Jump app a few days ago, and simultaneously watched the anime adaptation on Netflix. While I finished the anime before the manga, I equally enjoyed both. Astra Lost in Space is a superb sci-fi action manga that starts pretty casually, only to get intense and thought-inducing in the latter volumes. The exposition can at times get really hard to follow (I myself re-read a lot of dialogue to understand what was said), but even with that, it keeps the entertainment quotient active and the willingness to quickly jump to the next chapter was all because it was both ...

Oct 25, 2017

Gimme_Apen

Recommended

Preliminary (44/49 chp)

If you're looking for a space exploration manga with likable characters and awesome plot, This is the manga for you

Story = 10
I like how the story unfolds, it isn't slow nor was it too fast-paced but just about the right amount. It hardly have any filler since each chapter builds up the story, stacks nicely, and how it kept me wanting for more.

Art = 9
""The art compliments the story"

It's a tip top quality as you can get. From the ships detail, to the scenery of different Biome, and the food they eat. Great quality.

...

Feb 7, 2019

TheFutureIsAni1

Recommended

Astra Lost In Space is the first manga I pick to read from the new Shonen Jump app, I didn't truly know what to expect but it quickly become one my all time favorite manga stories.

Astra Lost in Space is perfect space adventure!! Lots of fun twists and turns!! I love how it actually felt like a space story, and centers on different planets and exportation and that survival is key, it was fast moving story with lots of cliffhanger moments, a really nice thriller too.

The characters really fit together, and it wasn't just other space ...

Oct 18, 2017

DanoTheFano

Recommended

Preliminary (43/49 chp)

Okay wow, I don't know why no one has reviewed this manga yet, but I'll give it my best. Do realize that I am only on chapter 43 (which is the most recent chapter as of October 18th, 2017) so I might have to update my rating as more chapters are released. I'll try not to spoil anything, so my review will be pretty generic and non-specific just to avoid those small spoilers, but I'm only human so there will be tinise tiny spoilers ahead. I'll keep it small, but I won't be going over individual character traits or plot details, but other than that ... we should be good!

Where do I even begin? I guess I'll start off with the category I ranked the lowest: The story (8).
Now the story for this manga goes something along the lines of some famous sci-fi media like "Event Horizon," "No Man's Sky," and "Firefly". The best line I can think of from firefly to describe this manga is "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" Honestly it sums up the whole premise of this manga. But incase that didn't help you understand the plot line I'll spell it out a bit more clearly for you. In the not so distant future, human kind has evolved enough that we can travel from one planet to another, and we have invented a way to travel faster than the speed of light. This enables us to send kids to camp, like most parents of elementary schoolers do, EXCEPT IT'S TO OTHER PLANETS. But unfortunately for our characters, everything goes south extremely quickly. I think they are on that original camping planet for maybe a page. MAYBE. From there the story line takes a bit of the premise of No Man's Sky and runs with it (except they do a waaaaayy better job than no man's sky did of space exploration). Honestly, if not for all the "stuff" that happens along the way I'd really love the plot line. But the drama that pops up is necessary but done weirdly so it detracts a little bit from the story overall.

Next up is the Art category (9)
I'm definitely not an art critic, but the art in this manga is really clean, well done, and extremely nice to look at. The mangaka does an amazing job at detailing alien flora and fauna, although the lips seem to be a troubling point for the artist as all of the alien lips in the series are a bit........ weird.

After that comes the most important category, Character (9)
I honestly was really surprised by this one, there were a lot of twists and turns, but each character has their own moment of glory, and their own time to develop. In forty something chapters, there's a pretty good amount of development for each character although there is a Naruto like character in this series where everything he does he succeeds in so if that's not your thing then abandon all hope. I honestly liked all the characters in this series and I have only found to truly dislike one character for reasons I'll avoid stating.

Enjoyment -(10)
I started this series today October 18th, 2017 at around 9 or 10 pm. I have just finished binge reading the entire series that has been translated as of today (up to chapter 43) and I'm now writing a review for it. I haven't wanted to binge reading something in quite a while, and usually if I do get the urge it dies out after ten or so chapters. But nope, here I am having to write a review for this manga because I loved it so much after binge reading every chapter. It's a great series if you are interested in shounen like manga based in space. Imagine what No Man's Sky should've been, with a touch of FireFly.

Overall- 9
I gotta average the scores of this one, and it almost reaches 10, it so close that it can taste it. If it weren't for the predictable plot points, the weird alien lips, and the "bad guy" character in this series, I'd have rated it a full 10. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and had to binge read the entire series in one go, the characters were amazing, the art was eye catching, and the story was able to keep up with the rest of it for the most part. Overall, I gotta say this manga is absolutely great and it should have a way higher rating that 7.whatever that it is currently rated.

Mar 27, 2023

dezjaron

Recommended

This was a quick and interesting read that I didn't put down on my entire 5 day trip in New York City.

The characters back stories and development had me rooting and wanting to learn more about them.

The story had a pace that kept me intrigued and always thinking about what is going to happen next. I have never read a story in this fashion so I would say it is unique.

The are style was pleasant to look at. The details of the planets, animals and other creatures really had me feel that I was looking to get back home with them.

I would recommend this to ...

Jul 6, 2018

Flarzy

Recommended

This space thriller about the survival of a group of students is sure to make you keep reading until the end!

The premise alone captures your atention, a sci-fi adventure with a bunch of highschool teenagers, where they have to manage survival by themselves. But as the story goes, a bunch of questions pop up, and by the end a huge development is unveiled, and it does a tremendous job setting up and capturing your desire to keep reading! The only problem with it, is that the pacing was so fast, lacking some more interactions between the crew.

The diverse cast had a great developement, the interactions ...

May 10, 2019

Exill

Recommended

What a journey!

At first few chapters it is pretty much like a generic stranded drama story likeas cage of eden, let's lagoon, etc.

However after some build up, it turns out to be more than that.
The story is great. It is not by any mean something so original, but it is not so original plot is so well done. Not dragged out, but still managed to flesh out the character quite well by resolving their issues.
The story also discuss something that is controversial in this modern science, which made this manga is so good.
The message of those controversial topic is also conveyed really well by the ...

Sep 21, 2019

Firechick12012

Recommended

Science fiction is a genre that I've never really found myself gravitating to. Not for any reason or anything, but when I first started getting into anime and manga, no sci-fi stuff really appealed to me. I did watch Gundam 00 when it first came out, but it was filled with incomprehensible technobabble and a bunch of overconvoluted scenarios that made zero sense to me. But then again, I've always been picky about what I read or watch in general. One day, while I was scouring Anime News Network, I came across a review of the first three volumes of a manga called Astra: Lost ... In Space. My curiosity was piqued, so I rented the series from my local library to see if it was any good. To my surprise, it was, and so much more. While I wouldn't consider this one of my all-time favorite manga for a variety of reasons, Astra: Lost In Space is definitely a new favorite of mine that seriously needs more love, so why not spread the love?

The year is 2063, and the world has gotten to the point where interstellar travel has become the norm, to the point where high school camping trips take place on other planets. Nine children from Caird High School group B-5 have been looking forward to a five-day-long camping trip on the planet McPa for a while, with the added task of taking care of the younger sister of another classmate. But the second they arrive on McPa, a mysterious orb swallows them up and spits them out into deep space, thousands of light years away from home. They manage to find a derelict spaceship nearby, but without a good supply of food and water, they have no chance of survival. As they travel to other planets and find their way back home, questions run through their minds. Why did this happen to them? Could it be a simple accident, or is there something more sinister going on? And who's out there trying to kill them? Is it someone in their midst?

The mystery is the real hook of Astra. It mostly plays out like a lighthearted space adventure manga, and throughout the course of its run, it is. But the questions of what happened to them, who's trying to get them killed, and who the killer among them is the main driving force of the story, even though a lot of it is centered on their planet hopping and trying to survive. Interesting, the adventure/survival and mystery manage to blend surprisingly well, combining the thrill of discovering new planets and the joys, thrills, and dangers associated with them, to the dark, brooding, more emotional aspects with the kids' circumstances, their backgrounds, and wondering just who is trying to get them killed. In terms of the artwork, Shinohara's landscapes are a marvel to look at. Every world the characters visit is unique and full of character, managing to make the environments look both exciting to explore and just a tad frightening. But while the character designs are pretty good as well, Shinohara sometimes struggles with anatomy, with some characters either looking too big or too small for their ages, and sometimes their limbs look weirdly crooked in certain panels.

Worldbuilding is important when making a story, and Shinohara managed this really well too. In every volume, there are pages dedicated to showing floor plans, blueprints of the Astra and what goes where, the various types of space suits the kids wear and their brand names, and even the alien lifeforms on the various planets they visit have a lot of character and thought put into their creation, even the mutant Chocobos they meet on the second planet. The work that was put into making Astra's universe come to life is impressive and it gives everything a much greater sense of plausibility than it otherwise might have had. It helps that every volume focuses on just one world the characters visit, rather than having them jump from planet to planet every chapter, as that'd make it feel rather rushed. The story itself is very tight, with a clear goal in mind, and every chapter does what it needs to do without needing to bite off more than it can chew, and all of them are well paced, never lazing about and dragging something on longer than it needs, while still finding time to let the characters breathe and relax when needed, so no chapter is ever a slog to get through.

In regards to the characters, opinions can be mixed on this one. Let's not deny it, the characters are pretty much stock anime tropes on the surface: The jock shounen protagonist, the pink haired ditz, the whiny tsundere who complains a lot, the shy girl, the edgy Sasuke clone who hates everybody, the pretty boy, so on and so forth. They're all played pretty straight, and the series doesn't really do anything new with these character archetypes, so if you can't stand these kinds of things, then this manga isn't for you. Quitterie in particular can really grate on people's nerves. She's the whiny, annoying spoiled tsundere rich girl who complains about everything and is unnecessarily mean to everyone at first. She does grow out of it starting from volume 2, but I don't blame you for dropping the series because of her alone. Personally, I thought the characters were just fine, and for me, I found the series' other strength is just how these kinds of characters bond, deal with the situations they're in, and how they dealt with bad things in their past. Sometimes there's nothing wrong with cliches if they're used right, and although some characters are rather bland, I still found them enjoyable as a group. Also, Luca is my favorite. He's awesome. Fight me.

The characters aren't the only thing some people might take issue with. Some of the things that happen to the characters can come off as way too convenient for some, and some twists at the end, while they seem awesome on the surface, don't necessarily make sense on an objective level. I won't spoil anything, and I found the many twists the show reveals to be awesome, but others might not and find them too manufactured to be plausible, which is understandable. The manga itself is also very lighthearted, with a lot of comedy. Some of the jokes land, while others don't. Surprisingly, I found even some of the fanservice and associated gags to be surprisingly well done, especially volume 2's spin on one particular fanservice-y trope that I normally absolutely hate with a passion (Y'know, the "guy walks into a girl while she's nude in the bathroom, she gets mad and punches him." That one). It helps that all the characters are confirmed to be 16-17 in-universe, so any additional skeeziness is thankfully avoided, so you don't need to worry about there being any crappy stuff like underwear shots or non-consensual boob grabbing (THANK GOD) in this series.

While not the most original sci-fi manga out there, it's still a fun, entertaining, feel good space adventure, and it needs more love! A review of the anime will come soon after, so look forward to that!

Apr 22, 2021

Another_Badger

Recommended

“I was so scared before but, now that I have a hand to hold on to, space suddenly looks much more beautiful to me”

- Aries Spring, Chapter 1

Kanata no Astra is a sci-fi series that has a lot of interesting ideas that are difficult to summarise without spoiling the narrative that constantly twists and turns. The characters are interesting, although at times they can feel a little bit flat; especially those who find themselves being less central to the main plot.

Shinohara creates a narrative that has a lot of threads, with each leading to satisfying answers; especially when earlier events are shown to be of ...

Mar 30, 2022

ColdSweat

Recommended

This is a juvenile-oriented read, and I didn't expect to enjoy it so thoroughly, and yet it managed to surprise me.
It made me think of Jules Verne's "Two Years' Vacation", which today's young'uns probably never heard of, then I found out that the producers were thinking exactly of that old book.
The plot is apparently simple: several young students find themselves stranded in space and need to learn to work together, to overcome the many challenges that roaming between worlds poses. It's a juvenile manga, so certain things are simplified; for example, a particularly bright character manages to jury-rig a food detector, that can determine whether ...

May 10, 2022

RitoDeviluke

Recommended

**No Spoilers**

**Summarized Review (if you don't wan't to read my long winder full review**)
Story [8/10]-
short, precise and beautifully paced. This really is a page turner , I wouldn't change really anything about the story.

Art [7/10]
Wow, is the first word that shoots into my mind when I think about the art style. Beautifully drawn , breathtaking landscapes. Clean, precise and so pleasing to look at.

Character [ 9/10]
Characters are definitely something that manga and anime can struggle to keep consistent, readable and likeable. That really is not the case here and you can tell that every character had thought and love put into them. This manga ... will tell you the story of the characters, giving you their motivations and dreams and drawing you in. When you think you know a character you will be shown wrong as they reveal a secret or a thought that was completely unexpected.

Enjoyment [10 / 10]
I cannot praise this manga enough, If you look at my ratings I am generally a pretty hard critic. With this story I didn't want to look for anything wrong, I was so engrossed in the story and so ready to find out what happened. There wasnt a second I felt like i was just trying to get through It, I didnt want it to end.

Overall [8 /10]
____________________________________________________________________
Extended Review (All The Details)
**Story [8/10]**
This is my first Sci-Fi/Space manga and I'm gonna be honest....I loved this story so freaking much ; short, precise and beautifully paced. Don't Let the small number of Volumes fool you, this is a wonderful story of wonder, hope and friendship. The conflict is constant and the secrets continue to unfold before you throughout the story, Every new revelation surprised me and had me craving more and more. The story also has some actually accurate science explained and detailed as well as explaining the technology and how it works for almost everything that is used in the story. This really is a page turner , I wouldn't change really anything about the story. Please give this a try, I thought this was done extremely well..I will be looking for more of this authors work. ____________________________________________________________________
**Art [7/10]**
Wow, is the first word that shoots into my mind when I think about the art style. Beautifully drawn , breathtaking landscapes filled to the brim with weird and amazing creatures and plants. The space atmosphere somehow increases the feeling of hope and wonder that the art style brings forth, which I wouldn't have expected for the cold and terrifying void of space. Extremely readable and pleasing to look at, with every character having great detail and expression. I think that this was done masterfully, and I hope that I can experience an art style that gave me the feelings this manga did.
____________________________________________________________________
**Character [9/10]**
Characters are definitely something that manga and anime can struggle to keep consistent, readable and likeable. That really is not the case here and you can tell that every character had thought and love put into them. This manga will tell you the story of the characters, giving you their motivations and dreams and drawing you in. When you think you know a character you will be shown wrong as they reveal a secret or a thought that was completely unexpected. The characters all grow and change over the story and it is so hard not to root for them. I will remember this cast of characters for a very long time. For me the standouts are definitely Kanata , Aries and Zack for me. I want to emphasize that I really dont think there is a bad character. I started of not liking certain characters but then as they lowered their walls from past trauma and you see them for who they are, the become so much more beautiful and loveable.
____________________________________________________________________
**Enjoyment [10/10]**
I cannot praise this manga enough, If you look at my ratings I am generally a pretty hard critic. With this story I didn't want to look for anything wrong, I was so engrossed in the story and so ready to find out what happened. There wasnt a second I felt like i was just trying to get through It, I didnt want it to end. This is my new favorite manga and that may change but this story has a place in my heart, if you haven't read this please just give it a try.

Nov 6, 2023

hexashadow13

Recommended

tl;dr: A story centered around space exploration that does a great job with it’s character focused plot threads, but fumbles its larger scale ones.

This manga is the story of a group of students that go on a camping trip on a nearby planet as is a pretty typical occurrence in their time period, only to get mysteriously whisked thousands of light years away into the vacuum of space. Luckily there’s a ship, which they dub the Astra, where the arrive. However, the ship isn’t capable of communicating with their home planet, nor does it have enough resources to take them home. However, hope is not ... lost. They come up with the plan of not going directly home, but rather taking a multi-leg journey, stopping at five planets along the way in order to restock on water and food.

The narrative has three intertwined core elements. The first is the sense of adventure and discovery that comes from exploration. In order to survive they have to stop at a series of very different planets and since they’re looking for food and water each planets is populated by various lifeforms. However, the conditions of these planets still vary tremendously, ranging from paradise to barely survivable. The manga is able to convey the feelings of curiosity and satisfaction of experiencing wildly new things really well. And due to the variety of locations, it’s able to maintain that for the entirety of the manga.

The second core element is the cast. Each has their own unique personalities and skillsets as well as backgrounds with pretty heavy emotional baggage. Through their journey, each character gets fleshed out pretty well and most go through pretty solid character arcs. These arcs are pretty fast and to the point, but they work well in regards to the overall context and pacing of the work. Furthermore, they’re also able to establish a very strong group dynamic where by the end of their journey all of them truly feel like not just friends, but a true family. As such, it’s very easy to get invested in each character at both an individual level and as part of the group, which results in some very strong emotional beats. The dynamics between them also result in a lot of good comedy. However, an area that this manga does not excel in is the romantic relationships, wherein while there are a couple that are present, they’re all very lacking and ultimately pretty disappointing.

The last core element is the overarching mystery, the explanation for how they suddenly got whisked away as well as an explanation of why they were in the first place. This one is very much a mixed bag. An area that the writing excels in is the attention to detail. Manga often are very off the cuff, wherein they don’t have a clear overarching plan and just go on until they run out of material. This manga clearly had a precise story planned out from the beginning and it simply told that story. I had already seen the anime so I already knew the twists and such, and from that perspective I was even more impressed because while there is a lot of obvious foreshadowing in the second half of the manga that makes it pretty easy to pick up on the twists even before they’re explicitly revealed, there’s also a lot of minor details from long before the major foreshadowing begins that support said twists.

As for what the twists are, that’s a lot messier. There are two sides to the final explanation to everything. One is grounded and very character focused. I thought this was handled well and was very well written in that it fit in with everyone’s character arcs and the overall themes of the manga. The other side is much grander and while it does fit decently well with the overarching themes of the manga, it’s kind of ridiculous to the degree that it’s hard to suspend my disbelief enough to ignore the issues with it. Still, the manga was able to pace itself such that it’s able to navigate past these parts pretty fast such that it isn’t too much of an issue, and the ending and epilogue overall is pretty satisfying.

The art is pretty good in terms of style and the quality is pretty great too. There’s also a lot of variety to designs, not just in terms of the planets they arrive on, but also in the main characters with a decent variety to their space suits and casual clothes. I would also like to throw in that ultimately, I feel the anime is a bit better than the manga. It has everything in the manga, but it dwells longer on key points and in combination with the great art and soundtrack is able to make certain emotional beats hit much harder.

Feb 10, 2022

turatteu

Not Recommended

Funny

I really don't know how this manga has so high reviews.
The only thing more difficult to know than the question before is where to begin with the problems of the series.

What if we make a history with ships that have limitless power? What if that alone make the whole plot stupid? Well, in this case we have Kanata no Astra.
This is by far the worst manga I'd ever read and I'm not kidding!
We have no consistent history, we have a new Deus Ex Machina at least per volume and NONE of those are explained
If the whole story isn't shit enough, we have this final, that ...