Uchuu Kyoudai (Space Brothers)

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Alternative Titles

English: Space Brothers

Synonyms: Uchuu Kyodai

Japanese: 宇宙兄弟

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 99

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 1, 2012 to Mar 22, 2014

Premiered: Spring 2012

Broadcast: Sundays at 07:00 (JST)

Producers: Aniplex, Dentsu, YTV, Trinity Sound

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks

Studios: A-1 Pictures

Source: Manga

Genres: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Seinen, Slice of Life, Space

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.52¹ (scored by 39,023 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #95²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1010

Members: 156,281

Favorites: 3,493

8.52

Ranked #95Popularity #1010Members 156,281

Spring 2012TVA-1 Pictures

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Synopsis

On a fateful summer night in 2006, Mutta Nanba and his younger brother Hibito witness what they believe to be a UFO flying toward the Moon. This impressing and unusual phenomenon leads both siblings vowing to become astronauts, with Hibito aiming for the Moon and Mutta, convinced that the eldest brother has to be one step ahead, for Mars.

Now an adult, life hasn't turned out how Mutta had pictured it: he is diligently working in an automotive company, whereas Hibito is on his way to be the very first Japanese man to step on the Moon. However, after losing his job, Mutta is presented with an unexpected opportunity to catch up to his younger brother when the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, commonly known as JAXA, accepts his application to participate in the next astronaut selection. Despite self-doubts about his prospects, Mutta is unwilling to waste this chance of a lifetime, and thus embarks on an ambitious journey to fulfill the promise made 19 years ago.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Uchuu Kyoudai
Side story:	Uchuu Kyoudai: Apo's Dream, Uchuu Kyoudai: Itten no Hikari
Prequel:	Uchuu Kyoudai: Number Zero

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Nanba, Mutta

Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Nanba, Hibito

Main

Sanpei, Yuuko
Japanese

Apo

Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Itou, Serika

Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki
Japanese

Makabe, Kenji

Supporting

Katou, Masayuki
Japanese

Young, Deneil

Supporting

Ishida, Tarou
Japanese

Jay, Brian

Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio
Japanese

Kaneko, Sharon

Supporting

Ikeda, Masako
Japanese

Nasuda, Shigeo

Supporting

Aoyama, Yutaka
Japanese

Norton, Pico

Supporting

Ootsuka, Houchuu
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Watanabe, Ayumu

Director

Kobayashi, Katsuyoshi

Sound Director

Ezaki, Shinpei

Episode Director, Storyboard

Ishii, Toshimasa

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

#1: "Feel So Moon" by Unicorn (eps 1-13)
#2: "Eureka (ユリーカ)" by Sukima Switch (eps 14-26)
#3: "Yume Miru Sekai (夢見る世界)" by DOES (eps 27-38)
#4: "Small World" by Fujifabric (eps 39-51)
#5: "Kienai E (消えない絵)" by Magokoro Brothers (eps 52-64)
#6: "Crater (クレーター)" by Merengue (eps 65-75)
#7: "HALO" by tacica (eps 76-87)
#8: "B.B" by THE Yatou (eps 88-99)

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Ending Theme

#1: "Subarashiki Sekai (素晴らしき世界)" by Rake (eps 1-13)
#2: "Kokuhaku (告白)" by Angela Aki (eps 14-26)
#3: "Tete (テテ)" by Akihisa Kondou (eps 27-38)
#4: "Goodbye Isaac (グッバイ・アイザック)" by Motohiro Hata (eps 39-51)
#5: "BEYOND" by Miho Fukaraha (eps 52-64)
#6: "Yozora no Taiyou (夜空の太陽)" by Flower Companyz (eps 65-75)
#7: "New World" by Kasarinchu (ep 76-87)
#8: "Anata ga Ireba OK!" by Serena (88-99)

More reviews

Reviews

Feb 10, 2014

99 of 99 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

xspookydarknessx (All reviews)

276 people found this review helpful

At first glance Space Brothers seems to be an anime about two brothers that just go space and do astronaut things, but oh ho, dear reader, it is so much more than that. It is a realistic journey delving into one of the most difficult professions ever conceived by man. Now that the series has concluded [for the time being], a proper review is in order. But first, we better shake hands.

STORY:
Space Brothers cleverly depicts the pursuits of Mutta and Hibito, converging their storylines at some times and following them separately at others. This structure is beneficial to the flow and progression, and earns read more

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Jun 25, 2013

99 of 99 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

Kynov (All reviews)

204 people found this review helpful

"An older brother must step ahead against his younger brother" - Nanba Mutta.

Lately, i haven't found any good anime to watch.. then i meet Uchuu Kyoudai/Space Brother, at the first i was like oh just an average anime which have sci-fi and bla bla bla. since i didnt have any anime to watch, i thought i could try it for just one episode. and then seems like i had learned my lesson.

"Dont ever judge anime by its cover, genre, or anything else before you watched it" - Me, after watching this.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY

The story was simple, its about Nanba Mutta as the older brother who had promised read more

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Jun 28, 2014

99 of 99 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

kaeeeeee (All reviews)

64 people found this review helpful

This show is a hidden gem. Having always avoided shows with lengthy and seemingly boring settings, I found some extra time on my hands during the summer break. So I decided to use it and pick up the first few episodes of Space Brothers without expecting much. I was immediately proven wrong, thinking again and again that you should truly “never judge a book by its cover”. (I try not to but it still happens. I can’t help it when there are too many choices ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Story
My first thought after reading the synopsis was why the hell are 99 episodes dedicated to these random siblings trying to go to space. Not to mention the fact that one of them has an afro. Is this entire series a joke? The sci-fi genre with “space” in it is so commonplace that we often associate it with aliens, laser beams blasting out of gigantic humanoid robots, or imperial planetary empires attempting to take over galaxies; we often forget that astronauts/cosmonauts in reality are one of the most dangerous and strenuous professions in the world. As a requirement, all astronauts must be genetically and physically healthy all around, have to dedicate their minds to proficiency levels of engineers, and have to work long hours to maintain the fitness ability of athletes. Even then, only the very few with exceptional abilities are the ones that are accepted as those that are able to go to space. Forget the ridiculous afro for now. This is a truly inspirational journey about the challenges that the siblings overcome to fulfilling a persistent passion (mostly just about the guy with the afro though).

Characters
It’s always very challenging to express characters realistically in anime but this one has particularly done an outstanding job. The depth of the characters continued to grow and develop throughout the series. The background stories of every character along with the inflections of tones and conversations entwines into their personalities and career pursuits as astronauts or engineers. The mini-stories also added gravity to each character's dedication.

Sound
La di la di la. Amazing classical music when needed :)

Enjoyment
Some pretty good comedy alongside the inspiring story of our friendly afro dude.

Art
The scenes and color are framed well and appropriately montaged, giving decent mis-en-scene. Symbolic coloring and framing or artistically beautiful shots are not the highlight of this show. I would say this has a lot more going for it in the story and character development than anything else. The style of art is “meh” but that is largely subjective.

10/10 Overall a hidden masterpiece.

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May 11, 2015

99 of 99 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

triangulor (All reviews)

36 people found this review helpful

Space brothers is about two brothers' journey to space. Its a feel good comedy about reigniting your passions in life and chasing dreams you thought were impossible.

Namba Hibito is cool, carefree and about to become the first Japanese person on the moon while his older brother Mutta is down on his luck, having been fired from his job designing automobiles. He gave up on his dreams years ago but a little nudge from his little brother starts him on the journey to realise his childhood dream of joining his brother in space.

So first off this is not a show about adventures in space. There is of course some space travel but it is more of a character driven comedy that showcases a lot of training as well as the grueling selection process on the road to becoming an astronaut. But even though that may sound boring it does manage to keep interesting plots happening most of the time, and its a pretty funny show so I think that makes up for it. It has a bit of a lull around the 25 episode mark but if you keep going it ramps up again, it is a very fun series and will make you (in the words of the opening song) feel so good.

So as I mentioned this is a character driven show. There are a lot of great characters. I particularly enjoyed the cringeingly awesome parents, and Lowry the American Weeaboo astronaut who is always misusing Japanese phrases but the whole cast is pretty colourful. Our hero Mutta is a loserish 30 something year old with hidden talents. He is the perfect hero for people in their thirties (or late twenties like me) who want to start dreaming again. It is a bit more mature that a lot of the anime out there but still has those awesome Japanese elements I love like a celebration of lofty dreams and the determination and resolve to realise them.

As for the art I felt like this wasn't a focus for the creators. The individual pictures are a bit more on the realistic side and while they mostly look ok on their own the animation itself is often stilted and awkward. After a while I stopped noticing it most of the time but every now and then there would be some really awkward movement, for example there is a particular dance scene that looks borderline creepy. But for the most part you are just watching simple animation and it does the job.

One negative thing I will say for this show is that although the ending is good it kind of ends in an unsatisfying place. The last episode was exciting and resolved stuff and didn't feel rushed, but you will see when you get there (if you watch it) that it doesn't end where you want it to end. I do sort of hope they start the anime again because even though I liked the ending there were some things I wanted to see happen.

This show is incredibly feel good. It has some more real moments but overall its the kind of show that is always a bit warm and fuzzy. They are basically a bunch of lovable space nerds fulfilling their dreams, and triumphing thanks to determination and hard work. So yeah if you are turned off by things that are too happy, or where things work out too well for the cast you might find that annoying. Personally I found it suspended disbelief really well. However it did have the unfortunate side effect of making me wish I was an astronaut. So be warned.

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