Story 8/10:
I really like the story for this anime. A race between two enemy nations to get a manned spaceship into orbit. Put this together with the main duo of the series Irina Luminesk and Lev then you have a story about 2 people bonding over their love for space and desire to get to somewhere special to them.
Art 7/10:
The art and animation for this anime is quite pleasing to look at. The characters have been drawn well and a lot of attention has been given to each one of them. The animation of their movements is also very fluid and well made especially during training drills they do in the anime such as parachuting or zip-lining. The background art and attention to detail of the subject and surroundings of each scene are also well made and extrudes an aura of high quality.
Character 7/10:
The characters for this show are decently portrayed but the key stars are Irina and Lev as they are the protagonists. Lev is an ex astronaut candidate whose dream is to go into space and those feelings he has for space are well shown as he helps Irina train her hardest to be fit for space travel. Since he himself is not able to go to space anymore due to an incident that caused him to be demoted, in a sense, it seems like he is pushing his dreams onto Irina so she can get to space for the both of them. Irina herself is also a spectacle. She is a vampire who has been captured and forced to become an astronaut to the launched into space as a test subject in order to see if space travel is suitable for humans. At first it seems that Irina is just a slave that is ordered to obey their commands but the more you look at it you realize that she herself has a strong desire for space. She obediently does what she is told and forces herself to go through hellish training all for a dream that she has.
Enjoyment 8/10:
I really enjoy this anime. It is definitely an underrated show that has been overshadowed by bigger names this season. There is a lot to enjoy about it. It is informative about a lot of things to do with space travel and the preparations astronauts have to go through. It also gives small accounts of historical fact about the history of humanities interest with space.
Overall this anime is the definite dark horse of the season in my opinion. You should give it a go if you enjoy this type of historical anime with a fantasy twist.
