I really wasn't expecting to like Astra Lost in Space anywhere near as much as I did. I thought it'd be just another anime in my very large collection that I'd watch, think is fine and move along from without ever giving it much thought after the fact. I'd never seen anyone talk about or hype up this anime, nor have I seen it appear on "best of" lists that everyone seems to love making, so while I immediately concede I may have simply liked this more than most members of the community do, I really was taken aback by how into this I was.
First of all, it's beautiful. This anime is only about five years old, and almost every remotely modern anime looks nice, but in this case the color palette really pops off the screen with how bright and vibrant it is. The characters have all sorts of different hair and eye colors, none look remotely alike unless they're supposed to, and the various planets our main cast visit as they attempt to make their way home are equally gorgeous. The fauna, oceans and landscapes found on these fictional planets in many cases make the characters feel like they're on a paradise vacation rather than lost and in a very dire situation, and it's easy to see why. Many of these locations are places I'd love to visit if they were real, and none of them felt too similar to each other, each beautiful both cosmetically and mechanically in their own way. There is a true sense of adventure and wonder in this anime and that really, really elevated it for me. I haven't seen the evocation of that sense of adventure done this well since watching the first season of Made in Abyss a solid four or five years ago.
The pacing here is solid, as it's only 12 episodes and it needs to cram a whole lot of adventure in there, and we're more or less off to the races from the word go. Many episodes, particularly early on, end on cliffhangers which absolutely pushed me even further into losing sleep that night and wanting to watch just one more episode. At first, the plot is straightforward enough, but admittedly in the latter stages of the anime it goes pretty far off the rails. I concede that a certain level of suspension of disbelief is required to enjoy this anime, but this is FAR from the most egregious offender I've encountered in that regard, and while I found many plot points perhaps convenient or implausible, none of them ever crossed the line for me into ridiculous, offensively stupid, this could absolutely never happen territory.
I really liked that they opted to make the 12th and final episode significantly longer than the others. If for whatever reason 16 or 24 episodes were not greenlit, but they didn't want to rush the ending or leave loose ends, this is absolutely the correct solution and I wish more anime would do this. I'm glad they took their time, addressed the fate of each character from the main cast, of which there are many, and didn't fall victim to the constraints of the short episode count they were working with.
My only other nitpicky criticism would be that the anime felt a little preachy at times. There was perhaps just a bit too much of "the power of friendship", "the power of positivity", "we can do anything if we work together", blah blah for my liking, but I was enjoying the show as a whole so much to where I was able to overcome this annoyance.
Existential crisis aside, I really liked Astra Lost in Space and think of it very highly. The plot was fine, even if not revolutionary, but the exceptional sense of adventure, strong pacing and gorgeous visuals really came together for me and delivered an experience I'll absolutely remember and continue to recommend for years to come. If you're even vaguely a fan of adventure or space anime, don't miss this one.
OBJECTIVE RATING- 8-9
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 9
