I don't understand Japanese or speak it, but just from hearing a lot of recent voices, I sort of feel like they all sound the same. For me, it's not like they are not expressive enough or good enough. It's more like, they are all following the same norm. So occasionally, when a voice really pops out, it really makes me excited about the character.
This is the case with Space Brothers. I wouldn't normally watch this type of genre, but I do go for refreshing characters and stories. Space brothers is definitely refreshing.
The story is relatively straighforward, basically about an older brother chasing after the dream he had in the past and a younger brother waiting for him at the end of that dream. It's not a kid's show though, because the main character is about 30 years old, so you are basically watching a middle aged man starting afresh. Does it sound boring? Yes it did for me at least when I first heard about this series.
But surprisingly, the characters and even the story itself didn't bore me. The first surprise I got is hearing Sanji's voice. It made me really excited, especially because the voice is perfect for the character. His voice is so full of personality, and it's different from the recent voices I've been hearing. I can't explain well why.
Another surprise is how exciting the story turned out to be. It's down to earth, not exaggerated, and not with a lot of twists and turns, but at the same time it can move you with it. There aren't a lot of stories that don't need any over the top characterization or beyond the limit theme to have it work. An encounter with a story that doesn't need those things but even can surpasses everything else to me is both an excitement and an honor.
