Anime Best in Show

Review: Astra Lost in Space Episode 03 – Best In Show

Quick Summary

In Astra Lost in Space episode 03, “Meteor,” Kanata Hoshijima racks his brain trying to figure out who might be the traitor. Despite spending a lot of energy on the subject, he comes up blank. Their arrival at planet Shummoor interrupts his efforts. A meteor slicing through the ship’s hull puts the subject, at least temporarily, out of everyone’s minds. The strike damaged their gravity generator, and they can’t land without it. Unfortunately, the planet’s gravity has other plans for them. Can Kanata inspire enough crew unity to effect repairs before their ship crashes into the planet? And even if they can, what can he do about the traitor onboard?

Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.

Best Moment in the Show

For a brief instant, Yun-hua was focused and ready to help. Too bad the water globule had other plans. Capture from the Hulu stream

I was sorely tempted to pick the crew’s spirited discussion about who the traitor might be as the Best in Show moment. Too often, I’ve seen shows use these conversations as a plot device to put the viewer off the trail at the expense of character authenticity. In this case, though, I had a real sense that everyone, especially Quitterie Raffaeli, Zack Walker, and Kanata, were honestly wrestling with the questions. All of them were right on the edge of freaking out. Those character moments are awesome!

In this episode, though, I’m going to pick another, less dramatic moment, but a moment with no less importance to the character. 

Right after the meteor strike, they lost gravity, so everyone was floating. Kanata asked Luca Esposito to stop the air leak, and to do that, he needed his toolkit. Yun-hua Lu was closest, but when she tried to use her maneuvering jets to catch the toolkit, she lost control and started tumbling. She felt terrible about not being able to help (15:47). That setup my Best in Show moment.

The crew realized they had a big problem: Without the gravity generator, they couldn’t land in a controlled way. So, fixing that device became critical. Kanata was out of ideas, but everyone pitched in to come up with a workable plan. Heartened, Kanata quickly gave teams of two specific assignments, and everyone moved to begin. 

Lun-hua had been wearing a bleak expression all episode — all series, in fact — but now, she looked determined (18:20). You could just see the determination in her eyes. She was absolutely focused on helping and for the first time since I met her, she seemed confident she could contribute. 

There’s a benefit to being lost in space. Lun-hua doesn’t have to worry about a cruel parent undermining her at every step. She’s surrounded by people who will help her now. The same people she can help. Capture from the Hulu stream

Right up until the globule of water smacked her in the mouth and nose.

In zero gravity, that can be fatal, because it blocked’s Lun-hua’s airway. Quitterie’s fast thinking — using a towel to soak up the water — saved Lun-hua’s life. In that moment, Lun-hua remembered her mom, a cold, stern expression on her face, lamenting that her daughter couldn’t do anything right. 

She tried to apologize, like she’d done so many times before. But Kanata impressed me by taking responsibility for not immediately telling everyone to put on their helmets. 

Lun-hua took the first step herself. She had decided to help in spite of her lack of confidence. She stumbled, but now that she has people in her life that will support her, I think she has a chance to build her self confidence — a confidence based on doing her part to help everyone survive. 

Now, if they can only figure out who (if anyone!) is trying to kill all of them…

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8 thoughts on “Review: Astra Lost in Space Episode 03 – Best In Show

  1. The group dynamics are great in this show, aren’t they? And Quittorie really does look out for her colleagues, despite her standoffishness. Fun show.

    1. “And Quittorie really does look out for her colleagues, despite her standoffishness. Fun show.”

      She’s one of my favorite characters because of that. She’ll fly off the handle one moment and apologize the next.

      I really liked her reactions while she looked for food in the previous episode!

    1. My money’s on Funicia’s doll – probably an AI programmed to that purpose. (I’d have to re-watch the scene where Funicia talks about what she overheard, but that’s when I got the idea.) I’ve been suspicious of that doll the moment it appeared; it reminded me of Chako from Uninhabited Planet Survive, but it was far more subdued and keeping in the background, and lacking any special functions. So maybe it was just a doll, or… [My first impression was ventriloquist puppet, but Funicia’d be a genius if she could pull off that voice.]

    2. “I wonder who the traitor in the group is?”

      I think Dawnstorm’s guess is the most likely.

      My other guess would be Aries, but only if the goal’s not to kill everyone, but to… something else. Forge a deep space crew? It can’t be anything too evil, because I really don’t think she’s the evil sort.

      But I think that’s a low probability.

  2. I sometimes really don’t like the fact that I live in Holland. I don’t have access to this show unfortunately ? And the more I read about it, the more I want to see it lol. Oh well…can’t win erm watch them all I guess??

    1. “I don’t have access to this show unfortunately ”

      That’s a bummer! I hope one of the streaming services you have access to licenses it soon.

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