Anime Best in Show

Review: Astra Lost in Space Episode 04 – Best In Show

Quick Summary

In Astra Lost in Space episode 04, “Star of Hope“, Kanata Hoshijima makes a command decision. If they can’t work together as a team, they’ll die individually, so he halts the search for the traitor. They land on planet Shummoor and at first, things seem to be going well. Sure, the animal carcasses they discover are concerning, especially given that there’s no overt cause of death. But they start finding water and some vegetable food, and it looks like they’ll be able to resupply without incident. But when some of the flowers starting going bad — very, very bad! — within minutes of being picked, that’s only the first bad sign. Charce Lecroix is the first to notice the second bad sign. Will he live long enough to warn the others? Or will Shummoor be the last planet they land on?

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

Best Moment in the Show

Yun-hua decided she’d had enough of the shackles. She decided it was her time to free herself from her past. Capture from the Hulu stream

In my Best in Moment review for episode 3, I selected a moment that highlighted Yun-hua Lu. Well, she’s two for two, because one of her moments is my pick for this episode, too!

Half way through the episode, the apex predator on this planet (the fungus, which was a surprise to everyone) poisoned most of the crew. Kanata and Yun-hua weren’t affected, because she had tried to run away in despair at what she interpreted as ridicule from Ulgar Zweig and even (surprisingly!) Luca Esposito. Kanata found her, but in an attempt to give her emotional space, he suggested they put on their helmets and sit apart from each other as they talked. That meant the spores couldn’t infect them.

Charce managed to warn Katana, and he and Yun-hua got everyone back to the ship. By now, everyone that had been exposed was all dying, and soon even Quitterie Raffaeli, who had remained on board, had succumb. Charce figured out a possible antidote, and Yun-hua remembered that they had seen just such a plant while she and Katana had been talking! 

Lun-hua remembered seeing just what Charce had described — but she had only seen one of them. Capture from the Hulu stream

While Kanata ran off to find some, Yun-hua stayed behind. She wasn’t sure what she could do. Without anything to occupy her mind she became haunted by memories of her mother ridiculing her for trying to sing. Not knowing what else she could do, she took a cue from Quitterie, who said that even as a doctor, all she could do was keep the sick comforted — they needed to wait for Kanata. She decided to try to bring comfort to everyone.

She began to sing.

We got a quick flashback to her helmeted conversation with Kanata, where she confessed to him that her dream was to be a singer. 

And so she sang.

Her voice was so beautiful that it brought comfort to the sick. How cool is that?  Capture from the Hulu stream

Her voice did bring them comfort, even if only a little. But the moment for me was when she decided to step beyond the cage her mother had tried to impose on her. Even the first steps towards freedom are beautiful things.

What did you think of Yun-hua in this episode? What was your Best in Show moment? Let me know in the comments! 

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6 thoughts on “Review: Astra Lost in Space Episode 04 – Best In Show

  1. I love that it’s a fungus that was the apex predator of this planet, I think that’s what I’m enjoying most about this series so far, it’s coming up with some creative and different planets. I like space exploration when it focuses on the weird and wonderful possibilities out there. That being said, I’m still not sure how I feel about Kanata taking off his helmet at the end, it’s just such a risky and dangerous move, even if it did work out in the end.

    1. “I love that it’s a fungus that was the apex predator of this planet, ”

      I thought that was a cool touch, too!

      “I think that’s what I’m enjoying most about this series so far, it’s coming up with some creative and different planets.”

      And the planets feel like their ecosystems would work. They’re not a mismatched set of conditions; they feel like an ecology.

      “I’m still not sure how I feel about Kanata taking off his helmet at the end”

      TBH, I thought the exact same thing. Then he seemed to scarf down a lot of the antidote — so much that I wondered if he left any for the rest! Like you said, it did work out, but jeesh!

  2. If you’re really in a lot of pain, listening to relaxing or inspiring music, or having someone sing a song to you, is surprisingly soothing.

  3. Scouting this show to see if I will pick it up. Read a very brief summary of this episode and you are the first review to highlight exactly what was important to me. Yun-hua sounds like an amazing character and just for her I would watch the show. Hopefully she doesnt expire soon, I really need some postive stories in my life right now! So I will keep track of these reviews and maybe binge the season if I like what I see!
    Thanks for the review!

    1. ” Yun-hua sounds like an amazing character and just for her I would watch the show.”

      She’s probably my favorite character, and that’s saying a lot, because it’s a cast full of interesting characters!

      So far, the writers have patiently developed her until her moment to shine really felt rewarding.

Please let me know what you think!

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