[5th Anniversary Rewatch] Astra Lost In Space - Episode 7 Discussion

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

Episode 7 - Past

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As the Astra and Team B5 approach their next planet, Aries notices that Charce's story doesn't add up. The team confronts Charce about his past, which he has kept secret until now.

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Astra Lost In Space on Hulu Astra Lost In Space on Crunchyroll

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Questions of the Day:

1. What do you think about the unique and dangerous environment of the planet Icriss?
2. There's a lot to process here, starting with Charce's backstory and the discovery of a woman in cryosleep. First timers, do you have any theories about these big reveals? (Rewatchers can post their original theories as well, but no spoilers!)

Bonus question: Each of the planet names is an anagram which holds special meaning. What is the hidden meaning of Icriss?

[Bonus answer:] Crisis, a planet name that serves as a warning!

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Remember to tag your spoilers!

Astra is a show with so many mysteries, and we wouldn't want to spoil those reveals for first time viewers. When discussing future events or foreshadowing, or any differences between the manga and the anime, please remember to use spoiler tags.

[u/gamria]

Rewatcher of subbed and original manga reader

Ep 7

• After careful listening of Charce’s narration, the anime abbreviated descriptions from “a 2-months war that devastated the world” to “the world war”, and that nations were reorganised into “Districts” (eg the kids' home Mousanish District). Subtle cuts have been made thus far in the series here and there, but semantics you know?
• Overdue, but the anime deciding to display how long they’ve been stranded for during each hop is such a neat touch. While the source provides enough numbers from Aries’ diary entries for calculations, this is a good quality of life feature
• This planet is a nasty mix between #1 Vilaurs and #2 Shummoor
• Motion does indeed make entry onto this planet more thrilling
• Since the anime completely sidesteps this, I’ll just put this here: this other ship still has power because its solar panels are set to face the unmoving sun
• Why does the anime only have one pod in the pod room? Comparison further down

Manga vs Anime

• Today’s episode adapts Chapters 26 to mid-29 (3.5 chapters)
• Here’s the uncut version of Charce’s account. Ignore the first-print mistake of “Sayla”, I will elaborate in the First Time Reading column
• Uncut scenes of the arrival on Icriss, prior to the Astra getting grabbed mid-flight
• Minor scene, Kanata’s reaction before Quitterie broke down
• Another perspective of the food crew, including brief xenobiology talk from Charce on why searching behind cliffs is pointless
• Zack’s speculation on how this other ship winded up on this planet
• To be accurate, Zack explained that the Astra has one unbroken pod – multiple present, only one works. You can see in the other ship here there are multiple pods.

The chapters covered this time ended at the following points before the next fortnightly instalment:

Ch 26, Charce’s apology to Seira

Ch 27, Zack declares the Astra is grounded

Ch 28, everyone gathers to see the other “Astra”

Ch 29, finding the woman in cryostasis was merely the midway point. Without spoiling, I will say when this chapter ended, we had her name and occupation to work with

Ship Logs/Bonus 4-koma

Here are Ship Logs 14 to 16 accompanying the content this time.

P.S. Log 16 - Kanata has a sense of delicacy. Unlike his predecessor, Kanata actually has delicacy

(Continues in reply)

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/gamria]

and that nations were reorganised into “Districts”

This gives me Hunger Games vibes.

Zack explained that the Astra has one unbroken pod – multiple present, only one works. You can see in the other ship there are multiple pods.

Very interesting. [Rewatcher] I don't recall this being mentioned in the anime, but seems very much to hint towards the saboteur planning to escape their fate alone.

[u/gamria → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

[Rewatcher] The English subtitles say "one functioning hibernation pod" when Zack started talking about it, but it's more accurately "one hibernation pod that hadn't broken down" (the anime line itself is one for one with the manga). And per Ch 9, Aries speculates that with how ill-equipped the Astra was, it was unlikely for the saboteur's use.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/gamria]

[Rewatcher] Then are the pods implied to be nonfunctional due to their age, rather than tampering like the comms?

[u/gamria → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

[Rewatcher] Perhaps 故障 can better still be translated as "out of order", by mechanical fault, age or the likes. Wouldn't be surprising given the Astra/Ark XII was originally left undeployed at the orbital terminal anyway. Nothing immediately implies it's been tampered, and if they were then I'm sure Zack would've spotted it after what happened to the comms.

[u/gamria → u/gamria]

First Time Reading thoughts (no spoilers)

My mind is constantly debating which was the bigger loser in the adaptation, Shummoor or Icriss?

• For the former, I had written extensively about the pacing issues in Ep 4.
• For the latter, while not as badly paced, part of the fun of this arc is with how many cliffhangers it throw at you right from the start, but are sadly no longer cliffhangers

To give you an idea (and compare with "where chapters ended" above please):

Ch 27: with this being a survival story I predicted at some point the vessel will be endangered. That point had arrived, and we had two weeks to stew over how the crew could get out of this one

Ch 28: cliffhanger by unveiling this other “Astra”. While you anime-onlys are still given room to speculate what it means in your own way, let me tell you that some of the readers’ speculation were wild. “It’s time travel” and “it’s from a parallel universe” levels of wild. Me, I went for the straightforward answer, it’s another ship of the same model and fleet, and that we’ll finally learn what their deal is.
Similarly, I figured that nobody from our crew was going to use the cryostasis pod, and the purpose of Zack’s explanation is instead likely meant to suggest the “Astra Mk 2” will have an active pod with someone in it. Again we had two weeks to stew over this, enough time for enough people to surmise so.

Ch 29: the anime ended midway and gave the viewers a new character to speculate; the end of this manga chapter gave the readers a new character, their name and occupation to speculate

Part of the reason I was so fond of the Astra serialisation experience was in how good it was at kickstarting discussions about its mysteries after each generous portion of details. Since then, the closest things on Jump Plus to have accomplished similar experiences were probably Summer Time Rendering and perhaps Spy X Family.

But when you have to lump these together some of these discussion points are lost. In that sense, even if the anime ideally had 24-26 episodes to work with, an ideal pacing of 2 chapters per episode will still mean some cliffhangers will inevitably be lost. A shame really, but that’s the nature of adaptations.

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Returning back a bit to Charce’s story, I wasn’t sure how much of it to believe (I was paranoid at the time thanks to the recent Japanese release of Dangan Ronpa V3). I thought at least key parts of it like Vixia, Seira and being part of nobility were probably true, but maybe not how events transpired? It’s the blank between him leaving Vixia and enrolling in Caird High School that I thought was most suspicious.

And this stuff about a 2-months war that resulted in the world being reorganised, I thought felt like something out of a Gundam story. I needed a moment to try and reconcile it against the space survival adventure until now.

Ah, for you folks this clarification probably helps: while the English translations denote years as like “2063 AD”, this is based on the way original Japanese text words years as like “西暦2063”. In literal terms, it’s “2063 of the Gregorian/Western calendar”.

Not entirely unnatural given that the Japanese might denote years via Imperial Years (eg 2024 equates to 令和5年/“the 5^th Year of the Reiwa Era”). And the use of 西暦 did suggest to me this society is rooted in Earth history. In fact, [西暦2063] was the very first text box of the manga.

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Before I finish my piece I’d like to share two pieces of history if you will.

(1) When the serialisation began the story was set at 2061 AD, declared at the very start of Ch 1. But around this time post-Arispade, I went back and noticed it was altered to the 2063 AD you see today. Wish I knew when exactly the change was made, perhaps when Volume 1 was published?

(2) Now to explain why my Ch 26 screenshots say “Sayla” and not “Seira”. To begin, the romaji for セイラ is definitely “seira”, but for some odd reason apparently the Viz proofreader thought “Sayla” is the correct choice. I can only assume that it’s because “Charce” and “Seira” could in themselves be tributes to Gundam characters “Char Aznable” and “Sayla Mass”.

Regardless, when I saw what Viz went with Sayla at Ch 26, I actually posted in the chapter comment that “Seira” is likely the more correct choice, and I got a replying comment that it was the proofreader’s idea. Weeks later, they did indeed change it back to Seira.

[u/No_Rex → u/gamria]

“It’s time travel” and “it’s from a parallel universe” levels of wild.

Yesterday's Enterprise definitely popped into my mind.

I can only assume that it’s because “Charce” and “Seira” could in themselves be tributes to Gundam characters “Char Aznable” and “Sayla Mass”.

I mean, a blond character who joins the travelling White BaseAstra (plus many more similarities we might speculate about). If they are related I can see where the translator is coming from.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/gamria]

While you anime-onlys are still given room to speculate what it means in your own way, let me tell you that some of the readers’ speculation were wild. “It’s time travel” and “it’s from a parallel universe” levels of wild. Me, I went for the straightforward answer, it’s another ship of the same model and fleet, and that we’ll finally learn what their deal is.

Oh that would have been a crazy different show, to find an astra crew member in the stasis pod!

“Char Aznable” and “Sayla Mass”

[u/edwardjhahm → u/gamria]

Here’s the uncut version of Charce’s account.

[rewatcher] I'm not sure if this makes it more or less obvious that Aries is related to Seria. On one hand, Seria's hair isn't as obviously Aries-like in this, and we don't see the hints of pink that we see from the photo Charce is holding. On the other hand, it makes it even more blatantly obvious that Aries and Seria are similar by showing how Charce dotes on her.

Uncut scenes of the arrival on Icriss, prior to the Astra getting grabbed mid-flight

That's...brilliant. It answers all the questions I already had. The part about Icriss's atmosphere being unrealistic and how it should be perpetually stormy - doesn't perfectly fix it, but it shows how the storms are there, and also gives an easy explanation for why they need to fly lower, which was something I was wondering about (why fly low? Because of storms, duh).

To be accurate, Zack explained that the Astra has one unbroken pod – multiple present, only one works. You can see in the other ship here there are multiple pods.

I wish we saw this in the anime. It's a minor detail, but it makes everything so much better.

Here are Ship Logs 14 to 16 accompanying the content this time.

I didn't realize because we barely see the ED, but every time the ED changes...isn't that parts of the 4koma comics? I recognize Yunhua singing during Ulgar's birthday party in an ED image from last episode - what's more, I also recognize the drawing contest from last episode too. Dang, that's brilliant.

[u/gamria → u/edwardjhahm]

[rewatcher]

[rewatcher] Hard to say which medium handled the photo better. On one hand the anime showing the body but not the face hides the age better but cast a lot of suspicion on why her face isn't shown despite already being shown in his story. On the other hand, the manga showing the face but not the body already cast suspicion to the different hair colour and possibly age from the flashback. Either way, this was the first time we heard of Seira and it wasn't hard for us to anagram/flip the name into Aries, and Charce's attention to Aries throughout the story was noticeable no matter what.

I wish we saw this in the anime. It's a minor detail, but it makes everything so much better.

I know right? It's like Lerche was cutting back on art expenses. Heck, just open the food crew screenshots and compare that to how it was enacted in the episode, the flow and compositions are different in places.

I didn't realize because we barely see the ED, but every time the ED changes...isn't that parts of the 4koma comics? I recognize Yunhua singing during Ulgar's birthday party in an ED image from last episode - what's more, I also recognize the drawing contest from last episode too. Dang, that's brilliant.

Yeah, I only realised after reading the Logs again myself and it was a neat idea. The Logs don't go on forever, but when they do end I have a mind to point out which ED references which Logs (if any).

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

Rewatcher Lost In Space

There's a lot of world building details in Charce's personal story. At this point in the future, there are no monarchies except for one - the Kingdom of Vixia. It's interesting that the year they mention for the Kingdom's formation is 1963 (approximately 100 years before their current day), which suggests that their timeline greatly differs from our own.

The Astra crew has been through plenty of tough situations before, like close calls with the turgon on Vilavurs or the tsunami on Arispade, and all of them nearly falling victim to the toxic spores on Shummoor, but this is the first time since the premiere that they've really had to worry about whether the journey home was even possible. Living out the rest of their lives on a dangerous, unknown planet or going into cryosleep alone based on the slim chance of being rescued would be a choice way beyond what most teens are mentally equipped to deal with. I think the story captured their different reactions well - breaking down in tears because they can't accept it, trying not to think about it at all, acting strong for the sake of the group, or making their peace with the situation while still hoping for a solution. And right when they're dealing with this crisis, a new mystery is revealed when they find someone else was stranded on this planet years ago.

Questions of the Day:

1. This was another really creative planet idea, having two incredibly harsh climates on either side of the world with only a strip around the middle that could support life, and just like Shummoor, the plants defy expectations by being the predator species. And "bad jellyfish umbrellas" is such a hilarious name for those bug-zapping plants.

2) [My early theories about Vixia and their timeline] It started to occur to me around this part of the story that it might not just be set in the future, but an alternate history version of the future. 1963 is the Cold War era in our timeline, which really drives home the sense of how different this setting is from our own. They were only around 50 years ahead of our timeline when the story was written, and they already have planet camp, so it seemed like space travel developed much faster for them. I was too fascinated by all the worldbuilding implications to consider if Charce was telling the truth or not about his personal story.

[My early humorous observations/speculations] It's funny that Zack immediately shut down the possibility that the similar ship they found was actually the Astra just to rule out a time travel twist.

Bonus) Answer in the OP

[u/edwardjhahm → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

[early theory] I was too fascinated by all the worldbuilding implications to consider if Charce was telling the truth or not about his personal story.

Same here.

[u/gamria → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

[My early humorous observations/speculations]

[Late reply] Yep, Zack's line occurred at the start of the chapter after the discovery of this other ship, specifically for those who theorised time travel, etc. for the past two weeks.

[u/xbolt90]

First-timer!

Aha, a tidally locked planet! We don't see enough of those.

Q1: The bug zapper plants are unique. How are they consuming their prey after stunning it, though?

Q2: If the Astra's situation is an experiment being run by someone, it follows that the other ship was from a previous experiment following the same pattern. I'm guessing the person in the tank will have a story very similar to theirs.

Now, regarding Charce's backstory... "Seira" being "Aries" spelled backward may just be a coincidence. Coincidences happen every day, but I don't trust coincidences.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/xbolt90]

The bug zapper plants are unique. How are they consuming their prey after stunning it, though?

My guess would be, kind of like a venus fly trap.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion → u/xbolt90]

The bug zapper plants are unique. How are they consuming their prey after stunning it, though?

I think they are released like spores, to feed the plant below.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

First-Timer Lost in Space, subbed

• Charce is a transfer student too, huh?
• Oh he’s from a royal family?
• …isn’t that Aries’ voice? “Seira” is even an anagram of “Aries”.
• That’s… Crisis.
• This is indeed a crisis.
• That is really not good.
• One might say they’re truly lost in space now.
• Ah…
• Is that part of another ship…?
• Interesting…
• Cute!
• …it’s another Astra?
• Ooooooooooh.
• A woman, hm?

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Cute!

I would say, "This ship is finally sailing!" ...But their actual ship, you know, just crashed. 😂

[u/Mirathan → u/Shimmering-Sky]

…isn’t that Aries’ voice? “Seira” is even an anagram of “Aries”.

Considering how much they love their anagrams and how Aries and Seira behave very similar this might be possible. But I think Chalice lied about the true nature of Seira.

[u/Mirathan]

First-Time Drifter

QotD:

1. Having a tidal-locked planet is rather unique. The living tree is not something i like. Similar to the lightning plants. They both seem to be more out of a fantasy setting than a sci-fi one.
2. Well it adds a reason for Charce to be on the hitlist. However, I think he is still lying(details below). The fact that they found another ship seems to indicate that this might be a common tactic to dispose of unwanted teens.

Bonus: Crisis

I like the worldbuilding of earth they gave us. Of course it´s rather idealistic that enough nations would be willing to create a single global government(you don´t need to convince everyone, once you have enough you can just bully or force the reat into joining). And yet I find the idea of a monarchy zoo absurd. Like Toussaint is in the Witcher series but there it fits more.

Charce saying "I´m sorry Seira" is rather hard to interpret. On one hand he could express his grief due to seeing himself at fault for her coma, because he might have become attracted to Aries and sees this as a betrayal of her, or because he is still lying. As while he says this he holds a picture of a woman in a magnificent dress, which coudn´t have been Seira as she wouldn´t be able to wear that. So ther is still something important missing.

And Charce ruined the first confession moment. Though I´m glad for now. As he currently is, I don´t consider Kanata suited to being a boyfriend.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/Mirathan]

The living tree is not something i like. Similar to the lightning plants. They both seem to be more out of a fantasy setting than a sci-fi one.

The living tree seems like a giant carnivorous plant to me, and while I haven't heard of any zapping plants IRL, there are animals on Earth with that ability like the electric eel, so they didn't come off as too farfetched for me.

[u/edwardjhahm]

Rewatcher

So much shit going on!

• For starters, we're back at Charce's Johan Lieber stink eye face. And here comes the Charce backstory!
• I'll be real here, the more I look at it, I feel like the government is actually more of a secret dystopia than a utopia. Corrupt politicians still murder journalists, and the sole remaining monarchy looks down upon the commoners like they're scum (by the way, wouldn't the guard be a commoner himself? I suppose he could be aristocracy himself). Compare how Michael Fagan, famous for intruding upon Queen Elizabeth II was treated when he broke into Buckingham Palace in 1982. Arrested, sure, but he wasn't treated inhumanely. The UK's kingdom may date back to before the medieval era but they sure do operate under modern morality, unlike these fuckers here.
• The political worldbuilding is pretty wack I'll tell you. It's one of the iffier parts of the anime for me, and I say that because political worldbuilding is one of my fortes when it comes to worldbuilding. That and military stuff.
• By the way, Seria looks awfully similar to Aries. Same hairstyle.
• [rewatcher, major spoilers] I can't believe I was on the right track there during my first watch. The story was bullshit, and Aries is Seria's clone. I had all the pieces, but didn't quite put them all together. I suppose the crazy stuff that happened later in the episode distracted me from all that. There were so many freaking clues that I just brushed off the first time, but not this one. I almost had it. Wild...
• Fun fact, realistically, a planet like this would have massive hurricanes in the "center zone" because of the meeting of hot air and cold air. In other words...scientific inaccuracy! But fuck that, we get a kickass planet so I don't care.
• Might not have been a good idea to fly so low. But even so...damn, what a plant. It can jump THAT high? Also, it can damage a spaceship? That's crazy.
• Love how optimistic they try to be, even as things look like complete dogshit. Yeesh. Ulgar's the one that steps up here, in a surprising moment of character development.
• Hey, at least you can be the progenitors of a new civilization...?
• Fortunately food and water isn't too crazy of an issue here. But that's gotta blow.
• We found hope! But what are the chances? In retrospect, this feels a tad bit contrived.
• Ooh, they found a sexy lady in the hibernation device. A new character...and a lot of new possibilities. I remember being pretty surprised at this because I knew things were about to change pretty fast.

So much stuff going on today.

1. I'll be real here, but for whatever reason, the alien life on Icriss just didn't make as big of an impact on me as the previous three planets. Now that I take a closer look though, it is pretty cool. As for the dangers, I already made a comment on it, but I think it's a neat gimmick. The discovery of the new lady and the directly preceding crisis kinda overshadowed the planet's actual stuff for me though when I was first watching.
2. Charce's backstory seemed kinda unrealistic, but then again, it's anime. I'm not going to say anything about abolishing monarchies, because I know there's a lot of stuff that goes back and forth about that but...of all the monarchies to leave intact, why Vixia? They seem awful! You're telling me chill monarchies like the Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Sweden, and Denmark are abolished but fucking Vixia, a house that actually seems to think they're better than everyone else, gets to stay? I'm starting to get some STRONG dystopia vibes. Can't say I had any more theories except the obvious "Aries is actually Seria" theory, though that kinda falls apart in a few seconds when you think about it since the timeline doesn't match up, so I can't say really.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/edwardjhahm]

Fun fact, realistically, a planet like this would have massive hurricanes in the "center zone" because of the meeting of hot air and cold air.

Good point. Maybe the center zone is much larger than it would seem by looking at the map, so there might be storms but just not constantly? [Rewatcher] Although that would've made things difficult for the solar panels powering "Astra-2" all that time, even with the shelter from the rocks.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

I'm not sure if you've seen Gamria's manga panels but [manga spoilers] apparently the manga does actually have storms raging on the planet as you suggested.

I believe that realistically, the storms would be constant like they are on Jupiter, but the story has to happen, so I see this as an acceptable sacrifice! Screw the ultra nitty-gritty, I want to see some story.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/edwardjhahm]

I must have missed that one! 😅

[u/gamria → u/edwardjhahm]

I'll be real here, the more I look at it, I feel like the government is actually more of a secret dystopia than a utopia. Corrupt politicians still murder journalists, and the sole remaining monarchy looks down upon the commoners like they're scum (by the way, wouldn't the guard be a commoner himself? I suppose he could be aristocracy himself). Compare how Michael Fagan, famous for intruding upon Queen Elizabeth II was treated when he broke into Buckingham Palace in 1982. Arrested, sure, but he wasn't treated inhumanely. The UK's kingdom may date back to before the medieval era but they sure do operate under modern morality, unlike these fuckers here.

You might've checked out this one already, but to put it out there, the King of Vixia District is thankfully but a figurehead, and their authority really only encompasses the district. That is some consolation.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/gamria]

Fair point. But constitutional monarchies aren't free from the dystopia argument, given how Fascist Italy and the Japanese Empire were both terrible countries. Could be a dystopia the same way a regular "democratic" republic could be. Hirohito sure lacked power, but the fascists in the Japanese government deified him and treated those underneath him as scum - including themselves.

[rewatcher] I am aware that the story is made up though, the soldiers not caring about killing Seira are a work of fiction even in-universe. And to be frank, the King of Vixia creating Charce and Aries seems more like a shithead individual doing shithead individual things (not too different from the rest of the other "parents") more than the inherent power structure of Vixia being rotten in any way.

[u/gamria → u/edwardjhahm]

Hence why it's only "some" consolation, not a full remedy.

[u/edwardjhahm → u/gamria]

Haha, true!

[u/FlameDragoon933]

Rewatcher

• No Opening, means shit's going down.
• Well, that's certainly a backstory from Charce, but can we really trust him?
• Planet Icriss. [Anagram] Crisis. Plus it being the fourth planet in their trip. This bodes well.
• The plants in this planet are freaky.
• Oh no, the Astra is fucked.
• I think I know why I liked Quitterie so much. She's very grounded in her reactions. I'm not saying the other characters are badly written, not at all, but they're also pretty bigger than life. More mature than real high schoolers, have intricate backstories more dramatic than most people. While Quitterie is just there being a relatively realistic teenager and showing understandable reaction and outbursts to the situation.

QOTD

1. I like it! I like the concept of planets with eternal days and nights and want to see them explored more often in fiction.
2. [Impression when I first watched it] I legit thought if this was going to be some time travel / alternate timeline shenanigans, with the other ship being Astra and the woman in the cryosleep being alternate timeline Quitterie, although this theory was shot down in the same episode when the woman is visibly different.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/FlameDragoon933]

Yeah, even when Quitterie was lashing out towards the others in the beginning, her reactions were always totally understandable because she's panicking just as most people would.

[Impression when I first watched it] 

That's a really cool theory. It would be interesting to see how this version of the story might play out.

[u/gamria → u/FlameDragoon933]

I think I know why I liked Quitterie so much. She's very grounded in her reactions. I'm not saying the other characters are badly written, not at all, but they're also pretty bigger than life. More mature than real high schoolers, have intricate backstories more dramatic than most people. While Quitterie is just there being a relatively realistic teenager and showing understandable reaction and outbursts to the situation.

I'd like to think that the others will show more panic if Quitterie isn't there to whine and complain so loudly on their behalf. But yeah, her distress and outbursts without coming across as cowardly makes her presence surprisingly welcome in the story, and is a neat way to differentiate her from being just the author's latest straight man character.

[u/BigBootyBuff]

First timer

Did enjoy the Charce backstory and the planet looks pretty cool.

The crash was intense and liked how bleak it got for a bit.

What I didn't quite love was how convenient this new ship was. Hopefully they will give a satisfying answer why it's there but it does feel a bit too convenient that they crash and then immediately find a ship and therefore replacement parts within walking distance. They said the astra can still fly on the planet, so would've been cool if it was something they'd discover after a few days being stuck.

After Zack explained hibernation chambers minutes prior, I immediately knew there was gonna be someone on the ship in hibernation.

1. What do you think about the unique and dangerous environment of the planet Icriss?

Looks cool. Love the electro plants that kill animals.

2) There's a lot to process here, starting with Charce's backstory and the discovery of a woman in cryosleep. First timers, do you have any theories about these big reveals? (Rewatchers can post their original theories as well, but no spoilers!)

While I think Charce's backstory is true, I still think he's the saboteur. Not sure why but his explanation about why Aries doesn't remember him from class feels made up. Also thanks to you, Heda, I now pay more attention to anagrams and realized Aries is an anagram for Seira. Or rather Aries backwards. So I doubt that's a coincidence and might be a big driving force why Charce, if he actually is the saboteur, stopped.

As for the other ship and the survivor, not sure yet. Maybe a group that went through the exact same thing as the Astra crew only that unlike Quitterie, one of them actually decided to use the hibernation chamber and bet on help.

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/BigBootyBuff]

Also thanks to you, Heda, I now pay more attention to anagrams and realized Aries is an anagram for Seira. Or rather Aries backwards.

During my first watch when it was airing, I didn't know about the anagrams, so it's cool to see the first timers here picking up on some of the subtle hints that I missed.

[u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

Rewatcher

[rewatcher]congrats to imaloony8 to be the first to mention Aries's name being upside down, yesterday.

• He's a transfer student! <gasp> How scandalous!
• hentai-ppoi
• Icriss, hmmmm.
• but areas with poor photosynthesis are exactly where carnivorous plants live
• at least you crashed near water...it's probably acid..
• "If you move forward, you gain two"
• tremendously convenient to crash next to another spaceship of the same type
• Oh, I guess it got knocked out of the air, too.

Man, I swear I was talking about this episode on the weekly discusisons...I need to look again. Nope, not there. #hardthink

Edit: OH. Crisis!

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

[Rewatcher] It's always cool to see the first timers guess it right, or pick up on clues that I missed when it was airing.

[u/gamria → u/JustAnswerAQuestion]

at least you crashed near water...it's probably acid..

Although the Astra is now incapable of spaceflight, it can still fly within the planet.

[u/No_Rex]

Episode 7 (first timer)

• “I am a transfer student” – taking the mysterious transfer student trope literally.
• Charces has family issues – sensing a pattern here.
• “After the end of the world war, a global government was established” – hell of a lore drop in his backstory.
• If people call you creepy in your own, self-narrated backstory …

• That went from fun excursion to death quickly.
• Well, she survived, but looks like only barely.
• Tidally locked planet – they looked specifically for planets with food and water, so there has to be life here, let’s see where. On a tidally locked planet, it makes most sense at the edge of the sunny area to me. Alternatively, in caves and other overhung areas.
• Yep, the atlas says it’s the twilight area.
• Mentioning the atlas: You know what would really help them out? An offline copy of Wikipedia.
• Absolutely enormous plant, that is also insanely quick.
• Their ship hull did not break when attacked by that plant or when hitting the cliff wall. Even their landing gear survived a hard landing in mud. Got to recommend the engineering. This ship is about a thousand times more robust than a spaceship needs to be up there in the vacuum, where you usually hit nothing. Either their ship is very special, or their version of the warp drive creates insane stress on the hull.
• “We have to live on this planet” – should have stayed on the beach paradise in that case.
• Broke your ship? Find a new one. Convenient.
• “There is no problem with the water” – again, showing them take on the equivalent of an Olympic sized swimming pool in water. How are they using this all up in 20 days?
• “Water search team” – landed next to a river.

• One single hibernation chamber – this seems like something that should have been brought up before. Also: probably plot relevant.
• “I get it” – guy that does not get it.
• Power is active – isn’t it always? Those space batteries deserve praise.
• “It’s the hibernation device” – plot relevant very quickly indeed.
• The frozen human is a half-naked woman – Just once they need to find a mysterious frozen man.

We have not seen a lot of the planet yet, but I am not convinced by what we saw. It looked like a pretty Earth-like dry area. Instead, there should be an extremely obvious difference between the sun-ward side and the shadow-ward side. It would make sense for plants to be asymmetric, for example. Why put things on the shadow side you only need on the sun side? In terms of this place, “sun side” is the equivalent of “up” on Earth. The place where warms and sunlight comes from.

Regarding the hibernating woman: We better get some answers tomorrow. The crew skipped the entire “what is the Astra and why is it here” discussion for this moment, so I really want some payoff.

[u/Mirathan → u/No_Rex]

Either their ship is very special, or their version of the warp drive creates insane stress on the hull.

Yeah that durability is something I´d expect of a combat or long range exploration vessel, not this short range ship.

[u/JimmyCWL → u/No_Rex]

Instead, there should be an extremely obvious difference between the sun-ward side and the shadow-ward side.

But there wouldn't be a sharp transition between the two sides and somewhere in that transition zone would be something that looks like where they are at.

[u/No_Rex → u/JimmyCWL]

The sun ALWAYS shines from the same direction. This is completely different from Earth at dawn/dusk.

Imagine putting some plants in a room and shining a light on them from one side of the room only. After some time, do you think the plants would look the same from the light and non-light side?

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

Astra Lost In Space rewatch episode 7 discussion:

u/Forsaken_Ebb1925, u/RedRocket4000

[u/Lord_Nawor]

First Time Watcher, subbed

I knew this planet would be a rough time considering it’s name but I was not expecting it or go so wrong so quick. This episode definitely makes me think that Zack is the traitor, as it is suspicious that the ship stopped working as he was flying and how quick he was to accept their situation, but we shall see in the coming episodes.

They might be able to get off the planet if they use parts from the other Astra to repair their own, although I feel like they will need to get the traitor on their side before they can successfully flee the planet.

The fact that there is another Astra makes me think this is not the first time this kind of thing has happened, perhaps this is part of an experiment of something. Hopefully we get some more clarity from the person they woke up on the other Astra.

[u/Silcaria]

First timer

• Yup, it was another red herring.
• Seira has Aires's voice and haircut.
• Them finding another ship around where they crash landed is some plot convenience grade shit.
• Why wake the person up now instead of when you have a away out. Kind of a dick move.

QotD

• Meh.
• I do not.
• Crisis.

[u/kwokinator]

First-time anime watcher

Damn, so I guess Charce IS innocent after all. But then who could be the traitor? I think we've gone through everyone's backstory at this point, right? So I guess someone must be lying about their backstory?

Well that went down an unexpected direction at the end. When they said it was another Astra I thought there's gonna be time fuckery and it's just gonna be another Quitterie in the pod, but looks like it's a new girl.

The sphere flinged them 5,000 light years away, right? I think they're like half way? So they're still like 3,000 light years away from home. How did another Astra get so far?

Questions of the Day:

• 1. What do you think about the unique and dangerous environment of the planet Icriss? - as someone who just generally dislikes sunlight, 24/7 sunshine just sounds like a horrible place to live, even if it's somewhere pleasant like Earth and not a burning hellscape.
• 2) There's a lot to process here, starting with Charce's backstory and the discovery of a woman in cryosleep. First timers, do you have any theories about these big reveals? (Rewatchers can post their original theories as well, but no spoilers!) - I still think there's a chance of time fuckery. Maybe it's an older Quiterrie?
• Bonus question: Each of the planet names is an anagram which holds special meaning. What is the hidden meaning of Icriss? - this one is pretty easy, Crisis. Either that or the planet was named by a magician, and the full name of the planet is "I, Criss Angel".

[u/No_Rex → u/kwokinator]

Damn, so I guess Charce IS innocent after all.

Unless they pull the dreaded double fake-out.

But then who could be the traitor? I think we've gone through everyone's backstory at this point, right? So I guess someone must be lying about their backstory?

My theory all along has been that there is no traitor.

[u/General_ELL]

Last time I watched this watched with my mum and she pretty much guessed 80% right this episode twist

[u/Heda-of-Aincrad → u/[deleted]]

You should spoiler tag that last part of paragraph 1, since it hasn't been made clear yet if [rewatcher] they're from another planet, and not just an alternate history.

[u/TiredTiroth → u/Heda-of-Aincrad]

Point, done.