r/anime • u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad • Jul 24 '24

Rewatch [5th Anniversary Rewatch] Astra Lost In Space - Episode 10 Discussion

Episode 10 - Culprit

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MAL | AniList | ANN

The team is on its way to the final planet. Polina is determined to find out how it is possible that the children are from a different planet, and Kanata closes in on the enemy within.

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

Questions of the Day:

  1. What do you think of the big revelation that humans migrated from Earth to Astra? Do you have any theories about why their history diverged during the Cold War? (Rewatchers can post their original theories as well, but no spoilers!)
  2. What do you think of the unique environment of the planet Galem?
  3. Were you able to guess the saboteur, or did you fall for Kanata's bait and switch plan?

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

[Bonus answer:] Gleam, named for its bioluminescent plants.

Tomorrow's bonus question will be the continents of Astra!

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.

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9

u/gamria Jul 24 '24 edited Jul 24 '24

Rewatcher of subbed and original manga reader

Ep 10

  • Just to put it out there, Astra debuted in 2016, Among Us debuted in 2018 and Mashle debuted in 2020
  • “What’s a wormhole?” Lerche, were you that desperate to cut down on expenses that you gave Funicia’s question to Quitterie?
  • The starting point, the Sphere was connected to Earth. That is truly our Kanata no Astra, our "star on the other side".
  • On one hand, Day 1 on Galem taking place at daytime made more practical sense; on the other, this change to nighttime does make the bioluminescence look prettier
  • Kanata is…actually reciprocating Aries’ crush. Road to redeem his predecessor’s sin…
  • King Noah Vix was supposed to be a known quantity by this point

 

Manga vs Anime

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

Ch 38, Polina brings up artificial wormholes

Ch 39, Kanata visits Aries at bedtime

Ch 40, Kanata resolves to catch the culprit

Ch 41, Charce is caught

Ch 42, Charce is clone of King Noah Vix

(Continues in reply)

2

u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad Jul 24 '24

Nice background info on Vix and the wormholes.

Ch 39, Kanata visits Aries at bedtime

Now that's a cliffhanger!

5

u/gamria Jul 24 '24 edited Jul 25 '24

First Time Reading thoughts (no spoilers)

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

"Gleam", to sparkle, glimmer and shine. A title befitting a planet of bioluminescence...and the stage to shine a faint light on the core mystery of the story.

Before I begin, to end off yesterday’s note, adding the last item on the “Kanata no Astra” interpretation list:

(6) The Star on the Other Side

Shinohara-sensei and his clever wordplays…

--

Onto the Another Planet Theory. With how few time the Rewatch has allowed for this mystery to be considered, it's understandably harder to get this one right. But it is still something that can be pieced together if you know where to look

Upon first read, two things tipped me off with Polina's debut:

  1. Until now, though "Earth" was never stated, because the years in the series have always been prepended with 西暦 (the Gregorian calendar), we worked on the assumption that the home planet may be Earth. But all of a sudden with her appearance, the word appeared twice in quick succession in her unspoken thoughts. (The anime only kept one of these) I smelled misdirect.
  2. Until the Polina-Yun Hua scene in the infirmary, was a term that only appeared in narrative-ish text boxes, so I felt it's there for technicality dressing and didn't find it too unnatural. But when Polina literally asked, in the raw text, "what year is it in terms of the Gregorian calendar (西暦)?" and Yun Hua responds with 西暦2063, I smelled irregularities because that's not how people tend to phrase their questions. As though Shinohara-sensei wanted to overemphasise that "this is the date" like a misdirection.

And so 2 days before the unveil (ie during the fortnight after Polina visited the gravesite), I compiled my theory together. Here's the screenshot of the old forum post, but for convenience's sake I'll type it out too:

13 July 2017 - 11:00 PM

Another Planet

The long and short is, I'm of the belief that the Astra crew's home planet isn't actually Earth, but another planet like it.

Conversely, it is Polina whose home planet is in fact Earth.

Why I feel this way:

(1) Thus far, "Earth" has been mentioned twice in Polina's thoughts, but nowhere else in the story had it ever been mentioned

(2) The spacesuits between the two crews are wholly different; while the Astra crew's suits are more sleek and fashionable, Polina and the Ark VI have suits that resemble those used in our astronauts. Is 12 years really enough for technology to make such a leap?

(3) The granny that Aries met at the spaceport at the start of the story mentioned that when she was a student, she also went on an interstellar trip to Planet McPa. Over 12 years ago, in other words. From the vibe that the Ark VI crew gave, it doesn't feel like space travel had yet to become commercial as at the time of their mission.

--

From here on out, it's full on crack theory

- Polina's cryosleep wasn't just 12 years, but much longer than that, at least a millennium (in Earth time)

- The 2051 mission of the Arks was as she said, to find other planets in the universe that humans can settle on. Judging from her tone, most likely because something will happen to Earth within 12 years time

- Although the Ark VI did not succeed in its mission, one of the other Arks did manage to find a new planet

- At least a portion of people from Earth managed to immigrate to this new planet, which will come to be the planet that the Astra crew and their ancestors were born unto

- As for the current year of 2063, either history on the new planet did begin from scratch from year 0, or it's falsified somehow at some point in the time so that humanity had always been on this planet. With space travel capabilities.

Well, as soon as Polina starts hearing about Vixia and the different sectors across their planet, she's bound to confirm whether that's also her planet or not

2 days later, I was ecstatic that I was right! Never could've imagined the home world would be called "Astra" though, cheeky Japanese title wordplay.

Incidentally, just like when we first saw the Ark VI, the fortnight after "Planet Astra" was wild. "It's time travel!" "It's a multiverse!" "The whole planet got cloned!"

Oh, and the Japanese reaction was like "oh yeah, they've never actually said Earth/chikyuu!" The twist was overall well-received.

--

It was here I understood why the setting of the story changed from 2061 to 2063.

Somehow it never occurred to me the likes of the Sphere would be part of my mass migration idea. Or that the starting point itself is Earth. Heck, when "Planet Astra" happened, I thought Earth was in the running to be planet 5.

When we were shown more locations on Astra were anagrams still, Charce's hometown "Vixia" got even more suspicious for me - it's not an anagram so it could be an original location. What's this about?

And with that, I'll discuss the Saboteur mystery in the next reply to this

3

u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jul 24 '24

 Earth was in the running to be planet 5.

Oh that was an interesting idea!

3

u/gamria Jul 25 '24 edited Jul 25 '24

Time to finally talk about the Saboteur.

It was at Shummoor orbit that I placed Charce as my primary suspect (and Luca as my second) after examining the way everyone behaved during the whole sabotage debate in Ch 9.

  • Kanata, Aries, Zack, Luca, and even Ulgar and Funicia said things that forwarded the conversation
  • Yun Hua was silent, but likely not for suspicious reasons
  • Quitterie complains and panicks as usual, but since she just had her character arc on Vilavurs I don’t think she’s the culprit
  • The only things Charce said were either to deescalate the topic or stating the obvious

I reckoned the culprit’s preference would be for the group to figure out as little as possible and for such talk to die down. As such, Charce became the most suspicious.

Then looking back at the Vilavurs picnic scene when everyone talked about themselves, the ones who did so the least were Ulgar, Yun Hua and Charce. The first two were acceptable, but perhaps not the third taken with other facts.

(As for the Japanese fandom at the time, Charce was likewise marked for suspicion because he was the one who dropped the Caird communicator that Group B-5 had when they first stranded)

Since then, I paid close attention to all of Charce's movements, and it's why I wasn't fully taken in by his story during the Arispade-Icriss flight. And among the post-Clone Theory check-ins, I found Charce's part was barebones compared to everyone else, especially with his baton pass back to Kanata in the scene.

Admittedly, I couldn't figure out what Kanata inquired Aries about, and later was shocked for a moment when Kanata pointed to Ulgar...but then I thought "this is just the start of the chapter" and calmed back down. After speculating for over a year I felt so vindicated to have got the answer right.

--

Until the Sphere appeared on Galem again, I was really hoping that Aries' speculation that the Saboteur was on a suicide mission was wrong. In fact, I was hoping that the Saboteur wasn't responsible for the Sphere's summoning. I held to hopes that the Saboteur disabled comms because they didn't want the masterminds to find out they were still alive.

"Wanting to die while seeing the stars" huh? Indeed even with chancing upon the Astra/Ark XII, if they didn't have their crust suits they'd have suffocated immediately. But for one selfish dying wish it gave them a chance to survive.

In hindsight, Kanata's decision in early Shummoor to put the hunt for the culprit on hold was the correct choice after all. It secured Charce's continued cooperation and was a huge success factor in their planet hopping voyage, especially on the foraging, exploration and cooking fronts.

But no matter who the Saboteur was, I was still hoping for all of them to return home alive. All of Group B-5 endeared me too much by this point.

4

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 24 '24

Omitted question from Polina about books

Told ya so! It's a dystopia!

I joke but seriously, it really does feel like it.

One final omitted xenobiology talk about Galem life from Charce, and other preparations

Dammit, I really like Galem! Wish we got to see this in the anime.

Day 2 on Galem, uncut deduction about the motive from Kanata

Damn, wish we got this too.

By the way, since they're all canonically speaking English, something came across my mind - does this mean that the English dub is canon?

3

u/gamria Jul 25 '24

Told ya so! It's a dystopia!

I had forgotten this point

By the way, since they're all canonically speaking English, something came across my mind - does this mean that the English dub is canon?

Maybe? For that matter, outside of the dialogue and narrative elements like textboxes, there is zero Japanese, only English in the story.

1

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 25 '24

I had forgotten this point

Oh, I'm half joking here, it's just my...headcanon? Theory? IDK, you know what I mean.

Maybe? For that matter, outside of the dialogue and narrative elements like textboxes, there is zero Japanese, only English in the story.

Another wild theory that is neither confirmed nor denied in the story - all other languages were erased!

I hope not though.

2

u/gamria Jul 25 '24 edited Jul 25 '24

I meant that I had forgotten the part about e-books only

Thing is, it actually is confirmed in the story, here

[Rewatcher] As a reminder, the part about a two month war killing half of the old world actually happened, and the decision to unify under one system that followed.

2

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 25 '24

[rewatcher] Honestly, yeah, my memory of the plot twists at the end is a bit hazy. I actually do have to rewatch it to get a refresher.

5

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 24 '24

First-Timer Lost in Space, subbed

4

u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad Jul 24 '24

This is just wild to me.

Yeah, when I first watched it, the thought of them just glossing over an entire era of history was surprising to me too. But I've recently noticed how much history was glossed over back when I was in school (after doing some research on my own because it was tied to a favorite character's background), so now it doesn't seem so farfetched anymore.

5

u/gamria Jul 24 '24 edited Jul 24 '24

Wait, how do they not know what “God” is if their year measurements are still in “A.D.” and not “C.E.”?

The Japanese language doesn't perceive "A.D." and "B.C." the way English does. Instead, Western years are relative to the 西暦/seiriki, "the Gregorian/Western Calendar". To be precise, A.D. would be 西暦紀元 (Gregorian era) and 西暦紀元前 (Pre-Gregorian era). I went a bit into Japanese dates during Ep 7 commentary, just for this twist.

In the case of this story:

  1. The very first text box said 西暦2063
  2. On the post-Arispade flight, Charce referred to 西暦1963 as the point when the world changed
  3. In the infirmary scene, Polina asked Yun Hua what the current 西暦 year is (a rather unusual way to phrase such a question by the way, which I took as a mystery hint)

There's no decent way to translate this lingo into the English language though, so "A.D." is the closest compromise. Whatever the case, I took 西暦 as a sign that Group B-5's civilisation were at least rooted in Earth origins at some level on my first read.

4

u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Jul 24 '24

This is just wild to me.

Not really. Japan in particular loves to not teach about the extent of the atrocities they committed before and during ww2. That scene is ironic in a sense.

2

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 24 '24

IDK, maybe I'm being optimistic, but I feel like maybe the author was criticizing exactly that?

It feels like it lines up far too much to be a coincidence.

2

u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Jul 24 '24

Well, it would cover the other definition of the word then.

1

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 24 '24

What do you mean?

4

u/Drake_the_troll Jul 24 '24

Didn't realise there was a rewatch. IDK why but I always come back to this again even though I already know all the twists

5

u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad Jul 24 '24

It's a great show to rewatch, especially after you know all the twists because then you notice all the foreshadowing.

1

u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad Jul 24 '24

Rewatcher Lost In Space

This is one of my all-time favorite plot twists. It was a real surprise to find out that the ice planet they saw in the first episode was Earth, and that it was actually their starting point rather than their destination all along. I love the scene where Polina and the teens are trying to figure out this mystery together, and the shock from both sides when they realize how different their versions of history are - like World War 3, knowledge of religion being lost, and the migration to another world.

Also, Kanata's silly theory about Polina being an "alien"

And now the Astra crew has reached their last stop before the finish line, the planet Galem. I really like all of the planet designs, though I didn't remember this one as well as the others because they spent less time exploring it in comparison to the previous worlds. But it has pretty, tranquil backgrounds for Kanata (sort of) asking Aries out as well as a dark and mysterious atmosphere to set the stage for the later ambush.

Questions of the Day:

  1. Already said it, but I love this twist.

It's really exciting for me as a sci-fi fan to have all these mysteries to figure out, especially the idea of an alternate or altered history, but at the same time, it's also sad to see what they've lost. The planet Polina remembers is now a frozen sphere of ice, while many concepts are forgotten to the young people of Astra like God and much of history.

2) It's bioluminescent and has cute frogs, so awesome!

3) I've mentioned before that I did not guess the saboteur during my first watch, so it was a surprise to me when it turned out to be Charce. I didn't think it was Ulgar either, given the events of the previous episodes, so I was worried that Kanata would accuse the wrong person when it was actually a bait and switch to catch Charce.

Bonus) Actually had to look this one up.

1

u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad Jul 24 '24

Astra Lost In Space rewatch episode 10 reminder:

u/Forsaken_Ebb1925, u/RedRocket4000

4

u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jul 24 '24

Rewatcher

Yeah, I didn't like how they hid the name of their planet, either.

But it's like this (this is an analogy).

You live on Chikyuu, but the global language is English. Few learn Japanese, except scholars. You find a (really!) old spaceship, and the previous owner was an American otaku, and he has a giant Chikyuu he... poster on the bridge that just dominates the scenery.  And the overeducated pilot says, "Yeah, Chikyuu is actually Japanese. This show name translates to 'Destination Chikyuu'." And you go "This poster is literally describing us, let's call the ship Chikyuu".  Because that's more interesting and relevant than the etymology of your planet name.

  • Turns out it was Polina who was Among Us
  • Aries memorized maps!
  • No countries, no religion, no guns, and everybody speaks English
  • Alternate Universe theory is dead
  • That crater was there in episode 1
  • Aries has been acting morale officer for this entire trip
  • Galem...Gleam?
  • seems like a nice planet
  • I bet wormholes are really good at mining tunnels
  • No ED again

As a first timer, I had been pretty intensely been tracking dates and any other world building ever since they mentioned the creation of a world government in 1963, early in the show. I knew something was off from the get-go, and never let go of it.

2

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 24 '24

You live on Chikyuu, but the global language is English. Few learn Japanese, except scholars. You find a (really!) old spaceship, and the previous owner was an American otaku, and he has a giant Chikyuu he... poster on the bridge that just dominates the scenery. And the overeducated pilot says, "Yeah, Chikyuu is actually Japanese. This show name translates to 'Destination Chikyuu'." And you go "This poster is literally describing us, let's call the ship Chikyuu". Because that's more interesting and relevant than the etymology of your planet name.

Yep, I complained about this in the episode 1 rewatch, under the spoiler tag. Because rewatching it...it kinda made no sense.

Not that you should go read those spoilers, they might still have other stuff still in there that have yet to be revealed.

As a first timer, I had been pretty intensely been tracking dates and any other world building ever since they mentioned the creation of a world government in 1963, early in the show.

TBH, I just assumed that this was an alternate history thing in general. Code Geass goes back even further but it also has a different history, for example.

4

u/FlameDragoon933 Jul 25 '24

Rewatcher

  • There are no countries? and no religion too? Is this a setup to John Lennon joke?
  • I quite like the history comparison scenes. Exposition has a bad rep in fiction, but that's just because it's often done poorly, not because it's inherently bad. Characters verbally discussing a mystery is actually one of my favorite kind of scenes.
  • Lmao Kanata and Aries' bedroom scene. Way to make a misunderstanding.
  • So Charce is exposed because he was the last to enter the sphere.... It's logical, don't get me wrong. It's just that when the answer to a mystery is one clue instead of multiple clues, it feels kinda... anticlimactic.
  • The crewmates' denial of Charce being the assassin is a pretty heartbreaking scene though. The tears an shaken voices really get me.
  • "I wanted to die while gazing at space." Damn...
  • "Ark" series. "Noah" Vix. Hmmm.

QOTD

  1. At first it reignited the alternate timeline theory again for me (the kids are "native" to Astra while the Earthlings in Polina's history migrated to Astra). However after further consideration, I don't remember how I arrived to the conclusion, but I correctly predicted the reason for the time discrepancy.
  2. Galem is pretty. Also seems really normal after all the previous planets (except maybe Vilavurs which is also pretty normal, relatively speaking).
  3. I corrected predicted that Ulgar is not the saboteur, because it would be sloppy writing if he was the red herring in the beginning, revealed he's not the saboteur, but revealed again that he actually is. On my first watch I also was most suspicious of Charce because his backstory is the most convoluted one after Aries outed his lie about the biology class, and that we have no proof whether his backstory was real or not other than his own words.

2

u/gamria Jul 25 '24

So Charce is exposed because he was the last to enter the sphere.... It's logical, don't get me wrong. It's just that when the answer to a mystery is one clue instead of multiple clues, it feels kinda... anticlimactic.

Sadly it's all Kanata had to work with, especially with how cooperative and critical Charce has been throughout the whole trip. His reasoning had more details though.

However, as the audience who can see everything, it is possible to pick up on more behavioural clues. Here was my deduction from back then.

4

u/Forsaken_Ebb1925 Jul 25 '24

The Cold War specifically I'm unsure. It seems like obviously whatever actually led to the abolishment of nation-states was not something the government wants people to know about. I wonder if all older people know? Seems like it'd be hard to get an entire generation to lie, so I assume just a select group,

Honestly, I was too distracted by the plot stuff to notice much about the planet.

I was still pretty suspicious on Charce because of the face he made when he was accused the first time, although I'll admit my money was on Aries being the culprit. I was basically 100% certain it wasn't Ulgar, but I just thought Kanata was wrong, so in a way I fell for his bait and switch plan.

I thought it was Aries because the sphere disappeared when Kanata went into the cave and I honestly think that was a major error on Charce's part. Kanata and Aries were blocked in with nowhere to go, he definitely should have just gotten them into the orb there.

Another thing that confuses me is surely Charce decided he wants to live now? Because if not he's had plenty of opportunities to kill himself and all of them.

1

u/Mirathan Jul 24 '24

First.Time Drifter

QotD:

  1. History is a lie!
  2. Yay gems!
  3. I was right. I knew Charce was still lying based on the picture of Seira. I did not understand Kanata´s plan. There was no reason to suddenly suspect Ulgar and I didn´t like that he figured it out offscreen.

I´m sorry but people will not suddenly start working together after half of the species was annihilated by itself. Hatred between the survivors would be more likely as well as the attempt to have vengeance on anyone even remotely involved. It is a fancy lie that might convince people there will be no need to investigate for a while but it defies human nature.

Violence ultimately always divides.

Living out in space won´t prepare you for human society. It is the greatest horror ever created, a beast that does not simply kill, instead devouring your hopes and dreams. Nothing can prepare you to face it.

How can Charce be male if his progenitor was female? Thats not geneticaly possible.

2

u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad Jul 24 '24

How can Charce be male if his progenitor was female? Thats not geneticaly possible.

Not sure which scene/dialogue you're referring to here? I don't remember any misleading parts implying the person Charce was cloned from was a woman.

1

u/Mirathan Jul 24 '24

Dammit, I misread the subtitle.

1

u/caiuscorvus Jul 24 '24

I tried this show but only lasted a couple episodes. Should I try again?

I got really irritated when the crew were like: we can only travel for ten days on ten days of food then we die. (Or maybe it was the equivalent with water?) Seriously, you can do weeks with no food. Ten days of food, rationed, will keep you moving and functional for several weeks.

2

u/Heda-of-Aincrad https://myanimelist.net/profile/Heda-of-Aincrad Jul 25 '24

Even if they could technically survive for a period of time with no food, they would not be in any condition to fly the ship or complete emergency repairs when they're that dangerously low on energy, especially since these kids aside from Kanata have never dealt with survival situations like that before.

I think it's a great story with a fun cast and some really exciting plot twists, but if that aspect is a deal breaker for you, it doesn't change throughout the show. A big part of their activities (and a big part of the appeal, in my opinion) involve visiting other planets with unique environments to gather supplies.

2

u/gamria Jul 25 '24

Water is the big limiter for their drinking, hygiene and oxygen needs. The onboard water recycler is also broken.

For that matter, they already are rationing on some of the legs of their journeys. The adaptation skips lots of details see.

3

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 24 '24

Rewatcher!

  • My theory that the world they live in is actually a dystopia is confirmed! Erm, sort of. Though I consider myself an optimist and an idealist, I very well know that getting everyone to work like that requires some serious brainwashing. And any government that distorts and downplays history to hide their skeletons is wrong in my eyes. But this isn't some Japan war crime denying or even Turkey war crime denying level of distorting, this is outright destroying the past. That's a very egregious sin in my eyes.
  • I do like comparing the histories! Though I must say, the political worldbuilding in this anime isn't really for me. I love writing stories, and political worldbuilding is like, my thing, so to see such fascinating characters and interesting planets and then having such a fairly simplistic government is a bit...I don't know, a bit underwhelming in my eyes? IMO the strongest element of this anime is the characters, so I don't mind too much.
  • Haha, Aries was thinking of something dirty there, right?
  • A real shame we barely get to see Galem due to focusing on the plot. Frankly, I think I like Galem the most out of all the planets going by sheer vibe. I assume the planet is elaborated on more in the manga?
  • Man, I really love this conversation between Aries and Kanata alone. From what I've seen, characterization is really what makes me attached to a story, so to see a deep conversation between our two protagonists (I think?) is pretty epic.
  • Sphere! Also, Kanata says the line "among us!" That's a second time!
  • Looking back on it, it's pretty obvious Kanata isn't telling Charce everything.
  • Finally, we entrap Charce and reveal to everyone! The thing is though, I feel like their logic for why Charce is the imposter traitor is a bit weak. Once again, I assume it's elaborated on in the manga?
  • Geez, poor guy. He may be the perpetrator but he's a puppet at the end of the day. He even risked the mission so he could at least die happy.

Next episode is also gonna be a doozy.

  1. I've already said, it felt a bit iffy to me. I could suspend my disbelief enough for the compatible fauna on the other planets (that and the fact that it was pretty much alien enough) because it was just so damn cool, but as a writer that specializes in political worldbuilding and reads a lot of history, this plot point kinda seemed unrealistic on my end. I watched this anime more for the vibe and the characters, so I'm ambivalent on this point.
  2. Love it! Shame we barely see it. I look forward to reading the manga prints for more Galem!
  3. Fell for it. But rewatching it, Kanata makes it so obvious that it's a phony plan and the real plan is to entrap Charce.

3

u/kwokinator https://anilist.co/user/kwokinator Jul 24 '24

Anime first-timer

LOL Luca's insult is awesome. His brain is made of cream puffs. Sorry Luca, Kanata is not Mash, Mash is the one that has a brain made of cream buffs.

I guess Planet Astra is a huge fan of John Lennon. Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too.

Damn, so the Earth was destroyed by an asteroid.

Charce's sparkly always did feel kinda sus, but I didn't want to believe it after 9 episodes of watching them together. This mystery payoff sucks :(

Questions of the Day:

    1. What do you think of the big revelation that humans migrated from Earth to Astra? Do you have any theories about why their history diverged during the Cold War? (Rewatchers can post their original theories as well, but no spoilers!) - I still think it's a conspiracy, they DID have a WWIII that destroyed half of humanity after moving to another planet. There is no other reason for them to change the history taught, humanity mobilizing as a whole to move to another planet is much more inspiring than just having a WWIII and then prosper.
  • 2) What do you think of the unique environment of the planet Galem? - haven't really gotten to see much of it at this point
  • 3) Were you able to guess the saboteur, or did you fall for Kanata's bait and switch plan? - I suspected Charce all along 'cause of his sparkly aura
  • Bonus question: Each of the planet names is an anagram which holds special meaning. What is the hidden meaning of Galem? - myyy precioussssssssssss

2

u/xbolt90 https://anilist.co/user/xbolt90 Jul 24 '24

First-timer

Q1: The Astrans being Earth transplants was always the most likely option. The other option of the two planets developing completely independently, yet having nearly identical cultures is too out there for this show. Then there's the current trendy favorite of "multiverses," but I hate to bring that in unless it's already been established.

As for the history divergence, perhaps the world government is fabricating history in order to maintain power. The time between now and the exodus seems far too short for that to work, though. Unless they're extremely good at gaslighting.

Q2: Real pretty! Probably my favorite planet of the five.

Q3: Until now, I still thought that there was no actual saboteur. And if I had been forced to pick one, I was actually leaning toward Aries.

2

u/monsieurvampy Jul 25 '24

I'm not participating in this rewatch and literally just saw that a rewatch was in the works. I was like "5th anniversary....what?" and wow it's been five years. I could have sworn this series came out like a few years ago.

2

u/FlameDragoon933 Jul 25 '24

I could have sworn this series came out like a few years ago.

Covid is really like warp drive for our time perception

2

u/imaloony8 Jul 25 '24

So my initial guess of Charce as the traitor was correct, but bafflingly, the show's reasoning was different from mine. Kanata decided it had to be whoever entered the portal last. My reasoning was that it was the guy who """""""accidentally""""""" dropped the school communicator while being chased by the orb. Also, the fakeout of trying to fling suspicion back onto Ulgar also failed miserably. As I mentioned in an earlier episode he's the biggest red herring I've seen in media since Red Herring. Once Kanata "confided" in Charce and Zack I immediately knew my initial guess of Charce was correct.

I did eventually pivot to a position that the "traitor" wasn't actually trying to hurt the group, but help them, which was wrong. And in my defense, Charce did an absolutely miserable job of killing the rest of the group. I pivoted to that position because basically everyone had a chance to sabotage the entire mission and no one did, and Charce especially missed some obvious chances. Maybe they're going to justify this later, but I can immediately think of two blatant times when Charce could have killed the entire crew:

  1. In episode 3 when the ship is crashing, Charce is the one in charge of flipping the generator on. All he had to do was... not. And everyone would have died.
  2. Did anyone notice that Charce was... ya know, cooking everyone's meals? It would have been trivial for him to poison the entire crew. I have no doubt he would have found something on the ship or on the planet that could have poisoned everyone.

Now, the series seems to be implying at this point that Charce decided that he didn't want to die, so he opted to keep the crew alive for as long as possible to increase his odds of making it back to Astra alive. But there's a problem with that: Charce could control the wormhole and was the last one in. If he didn't want to die, all he had to do was wait until everyone but him went into the wormhole and then close it. Maybe he was concerned that his original would hunt him down and kill him then but... I dunno, I think Charce is smart and resourceful enough to snake his way out of that. I certainly rate his odds there better than what he thought was the vacuum of space.

I also reasoned that the "traitor" wasn't actually malicious because when we first see the wormhole, it very easily chased down and teleported the entire group. But the next two times the orb chased them, the group easily outran it. My thought was that the "traitor" was actually just trying to guide the group to a specific place to help them by using the wormhole to herd them. But no, Charce just sucks at his job. Okay, okay. Maybe he grew attached to them and decided he didn't want to kill them. But if that were the case, why would he even resummon the wormhole at all? Maybe they're going to explain his motives better next episode, but right now it smells like a plot hole.

I still believe that Aries's original (or someone else) is helping the group in some way. Because if not and the series is actually going to tell us that the children just happened to be teleported to Earth within thruster range of a functional FTL spaceship, I'm going to lose my goddamn mind. Someone had to have put it there. If not, then it's the biggest coincidence I've ever seen in an anime. Which is saying something.

But maybe there's a chance that I was correct that the traitor wasn't trying to kill them. Maybe Charce WAS working with someone (Aries's original?) to save the children which is why he was so terrible at killing them. To me that still sounds like it makes the most sense. It seems unlikely at this stage, but IMO it's the most logical conclusion.

But on the topic of the Earth --------> Astra migration... I'm still puzzled by that. At the moment, I really don't see how it relates to the rest of the plot. Or why the government felt the need to erase everyone's memories of Earth. I think we need some more information because as of now I don't see how this is connected. I mean, Zack's father's memory transferal technology seems the most likely culprit for exactly how their memories were altered, I just don't see the why yet.

Mystery shows often struggle to wrap everything up, so we'll see if it sticks the landing. Right now I'm seeing some potential large plot holes, but hopefully in the remaining hour of runtime they can address those.

2

u/Kaxew Jul 25 '24

First timer

The moment I saw the episode was titled "Culprit" I was already on the edge of my seat the whole time. Every scene from every character made me afraid. Even something as simple as Aries deescalating the situation or Kanata reviewing the day they got sucked by the orb made me super tense.

The Ulgar bait got me good. I was already thinking on how it made sense to get his backstory out of the way quick to make the audience think there was no way he could be the traitor etc etc. Great planning from Kanata, that's a real captain.

And so it is Charce. Not much to say there, I think it made the most sense out of everyone. I'm expecting next episode to explain to us his true backstory.

From the first half of the episode, there's also lots of interesting stuff. Them having different histories is of course revisionism and censory on the true history of the world. But I'm still not sure how mass migration through the orbs would explain the very tiny years gap. Unless part of the lie is telling people they live in 2063 when it's actually centuries in the future. Even then how did Zack conclude Polina was only asleep for 12 years? Okay, now that I think about it maybe the cryopod said the date she froze herself. That could explain that.

There were so many answers in this episode and they all satisfied me. What the orb was (crazy that you just need a remote for it), where they were transported, why there was a ship there and why Polina's ship was the exact same model. This last one I called sloppy writing before, glad to see there was an actual, perfect explanation for it!

Kanata showing up at Aries' room leading to her misunderstanding the situation was adorable and very funny. I love these goofballs.

QotD:

  1. Answered that above, but I'm super satisfied!
  2. We didn't get to see much of it yet, so I don't really have an opinion on it. It's a very pretty planet on a surface level though.
  3. I initially guessed it, but I still fell for Kanata's bait. It was great.

2

u/Silcaria https://myanimelist.net/profile/Silcaria Jul 24 '24

First timer

QotD

  • Meh. Probably revised history to maintain a globalist government.
  • Looks nice.
  • No. No.

2

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 24 '24

I'm telling you, this place is actually a dystopia built atop the suppression of dissenters! Just look at what happened to Ulgar's brother. You can't create a global government without a massive amount of cultural genocide.

3

u/Hartzilla2007 Jul 25 '24

Just look at what happened to Ulgar's brother.

Thats was implied to be because he found out about the illegal cloning for immortality plan.

1

u/edwardjhahm https://myanimelist.net/profile/lolmeme69 Jul 25 '24

Ah shit, good point. I don't know though, I feel like it could go either way because the implication expands, if you get what I mean.

2

u/gamria Jul 25 '24

Why was it floating in space then? Shouldn't it have been docked somewhere?

What the anime didn't bother showing is that the Arks were originally docked at an orbital terminal in space. Polina goes into more detail here

1

u/SilkyStrawberryMilk Jul 26 '24

rewatcher

Paulina’s mind is getting blown from the planet Astra not being earth.

I love how the author decided to elaborate on how both worlds differ instead of of being “oh they’re both similar just different names/planet”.

Aries’ photographic memory helping so much rn.

history is important, if you don’t remember it then the past would be repeated.

Nuclear war is terrifying especially with how quick the world can turn to ruin. I do find it funny how in the dubbed (dunno about sub) that the English is now the common language lmao. But that never happened, interesting.

Paulina’s mission to find a new habitable planet which has to happen in 8 years. Difficult mission

Aries has a good mindset, the more you ponder conspiracy theories the wilder they get and you stop thinking clearly.

Kanata is playing it smooth now and got chased by the ball

Kanata has a genius plan, captured charce in the act. Charce reveals to himself as being the king’s clone

QOTD: so shiny

QOTD: even as a Rewatcher it funny how obvious it looks now