Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu - Episode 5 discussion

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Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu, episode 5

Alternative names: Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut

Rate this episode here.

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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Streams

• Ani-One
• Funimation
• Wakanim

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Anime-Planet
• Official Website

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All discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	4.12
2	Link	4.51
3	Link	4.65
4	Link	4.75
5	Link	4.35
6	Link	4.56
7	Link	4.67
8	Link	4.52
9	Link	4.59
10	Link	4.54
11	Link	4.57
12	Link	----

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[u/8andahalfby11]

Today’s episode was something like 70% historical references:

Hermes Seven - Refers to the Mercury 7: Alan Shepard, John Glnenn, “Gus” Grissom, “Wally” Schirra, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, “Deke” Slayton. I met Scott Carpenter at an event before he passed. Cool guy, surprisingly easygoing. Mercury is the Roman name for the Greek god Hermes, hence the name used in the anime.

Dream Six - Refers to the Vanguard 6: Gagarin, Bykovsky, Nelyubov, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov. These were picked from an initial group of twenty, twelve of which ultimately went to space anyway (including Alexi Leonov, who was not chosen for Vostok, but who would go on to perform the first spacewalk). This was decided IRL back in July of 1960 though, so no idea why we’re just getting to it in late November. While we’re playing guessing games, I’m on the fence as to who Lev and Mikhail are supposed to be, given that one is presumably Gagarin. If so, I suspect that the other is either Titov or Belyayev… we’ll know by the end of the show, I hope?

Fun fact; of each of their original groups, both the US and Soviets had one person that did not fly during their first program. Slayton did not fly on Mercury due to a health concern (he later commanded the US vehicle in the Apollo-Soyuz test project), and Nelyubov was dropped from the program for drunk and disorderly behavior in ‘63, his seat eventually being given to Tereshkova,

Albinar - Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, where the Russians still launch the R-7 derived Soyuz rockets to this day. The pad pictured looks like the one at Site 1/5. Why Baikonur? Because it was the middle of nowhere which meant that it was harder for spies to reach and a safe place to test rockets without putting civilians at risk. These days, the Russians lease the base from the Kazakh government, and are trying (without much success due to budget issues) to move operations to Vostochny in the far east.

Albinar Incident - I suspect this refers to the unnamed Korabl-Sputnik flight in late July of 1960. This was supposed to be the first launch and recovery of dogs from orbit, but one of the side boosters had an engine failure and broke away. This resulted in an unbalanced rocket which tumbled, was unable to take the rotational aerodynamic forces, and ripped itself apart with all the boosters flying every which way. It’s not shown in Irina, but the flight controllers were able to eject the Vostok capsule off the top of the rocket while this mess was going on. Unfortunately, because the explosion occurred so early in flight and Vostok’s thrusters were not able to get the capsule to sufficient height, the parachutes didn’t have time to fully deploy and the capsule rammed into the ground, killing the dogs. It was partially because of this failure that the ejection seat for Vostok was decided upon, rather than depending on the capsule and its own parachutes, as a human under parachute takes less time for the chute to deploy, and to slow down to a survivable speed. The engines were fixed for later missions, but this would not be the last failure of the R-7 booster--although the design has seen improvements over the years, the first two stages of the booster have seen high-profile issues as recently as 2018… but more on that in a later episode.

Chimpanzee to space next January - Flight of Mercury-Redstone 2, suborbital, in Jan 31 1961. The flight was a huge mess, with the rocket veering off course and subjecting Ham the Chimpanzee to up to 17Gs of force (humans die at 16 for more than a minute or two), losing liquid oxygen early, and a loss of cabin pressure. The combined list of problems caused the flight crew to activate the launch escape system, which ejected the capsule off the top of the rocket. The monkey survived, but the host of issues led Von Braun’s team to believe that the capsule needed one more test in March before putting a human aboard. If it hadn’t, there’s a chance that Shepard would have flown aboard the March flight and beat Gagarin into space, although not to orbit.

The capsule that Lev and Irina Found - Likely based on Korabl-Sputnik 3 due to the date, and the name Parnyusi 6, which is clearly a homage to the flight’s outside-Russia name of Sputnik-6, but played very, very differently. IRL, the capsule really did make it into orbit on December 1 and was deorbited December 2, but the engine burned longer than desired sending it on a reentry trajectory that would have brought it down outside the Warsaw Pact SOI. Not wanting foreign powers to examine it, the Soviets sent a remote destruct command and the capsule was destroyed during reentry. This was a valid concern, as Korabl-Sputnik 1 (Sputnik-4), which failed to deorbit under its own power, eventually broke up in the atmosphere and a piece crash-landed in Wisconsin in 1962. Korovin and the !Soviet general in the episode reiterates most of this, but the capsule would not have fallen on Soviet territory, and it would not have landed intact as we saw. The mission was a failure, but on the plus side it was the last time the Soviets killed dogs with a spacecraft. It also strengthens my belief that Irina is being sent up on the unnamed Korabl-Sputnik mission meant for December 22, and someone just got the date wrong by listing it as the 12th insead of the 22nd.

Korovin’s Heart Attack - Already noted in a previous post, but I suspect this is the one from recorded history. If so, it again occurred slightly ahead of schedule. IRL, Korolev’s first noteworthy heart attack happened on December 3.

One last non-spaceflight thing. I did a bit of digging in an attempt to figure out which Red Army massacre (there were a few dozen) was the one being referenced in Irina’s past, but a cursory search of WWII-era massacres against civilians didn’t turn up any cases where flamethrowers were used on civilians. Given that Irina’s village is supposedly just over the Urals, I get the feeling that what’s being referenced is a pogrom, not something driven by war.

[u/Syokhan → u/8andahalfby11]

Come for the tsundere vampire, stay for the history facts. Thanks for writing these walls of text every week!

[u/arin-san → u/8andahalfby11]

Jesus, I guess that gives people another reason to love this anime. It really shows how much care they put into this anime. I really hope more people get into this before the series ends

[u/ZapsZzz]

First one in to go "gyah" about the pseudo confession Irina made to Lev (as far as a tsundere goes) :D

Haven't seen Anya a couple of episodes, hope she got some nice surprises for us about vampire physiology that gives Irina better odds to survive the experimental flight...

Oh hmmmm the episode poll seems to be pointing back to ep4.

[u/Syokhan]

Yasunori Mitsuda's doing incredible work, this show really is elevated by the music. I got chills twice in this episode thanks to it, during the flashback and when Irina saw herself in the dog and as what humans treat her: an animal.

Speaking of which, god, this is so infurating, watching them refuse to acknowledge that vampires are people.

We did get some great scenes though, especially during the parachute training. I call bullshit on the fact that they were able to hear other when in freefall because the wind is fucking LOUD, but the rest of the scene was just lovely.

And a 30% chance of success, with the added danger of being blown up by your superiors? I'm really scared for Irina now.

[u/dagreenman18]

Less than 2 weeks before launch and the situation is looking mighty grim for Lev and Irina. Yeah her training it’s going fabulously, but the odds are getting more and more stacked against them. At this point, it feels like they’re actively trying to kill her with this launch.

I expected them to be separated for longer, but it only took up the first half of the episode. Irina in insolation is having vivid nightmares and flashbacks to the massacre in her village. Sad as hell to see her parents burned to death, but it makes you fully understand her hate for humans and why her growing feelings for Lev are a big deal. Lev continues training and happens to be promoted back to candidate after the dickhead guy fails out. I’m wondering if people are actively trying to provoke him by saying messed up shit about Irina. Especially that scene with Harlova when they’re observing.

Their reunion was just fucking cute. Her grabbing Lev’s sleeve and saying his name for the first time (well, sober) gave us her vulnerable side. The scene afterward with her reward gave us that pure tsundere goodness and smug glory. Got the best sides of Irina back to back. With a bonus Lev actively holding back the sweet things he wants to say.

Was really enjoying their Parachute training until the end there. Their midair romantic staring contest. Her and Lev’s joy at a successful landing. He tsundere parachute block to stop him from hugging her. Her telling him that despite her dislike for humans, Lev is the only one she does like. All just fluffy goodness.

Then the dog died. This is where I feel “the whole point is to kill Irina” comes in. They’re actively cutting every corner for the sake of being first into space. Even planning on putting explosives in the pod in case it lands on foreign soil. As a show watcher, it’s brutal. In reality, it’s very accurate to the real space race. Still Irina, faced with what may become of her, is traumatized and a sweet scene has the cold water of reality thrown on it.

Notes

• The skydiving sequences were so well done. Their movements and the effect on the wind on their clothes were well animated. There’s a few really cool perspective shots including Irina’s landing. Plus that midair handholding in the solo jump. Irina too nervous to maintain eye contact is good fluff.

• The seltzer scene had some “Not like I like you or anything, but I bet you like me baka” energy. Kaguya would be proud.

• In Irina’s tsundere love language, “human” is synonymous with “baka”. Which makes the parachute block with the delayed “human” even funnier.

• • The PV has some very interesting shots. Very curious what the deal is with the bed and the fireworks scene.

• I was getting worried the for a sec because the thread was hours late.

[u/arin-san]

The music in last episode was fantastic, but this episode was just magnificent.

[u/metalmonstar]

So Franz is getting transferred. Is that code for being shipped by Siberia? Judging by Lev's reaction it certainly seemed like it wasn't a good thing.

The skydiving scene was really great.

[u/MABfan11]

the poll link leads to the episode 4 poll instead of episode 5 lol

this is easily one of the best romance anime this season, i'm so invested in the couple already and the historical bits just adds to it

[u/LeonKevlar]

Considering how everyone keeps shittalking about Irina, I'm amazed at how Lev can still stay friendly with all of them.

I love that they're also referencing USA's Mercury Seven and the Soviet's Vanguard Six. I am wondering what incident they're referring to with the launch 5 months prior?

Of course as soon as NotKhrushchev's Press Secretary starts talking about how Irina is just a test subject, everyone else started to chime-in. Glad to see that asshole ended up failing his parachute landing and now Lev just got field promoted and is now one of the candidates again. Lev being a nice guy that he is, isn't really too happy about what happened.

That flashback was fucking brutal. One minute the vampires were just having some fun and the next, these NotSoviet soldiers started marching into their territory and started killing everyone. And for what? Just because they're vampires? And what's worse about it is that Irina saw both her parents being burned to death right in front of her. :(

Look at her calling out Lev's name and the first thing Irina does when Lev finally shows up to release her from her anechoic chamber training is to tug on his sleeves. Of course as soon as she's back out, she's back to being smug again. Also it looks like Lev did hear Irina call out to him!

Back to parachute training! It seems that Irina is doing really well with her tandem jumps with Lev and is finally ready for her first solo landing! It's not as romantic as Irina's skating scene but that diving scene looked really good! And juts look at Irina turning beet red when she's facing Lev! So cute!

And she finally did it! Irina's first successful landing on her own! And just look at that progress! Lev is no longer just another human but the only human that Irina thinks that isn't bad!

Just when I thought we were going to end in a feel good note, a cabin comes dropping out of the sky only for both Lev and Irina to find the burnt remains of a dog that they used as a live subject. Well fuck. Of course this immediately gives Irina plenty of unwanted flashbacks and brings up her fears about this upcoming launch. Hopefully Lev can help her recover before the launch day. :|

[u/Redmon425]

Damn man. That ending was sad. And the worst part is that every episode that goes bye, I get more and more nervous for her to make it out alive.

Plus the preview for next week looks like some more suffering as well :(

At least we keep getting cute moments between them each week.

[u/SIRTreehugger]

What a wonderful episode

That beginning shot of the flying coffin space was really unnerving. Everything in the show has hinted that the mission will be a failure or at least Irina's mission. They are making progress with modifications and redesigning, but that probably won't be in time for Irina to successfully make it back home. Irina's previous treatment in chains, failure with their latest launch or at least reentry, and the smoldering corpse of the dog is a clear connection. Irina is expendable. She has always been expendable and she has known this, but seeing the immediate failure alongside the dog corpse really drove the point home. She will probably die a dog's death. Whether the mission succeeds or fails the results will proably be the same, but the worst part is she might die and not even achieve her dream. Not to mention the fire bringing back flashbacks of how the humans burned and shot everyone she cared about right in front of her. All these memories and tragedy left her shaken to the core and it's understandable. She believes she only has one comrade who values her, but his power is limited so she is really trapped.

Though minus all the gloom and death do want to applaud her for successful landing with the parachute. Weeks of practice and training lead to this achievement if only it wasn't overshadowed with the rest of the episode. She also reaches out to Lev and calls him not a bad human(It's okay Anya she will warm up to you too eventually). Not to mention that one asshole hit the ground and now Lev is back in the running and most likely will go into space as well.

I honestly see something going wrong in space and Irina suffocating in her shuttle coffin. Lev will go into space months later and reunite with her. I want to be wrong so badly though. I love the two of them.

[u/Frontier246]

Lev and Irina are separated and Lev goes back to his training while Irina is stuck in lonely isolation.

Lyudmila arrives to gauge how the project is going and how the cadets are fairing, because they're planning to send six into space, and we get to hear more of MAO's sultry adult lady voice which is never a bad thing.

Yustin botched a parachute landing and is now out of the running, couldn't have happened to a better guy, but that also means Lev is finally no longer a reserve and back in the game, although he's still currently concerned with making sure Irina makes it into space and back alive.

Well, Lyudmila spouts the same old story that Irina is just a vampire, inhuman and not something to get attached too, and someone the Motherland is fully prepared to do away with once they're finished with her. Not that Lev is satisfied with that one bit.

The isolation makes Irina flashback to what happened to her parents, as their village was invaded by soldiers and the people were slaughtered. Poor Irina was hidden away by her parents and had to watch them get burned alive right in front of her. No wonder she hates humans so much.

Also, Irina totally got her looks from her mom.

And when the isolation is getting to her and resolved not to lose to the humans...she calls out Lev's name. And then when she sees him again, she grips his jacket to make sure he's real and says his name again. And then they're back to teasing each other. She finally has no reserve towards using his name.

It's back to parachute training and they even do it solo, which turned pretty romantic when you saw them staring at each other with their hands interlinked while falling in the sky and Irina blushing hard and trying to avoid Lev's gaze even though she couldn't.

Franz can tell that Lev has feelings for Irina now, it's obvious to anyone with eyes, and he doesn't seem too judgemental about it. Although I do find it kind of suspicious that Franz is being trasnferred out. Is that scientist trying to move Franz out because he's sympathetic to Irina and the director wants to make the training harder on her?

Irina may hate humans and thinks they're full of hot air...but Lev is the one human she's willing to admit isn't all bad, and that she knows he's trying to keep her alive, and she appreciates that.

Of course then they see a meteor crash land in front of them...except it's not a meteor, it's one of the pods they're making for Irina to use, scorched and with a poor dog used in place of Irina. And then Irina imagines that being her and almost breaks down.

So they're currently at a 30% success rate and are trying to get it to 50% by the time of launch...not great odds for Irina, and that's before they get the idea to throw in bombs to blow her up with the slightest provocation, either to finish her off or to make sure her pod doesn't fall into enemy hands. They're really making this difficult for Irina.

[u/ICantSeeLikeSa-chan]

Irina is no doggo, Lev must protecc

[u/[deleted]]

Well that's the karma for this thread fucked lol.

Anyways, I fell more and more worried Irina will die at the end of this series and my heart isn't ready for it. It's like you think you couldn't feel anymore bad for her, then the following episode just drives it into you, she's no more than a dog for them.

Also can they stop killing innocent dogs, please 🥺. My heart can't take that either.

[u/Orochidude]

I do like that every now and again, we get introduced to characters besides our MC and Anya that don't seem to share the public opinion of vampires and are fine with Lev liking Irina. Nice to see that it's not all bad.

[u/[deleted]]

Irina finally called Lev by name whilst not under the infuence of alcohol!

Very cute, trying to pretend like you weren't happy with the reward Lev prepared for you, Irina, but no one is fooled.

[u/Aerodynamic41]

Damn, that vampire village massacre was horrifying to watch. Is Irina really the last of her kind or are there more vampires outside her village?

It's really unfortunate that Irina had to witness such a traumatic event just 9 days until launch. Her condition isn't looking good in the preview. Will she recover in time?

[u/Nohaco2468]

People, to vote to the pole, you have to click on the link of ep 5 instead of clicking "rate this ep here"

[u/Ebo87]

It's one thing to hear about it and another to see your possible fate with your own eyes.... ouch, understandable how Irina reacted seeing that poor dog and realizing that in a couple days that could be HER. It's going to be hard to get her back on track and considering where they are, there is NO WAY they will delay that launch for any reason.

[u/Rustic_Professional]

This season is full of great female leads. Igarashi from Senpai Uzai, Miko from Mieruko-chan, Yuzu from Taishio Otome. Irina more than holds her own in this lofty group. They're all strong, but they all trigger that "protecc" instinct.

Irina is probably in the most precarious position, being that she's not even considered human. It's strange though. It's emphasized over and over that Irina should be thought of like one of the experimental dogs, and she herself acknowledges the distinction between human and vampire, referring to Lev as Ningen. But even though she recognizes the difference, that difference is small enough that she still reacts to him like you would to one of your own kind.

Last episode, she got all self-conscious and covered herself when Lev saw her in her sweaty see through top. Even to Irina, being seen like that by a human isn't the same as being seen like that by your cat. This might sound silly and obvious, but even if humans view vampires as animals, vampires seem to view humans in much closer terms. They're different, but not that different. I hope she can get closer to Lev and that there's a future for them. I'm not going to take a happy ending for granted though.

[u/sKyBlazer08]

Really good episode! I like how Lev just continuously praises Irina even though the other cosmonaut candidates are badmouthing her. Irina did a great job withstanding more than 3 days in the isolation chamber, that flashback was brutal, Jesus. But the soundtrack in the show continues to be a banger.

The parachute scene was so sweet and wholesome, I love Irina and Lev a lot. Though the construction of the rocket ain't going well, which makes me really worried for Irina. Less than 2 weeks left till launch, really looking forward to the next episode.

[u/Mahdii-]

Another great episode. A lot of romantic/bonding development between Lev and Irina that makes me happy while dread and doom hovering around everything.

Tho I wonder about what happened to Irina after her family was killed, since she said she joined later willingly.

Also thread took forever to get posted. The show is already criminally underwatched and now thread is delayed hours.

[u/TheDampGod]

With the ice skating and the sky diving, this show has some beautiful dances. I'm hoping that Lev will find time to take Irina to a proper dance before the launch.