Astra Lost in Space – Imagine

Production

Studio Lerche is slowly creeping up my list of favourite studios. It currently sits in the number 4 position with some titles I really like such as Assassination Classroom, Given, School-Live, Magical Girl Raising Project and Hanako-Kun. I was surprised to see that it was also the studio behind Danganronpa, Hamatora, Scums Wish and Asobi Asobase. Do you know what those titles all have in common? They all look completely different. Ok, that’s not how common works….

Honestly, though, a lot of those titles are very visually striking. And then Given has competent but extremely conventional visuals.

Lerche obviously doesn’t have the resources of studios like BONES. You can see that the animation is quite as smooth and fluid. But it is a studio that takes a lot of chances and tries new things when it comes to art styles and palettes. This is what has allowed it to create some signature looks.

Admittedly, Astra Lost in Space falls more on the conventional side of the visual spectrum. It’s not a show I would recommend solely on the strength of its production. But even here there are a few interesting visual touches. The aspect ratio goes to full screen occasionally and there is a story-related reason but it’s never spelled out. You’ll miss it if you don’t pay attention. There is also a very interesting use of light throughout the series. But by far the best element is the sound design. It brought life to the planets and sucked it out of outer space in a powerful way.

Story & Characters

Astra Lost in Space has 2 “twists” and a surprise reveal, all of which come fairly close to one another, towards the end of the series. I somehow guessed the second twist and not the first which is odd as it’s very similar to one of my favourite books. And I’m not going to spoil any of them for you here. I will say that the end of the series, in an effort to tie everything together gets pretty convoluted and if you think too hard about certain elements, it’s rather silly.

But, that didn’t really matter to me. And here’s why.

First of all, by the time it gets to the reveals, I was seriously invested in both the story and the characters so unless they destroyed the internal integrity of the narrative, a few exaggerated twists weren’t going to ruin anything. Moreover, the twists themselves aren’t bad, I think we didn’t need so many of them and they layed it on a bit thick, but any one in isolation is pretty good. Mostly though, Astra Lost in Space is a good anime.

If I were to single one thing out, I would say that Atra Lost in Space is one of the best paced stories I have ever seen. The pacing is carefully balanced to make sure the story is easy to follow and unwaveringly interesting. You get ample time to connect with the characters and their situation without ever getting bogged down in a single spot. It’s great.

Moreover, most of the series is structured as a light-hearted survival adventure, complete with very well thought-out alien ecosystems. Honestly, I was just engrossed in the descriptions of the planets, I wish they had visited some more. Mixed in with all that is a traditional whodunit mystery. Although the mystery takes a bit of a back seat to the action, they do make sure to scatter enough clues and mention it frequently so that it always stays in the mind of the viewer. That really made me engage with the story while remaining utterly entertained. let me tell you, it was hard to close the tv. I had every intention of stopping at episode 6 a Monday evening after work and hours later, as I was finishing up the last episode, I honestly wondered how anyone could have watched it on a weekly basis.

I should also mention the characters. I really love this cast. However, if I were to look at it completely objectively, the characters aren’t exactly great. Most of them are in fact just archetypes that we’ve seen over and over. They are only as developed as they have to be for the purposes of the narrative and they sometimes get a bit inconsistent. BUT, the dialogue is fantastic. The writing includes some great banter and care has been put into making sure that all the characters interact with each other creating a lot of different dynamics.

And I skipped voice acting in the production section for a reason. The voice acting is what really elevates these characters. The actors took these someone standard characters and latched on to the great lines and brought these people to life. These are a group of high school kids that have become great friends through shared hardships. I have no doubt about that. Because I could clearly hear it. So although the characters weren’t developed as much as they could have been, they felt like real people to me.

So when you put the intrigue of the premise together with the efficiency of the pacing, the charm of the acting and the great story-telling prowess, you end up with a really good anime. Whatever flaws I can find in the plot are entirely made up for in my opinion. And I honestly can’t think of anyone that wouldn’t enjoy Astra Lost in Space on some level.

SPOILERS – Spoilers here! They don’t spoil much but still. And besides, you’ll have no clue what I’m talking about if you haven’t watched the show…

“Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothin’ to kill or die for
And no religion, too“

There is a line in the latter half of Astra Lost in Space that specifically says that Astra is a world without countries and without religions. If that’s not the exact quote, it’s really very close. And in the reality of the series, it’s framed as a bad thing.

Now I know that the issue is that the state was controlling information and not so much that they had abolished these concepts but still. That sentence does get associated with what the series frames as the antagonistic element. Which for a second gave me an odd anti-socialism vibe that completely clashes with the working together towards a greater goal and prioritizing the group over the individual message that the series puts out.

I realize that there’s probably something lost in translation here. And maybe Imagine isn’t quite the cultural touchstone in Japan as it is here. Still, it really jumped out at me and I wanted to share that tidbit with you.

You might like this anime if:

You have eyes. OK, let’s go the other way, you might not like this anime if you don’t like animated shows or spaceships.

I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.