I just recently did an appreciation post for my followers, but I feel like saying thank you again to everyone who helps make up this blogging community, whose kindness and encouragement convinced me to stick with my blog. Since starting Anime Rants about 5 months ago, I’ve noticed a decrease in the frequency and duration of depressive mood swings. I’m able to feel joy as I write my anime rants and review episodes.

The point of all this is really to say that I experienced great excitement, thrill, and joy from watching and thinking about Kanata no Astra episode 5. I don’t believe I would have felt such joy watching an anime 5 months ago. These fleeting positive emotions are things I haven’t felt with any regularity for 7 years. And you guys here on your WordPress blogs are a big part of what has made me able to feel excitement and happiness again. So thank you. 🙂 Now let’s finally get into the episode review, shall we? Note: Luca became my favorite character, which is why I have pics of him everywhere.

It was a terrific episode. Ulgar’s threatening behavior was due to a grudge against Luca’s father, who killed someone dear to Ulgar. That much I guessed last episode. However, I hadn’t given hardly any thought to Luca. The reveals about his family and his intersex body caught me entirely off guard. The way the episode handled the whole confrontation was great. Luca explained his history and identity, leading Ulgar to give up on shooting him; it felt suspenseful, convincing, and believable for the characters instead of being typical or predictable. The storytelling in Kanata no Astra is really starting to impress me.

Then the tsunami hit, which felt out of nowhere, but only because I forgot about the brief earthquake last episode. Prolonged scenes like this where some characters’ lives are seriously at risk usually don’t affect me much. I stay detached and don’t feel connected to the characters or the sense of suspense. Not so with this anime, however. As the lives of Kanata, Luca, and Ulgar hung in the balance, my heart was racing and I was just short of screaming at the computer screen every moment. I couldn’t calm down till I was 100% sure everyone was safely aboard the Astra.

That brings us to the two points addressed toward the end of the episode. First, Zack pointed out that Marco Esposito would not have killed Ulgar’s brother over a corrupt funds scandal. It had to be something bigger and nastier that Marco was covering up. As noted in my review for episode 5, it probably has to do with the new movement toward “genome monitoring” and obligatory DNA sampling of citizens. Maybe there’s a big, bad eugenics project starting, and sending the kids to die in space is one part of it. Or maybe, the kids were sent to space so they would be safe from any genetic experimentation. Here’s another idea: what if the kids on board the Astra all have gifts/abilities so threatening to the new order that they were sent away. Who knows?

The other point to note was, of course, Aries’ assertion that Cherce was lying about being in her biology class. Doubt and suspicion is immediately thrown on him, which I think is going a little overboard. Even if Cherce is the enemy among them, it’s not fair to have one lie about school as the basis of all suspicion. We just learned from Luca that everyone has their secrets and dark histories. Maybe Cherce has a hidden health condition and could not attend school for a few months? It could be as simple as that. But again, who knows? Cherce could indeed be the enemy among them.

Yonde kurete arigatou gozaimashita! (That means “thank you for reading!”) Honto ni, kansha shimasu. (That one means “I truly appreciate it,” but I’ve only heard it in anime, so it may not be correct speech.) Take care now and ome visit again soon!

Other Posts About This Series
Kanata no Astra Episode 1 Review
Kanata no Astra Episode 2 Review
Kanata no Astra Episode 3 Review
Kanata no Astra Episode 4 Review
Kanata no Astra Episode 5 Review

PATREON

(Images from: Kanata no Astra. Dir. M Andou. Lerche. 2019.)