It’s summer in Japan, and that means there are a lot of new anime releases. While there are a lot of high profile ones out there, ‘Astra: Lost in Space’ is one of those shounen anime that slips under the radar. I’ve talked a lot about fantasy anime and isekai in the past, but this space mystery is a hidden gem of the summer.
Also known as Kanato no Astra in Japanese, ‘Astra: Lost in Space’ is the story of a planet camp trip by a group of students from Caird High School in the year 2061 gone wrong. The students (also known as group B5) have little inkling of the surprises that await them as they embark on their summer camp. The planned excursion turns lethal when the B5 group gets transported off of the planet and into space by an unknown malevolent force.
Instead of dying in the vacuum of space, the students band together for the sake of survival. With the ship that they found and named Astra, group B5 seeks to find their way back home with little experience of space exploration and survival. That is the premise of this intriguing anime that adds mystery upon mystery even after the previous one is solved.
‘Astra: Lost in Space’ has a group of diverse characters led by Aries Spring and decathlete Kanata Hoshijima. Though she has an eidetic memory, Aries is a bit of an airhead while Kanata volunteers, and is later appointed captain of this loose band of would-be space explorers. Joining them are pilot-genius Zack Walker, would-be doctor Quitterie Raffaeli with her much younger step-sister sister Funicia, young engineer Luca Esposito, mysterious Ulgar Zweig, quiet Yun-Hua Lu, and botanist Charce Lacroix.
This space adventure anime is full of mystery starting with the most basic: who tried to kill them? Later, they find out that the answer to that question is more nuanced than they initially realized. Also, because these characters don’t know a lot about each other, each episode provides an introspective look at the backgrounds of each character. The students get surprised by what they learn about one another, but startlingly find out that they have more in common than they realize. In spite of their differences, this hodge-podge group of children learn to work together to get back to their home planet.
Aside from the multi-faceted characters, there’s a lot of science fiction here based on science. If you’re a fan of Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, anybody?) or a fan of movies like Interstellar, this anime might just catch your fancy. The science fiction blends well with the detailed character portrayals and enhances the mysteries of the series. ‘Astra: Lost in Space’ really provides a lot of surprises as each episode passes.
What irrevocably draws me to the anime, though, is the message of unity in diversity. Rather than being a hindrance to accomplish a common goal (as is the case in the beginning), ‘Astra: Lost in Space’ shows you that if it weren’t for their differences, this group would not even have a chance to return home. In fact, once group B5 figured out how to optimize each other’s varying abilities, they realized that the differences in background are an asset in accomplishing their goals. If only people in the real world would think the same way, we’d probably accomplish a lot more.
‘Astra: Lost in Space’ is an anime about thriving in an inclusive community. The realization that differences make a difference in success is a hopeful message for the future. When an anime highlights this point, it doesn’t matter what genre it belongs to; it becomes worthy of patronage. The future can be so hopeful, and ‘Astra: Lost in Space’ shows us how we can get there.
