Space Brothers: Collection 1

Serving up a detailed and realistic science comedy-drama anime series—made in cooperation with the Japanese space agency JAXA—Space Brothers centers on Mutta Namba and his younger brother Hibito, who share a childhood UFO sighting that will guide their lives. Hibito becomes a top JAXA astronaut candidate for an American Lunar mission in 2025. Meanwhile, prominent automotive engineer Mutta loses his job after assaulting an executive who mocks Hibito. Blacklisted in his field, Mutta finds his interest in space exploration rekindled, and at the advanced age of 31 he attempts to follow Hibito in joining JAXA's intense astronaut-selection program. Complications include Mutta crushing on Serika, a competing female space candidate whose motivations may be more altruistic than his own, and the intricacies of the Namba boys' sibling rivalry. Although there's a token cute little dog (a pug), there are no mechas or superpowered schoolgirls to disrupt this fine saga about brotherly loyalty, science ethics, goal-setting, and sacrifice. Compiling the first 13 episodes from 2012 in separate DVD and Blu-ray editions, in Japanese with English subtitles, rated TV-14, this is highly recommended. [Note: Space Brothers: Collection 2 and Space Brothers: Collection 3 are also newly available.] (C. Cassady)