A place further than the universe. It’s not a prison, a place trapped in ice. It’s a place, still unopened, yet filled with possibilities. Earth’s greatest treasure chest.
I don’t know how Madhouse manages to be so consistent with this show, but I can’t get over how beautiful and inspirational this show is. There’s so much beauty and charm, but most of all, there’s a lot of heart in it. And each week I smile and laugh at the girl’s silly antics, but in the end I always have a little moment where I try to fight tears because of the more serious and down to Earth moments. I don’t remember the last show where I had grown attached to characters so quickly, even secondary crew members.
The girls are now in Fremantle and we open with poor Shirase trying to report, but Yuzuki takes the reins instead and they all smack a Worthless sign on a strand of her hair 🙁
But problems arise already as the girls worry if they’ll even be able to go to Antarctica. They notice the lack of morale and remarks from the crew members, they notice the actual lack of members, and notice how little food and supplies they had to buy, and how weird it was that the crew hadn’t bought it all beforehand. The lack of funds, of maintenance, etc, is being brought up again and they don’t feel good about it, especially Yuzuki who noticed this first. They ask Kanae awkwardly whether they’ll go or not and she says of course they will.
Kanae’s speech in the end and Gin’s scene with Shirase go hand in hand. It was a treat to learn more about how the expedition came to be, and finally seeing Shirase’s mom in a flashback. It’s so funny to see how enthusiastic and genki she was compared to her more withdrawn and awkward daughter. The three of them, her, Gin, and Kanae, came together to create a civilian-based expedition, with hand-me-down ship and station. They worked hard to find researchers and even wanted to build an observatory on Antarctica. Though things obviously didn’t go well and upon returning, lost sponsors. But even then, the people that had been on the expedition before have returned again, sacrificing things in their lives, hoping to return to the amazing place they explored before. Even though they don’t have much funds, won’t get compensation, and yet they’ll still go. That’s the kind of people they are. That’s the passion and drive that they have. I don’t think we’ll get to know too many of the crew members, but I’m glad that they’re not just background characters. They’re not nobodies there just to fill space and reminds us, “Oh yeah, there’s more people on the ship”. All of these people share the same dream, they have the same drive as our own four main females, and I want to cheer for them just as much as I do for Mari, or Shirase, etc. And I cheered for Shirase because she finally managed to speak coherently in front of people! 😀
The post-credits scene hints at a rough journey ahead, and hopefully things won’t get too rough. I wonder how soon we’ll make it to Antarctica and what exactly they’ll find there. The OP visuals paints something fun and lighthearted, but I don’t like this negative feeling I’m getting.
