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I'll start off by saying that I enjoyed the episode-to-episode watching experience. The characters are likable enough and the worldbuilding was sort of interesting. So what's the issue? Well, the issue is that there is literally 0 plot.

There are *crumbs* of a plot peppered throughout the show but it never goes anywhere. It is a show completely comprised of filler. At the pace it was going I was certain that it was going to have 24 or even 48 episodes because it was unimaginable to me that they could have any sort of satisfying conclusion after 12 eps... And, well, there wasn't one. The show ... goes literally nowhere. Nothing happens. By episode 12 we are basically in the same spot we were in episode 2 or 3.

Don't get me wrong, there are still self-contained stories that are kinda interesting but they don't really impact the bigger picture at all. Clay starts off wanting to conquer the dungeon and find her father but each of those goals has 1 episode dedicated to it and, you guessed it, it goes nowhere. They keep setting things up and there is never any payoff, instead, it's all immediately swept under the cupboard.

I wish I could say I was looking forward to season 2 but there wasn't even a hook in the finale to give us something to speculate about, it just, kinda, ended... There is nothing that I'd be excited to see them explore in s2 because they have already shown that it doesn't matter and it will just be another crumb contained in a single episode and I don't see this series getting 10 seasons so it has enough times for these crumbs to add up to a satisfying conclusion.

For most of its runtime, Astra Lost in Space is a pretty decent sci-fi/ comedy anime. The problem is that the sci-fi is really shallow, and the comedy is more like "ha ha..." funny than actually funny. It also uses its endearing cast of characters to create many sad moments but those again are not that great and are unlikely to make you shed any tears or even make your eyes water. The plot is also interesting enough to keep you watching but any twists you'll see from a mile away so it's not THAT interesting...

I'd say that makes it the definition of a 7/10 ... anime, and that's how I rated it but that's because I chose to ignore the ending which really, really sucked. ...but before I get to that, shoutout to the random redditor who recommended Astra as an anime similar to Talentless Nana despite it having a completely different tone, plot, setting, perspective, humor... Their brain really needs to be studied by science, goddamn.


OK, SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED:

So, towards the end of the show we find out that the earth the characters come from is not the original earth but one they migrated to after they realized the original earth was gonna be hit by an asteroid. The name of the new earth? Astra... The same thing they named their ship at the beginning after reading "Per aspera, ad astra" on a plaque... Why would they name them the same thing? It makes 0 sense... But whatever, that is a minor point. The main problem is that we suddenly find out that the astra government hid what really happened - migration followed by a bloody war where half of the population died and the rest vowed to never repeat those mistakes again - and instead sold their people a different tale - WW3 after the Cuban Missile Crisis which led to deaths of half of the population with the remainder of humanity vowing to never repeat those mistakes again. Do you see the issue? There was no reason for anyone to lie, this is literally the same thing, just slightly different in a who gives a fuck way. This is treated as some huge revelation but like... why do you even care? And even regardless of their having no reason to lie, they did admittedly manage to create a peaceful society with no divisions but our characters decide that they just NEED to tell everyone the truth because "any chaos is better than a peace based on a lie". NO, I DON'T THINK SO??? Are you fucking dense? I guess in a way that's accurate writing because only people who grew up in a world with no war would say some stupid shit like that but judging by the rest of this mess I doubt that the writers thought that far ahead. Eh. Well, there you have it.