Anime Review: Asteroid in Love Episode 1

Asteroid in Love

Studio: Doga Kobo

Genre: Slice of Life, School

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Mira has loved looking at the stars ever since she was little and discovered the wonder and beauty of them thanks to a boy who she met at a camp-site. When she starts high school, the obvious choice for a club to join then is, of course, the astrology club!

Unfortunately for Mira, the astrology club was previously rather unpopular and so has since been forced to merge with another club – the geology one. Renamed the ‘Earth Sciences’ club, the group is clearly split between the two interests and both sections clearly struggle to make the two coincide.  To Mira’s surprise though, one of the club members is that same person who introduced her to stargazing so long ago – except it turns out they’re actually a girl!

Asteroid in Love is bright and colourful, both in character design and tonally. So far, all the characters seen have been fairly likable and interesting in their own right. Even Mira’s friend (who presumably doesn’t join the club with her), has her own distinctive personality and comedic sensibilities which make her memorable. Thus far, not a lot else is known about the other members of the Earth Sciences club, beyond Mira and Ao but they’re all distinctive and show personality throughout this first episode.

The relationship between Mira and Ao, reunited again after many years, is the main focal point for this first episode and it’s interesting in particular to see Ao’s thoughts on seeing her old friend again. Ao, contrary to the cool mature person who Mira remembers, is clearly socially anxious and worried about not living up to Mira’s high expectations of her. The scenario is realistic and whilst Mira is the happy, optimistic character of the series, Ao is perhaps the more relatable of the two with real worries.

Presumably, the series will continue to chart the division between this unusual school club, and hopefully, the members will gradually start to find some common ground together. Mira’s goal, plainly stated on her introduction to the club, is to one day find a previously undiscovered asteroid and name it after her friend – whether such a feat is actually possible or not given the clubs limited resources remains to be seen. But for now, I’m happy to just enjoy the journey with this colourful cast of characters – this is a feel-good show so far, which left me smiling at the end of the episode and I’m looking forward to where it will go next.