Score: B+

This time around we got to shift the focus a bit to Yunhua. It did seem likely after the previous episode that she was going to earn some more attention. We didn’t get a whole lot more from her than we did last time around, but it was still worth getting. That her mother is a total piece of work was a given already. But it was even worse than I thought. Yunhua is that kid who actually was pretty upbeat and wasn’t too shy to start. But she was broken down and pushed in that direction. Her mother turned a girl who was happy and wanted to sing into someone who was lifeless. That is just a crime. Yunhua had the talent and the desire, but she was kicked down before she could get started. I do hope the show explains what the heck is wrong with that woman.

It does make sense that she’d do something reckless and emotional like run off on her own. The worst thing for a person that wants to be invisible is being unable to hide. This situation is so desperate and extreme that no one can easily just vanish into the background. The whole group has to work together or they are done for. Yunhua’s situation is all the more difficult since she has to try and contribute despite having no confidence behind her actions. While it was incredibly reckless to do, I’m not surprised that she ran off. She’s taken a lot of hits and embarrassment the past couple of episodes. She was going to hit her breaking point sooner or later. And frankly, being stuck in a situation where they were struggling to find food didn’t help anything.

We just have to live with the main cast being rather dumb as well. There is no reason to step off that ship in anything less than a spacesuit. Sure, they were in a rush to find Yunhua. But, it is better to be safe than sorry. That mysterious sphere of death is bound to keep following them. Sure, it probably wouldn’t have mattered in this case. I can get not wanting to keep a helmet up when you have confirmed the air as breathable. That kind of thing would probably be a bit uncomfortable and maybe making a person feel claustrophobic. But, it is just frustrating to see such recklessness. That kind of frustration though is just part of the experience. They are kids who aren’t as careful as they should be.

The thing to note as well is that they avoided dying, but their issues aren’t resolved in this episode. All they managed to do was keep the crew together and not die. Those are important things no doubt. But their bigger issue was the lack of obvious foods that they can store and eat until the next planet. It may not be easy to find those kinds of foods on a planet with that kind of ecosystem. But they’ll have to figure it out. The water issue seems pretty well resolved with the cacti they’ve found. Once they recover from their near death experience then they can move right on to the next crisis.

Also, I sure hope the biologist of this crew learns a bit from this experience. It is fine to be enthralled by an alien ecosystem. But when you are the closest thing to an expert on biology in that entire crew then paying attention is crucial to surviving. Everyone makes mistakes though. Charce just wasn’t thinking hard enough about what he was seeing with all those animal corpses. He was obsessed with the fact that there were corpses and not so much on why.

This wasn’t as strong an episode as some previous ones. But at least Yunhua’s song was pretty nice. I’m not sure how often her talent is going to get to shine though. It was handy here in calming people that were suffering from poison. But beyond that it depends on her confidence and if she wants to keep singing in public. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to have someone with performing skills help keep everyone’s spirits up. While Aeries and Kanata are doing their best to keep people upbeat, having someone who can help them relax by enjoying a song would be useful. But we’ll have to see where things go from here. For Yunhua’s sake I do hope her character growth continues.