Space Brothers

(宇宙兄弟)

• Author: Chuya Koyama
• Demographic: Seinen
• Premise: Two Japanese brothers encounter a UFO as children and are inspired to become astronauts. The younger brother, Hibito, vows to go to the moon, and the older brother, Mutta, vows to go to Mars. Nearly 20 years later, Hibito is slated to be the first Japanese person to walk on the moon, and  Mutta has just been fired from his engineering job at a car company. With few career options left, Mutta is re-inspired to become an astronaut in order to catch up to his younger brother, and applies to become a JAXA astronaut. The series continues following Mutta as he tries to fulfill his childhood promise to his younger brother that he will walk on Mars.

This series has a dear place in my heart as it was the one that steered me towards aerospace engineering when I was still looking for a direction to take in my life. Although it is marketed as a Seinen series, it can undoubtedly be enjoyed by people of all ages. A combination of dry humor and inspirational moments, as well as a mostly accurate depiction of the astronaut program, I would highly recommend this to anyone who is looking to pick up a new series.