It’s time to welcome back one of the best anime currently airing from a 3-week recap break. This break was entirely forgivable in my book for 3 reasons:

1. The series had not had a recap previously.

2. The move to a new timeslot means there are a lot of people just tuning in who have no clue what’s going on. Recaps serve to fill them in so that they keep watching.

3. Spring 2013 has brough with it pretty crowded Saturdays (Attack on Titan, Muromi-san, Hentai Ouji), so Space Bros’ being on break made it easier to blog those intros.

If it had gone for a fourth week, though, it would’ve started to count for something. It came back not a moment too soon, really.

Or at least I thought I was watching Space Brothers. What I actually watched was an episode of Hajime no Ippo, complete with grit, guts, friendship, and a terrible pun that gives the main character the strength to continue on. Seriously, I compare this show to Hajime no Ippo a lot because it’s very much earned it. It’s almost an understatement to say that Ayumu Watanabe came out of the recap break with a proverbial Dempsey Roll, packing the fact that Pico was Vince’s brother in with the most subtle of hinting.

Also, the whole “touch gloves” thing

Meanwhile, Larry and Vince continue to be an amusing duo to watch. Larry has his casual nature and his way of getting at the heart of Vince’s thoughts with well-placed quetions, while Vince always throws Larry off with just how stoic he is. Even more interesting is how Larry is now using Vince’s motivational tactics to drive all the teams into working harder on the CanSat/Rover test. It’s amazing how well they moderate each other’s personalities.

Of course, their friendship is another matter…

The next arc will be a very interesting one even without the Bold family matters taken into account. It’s all about a design competition for motor vehicles, and while the A team may have their student assistant veteran, Mutta has a doctrate in engineering and has won awards for cars he’s designed. Team E is going to wipe the floor with its opposition here, and it’ll be a glorious thing to see.