Mighty Space Miners Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-09-08 (updated 2011-03-28)
• 3.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Mighty Space Miners is, at its heart, a classic sci-fi thriller with an extra dose of action, mixing a fast pace and a good shot of light anime adventure into the creative and accurate scientific detail. The result is an action-oriented series without a single battle, and it's done so well that fans of both Star Wars and Star Trek will find things to enjoy. Add in attractive and scientifically realistic visuals, quality Japanese acting, and all the parts necessary for a good yarn are in place.

Sadly, the short runtime makes it hard to keep up with the plot, and it sets up a doozy of an unresolved cliffhanger thanks to an abrupt end after only two episodes. On balance, its so frustrating to be left hanging that it's hard to recommend the series, but it's still quite a ride while it lasts.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2000-09-08 (updated 2011-03-28)
• 3.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Mighty Space Miners is a good show for several reasons, and a bad show for a couple of big ones. At its heart the series is a classic sci-fi thriller, though it adds a good shot of light anime adventure to the creative and accurate scientific detail for balance. Sadly, though all the parts necessary for a good yarn are in place, the series has so little time to work with it has trouble finding its footing, and it sets up a doozy of an unresolved cliffhanger thanks to being cut short after only two episodes. On balance, it's so frustrating that it's hard to recommend, but it's still quite a ride while it lasts.

The characters here are pretty much anime-archetypes: the determined, spunky, headstrong kid; the wise, brave space-captain father; the stern-but-kind, get-things-done mother; and so on. (Also be prepared for a cute little talking robot-helmet, but it's handled more realistically than you'd expect.) The unusual setting and some good storytelling, combined with fine acting in Japanese, make the well-traveled characters seem relatively fresh and certainly interesting enough to watch.

The distinctive Japanese casting adds plenty of personality to the characters. Of particular note is Ushiwaka's mother; character actor Miyuki Ichijou gives her voice a neat matronly-yet-gritty edge. The real standout performance, however, is Kappei Yamaguchi as Ushiwaka--he sounds believable and voices the character with so much gusto that he escapes the stereotype.

The story likewise isn't wildly original--I think most sci-fi fans have seen brave colonists struggling to survive some disaster at least once--but manages to be quite exciting. Most of the credit goes to the attention to scientific detail and realism. The setting is believable and imaginative, and the ample supply of action is centered around surviving the harsh environment through classic sci-fi schemes to get things working again.

A large part of what makes the action (and, as a result, the whole thing) work is not just the scientific accuracy but the creative use of it. For example, the only part of the colony that has gravity is a spinning habitat section, and the rest is in freefall. But, instead of 2001-style slow motion spacewalks, the freedom of a gravity-free environment is fully capitalized on--just watching the characters (mostly Ushiwaka) jump and swim around is very cool.

The attention to detail also turns minor events into exciting drama. Stopping a space pod that's run out of fuel is a tense effort, and a crack in the windshield is a serious problem. It's similar to Apollo 13; if you tell the story right, a broken oxygen tank can make gripping cinema, and here the scale is expanded to an entire space colony.

Mighty Space Miners impressed me most by managing to be both sci-oriented sci-fi and action-adventure at the same time. The feel is memorably fast paced and dynamic without ever resorting to a single battle scene or losing the fun sense of adventure.

Of course, there isn't enough spare time in the story to slow down even if they'd wanted to, and therein lies this series' sole flaw: It's length. First, the relatively complicated story is crammed in a little too tightly--I felt like I needed to watch it a second time just to get a firm grasp on what had gone wrong and what the cause of impending doom is supposed to be. You can get away with blowing past the setup in an action movie, and the urgency and lack of "info dump" scenes is refreshing, but a few more minutes of backstory and/or time spent explaining the drama would have made it a lot less confusing early on.

In any case, that's not the real length problem. A few more minutes of story at the beginning would have been nice, but a lot more minutes at the end was essential--although AD Vision bills this as a "movie," it's really an OAV series, and a conspicuously incomplete one. Things are moving along just fine, the story's heading toward its apparent climax, and just when you're ready for the final episode, it stops. The colony is heading for earth, there's a nuclear bomb about to go off, the hero is about to be forcibly evacuated, and it ends.

I don't know who made the rule requiring all really interesting OAV series to get cut short after two episodes, but it applies here. As good as what exists is, I'd highly recommend staying away from it if you can't stomach the lack of a conclusion. Good while it lasts, but maddeningly frustrating.

Visually, Mighty Space Miners is impressive. The art is great; clean, nice-looking, colorful enough, and very detailed. The animation is also very well executed; smooth and with impressive attention to detail. If you look closely, you'll see not just a lot of cool zero-G jumping around, but little touches like when a fuel line breaks and the splashing (and weightless) liquid freezes almost immediately in the cold of space. The character animation is nifty, too, especially when it comes to weightless action, or even just getting around. The character designs are toward the cute side, but appealing and distinctive, with lots of variety. (The look is notably similar to Green Legend Ran, for those familiar with that series.)

The music isn't as noteworthy, but isn't bad, either. The classic anime-style end theme is passible, but the opening and endings are more remarkable visually--a series of "photographs" from the past few decades of space development, showing the good and the bad.

In all, Mighty Space Miners is about half of a cool, traditional-yet-exciting sci-fi story. It has scientifically accurate action, great visuals, an interesting if rushed story, and some creative situations and settings, but the tragic lack of a conclusion to wrap up the cliffhanger is maddening, and depending on your tolerance for that kind of thing might be enough to make the rest of the experience something to avoid. If, on the other hand, you can stand the inconclusive end and enjoy either a fun-but-serious sci-fi thriller or Star Trek-style action, Mighty Space Miners is well worth your time.

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