Weeb-kun, my literary skills fail to convey the grandeur of the message I must share. One hundred and nineteen years after the release of Katsudō Shashin, anime has evolved. The days of being sent to a fantasy world by irresponsible truck drivers are over. We can now reach the realm of gods! We’ve made it, weeb-kun! Thanks to Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! (Mezameza), the era of space isekai is here.
So, hayaku weeb-kun, forsake the falsity of kyonyuu fantasy elves and embrace the truth of pettanko space elves!
SPOILERS AHEAD. It’s the first episode, so there’s nothing too outlandish.
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But First… A Reborn as a Space Mercenary Synopsis
There’s nothing special about Sato “Hiro” Takahiro. He spent his days toiling away as a “network manager.” Which is a fancy way of saying he was a glorified IT tech. All he did was remove viruses from his company’s computers. Like most men his age, Sato ignored the stultifying tedium of an office-based life by playing video games. In particular, he devoted most of his free time to Stella Online, a space-based shoot-em-up RPG that gives players a large degree of autonomy. (Basically, it’s what No Man’s Sky promised to be).
However, fate’s inexplicable whims soon drastically changed Hiro’s life. After he decided to sleep in, he woke up piloting the Krishna, the OP ship he used in Stella Online. Alas, Sato thinks it’s all a dream. After all, he can’t possibly be fighting space pirates or meeting space nobles! There’s no way he can be gallivanting around with a bratty pettanko space elf! But no matter how he tries to rationalize it, Sato’s been reborn as a space mercenary!
My Type of Isekai
Kashou has to admit his bias. It’s easy for him to become enamored with anime about space. Asteroid in Love, Space Dandy, and Irina the Vampire Cosmonaut are among my favorite anime. But there’s never been a space isekai like Reborn as a Space Mercenary, and now that there is, I’m going to get really attached to it for a wistful reason — Granger Taylor.
Most people aren’t deeply into UFOlogy, so the name Granger Taylor means little to them. But to make a complicated story short — Granger was a Vancouver dude who suffered through addiction and mental health issues. At some point, Granger became convinced that aliens spoke to him. And being a skilled mechanic, he built a UFO in his backyard. Then he left a note to his parents that aliens were taking him to space, and he disappeared. Years later, the Royal Mounted Police found his remains and concluded he (probably) killed himself. There’s nothing more I’d like than for that not to be true. I hope Granger is aboard a spaceship looking at things we can’t even dream of. If he’s out there, life stops being a suffocating slough, and it becomes something wonderful.
Reborn as a Space Mercenary fills that ultra-specific niche. After all, (for the most part) an isekai should promise you a better life. But what’s better about the fantasy worlds filled with magic? I’d still live the same way there that I do here. But voyaging through the cosmos is incomprehensibly adventurous. There are infinite sights and experiences. That’s truly a life where things are different every day.
First Impressions
Somehow, life occulted the Reborn as a Space Mercenary light novel to me. I didn’t know about the franchise until a few days ago, so I have no idea whether it will meet my lofty expectations. Animation-wise, the anime was average. If someone showed Neil deGrasse Tyson Mezameza’s space fights, he’d scoff. But even he’d flash a sly smile at the roof of that O’Neill Cylinder (the Tarmein Prime space colony). Likewise, depicting space as relatively barren was a PEAK production move by Studio A-Cat. Space is so enormous that unless a spaceship is flying through a nebula or star cluster, it’s mostly dark. Anime has a bad habit of showing space like a star assembly line.
But while Reborn as a Space Mercenary gets a point for that, it loses several over introducing a heroine through an assault scene. That trope is tedious in normal, Earth-based anime. But in space it’s outright unimaginative. That scene took place in space. Ryuto-sensei and Studio A-Cat lack imagination. Why not chuck a xenomorph into that scene instead? Hell, it could have been Darth Vader stealing her candy instead. The end would be the same — Hiro goes pew-pew, heroine goes, “kakkoii!”
Friendly reminder — the only time it’s acceptable to distress a heroine is if you’re cosplaying Jabba the Hutt.
And Now… Pettanko Space Elves
Someone once told me that all elves should be flat because they live in forests and having excess cleavage is disadvantageous. As someone who regularly hikes and mostly hikes with girls, I can confirm that statement. But does the same apply for space? Who knows. Most space exploration is merely geopolitical flexing. No one is up there answering important questions like “Does less cleavage benefit long voyages?” Joke aside, Studio A-Cat’s animation is lacking, but their character design is magnificent. I checked out all but two of the anime that aired between September 11 and October 5, and Reborn as a Space Mercenary has the most appealing character designs. And in an anime season filled with appealing waifus, that’s high praise.
And speaking of things worthy of praise, Anna Nagase’s (pettanko elf) voice acting made me guffaw. I’d love to know what the anime’s director told Anna when the VAs were recording. That woman made noises that I thought only a morbidly depressed chihuahua could make. I know that VAs are supposed to have a wide vocal range, but there’s speaking, and then there’s random emotive noises. Anna gave us the latter.
Based solely on first impressions, I’d give Mezameza a 4.5/5.
Reborn as a Space Mercenary Deets
Ryuto-sensei launched Mezametara Saikyō Sōbi to Uchūsen Mochi Datta no de, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei Toshite Jiyou ni Ikitai on Shosetsuka ni Naro in February 2019. While the web novel is currently ongoing, Fujimi Shobo (Kadokawa) acquired the publishing rights and released it as a light novel with illustrations by Tetsuhiro Nabeshima. Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! boasts seventeen novels.
Shinichi Matsui adapted the light novel into a manga. ComicWalker has serialized the manga since its November 2019 debut. Kadokawa has compiled the manga into eleven tankoubon volumes. Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the manga and light novel in English.
Crunchyroll streams Reborn as a Space Mercenary. A new episode drops every Sunday.
© Ryuto, Tetsuhiro Nabeshima / KADOKAWA / project-Krishna
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