Mighty Space Miners Review

story 8/10

The tale of Mighty Space Miners revolves around exactly what you'd think it would: space miners. In the future, these folks live up in space on an asteroid, divert comets and meteors and then mine them for precious metals and such. They then send the spoils to Earth, and continue to work. In addition, scientists are studying the effects being born in space can have on children. Our protagonist, Ushiwaka Nanbu, is the only surviving child in space, still. He's 12 years old.

The crew are getting ready to capture Halley's comet, when a military nuclear missile threatens the base, and ultimately ends up hitting it. The base is now on track to collide with Earth, and thus the story begins. Mighty Space Miners is two episodes long, and is ultimately a thriller and suspenseful sci fi OVA. We follow Ushiwaka as he makes his way back to the destroyed base (he was out training when the accident occured), see the secret things he finds in the base, and watch the entire crew struggle to try to survive, and figure out how they will escape the base before it is burned up in the atmosphere. Japan and the company have mysteriously abandoned them, so things definitely look grim.

The plot of Mighty Space Miners was definitely interesting, and fairly unique compared to most other things I've seen. It was engaging, interesting, and exciting. There was only one problem: it has no ending. That's right folks, it joins the list of other good-yet-not-ended titles such as A Wind Named Amnesia, Grey: Digital Target, or Odin. Unfortunately for the viewers, it comes as even more of a shock since the story actually is pretty damn good, making you primed and ready to throw something at the TV screen.

Besides that fairly major point, though, Mighty Space Miners definitely succeeded in capturing my interest and entertaining me. Sci Fi is a favorite of mine, and this was definitely a good story in that realm.

animation 7/10

Visually, Mighty Space Miners is old, but it still was done well. Explosions and fire were particularly well done compared to other things I've seen in that time period, and the actual sci fi type structures (the base on the asteroid, the secret "thing" inside) were very detailed and interesting. Colors were dark, yet vibrant. The character designs weren't totally impressive, with Ushiwaka looking almost Tezuka-ish as far as HUGE eyes and swoopy hair. He was a bit too lanky for me, and also ran very... interestingly (sideways, almost). Everyone else fit the look of that time period of anime, and it worked well.

sound 6/10

The music was very 80s synth heavy, which might sound normal for things from this time period. However, it was a little TOO overboard for my tastes, and ended up sounding a bit cheesy at times. I do give positive points for the enthusiasm of it, though, and it really helped out with the suspense and thriller type scenes. Had it been a tad less cheesy I think I would have rated higher than a 6. Voice acting was just fine for everyone. There was one small thing I didn't enjoy, and that's the stupid sound effects used when Ushiwaka was moving around. When he'd jump, there would be a cartoon-like bouncing sound that you'd hear in something American, in Saturday morning cartoons. Occasionally there would be another silly noise when he did something else, too. This was unnecessary and I felt like it took away from the serious tone of the OVA.

characters 6/10

Only one character was really developed, and that was Ushiwaka. And I wouldn't even say he was developed that much... more like, we saw how determined he was to pass his training, and how much of a resolve he had to stay alive and help others on the base. He was a go-getter and absolutely would not tolerate defeat, which is a fairly big feat for a twelve year old. There were a few other characters that we saw occasionally such as his rival, his mother, and the man who runs the base, but they weren't really of consequence and we don't know much about them. If this OVA would have continued I'm sure more character development was planned, but since it clocks in at only two episodes, it was cut short for obvious reasons.

overall 7.5/10

Mighty Space Miners ended up being more entertaining than I thought. The sci fi story is fantastic, the animation is great for its time, the music is decent (though a bit overdone) and the characters, or at least Ushiwaka, was well done. If you are looking for a great sci fi story and don't mind the fact that it doesn't end and leaves you on a cliffhanger, why not check this one out? It impressed me, and it probably will impress you too :)