A Galaxy Next Door

Episodes 1-3

Where most romantic comedies are, at least in part, about the characters slowly coming to realize what we the viewers are more than aware of from their first meeting, A Galaxy Next Door gets that pesky confession over and done with by episode three. Is that a statement about how Goshiki actually feels about Ichiro? Possibly, but I do think we need to take it with a grain of salt because Goshiki is so influenced by her favorite manga and has such limited life experiences outside of reading that she may not fully understand her own sentiments. But that mixes nicely with the “suddenly married because of supernatural stuff” trope that we get in episode one, and the first three episodes of this story as a whole prove it to be a sweet blend of the standards of several romance subgenres.

Goshiki may have a stinger growing out of her backside due to an extraterrestrial being merging with her family line two or three generations ago, but in many ways, her naivete is less a product of that and more of having grown up on a rural island. As the “princess” of the residents, she was kept safe to the point where her mother didn't even want her adult daughter to leave the island to experience life on the mainland, and her behavior really shows that. While she has some attributes of the classic supernatural heroine – and even a dash of Mary Poppins in both the visuals of her umbrella and her astounding knack for manga –she's much more of the gently-reared young miss, and this is tempered by her fervent desire to learn as she goes. Becoming Ichiro's assistant gave her purpose, but his accidental stabbing on her stinger gives her a sense of belonging: if they're engaged by the rules of her culture, that means she belongs, and that solidity offers her a solid base to begin exploring life off-island from.

It definitely helps that virtually everything she and Ichiro do together is adorable. While episode one is primarily interested in establishing the overarching plot, episode two has her beginning to spread her wings with his help. Mostly this “help” is just being with her while she explores –their shopping trip is sweet not because of his awkwardness, but because of her delight in pretty much everything. Watching her try on three almost identical black dresses while he struggles to see the difference between them is pure sugar, and her joy in eventually picking out a blue, white, and grey outfit indicates that she really does want to branch out – but maybe only feels able to when Ichiro offers her a reason to do so. Episode three's attempts to test their stinger-influenced bond also bring cuteness, and not just because little sister Machi is aghast when walks in on a kabe-don. (Though Machi offering up baby brother Fumio's cheeks for squishing takes the cake for all three episodes, as far as I'm concerned.)

The testing is also an important continuation of the stinger-based courtship, and it's impressive how each episode doles out just a little bit more information on the subject. Episode one introduces it, episode two covers the fact that being too far apart is bad for Ichiro's health, and episode three looks into the emotional component and how Goshiki's feelings can affect Ichiro. It's almost deceptively slow – we get new information each week, but it's cushioned by the slice-of-life aspects of the story. That formula won't work for everyone, and I definitely find my attention wandering about once an episode when something drags on just a little too long, but since I feel the exact same way when reading the manga, I feel safe saying that this is at least semi-planned on the part of the manga creator. The goal appears to be to allow the characters' emotions and situations to develop naturally, to show us how Goshiki's isolated childhood and the Kuga family's losses shape their everyday lives without dominating them. That's a risk, but I think it's one that's paying off so far. A good story sometimes needs space to breathe to truly come into its own, and I think that's what we're going to see here.

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A Galaxy Next Door is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.