yeah I think that's a reasonable critique, especially with how Claire (my beloved) totally renounces her ways once she's in prison. I can appreciate though that they have Direct Action Get The Goods. I don't know if you've read the manga but like it's not as good as the anime but a lot of the story is actually quite different so you should definitely give it a shot (Fee and Yuri do direct action and Locksmith almost gets shot like he fucking deserves)

The naming of the Von Braun is 100% the point tbh. Like locksmith orders the test that he knows is risky and explodes fifty of his own workers (some of whom he's been working with for years) and he just shrugs it off. In the manga he almost gets shot by the despondent sister of one of the deceased (the fucker manipulates his way out of it though).

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I think there's also a scene where the anime calls out the name of the Von Braun, and says 'yeah this is the name of the nazi who killed a bunch of people with his rockets.' I could be misremembering though and it might onlllly be in the manga?

I do agree that the women are done dirty, for sure. Tanabe is a lesbian in my heart which is even more tragic. I also think that like Tanabe 'settled down' for hachimaki enough to make me feel kinda uncomfortable, like babe don't turn into like a housewife type please. I do think that they address Hachimaki's toxicity decently though: I think that the point is that he does try to throw everything in him away to get on the Von Braun, which turns him into a walking corpse, and it's only by re-engaging with the other people with his life (and making amends with Tanabe) that he's able to come back to life (and actually do his job)! It's also clear that the main reason he turned himself into a walking corpse is because Locksmith designed the training course to do that to the candidates, which is yet another inditement of his character. I think it's pretty clear that Hachimaki's dad is also an asshole, especially because he tells his wife "yeah I'm coming home for real this time," then hears Locksmith's press conference where Locksmith says "I feel no remorse for the lives of my subordinates that I snuffed out," and then he's like "Well shit I have to get on board that!" I really like the way they indicted entire frontiersman culture of 'progress' in this way by portraying it as the self-centered dreams of a few men: it led me to reexamine some of my own feelings towards space exploration that I never had until that point. I do agree that Lucie is a gold digger which is sad but the scene where she picks up a gun is cool (since yknow I did post about it). I do agree with you that Lucie is done dirty, but I think Edel is treated fine enough for a side character. Fee gets a lot more characterization and backstory in the manga which is disfavored in the anime in favor of introducing other female characters (and introducing Tanabe way sooner), which I think is fine. I also cried when Tanabe ran out of air, that scene was so fucking good.