The five astronauts in training might have the same goal but their personalities are pretty much different from one another.  Asumi (Nanami Sakuraba) really wants to be an astronaut but she’s being held down because of her dad’s involvement with the explosion of the first Japanese rocket.  Running is her advantage over the other candidates.  I don’t know how that helps in becoming an astronaut.

Shu (Yuichi Nakamura) is the leading candidate to be Japan’s first astronaut in space.  His appearance doesn’t show how smart he is but he gets the highest scores in class.  He is self-supporting and works after school.  Everything was going well for him and Asumi even expected him to be the first in space.

Then there’s Marika (Rika Adachi), who is the second when it comes to test scores among the batch.  She is the daughter of a Diet member. Her snobbish attitude turned me off at the beginning but as the series progressed, her aloofness grows into you and you start to cheer for her as well.

Among the aspiring astronauts, Kei (Yuko Takayama) is the most laid back.  She didn’t like Asumi and Marika at first because she thought that the two used their connections to get into the astronaut school.  But as soon as they proved her wrong, she apologizes to Asumi and they became friends.

Lastly, there’s Fuchi (Shunsuke Daito).  He and Asumi go way back.  Actually Asumi is the reason why he’s in astronaut school.  He doesn’t want to be an astronaut; he just wants to be with her.  But he hasn’t told her yet.  Their friendship will be tested when a new guy gets in between them.

A friend will kill me if I wouldn’t mention Osamu Mukai in this one.  He plays Haruki, a senior in school and Asumi’s love interest.  Although his role is brief in this short series, he plays a vital part in the story.  Sometimes astronauts need a little adversity to succeed.

The series is somewhat predictable except for Shu’s death.  Just as Shu was chosen to be sent to NASA for additional training, he died.  Asumi went on to NASA as his replacement.  Her dad and Sano patched things up and started a new rocket company.

Futatsu no Spica is a short drama with only 7 episodes but it was worth watching it.  Be sure to check out the end credits.  The song is performed by Orange Range and it shows clips from memorable space exploration videos.