Space Brothers

2012 • TMDB 8.1 • 2 seasons • 99 episodes • Animation, Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Nippon TV

Overview

Space Brothers opens with a childhood promise made under a summer sky: brothers Mutta and Hibito Nanba swear that one day they will both become astronauts. Years later, the promise has split in two. Hibito is living the dream as the first Japanese astronaut headed for the Moon, while the older Mutta has just been fired from his job and is drifting through his thirties with no direction left. When Hibito reminds him of the vow they made as boys, Mutta decides to start over and aim for space himself. What follows is a long, warm and often funny journey through JAXA’s brutal astronaut selection exams, where Mutta’s stubborn optimism, quick thinking and refusal to give up on his teammates carry him further than raw talent alone. Spanning nearly a hundred episodes, the series balances the technical detail of space training with small human moments — family, friendship, rivalry and the quiet courage it takes to chase a dream long after everyone else has stopped believing in it.

Main Cast

• Hiroaki Hirata as Mutta Nanba
• KENN as Hibito Nanba
• Masayuki Katou as Kenji Makabe
• Miyuki Sawashiro as Serika Itou / Mutta Nanba as a Boy
• Masako Ikeda as Sharon Kaneko
• Yuko Sanpei as Hibito Nanba as a Boy
• Shô Ryûzanji as Tadashi Hoshika
• Ryou Naitou as Yasushi Furuya
• Shintaro Asanuma as Yamato Mizoguchi

Seasons Snapshot

• Season 1 — 51 episodes, premiered March 31, 2012. Mutta enters JAXA’s astronaut selection and fights his way toward becoming a candidate.
• Season 2 — 48 episodes, premiered April 6, 2013. Mutta’s training continues while Hibito’s lunar mission takes center stage, ending with the finale “Life Changes, Promises Don’t” on March 22, 2014.

TMDB also lists a 3-episode Specials collection, not counted in the 99-episode total.

Why Watch Space Brothers?

• A grounded, grown-up take on the space dream — no superpowers, just exams, training and perseverance.
• Mutta is one of anime’s most relatable heroes: a thirty-something underdog starting over from scratch.
• The brotherly bond between Mutta and Hibito anchors every triumph and setback.
• Real astronaut detail, from JAXA selection tests to life aboard the ISS.
• Nearly 100 episodes of slow-burn, feel-good storytelling that earns its emotional payoffs.

Trailer

No official trailer available. TMDB lists no videos for this series, and no official-channel trailer surfaced, so we have not embedded a video here.

Where to Watch

As checked on JustWatch US on October 30, 2026: stream on Plex (2 seasons), Crunchyroll (1 season), Crunchyroll Amazon Channel (1 season) and Tubi TV (1 season). The series is also available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon. Note that JustWatch splits the series differently between providers — Plex lists 2 seasons, while the others list 1.