Astra Lost in Space


Astra Lost in Space is a Japanese manga series by Kenta Shinohara. It was serialized online between May 2016 and December 2017 via Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ website/app. It was collected in five tankōbon volumes. The manga is published in English by Viz Media. An anime television series adaptation by Lerche aired from July 3 to September 18, 2019.

Plot

In 2063, space travel has become possible and commercially viable; a group of students from Caird High School departs to the nearby planet of McPa for their Planetary Camp. Soon after the group arrives on the planet, the nine children encounter a mysterious and unforeseen intelligent sphere of light; it attacks them, transporting them into the distant depths of space. Floating in orbit around an unknown planet, they discover an old abandoned spacecraft nearby. Finding it in working order, they resolve to use the ship to return home. To do so, they must cross the 5,012-light-year gulf of space separating them from home by visiting alien planets harboring life to replenish and manage their limited resources.
The long and dangerous journey home aboard their vessel, which they name Astra, brings with it new character revelations, strengthening the bonds they share, and the eventual realization that the stakes of their journey are far higher than any of them could ever have realized.

Characters

;Kanata Hoshijima
;Aries Spring
;Zack Walker
;Quitterie Raffaëlli
;Funicia Raffaëlli
;Luca Esposito
;Ulgar Zweig
;Yun-Hua Lu
;Charce Lacroix
;Paulina Levinskaya

Media

Manga

The manga began in May 2016, on the digital magazine app and website Shonen Jump+ from Shueisha until December 2017 when it ended with 5 volumes released on the market.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced on February 5, 2019. The series is animated by Lerche and directed by Masaomi Andō, with Norimitsu Kaihō handling series composition, and Keiko Kurosawa designing the characters. Masaru Yokoyama and Nobuaki Nobusawa are composing the series' music. It aired from July 3 to September 18, 2019 on AT-X, Tokyo MX, TVA, KBS, SUN, and BS11. The first and last episodes aired as one-hour specials. Nonoc performed the series' opening theme song "star*frost", while the ending theme, "Glow at the Velocity of Light", was performed by Riko Azuna. Funimation has licensed the series in North America and the British Isles, and is streaming the series in both subtitled and dubbed formats.

Reception

The manga was ranked third in the 2019 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook and won the twelfth Manga Taishō Awards.