A Galaxy Next Door

Episode 9

My chief complaint about A Galaxy Next Door has been that the stakes simply aren't high enough. Well, it might not last, but we finally get some escalation of that in this episode, which sees Goshiki's mom finally making her move. We've known that she wasn't thrilled with her daughter (and heir)'s decision to follow her heart and leave the island, but now we know the lengths she'll go to in order to force her back. It's just Ichiro's bad luck that he provides her with the means to do so.

Goshiki's mother has been making an attempt to reach her daughter for a while now, and said daughter has been attempting one of my favorite failed strategies for dealing with a problem: ignore it and maybe it will go away. Sadly, this has never worked for me, and it doesn't work for Goshiki either, with the result that she finally answers her mother's increasingly persistent phone calls while on a hot springs trip with her mainland family. She asks Ichiro to be her moral support, but his attempt to help falls short: their dual admission that they're dating and Ichiro's attempt to introduce himself results in the queen-mother having words she can twist into ammunition.

And oh, does she twist it. Whatever other skills she has, Goshiki's mother is a veritable champion at turning a simple statement into balloon art. In this case, even though she clearly knows that her daughter and Ichiro are serious, she decided to present their relationship as him attempting to scam or otherwise take advantage of the island's precious princess. While I've certainly felt warm and fuzzy emotions watching this show, they don't compare to the fury her twisted report elicited. In part that's because this series has been so low-stakes; we've been cocooned in the idea that everything's going to work out just fine because the characters are just so darn sweet and earnest. Even the whole potential rival storyline was peacefully shut down, and Ichiro's siblings have been nothing but loving and supportive of his relationship. To suddenly have the vitriol of Mrs. Goshiki thrown at us is jarring, but in a way that works. We've been so comfortable with things up to this point that having them suddenly in danger is effective.

Are they in any real danger? Probably not. Goshiki's mom is clearly far too set in her ways, which may simply amount to her being jealous that her daughter is being afforded choices she never had, but her husband doesn't seem to have the same issue. He's accompanying his wife (and two other random islanders) to ambush their daughter, and with any luck, he'll be able to make her see reason. Her insistence that Goshiki has no life off the island and outside of her heritage is stubbornly short-sighted, something her husband and daughter do appear to be aware of. Traditions aren't easy to change, but this may be a case where they can at least make a start. And if nothing else, seeing how devoted Ichiro is to his siblings and girlfriend, not to mention how cute those siblings are, may wind up being a point or two in their favor.

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A Galaxy Next Door is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.