Introduction
In the mid-21st century, mankind has begun the exploration of space, and one company, Planet Catcher Corporation, has pioneered capturing asteroids and comets to mine the resources within them for use on Earth. On one such asteroid, Tortatis, lives 12-year-old Nanbu Ushiwaka - the only child ever to be born in space and survive.
But survival itself is no longer guaranteed - a military satellite triggers a disaster during a operation to capture Halley's Comet, and Ushiwaka and his fellow colonists must find a way to survive when both their country and their company abandon them. Can they escape before the nuclear reactor on the asteroid melts down? Or are they doomed to die as they lived, among the stars?
(Source: AniDB)
Audience reviews
4 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
SgtSalamander
Mighty Space Miners is a gorgeous little mid-90s OVA, held back in a few areas, but most of all by the fact that, somewhat bafflingly, it languishes as an unfinished story to this day. It obviously wasn't a low-budget project, and the amount of effort which went into some of these scenes is commendable, so why, then, was it cancelled after 2 episodes, story left hanging essentially in the very middle? This brings me to the anime's most problematic aspect, the story. While the story concept itself is engaging, providing a good base from which to tell a strong story, it is in this area that the anime loses the most points. The pacing is rushed, motivations aren't immediately clear, characters are barely introduced, and of course it just sort of ends with no clear conclusion, resolution, or e…
Read at the sourcewungy
This is one of my absolute favorite OVA's. If you're looking for a way to spend an hour don't pass this up!
The art is detailed, and nicely animated. I'm especially impressed with the realism to the machinery! The opening theme is so groovy! Not much of a chance is given for the characters to develop, but Ushiwaka is a determined, likeable kid with a can-do attitude. Super cute!!
The story and characters are so well written, and so much backstory is alluded to, but not in a way that overwhelms the viewer. Straightforward, yet the opposite of boring, and definitely an intriguing premise. I really really really want more! So much to think about!
You don't see much hard science fiction in anime. It's really an awful shame Mighty Space Miners never got very far! I can hardly even find any in…
Read at the sourceJiyuuryuudou
Excellently animated, absolutely love the art style, visual vibe and detail! Also believable with lots of realism and a great build-up for a masterpiece "space colony scifi-series", with a deep and thought provoking plot. A real shame that it was canceled (don't know the details) and thereby left unfinished, which lowers the score just a bit, storywise. Still managed to deliver I guess?
For some reason I've gotten this spark for space related animes and this one was well worth the trip, despite cutting so very short. Memorable and definitely worth recommending if there's any spark of interest for space related scifi (and you manage to find this gem) with depth and believability somewhere in there.
Read at the sourceColonelfancy
Mighty Space Miners is a fun sci-fi space adventure that does just enough right to stay pretty entertaining from start to finish and laid simple ground work for other titles like Planetes or Stellvia. In some ways, it really reminds me of one of my favorite video games, Colony Wars, wherein some of the introductory missions involve cleaning space debris and various missions on training and refueling space crafts.
There isn't a lot of character development, but it's not too hard to look into what personalities are played. Nanbu, the protagonist, wants to ace his tests to be a space miner like his parents, though the impending disaster puts lives in jeopardy and will be Nanbu's ultimate test. He's aided by his long time friend Fuko, and there's nothing wrong with her, but there's little else…
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