Warning: Spoilers for A Galaxy Next Door episode 2An otherwise cute Crunchyroll romance anime called A Galaxy Next Door just introduced a dark twist to the common trope of lovesickness. The series also gives the concept of lover’s guilt an unsettling spin.
Adapted from the manga series by mangaka Gido Amagakure, episode two of A Galaxy Next Door has manga artist Ichiro succumb to a high fever because he is physically too far away from his assistant Shiori, an alien Star Princess he inadvertently got engaged to last episode. Ichiro learns that the fever will subside if he’s in proximity to his betrothed and that physical contact with her will expedite the healing process. Later, he’s transported to a dark clouded area and gets a nosebleed after grabbing Shiori’s arm and dragging her away from what could have been an unpleasant altercation. Shiori informs him that her own physical and emotional trauma will affect him physically. Although Ichiro was protecting her from some overbearing guys, Shiori misinterpreted the situation and saw Ichiro’s actions as being too aggressive, hence why Ichiro’s nose began to bleed.
A Galaxy Next Door’s Couple Literally Need to Be Together
Both of these fictional supernatural instances are symbolic of very real experiences for lovers. Couples, especially newer ones, can get overly dependent on one another to the point where even short spurts of separation can seem physically painful. A Galaxy Next Door is essentially making that emotional pain a literal physical manifestation that always happens to those who are engaged to Star-People. The symbolic nature of the phenomenon is highlighted by the fact that Ichiro is clearly not in love with Shiori, at least not yet, but because he is now bonded with her, he must now experience unpleasantness when she’s away. The fact that getting close to and physically touching Shiori can help alleviate the pain and cure his “lovesickness” is just another supernatural spin to a real problem.
The whole scenario where Ichiro gets a nosebleed for dragging Shiori away from a group of overbearing guys is much more nuanced though. In this instance, Shiori misinterprets Ichiro’s actions as being overly aggressive when he was just protecting her. The fact that Ichiro experiences this physical injury because his actions caused her trauma is a dramatized version of lover’s guilt. Obviously, any person would feel bad for traumatizing their loved one, especially when they were trying to help them. That guilt can feel like physical pain, and A Galaxy Next Door is making that pain literal too.
A Galaxy Next Door is Among Spring’s Most Exciting Romance Anime
Aside from these dark moments, A Galaxy Next Door is more of a cute Crunchyroll drama than anything else. Interestingly, the reason behind the name of the series is not at all metaphorical like the aforementioned interpretations of lovesickness and lover’s guilt. It is shockingly literal. How Ichiro got involuntarily betrothed to Shiori resulted in him actually getting transported into the infinite void of space. There’s literally a collection of an infinite number of galaxies next door to Ichiro since she’s living in his apartment complex and touching her in a certain way can transport him out there among them. A beautiful combination of the literal and figurative are just one of many reasons to watch Crunchyroll’s A Galaxy Next Door.
A Galaxy Next Door is streaming on Crunchyroll.
