Astro Note Ep. 4 is really quite an interesting twist in the anime. Mostly because much of it turns into a mystery-focused ghost story. A ghost story in which the “ghost” turns out to be quite the skillful gourmand to boot.

Astro Note Ep. 4: Details

Astro Note NA key visual.
The dog is a big part of this episode too, in all the right ways.

Astro Note Ep. 4 is the fourth episode (you can read reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, and Ep. 3 here) of this first and probably only(?) season of this anime series. Said anime is not the anime adaptation of any manga, funnily enough. This anime is its own original work created by Shochiku (Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll) and studio Telecom Animation Film (Gargoyles (Hunter’s Moon Part 2, credited as TAF), Tower of God, Shenmue the Animation).

Alas, just like in the previous episodes, whoever is behind Astro Note Ep. 4 specifically is unknown at this time. However, we do still know that Shinji Takamatsu is the chief director of the anime as a whole, with Haruki Kasugamori as a co-director. Kimiko Ueno is the writer for the anime. Kōhei Munemoto composed the music for the same.

Speaking of which, the opening theme music for Astro Note as a whole is “Hohoemi Note” (ホホエミノオト, “Smile Note”) by Ai Furihata. Meanwhile, “Kokoro no Kagi” (ココロのカギ, “Key to the Heart”) by Maaya Uchida and Soma Saito (the Japanese voice actress and actor of Mira and Takumi respectively) is the ending theme music.

Voice Cast

Astro Note Ep. 4 features the voices of Soma Saito as Takumi Miyasaki and Maaya Uchida as Mira Gotokuji. Other notable voice roles in this episode include Rie Kugimiya as Ren Wakabayashi, Tomokazu Sugita as Tomihiro Wakabayashi, Shin-ichiro Miki as Shokichi Yamashita, Ai Furihata as Teruko Matsubara, Junichi Suwabe as Naosuke, Jun Fukuyama as Shoin Ginger, and Yui Ogura as Aoi Uemachi.

When and Where to Watch

Astro Note Ep. 4 made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on April 26, 2024. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll. Actually, you can watch this anime period only on Crunchyroll, due to the anime being an exclusive there.

Astro Note Ep. 4: Synopsis

Naosuke here is also the star of this episode…sort of.

Alas, Astro Note is still an ongoing anime series. In fact, Ep. 4 only just premiered today as of this writing. Thus, you will all get the official synopsis from Crunchyroll instead of a spoiler-filled plot summary. You can check that out below:

Takumi hatches a plan to catch the breakfast thief, only to fish up more than he bargained for!

Astro Note Ep. 4: The Good

Astro Note Ep. 4 screenshot showing Tomihiro Wakabayashi playing ghost.
The horror comedy of this episode is very high indeed.

Honestly, Astro Note Ep. 4 seems to be continuing the tradition from the previous three episodes of having its story be the best part about it. Especially since this episode marks the anime’s first (and likely only) foray into horror-comedy. I’m a big fan of horror being mixed with comedy, like in Warm Bodies, Zombieland, and Shaun of the Dead. It’s that mix of horror tension mixed with the ridiculousness of comedy that gets me, even if there’s little in the way of real horror in this episode. It’s definitely more on the comedic side than it is horror, but even then, you can still see the horror influences. The Ring franchise being the most notable one in this case. Seriously, the Sadako references are strong with this episode.

Speaking of, the character interactions in this episode is the other great thing about the story. Not least of which is because another side to the love triangle between Takumi and Mira has just shown up. That itself is a spoiler though. All I’ll say on the matter is that it’s definitely turning into a classic love story with all these love rivals showing up, just mixed with quite a bit of comedy in the bargain.

Lastly, I do want to give a shoutout to the animation. Mostly because Telecom Animation Film keeps doing a pretty good job with it. That combination of stylized art style, almost reminiscent of a ’90s anime series, combined with the abrupt and extreme changes in facial expressions is what sold me on this anime series.

Astro Note Ep. 4: The Bad

Astro Note Ep. 4 screenshot showing Naosuke reading a horror novel and getting very wrong ideas from it.
Alas, even the alien bodyguard isn’t immune to ghost stories.

However, despite my praises for Astro Note Ep. 4, I do have a complaint about it. The quality of the animation of some of the food seemed to have dropped just a bit for this episode. Not for all the food, and the quality is only slightly lower. They weren’t full-on blobs, but you could tell that there’s still slight but noticeable drop in animation quality. For an anime series in which the focus is on food, having even a slight drop in quality is something you notice. Let’s hope that this doesn’t become a trend in future episodes.

Keep Reading:

Astro Note Ep. 3: Bento Boxed Lunch Hijinks [Review]