YMMV / A Place Further than the Universe

• Adorkable: Despite Shirase's initial Aloof Dark-Haired Girl image, she can actually be quite awkward and unsure. She can also get excitable and even goofy when it comes to Antarctica, one of the biggest examples is her reaction to Yuzuki offering her spot on the civilian expedition in Episode 3. The awkwardness hits hardest whenever she tries to participate in Yuzuki's vlogs—despite acting confident most of the time, she's incredibly camera-shy, becoming a stuttering anxious wreck while just rehearsing her lines. Not to mention how she gets when around penguins...
• Award Snub: To state that many fans are outright disappointed that A Place Further Than the Universe didn't get to win the Anime of the Year Award (or any award, in that) during Crunchyroll Anime Awards 2018 is quite a massive understated opinion in itself.
• Awesome Music:
  • Koko kara, Koko kara ("From Here On, From Now On"), the song that plays over every ED credits (except for in Episode 12), can only be described as absolutely wondrous and magical sounding.
  • Haruka Tooku, which is played at times, is guaranteed to fill you with a youthful resolve to embark on a new journey to frontiers unknown. Listening to this while watching the girls finally enjoying their first aurora scenery in the final episode certainly helps the case.
  • One Step is a heart-thumping song that compels you to take the first step to make true of dreams that for others might seem to be impossible to reach.
  • Saigo Made Akiramenai (Never Give Up) is practically the series in a nutshell. While it is initially played for laughs, it is otherwise used in several of the more emotional scenes, including the first half of the infamously heartbreaking emotional climax of the series.
• Base-Breaking Character: At least in some Reddit discussions, there seems to be a slight divide over Megumi after episode 5. Some feel that her actions were inexcusable and that Kimari shouldn't have let her off the hook so quickly, while others can understand where she's coming from and found Kimari's forgiveness of her to be incredibly heartwarming.
• Fan Nickname: Because of the shared similarities between their main characters, Yorimoi is sometimes referred to as "The Keions (or K-Ons) go to Antarctica".
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Hinata's remarkably mature response to Malicious Slander in episode 5 becomes this after episode 11 reveals that she was bullied the same way in the past, and knows how to just deal with and ignore gossip likely as a result of said bullying. Moreover, her policy to "not fight mean with mean" ends up being proven the wrong way to go about it, as Shirase gets across when she refuses to sugarcoat things for the backstabbing "friends" who caused Hinata's bullying to start with.
  • Shirase e-mailing to her mother occasionally about her daily journey to Antarctica becomes a massive amount of tearjerkers of its own, since that her mother was long gone already even before the whole series was started. Which means that by the time Shirase found her mother's laptop and connected it to the internet, all the e-mails Shirase sent out were never even read by Takako.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: This Wendover Productions video, detailing the logistics of living in Antarctica, was released on the same day as Episode 10 of the series, where the protagonists start living in Antarctica proper. As this highlighted comment and the ensuing replies demonstrate, this coincidence did not go unnoticed by some viewers. Some comments on the episode's Reddit discussion also made note of this.
• It Was His Sled: Shirase's mother being Dead All Along. Several viewers expressed doubt about whether or not this was the case in discussions of earlier episodes, but most predicted it, given that it was unlikely anyone could survive that long in the Antarctic wilderness, even before it was explicitly spelled out in Episode 11. But this is not necessarily a bad thing, as the question of how would Shirase would deal with her mother's death was the more relevant topic that kept the audience involved.
• Memetic Mutation
  • "In your face!". Said (as promised) by Shirase after setting foot in Antarctica at the end of episode 9. With the other girls joining in. Then the ship's crew. Then most of the Crunchyroll comment section.
  • ね, the "one little word" exchanged between Kimari and Yuzuki in episode 10.
  • The anime's popularity has led to some fans sticking references to its name in the comments section of some YouTube videos about Antarctica uploaded after the series' conclusion.
• Narm Charm: Shirase, then the other girls, then everyone on board the ship engaging in a collective "screw you!" shout is totally cheesy. That said, it's also extremely satisfying for anyone who has ever been looked down on, mocked, or bullied for having "unrealistic dreams". Even the post-episode reaction comments on sites like Crunchyroll and 4chan were fans joining in with everyone!
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The scary music that plays during episode 4 (when Kimari is confronted by her mom about her plans) and Episode 6 (when Shirase realizes that she had Hinata's passport in her purse all along) is more than a little reminiscent of the iconic theme of Jaws.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: It has been generally said that the running scene from Episode 2 was a massive achievement of storytelling and animation development as it perfectly encapsulates the entire series' atmosphere and youthful adventure feel.
• The Woobie:
  • It's hard not to empathize with Yuzuki's Refusal of the Call to take part in the Antarctic expedition after she reveals that she had a Friendless Background due to constantly working as a celebrity. She tells the girls that she wants to become an Ordinary High-School Student in high school, befriending girls her age and hanging out with them at the mall and karaoke bars. Kimari immediately hugs her tightly, understanding the suffering she's gone through.
  • Shirase certainly counts as well, considering the fact that she lost her mother and everyone at her school seems to outright bully and mock her at worst, or consider her a weirdo and keep their distance at best.
  • Basically the original crew from the first expedition three years prior. They've all suffered some hardships, and even with this new trip, are severely limited in terms of budget and supplies. Nevertheless, several of the women talk about wanting to go no matter what. It's very likely they want to find Shirase's mother, who is presumed dead and give her a proper burial. The girls even suspect that something was being hidden from them when they asked about the feasibility of the trip.
    • Even among the expedition members, Gin has this especially bad, as Episode 9 drops several hints that Takako was more than just a friend and coworker to her. And not only was she the one who was forced to call off the search for Takako, but it's also revealed that Gin heard what was likely Takako's dying words over the radio. In her frustration, she snapped off the headrest in the snowcat with her bare hands!

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