After a pretty depressing post last week, I’m getting back to some good vibes with today’s review. As I said on the Fourth Of July, I would be taking a look at the Sci-Fi classic Outlaw Star. A late 90s classic in Japan, American audiences would get a taste of it in the very early 2000s on the anime block that shaped many of our tastes, Toonami. I actually wouldn’t watch this series until well into the summer of 2013, but none the less that I loved the hell out of it all the same. So, find yourself a dependable crew, get your Caster Gun loaded, and take a look at my review for Outlaw Star. Let’s begin!
Story/Setup
From the Funimation re-release box:
“From the studio behind Cowboy Bebop comes a classic space western that brings all the adventure, gun blazing action, and seriously hilarious hijinks.
Gene Starwind is a jack of all trades responsible for odd jobs and bounty hunting with his partner, Jim Hawking, on a rundown planet. The work is simple and relatively uneventful until a bodyguard job goes sideways, and they get wrapped up in a fight against space pirates! Between gunshots, naked women in suitcases, and much more, Gene has to face his worst fear—going into space.
The vastness of space is the least of Gene's worries when he winds up as the owner of the Outlaw Star—a sophisticated space ship wanted by the Kei Pirates and undesirables everywhere. Luckily for him, he's got a crew made up of a boy genius, an android who seems more human than not, a beautiful but deadly assassin, and a feline warrior from the Ktarl Ktarl Empire! A ragtag team for sure, but this group will work together to get to the sought after Galactic Leyline and uncover the mysteries of the universe. If they survive, that is.”
And that’s pretty much it. Compared to the other show I’ll be looking at this month, Outlaw Star has a simple story behind it. It’s not until the final 3 episodes that things take a turn for the surreal, and actually disrupts the flow of everything else before it. Outside of that, this series is nothing more than a really fun space adventure that’s fairly lighthearted (Apart from a couple serious moments). Nothing gets truly soul-crushing, but it’s not diabetes-inducingly sweet & colorful also. This is definitely a Sci-Fi series if you want something easier to watch.
Animation
Despite being a late 90s series (It was around this time that computer-assisted animation began to crop up), everything here looks like it was done purely by human hands. Outlaw Star, despite it’s age, still manages to look fantastic to this day. Great usage of color, detailed backgrounds & settings, and the movement of characters & other objects still feels as slick as it did when it original came out back in 98. There are moments where it seems like things may have not been drawn or animated as strongly as everything else, but the overall appearance of the entire show is a feast for the eyes.
Voice Acting
Outlaw Star has pretty great voice acting behind it’s cast. Though some of the secondary characters are merely good (Nobody is truly terrible in this show), everybody puts in a lot of work when it came to their respective role. Bob Buchholz embodies the tough yet mildly vulnerable Gene Starwind, Brianne Siddall was perfect as the lovable & plucky Jim, Emilie Brown brought a great deal of sweetness & innocence to Melfina, Lenore Zann commanded the goofy yet fierce Aisha Clan-Clan, and Wendee Lee was perfect as the stoic yet sensual Twilight Suzuka. Nobody ever slips up during the 26-episode run, and everything sounds great overall!
Characters
The characters of Outlaw Star are simultaneously it’s biggest strength.....and it’s biggest weakness. On the one hand, this is a great cast. Good guys, bad guys, primary characters, and secondary characters. The characters that are likable are really likable, and the ones you’re supposed to hate you really hate. Everybody has a distinct personalty, and like I said above the voice acting adds quite a bit of life to them. The problem with the cast is that.....they’re not the deepest. If anything, the characters don’t really evolve over the entirety of the show’s run, outside of some small upgrades to their personality. There is one time a few episodes in where Gene has a moment of crisis, but it seems to be quickly swept under the rug by the time that episode is done. If there’s one good thing I can say about this, it would be that secondary characters don’t suffer from this.
Availability & Pricing
This is one of the weirder aspects of Outlaw Star, for there are 2 editions of this out there. The original Bandai Entertainment version, and the Funimation re-release from a few years ago. The Bandai version has been out of print for quite some time, as new copies on Amazon go for a whopping 139 dollars ($29.99 used), but the re-release goes for the considerably more humble $24.99 across both new & used copies. Unless you’re a collector, it’s obvious which one you should get.
Overall Impression & Rating
Outlaw Star.....is just a fun time. This is the kind of anime you watch if you’ve had a rough day, and you want to see a mostly lighthearted series about good guys on a fantastical journey through space. You don’t have to worry about real world problems, heavy grey morality, or characters that you don’t really care for because they’re such jerks. There may be a scratch on the paintjob of this show, but it doesn’t distract from the sheer awesomeness of the whole package. You definitely don’t want to pass this series if it ever crosses your path!
Outlaw Star gets a 9 out of 10.
So that was my review for the iconic Outlaw Star. It was a hit back in the late 90s/early 2000s, and it’s still a hit today. Well, I got another classic 90s anime to review towards the end of July, but beforehand I got a review of a convention that you all know of quite well. See you soon!
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