Gene Starwind is a jack of all trades: bounty hunter,
pilot, ladies man, fighter…with dreams of heading off into space with his own
ship and crew. That dream comes to him
in a massive sucker punch when he and his partner Jim take on an assignment for
a woman who isn’t what she seems. Now on
the run with an outlaw and a mysterious girl in a suitcase, chased by pirates with
mystical abilities, Gene sets off into space to find a special ship…and with it
his destiny. That is if the pirates,
rival outlaws, machine ninjas and a very beautiful but pissed off cat girl
don’t kill him first.
Outlaw Star, one of the shows I throw in with the golden
age of Cartoon Network’s Toonami block.
While it was probably never as successful as Toonami’s big jugernauts
Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing, Outlaw Star was still a fun show, even if it had
to be insanely edited and toned down to fit the sort of kid friendly
block. So how does this show hold up
years later and unedited? As we kick off
Anime Corner 2015, we’re going to get an answer to that and so far, it’s off to
a great start.
The series doesn’t really waste any time jumping into
things. This universe feels like a
universe, ginormous and grand, even if we only visit a couple of places in the
first five episodes. There’s life out
here, hustling, bustling, dangerous and wondrous. Unlike Cowboy Bebop though, this feels more
like a straight sci fi setting rather than a more modern day with technological
advances. The best way to look at the
universe of Outlaw Star, and possibly even the story when everything is in
place, is more akin to Guardians of the Galaxy, some nice cities on worlds and
asteroids while others are more down and dirty and fitting for the lower tier
scum of the universe. Add in a fantastic
score by Koh Otani (Gundam Wing, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz) filled with wonder
and excitement and you’ve got a great setting ready to explore.
Speaking of Guardians, our Star Lord, if you could call
him that, for this series is Gene Starwind.
Tall, ripped, a bit messy albeit cool hairdo and scars all about him,
Gene is the kind of guy girls would gush over.
His confidence is second to none and he stares danger down without much
thought of a negative outcome. Gene
definitely has some internal scars to as we learn a bit about his dark past and
the loss of his father to space but by end of Episode 5 it looks like he may be
starting to put that behind him and look forward. To top it all off, he’s got what still
remains today one of my top weapons in all of Anime, the Caster Gun. Not much has been revealed about this gift
from the Gods but it was stop the Tao Pirates in their tracks when normal bullets
and even missiles don’t count. As such,
it’s ammo is rare which means it shouldn’t be used like a normal pistol, giving
it an edge but also not treated as an always easy way out.
Gene’s supporting cast is pretty cool if not as cool as
he is. Jim and girl of mystery Melfina
add a bit of unexpected cute element to the series. Meanwhile Hilda, the woman who gets Gene into
this mess to begin with, makes a great impression with coldness, beauty and bad
assery. I am kind of curious about
whether or not she and Gene actually got it on during their time together but
that’s a mystery the series will tease about without answering im sure. It is a shame that Hilda bit the dust so
soon. I don’t think killing her off was
probably the best move but im betting it will give Gene some deeper resolve to
deal with his personal torments and finish Hilda’s quest in her stead. We also get another fun character in the form
of Aisha Clan-Clan, a pretty Catrl Catrl (humanoid cat people basically) who’s
after Gene and the treasure he seeks to get back into high standings with her
people. Aisha looks clumsy and arrogant
but has the fight to back up her talk and I’m sure we’ll be seeing her again
soon.
If I did have one nitpick about this opening it’s the
villains. The Tao Pirates chasing Hilda
are so one note it becomes annoying.
Every scene they pop up in is pretty much, “Damn you Hilda. You won’t escape Hilda. TAO SPELL. Damn you Hilda”. Rinse, dry, repeat. It’s so grating in fact that when they are
betrayed by other series villains The MacDougall Brothers, big brother Harry
giving a very menacing first impression, you’re happy they’ve been dealt with
to make way for more dangerous company for Gene to face.
I also have to wonder how the hell Toonami got away with
showing as much of this series as they did.
Outlaw Star boasts a lot of violence, sex and language and even some
nudity to make it the Anime equivalent of Heavy Metal. It had to be censored quite a bit (Gene’s
language nullified, no blood, black bars over Melfina’s naughty bits when she’s
in the central tube of the Outlaw Star).
Even Hilda’s suicide was edited out to make it look like she just fell
to her death rather than take the more defiant never go down without a fight
approach. There’s even an episode down
the line that was cut from the Toonami run entirely and never shown on
television because of the vast amount of FAN SERVICE…but we’ll get to that
later. It’s just boggles me sometimes to
think about.
But I’m not complaining overall. Were it not for Toonami I would never have
heard about this series and gotten into it.
It’s good to be back watching it again.
And I hope through these reviews some people can track it down and find
a classic waiting for a new generation of Anime Otaku to see a great that paved
the way for others to come.
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