Have I got a special treat for you this week. A real classic. Most American anime fans know of Outlaw Star as one of the shows that helped bring about what some fondly call Toonami's golden age on Cartoon Network, when the network was brave enough to bring out an explosion of fresh, new, entertaining and sometimes edgy programming such as Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon, and of course, Dragon Ball. It may have been shorter than some of the others people still talk about, but it's no less memorable. So strap yourselves in and prepare for liftoff.
Outlaw Star was based on a Manga of the same name that was penned by Takehiko Ito starting in 1997. It was popular enough that Sunrise took it up as a 26 episode series in 1998 and it eventually gained notoriety in the United States as one of the series that made the Toonami bloc the erstwhile home of anime programming on cable TV. I even still remember some of the commercials they did for Toonami that for a while still had clips from the show even though they had cancelled its run at the time I started being seriously interested in the medium. But I remember just watching the commercials and wishing I could find this show because I was really curious about the strange girl in the blue light who was asking all the questions. "Why was I made? Who made me? And what did they make me for?"
The story starts off with the two main characters, Gene Starwind a hardened mercenary with a past and his intelligent kid sidekick Jim Hawking as they get a job from this mysterious lady who wants them to purchase some parts for her and provide her some protection while she's in their city. However, it turns out that her name's Hilda and she's actually an outlaw on the run from some pirates (there is a difference in this universe) because she stole something from them. At first the guys are reluctant to help, but then they learn what the pirates are after. In a case by her ship there is a girl frozen in cold sleep. Upon waking up it turns out that her name is Melfina, a bio-android who is intimately connected with a ship that Hilda hid on an asteroid near a star. Gene and the others are forced to come with Hilda when it becomes no longer safe on their planet of Sentinel, as she determines to go back and activate the ship. The pirates follow them and in the course of a space battle, Hilda gets pulled into the star along with the pirates, leaving the main cast alone with the brand new state-of-the-art ship which Gene decides to name the Outlaw Star. They are eventually joined by the space samurai assassin Twilight Suzuka, and Aisha Clan-Clan a member of the Ctarl-Ctarl alien race (she's basically a cat-girl) as they search out answers to the mystery of Melfina and the Outlaw Star's origins, while trying to stay financially afloat. This is not the least of their problems either. They also have to deal with pirates, other Outlaws, soldiers, other assassins, and then there is the elusive search for the Galactic Leyline. All of this doesn't come at you at once however, so there is a little bit of time to digest the important parts while still leaving enough unexplained to keep you wanting more and glorying in the way the key characters develop over time.
Among the things that make the show interesting, is the level of detail within the universe that the characters inhabit. It's a big galaxy out there, with planets and stars and all sorts of space stations and stop-offs to be found, not to mention interesting races. Earth, the home of the Terrans (read as "humans") seems like its a long way away from the action, though it does exist, but there are also two or three other alien races running around, such as the bird-like Silgrians, and of course, the previously mentioned cat-like Ctarl Ctarl. Often a narrator at the beginning of the episodes will helpfully offer a little information about the universe or the plot so that the rest of the story doesn't have to deal with explaining it. While this may seem a little distracting, most of the info is quite informative and relevant to what's going on. Such as in the episode where Gene poses as a prisoner at this penal colony on a planet with 3 times Earth's gravity. From the beginning, you know that no prisoner has ever escaped, and so you know Gene's got his work cut out for him from the moment the doors to the space elevator open. The universe looks even better thanks to the gritty look of many of the backgrounds which, much like the appearance of many space ships in live films such as Star Wars, gave off the impression that these locations were lived in. There also appears to be a decent amount of thought put into the history of this universe, at least the human portion of it as we consider what cultures became dominant over time. (There's no small amount of Chinese influence to be felt here). Even so, there is still a significant portion of the universe out there that is unknown, which can be seen in the development of the locations they encounter that are connected to the Galactic Leyline. The level of technology that the characters have access to is also pretty interesting, though I will be first to admit it's a little odd that Melfina has to interface with the ship in the nude to provide it with the necessary system data. I dunno, maybe clothes interfere with the connection? (But then again who am I to argue with the guys in the audience?) In all fairness, it does make for a helpful plot twist that the interface tube in which she does her thing could also be used as a portable medical apparatus, such as when Gene is poisoned in episode 8 although it does leave me to wonder how common such interface tubes are. And do they also regularly serve that secondary purpose? The tube on the McDougall Brothers' ship seems to do that too, but at the same time, it may be a fluke spawning from them having access to the same scientist that built the Outlaw Star. It's an interesting question for another time, I guess.
I especially liked this show for the development that's devoted to the main characters. Rather than having the viewer looking everywhere at once, the writer zeroed in on them and worked really hard to put together the main cast in such away that you could easily find them believable. Like Gene, who often tries to put up the image of a hardened tough guy with a lecherous streak but really is quite vulnerable and sensitive in many ways. This is often demonstrated by his interactions with Melfina whom he never seems capable of raising his voice with, and they almost never fight. He also doesn't like space travel much at first and is really squeamish about it in the beginning. Jim on the other hand is a child prodigy who is mature beyond his years (a fun contrast to Gene that leaves them constantly at each other's throats in spite of their partnership), but even so, he is still in the throws of coming of age and you never forget that he is still very young, in fact in some episodes, this is emphasized very poignantly. Such as in episode 20 where he meets a girl in a park on a space station and then sets up a meeting with her later, not realizing she's a Kei pirate he's about to take part in killing. Melfina is also a fascinating character because once you understand what it means to be a bio-android in this universe, and that she really is more like a human than most will admit, it's easy to empathize with her sense of confusion and loss as she's trying to figure out her origins, of which she has no memory at all. Aisha and Suzuka also have their secrets and their quirks. Aisha is really short tempered but also very hard-working, and while Suzuka seems initially to be a very cold and calculating as befitting of a samurai assassin, the rest of the group seems to grow on her a little. Even Gilliam, the ship's computer is entertaining to listen to, as Gene and Jim will often talk back to him, much as I sometimes talk back to my Garmin when it tells me it's recalculating because I took a wrong turn, except that Gilliam definitely has a much higher level of awareness than any GPS..
Perhaps my favorite character so far in this series however, didn't even survive to the end. I generally try to get hold of subtitles, but for this series I found the dub from Bandai's release first, and that was perfectly okay with me once I discovered that Mary McGlynn, (known for doing the voice of Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell) does Hilda's voice and boy does she give weight to this character. This is important, since Hilda dies early in the series and the writer obviously wanted us to care about her enough before that happened to really feel it when she died. Not only is she a strong character in her own right, with her own values and views on life, but she also served as a guide for the other main characters and a support to provide them with the know-how and psychological stamina to survive long after she left. Because of this, you feel her influence as well as her absence long after she dies at the star where she hid the ship and that is the mark of good writing in my book.
The adversaries they face are also pretty interesting. Like the McDougall brothers, one of whom has a crush on Melfina and is a few bricks shy of a full load though he does manage to redeem himself somewhat in the end. Then there are the Kei pirates, who were initially chasing Hilda because she had stolen the ship from them. Many of them specialize in a kind of chi magic called Tao that may seem a little out of place in a world where hard science seems to reign supreme, but these enemies are no less deadly for their weird chant. I don't think I'll ever get that creepy thing out of my head. "Pagua sanfa pagua sanfa pagua sanfa..." (*Shivers* Why won't it stop?!) In all serious the Kei pirates are a very real threat, so real that Gene decides early on to leave their territory for a while to hide out and gather resources. Even then, they are doggedly pursued by the pirates right up until the end when they reach the Leyline and figure out what it is.
Even the filler episodes are pretty entertaining and most of them fit pretty well, as Gene and Jim go through the rigors of searching for more money, even though they include many of the tropes for which anime filler is famous (or infamous depending on how you see it), such as the male lead being dressed up as a girl, and of course, the hot-spring episode. (A word of warning, guys: You may want to hide the kids before you watch that episode as Cartoon Network found it too sexually explicit for their usual viewing audience and decided not to air it.) However, I think my favorite happened to be the episode about the hypno-cactus that was subliminally telling people to buy ice-cream (yeah, pretty dumb, but funny just the same). If anything was worthy of a demotivator, that would be one. "HYPNOCACTUS: Fear me, lower life forms."
Even some of the problems add to the entertainment to a degree. Like for instance, when they're transitioning between scenes, the dissolve they use is that of a gunshot sound accompanied by a bullet hole and a flash. When this happens, I find myself tempted to make dumb jokes, such as: *Bang* "Oh god! They killed Jim!" Not to mention, some of the space combat made me want to laugh. When Gene activates the ship's combat mode and his heads-up display screen pops up, you get this brief representation of where the ship is supposed to be in relation to its surroundings, but I can't help but look at it and think (RPG fan that I am) "Hey, it's a battle map! Where's my game controller so I can set up the attack?" Once the combat actually ensues we find ourselves treated to the Outlaw Star coming out with grappling arms that look more like robotic hands, and sometimes they even hold guns. When would that ever be practical? I mean, someone could just shoot your arms off and then you're defenseless! And what about the guns themselves, couldn't you just carry more ammo and use your missiles more? That'd make more sense, I'd think. Instead of potentially losing your weapons because some jerk ripped them off your robotic arms. Even so, the only thing I found truly annoying about the series was Aisha Clan Clan's voice in the English dub. Her character was probably supposed to be a bit of a pain to begin with, but the voice actor makes her sound like she's losing her voice in places, and it's like listening to nails on a chalk board.
One of the best things this anime accomplishes that many others sadly fail to, is providing a satisfying conclusion. This series has a final endgame that ties up most of the loose ends for our heroes but leaves just enough leeway to wonder what might happen next. The Galactic Leyline is found, and it turns out Melfina is also the key to opening the door. (Apparently it's a distant relative of the Hijutsu from Nabari no Ou in that it uses some ancient super-technology to give you what you want, without the risk of melting your brain). Although I don't want to spoil the whole ending for you as it's definitely worth a watch.The whole series is a nice package tied up even more nicely by the catchy theme-song they have at the beginning. I've still got it stuck in my head as I write. There is also a song that Melfina sings that's pretty nice to listen to even though they probably won't make a symphony out of the rest of the sound track.
Overall, Outlaw Star is a fun and satisfying story, and you'll definitely find some good laughs along with the story-telling. If you haven't seen it before, check it out. Now. You'll be glad you did.
The Images utilized in this review are all from Outlaw Star
