Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star (Outlaw Star)

Gene Starwind has always dreamed of piloting his own ship out into the vast sea of stars. Unfortunately, not all dreams come true, as he spends his days working odd jobs alongside his partner, James Hawking, on the small planet Sentinel III instead. However, this all takes a turn when the duo takes on a job from Rachel Sweet who, unbeknownst to them, is actually a treasure-hunting outlaw. Tasked with protecting a mysterious girl known as Melfina, the meeting irrevocably changes the pair's lives as they are sent out into the great unknown aboard the highly advanced ship, Outlaw Star.

Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star follows Gene and his ragtag crew as they brave the final frontier, navigating the stars in search of answers to the mysteries surrounding Melfina. Encountering dangerous bounty hunters, space pirates, Taoist mages, and even catgirls, there is sure to be an exhilarating adventure around every corner.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Outlaw Star
Spin-off:	Seihou Tenshi Angel Links
Other:	Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star Pilot
Side story:	Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star Specials

Tanaka, Atsuko
Japanese

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Staff

Maseba, Yutaka

Producer

Hongou, Mitsuru

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Nishikiori, Hiroshi

Episode Director, Storyboard

Yamaguchi, Yuuji

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

"Through the Night" by Masahiko Arimatsu

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Ending Theme

	1: "Hiru no Tsuki (昼の月)" by Akino Arai (eps 1-13)
	2: "Tsuki no Ie (月の家)" by Akino Arai (eps 14-24)

Reviews

Jan 20, 2024

Vjestiprime

Recommended

The first of my 2 series rewatch for January 2023.

Outlaw Star is an interesting case in the excellent world of late 90s anime, a Space-Western arriving in early 1998 from the game changing studio ‘Sunrise’. Plenty of anime fans will know that this is the same year another Space Western anime by sunrise also released; a little show called ‘Cowboy Bebop’, so it’s nothing put fact this is what truly made Outlaw fall under the radar and into the pits of anime obscurity. But without a doubt Outlaw Star is a piece of the Holy Trinity of 1998 Space-Western anime that shaped it to ... be its greatest year in the history of the medium.

I regard Outlaw Star as a more simplistic alternative to Cowboy Bebop, with a more straight forward tale told through some of the finest narrative pacing I’ve had the pleasure of enduring over the hundreds of anime series I’ve seen. It’s simplistic nature is nothing but charming, and is one of a handful of shows that prove to me not every story has to be a thought provoking masterpiece to be truly special. Outlaw Star is a masterpiece of style and substance, full of lovable and entertaining characters that keep you hooked through its 26 episode run, all wrapped together in a narrative so brilliantly thrilling, it put a smile on my face through all of its episodes during this rewatch as I felt the same euphoria I felt upon watching it for the first time in 2021.

The show may have flaws if you look too closely, some character plot points (especially in its protagonist Gene Starwind), are completely lost not even half way through the series. Its lead villains can feel incredibly underdeveloped, only really showing up for the last 3/4 of the show little to know build up. It’s almost like the series is split into 2 creative visions, with its first arc having a completely different tone to its middle arcs, with the more serious tone picking back up in its final Galactic Layline arc. These faults however; never hindered my experience, I am perfectly fine with its villains being comically evil in both usage and motivation, and it’s more comedic approach in its middle act is balanced by the introduction of its side characters to bounce off of (such as its comic relief Aisha).

But where Outlaw Star shines it does so impeccably, in its atmosphere and design especially. And yet again, the show nails the general concept is simply being fun, a trait too much media ditches in attempt to be far too artistic. While it may not be mind blowing in its cinematography, sound or many film form elements, it is by far one of the most down to Earth retro anime experiences out there, and something I urge any anime fan to seek out if they’re looking for something to quench the thirst the Space-Western anime genre we’ve all missed in all its glory.

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Jan 6, 2023

GrenadeJ

Mixed Feelings

This review contains no spoilers.

First things first, you may be wondering why has someone written a new review on a show that aired over 2 decades ago.

Put simply, I dont particularly expect many readers however for some reason after completing this anime I cant stop thinking about things to say about it, leading to where we are now. Why exactly this is I will try my best to convey to you in the following review.

I did not like this anime. I gave it a 6/10 so I dont hate it, but I cannot by any means say I enjoyed the overall experience either. In ... fact, it took me a little under a year to even finish all 24 episodes and I have been known to binge 100 episodes of shounen or sports anime within a matter of weeks. I will admit neither 90s anime or Sci-fi shows are particular interests of mine, but I do not hate them either so my opinion of it at the very least isnt innately biased against it.

Despite not liking Outlaw star, I find myself thinking more about this anime than I do for the vast majority of other anime ive finished, even ones ive rated significantly higher on my list. The exact reasoning for this is very difficult to put into words but in general it all comes down to the atmosphere of the show. The anime manages to convey the feeling of how big the universe is and how many adventures await, creating a wide variety of characters and making you look back somewhat melancholically once you've finished it. The ending especially leaves a poignant feeling that is hard to describe. It ends with the quote (this is not a spoiler),

"The adventure never ends...
We'll set off on a journey
Sometime somewhere
To the stars again.
And the new adventurers will begin."

Which without putting it in explicate words, conveys exactly my feelings towards what the atmosphere of a sci-fi space adventure should be.

However, that is where my praise for the show ends.

I mentioned how it conveys certain feelings, however this is only at some points of the anime. The general middle chunk of the show basically feels like filler with the only purpose to loosely develop the world and characters. Additionally, the ending leaves me with especially mixed feelings. I could see the intention to make a profound ending that would blow the viewer's minds and make the whole adventure worth watching, somewhat similar to how space Dandy ended, however for me this simply failed and worse yet it was an all-for-nothing gambit which meant I was ultimately left disappointment when it didnt hit as it should. This is partly what led to me being left thinking about this otherwise uninspiring ending after it finished - the idea of missed potential.

I simply have a sense of disappointment about Outlaw star. It had a lot of potential to be something really great but ultimately just failed to reach those peaks and ended up being rather mundane and uninteresting. It sparks more interest in me than other shows I consider better because of this great potential it has, and it even had moments throughout the anime where I was engaged with what was going on, however it just failed to keep it up for the vast majority of the episodes and didnt pull off a very ambitious climax that it had been building up for the entire course of the story.
However, considering how old it is and that it very likely paved the way for so many other great anime that could follow in its footsteps and achieve the potential Outlaw star possessed... well theres a certain level of acceptance that comes with that way of thinking.

Moving onto more concrete aspects. The artstyle of the show is what you would expect from a 90s anime at the beginning. However, about halfway into the anime I can only assume the budget ran out because the art started degrading rapidly in quality to the extent where it was clearly noticeable even to me, someone who doesnt pay much attention to the subtleties of animation quality.
The characters as well were average at best. The anime seemed to want to suggest they were all growing closer as a team, however I didnt feel like any significant development was really being made and they more resembled a group of people who were all just acquaintances, even by the end of the show.
Finally, the plot was mostly episodic with an overarching story that was only actually developed within the first and final few episodes, with the rest being uninteresting episodic adventures about the cast travelling to different worlds. This is what caused me to spend almost a year finishing this anime, as during these episodic parts I felt no desire to continue watching.

On paper Outlaw star was very unremarkable. Ultimately, I cant recommend that anyone who at least really into the genre and concept should watch this anime and I dont think that the fairly high score this show has on MAL is accurate compared to others with similar ratings. Having said that, if you want a 90s space adventure anime then this is by no means completely unwatchable. I couldnt rate this show any less than a 6 as it had moments where I genuinely enjoyed watching, but overall I was left thinking the anime was just ok and so it would feel wrong to rate it any higher either.

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Aug 25, 2012

rydia91

Not Recommended

I watched this on Toonami when I was a kid and I used to think this was the best show ever. As I re-watched the first 3 episodes, I was faced with action, adventure, and the introduction of dynamic characters. I should have stopped watching right there. My favorite character was Hilda. After those episodes, I watched believing that the plot was going to come together into something deep and exciting. It didn't. After some lolly-gagging around in space and meeting some cool characters, the protagonists take up boring jobs for far too many episodes. The climax of the show was lackluster. Also, I HATED ...

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Poll: Outlaw Star Episode 20 Discussion gohdan - May 25, 2010	21 replies	by Loccon_Stratos »» Yesterday, 3:37 PM
Poll: Outlaw Star Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 ) gohdan - May 24, 2010	51 replies	by Seabury »» Mar 12, 5:44 PM
Poll: Outlaw Star Episode 8 Discussion gohdan - May 10, 2010	27 replies	by Seabury »» Feb 21, 4:54 PM
Poll: Outlaw Star Episode 15 Discussion gohdan - May 14, 2010	31 replies	by Syntax_69 »» Jan 26, 8:53 AM
Poll: Outlaw Star Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 ) datsunvic - Jan 31, 2009	57 replies	by Inner_Dragon »» Jan 19, 3:46 PM

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