Lost Universe

Meet the reincarnations of Lina Inverse (if you dont know who that is, you are behind the times) and some of the crew from the good old days of slayers.

Lost universe is not related to slayers, that is, except for name similarities and personality parallels.

This show is a comical space adventure revolving around three characters who are mercenaries more or less. In the show they are called Contractors i believe, they go around taking jobs so they can feed themselves.

There isn't really a plot in the beginning but as you get into more, secrets are revealed and plot comes out. dont expect a ... wowing plot, this show is for entertainment and a good time.

The animation is very good, and the use of CGI mixed in is done very well. The style is very typical anime.

Unfortunately i have only seen the dub version, but the voices are actually well matched and they did a good job. Although Millie can get annoying at times.

The characters are all very likable, they will definitely grow on you and you get some depth out of them, but not a whole lot. The farther in you go, the more serious things get from tone to actually story, but there is always room for the comic relief.

The ideas and concepts of the show are all very cool and interesting, the show just doesn't utilize them for an epic space show. despite that, this show is very good, if you liked slayers, you will definitely like this.

Lost Universe is an OK anime. Only OK. It's tries to be funny but comes off more annoying that funny. There are times when it's actually funny but the overdose of sarcasm and cheesy tongue-in-cheek dialog mixed in with the [deliberately] bad acting makes it all seem like the writers and/or voice actors didn't take the show too seriously. Lost Universe is along the same lines as Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop [but nowhere near as cool or bad-ass!] It's about a small group of bounty hunters aka “trouble shooters” who fly around deep space doing odd jobs in order to get paid.

~ Art/Animation
Average 90s ... style art. All the people had pointy cheeks, pointy chins and large geometric, pointy eyes with crazy hair of varying colors and shapes. There is some nice CG work in this series but it may be before CG became really popular and common for everyday TV series, so overall the show just kind of had that very flat old-school look.

~ Sound
Um, it's not the most splendid music in the world, This anime made me realize something....that at some point anime music has become a stand-alone product. Modern anime music is now good enough to market itself as a viable product which you can buy as a CD or MP3 and listen to on the [INTERNET] radio. The music on Lost Universe is not this type of music, it's strictly on that cartoony level and it doesn't ever go beyond that. The English voice actors were a trip [or maybe just tripping!] I don't know if they were being that bad on purpose or not! If the show was a bit older I'd say they were genuinely bad...if it were a newer series then they were definitely being cynical. This show seems to be a bit of both, CRIKEY!!!

~ Story
I believe this is the first anime I've ever watched that seems to fall into the “parody” category because it's clearly poking fun at the Space Adventure / Sci-fi genre [shall I count how many Star Wars inferences there were?] Like I said earlier, Lost Universe is about a small group of wannabe bounty hunters who go sailing though outer space taking all of these low-paying, high-risk jobs they can manage just so that they can put food on the table and buy ridiculous weapons. There does seem to be a bigger plot wherein there is some sinister organization with evil spaceships and such lurking in the shadows trying to foul up everything for Kain and his ditsy crew-members. But alas, with all the campy voice acting going on, the show quickly becomes oh-so-very annoying as it progresses with it eventually losing focus [along with the viwer's attention] and finally ending with the central plot falling off to the wayside. They say "too much of a good thing can harm ya..." well in this case, it's the cheesy-ass humor.

~ Cast/Characters
And the best character award goes to: Kali, the creepy Faux “English” woman walking around smashing up stuff with her whip. She has got to be the looniest assassin in all of anime-world. First of all she's got this wacky and somewhat slurred British accent, WTF dude, like seriously lay off the brandy and peppermint schnapps BEFORE you go to work, hon. And if that didn't make her already deranged enough then there's the fact that she walks around town with that whip trying to kill people, like really....just use a gun, lady! Then there's wannabe that Luke Skywalker, Kain Blueriver, complete with fake light-saber and dorky cape. He's not bad to look at but he's no hunk either...he gets a 5 on the Bishounen Hunter scale. Rail on the other hand gets a 7 because he's dark, a brunette and suave...except when gets a face full of coffee because of his clumsy-ass, lovesick assistant. The two main dingbats that make up Kain's crew are an even mix of funny and annoying, most of the time they sound like Edith Bunker's younger sisters...what total airheads! Even though the green-haired one is supposed to be a computer she's still an airhead!

~ Is it worth it?
No, not really. it's not that it's a bad story, but the voice actors went a little overboard with the ad-libbing and cheesy lines....this may have worked with Ghost Stories [which is like, some underground anime cult hit now or something.] But that type of humor overwhelms this show and before long you stop rolling on the floor with laughter and start rolling your eyes. This is only You-Tube or CrunchRoll worthy.

A simple sf story about a young boy a young girl and a extremely cute computer.(one of my favorites characters ever)
Soon they will became friends and companions while defeat the enemy on board a spaceship, more less in a similar way, the plot is repetitive and predictable some times.

The anime tries to make the relationship between the characters deeper but it fails. In the end the interaction between the characters is childish.

The ships design isn't so bad but nothing special, scenery is really bad but since most of the time you won't notice the background it's OK, the bad dynamics of the vehicles ... made me difficult to really get absorbed by the story.

There are also good things I like not feeling stupid for not understand a new philosophy based on the thoughts of one of the characters, and I almost forgot it make me cough. No, not cough! laugh.

I enjoyed because I like adventure anime, because... I will never hold the controls of a space ship; not to mention in the presence of a goddess and a cute blondie fighting with me facing the future, writing my own destiny bla bla bla

That's all Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to Swordbreaker airlines, Captain Suso and the crew members hope you have a pleasant flight. Please don't forget to put your seats in the upright position and fasten your seat belt; there is no need of live jackets in a spaceship but if you need one below your seat please feel free to ask cabin personal and you'll get your dose of sleeping pills. Thanks again for flying with us.

I hope you enjoy as much as I do