Outlaw star is a great anime, it just had the unfortunate time of coming out the same time as Cowboy Bebop. I hear and read people saying it's a rip off of Cowboy Bebop, but it's not. First the tone of the shows were different. Cowboy Bebop was more of a action/Drama and Outlaw Star was a action/adventure. The animation styles were different. Cowboy bebop was darker in tone while Outlaw Star was lighter in tone. The stories were completely different. Cowboy Bebop was more condensed in broadness of the show, instead going into details about the characters lives and how they got where they are. Outlaw Star was a adventure, traveling through space searching for the Galactic Lay Line, never going to deep into the characters. Finally the music was different. Cowboy Bebop mixed it's styles from Jazz, rock, classical and Opera. Outlaw Star didn't, just having one style of music.
So to sum things up Outlaw Star isn't a rip off of Cowboy Bebop, they are two completely different shows and are nothing alike except they came out about the same time. Outlaw star is a great anime, but not a classic like Cowboy Bebop for some of the reasons listed above.
