-Introduction arc (first 4 episodes): 9.5/10-
Alas, things go downhill very fast in Outlaw Star. The characters continually fail to show any meaningful development in the wake of the series' unwelcome transition to a mostly episodic anime, seemingly devoid of any underlying objective. There are later stray episodes that almost recapture the sublime quality of the the anime's onset, but they fail to catalyze any subsequent consistent stretches of quality.
The storyteller appears to have had nothing substantive left to say after the first arc, and the plot stagnates into nothingness for a very long period thereafter. Gene and friends take on various jobs and none are particularly interesting. The penultimate ending storyline is clustered, over-the-top, illogical, and wholly unsatisfying; a final dissapointing ode to the beguiling narrative of Outlaw Star.
Worse yet, the characters go from intriguing to bewilderingly irrelevant and derivative. The female lead is a very underwhelming take on the "What is human/what is AI?" question. She frankly does not feel realistic as a human girl or an AI, and ends up amounting to nothing more than a recurring damsel for Gene. It's quite discomforting that she never takes exception to Gene's playboy antics when she is clearly in love with him. That dynamic is very conveniently ignored. Aisha is an ejoyable comic relief character, and Jim is moderately interesting in his own right, simply for a single episode later in the series where he undergoes more development than the entire rest of the cast combined. Suzuka was easily the most painful character to watch. She undergoes no development, is never even fleshed out properly in the first place, and is barely used at all, in summary. Last but not least, Gene Starwind - the hero of Outlaw Star. Gene sadly never really changes throughout the duration. He has his flaws and he has his charms, and 26 episodes later... he still these same flaws and charms. Interpret that as you will.
The animation quality decreases significantly as well (the budget allocation was clearly quite front-loaded), but this is less bothersome because the art style never stops being both original and stellar. Its mixture of neo noir, almost Bladerunner-esque urban scifi settings, and vibrant, high contrast colorizations, create a picture perfect scifi landscape that one can only dream of experiencing..
To conclude this review, Outlaw star is insurmountably dissapointing. A breathtaking start leads nowhere. Everyone devolves. The worldbuilding takes a backseat to mundane monotonous questing. Intrigue begets bordeom.
-Outlaw Star, in its entirety: 6/10-
On the merit of its first 4 episodes alone, I ultimately enjoyed watching this anime. Every fan of the medium should experience the introductory arc. Beyond that, I'm not sure I'd recommend anyone sit down and watch it to completion. Do so at your own risk.
