Copyright © TV Tokyo / Softx

From the creator of SLAYERS comes LOST UNIVERSE; at least, that is what the box cover said. You know I never really got into SLAYERS. I saw a couple of the early videos and thought it was kind of funny but nothing to write home about. For those of you who don't know SLAYERS, it is essentially a comedy series that lampoons the fantasy genre and LOST UNIVERSE is pretty much the same but for the sci-fi genre.
I never saw the first volume of this series. But, from what I was able to gather through watching the four episodes in this volume, LOST UNIVERSE series follows the adventures of two troubleshooters and the holographic image of their ship's computer as they travel about the universe performing jobs for money. They are essentially futuristic rent-a-cops.
The first troubleshooter is Kain Blueriver who is the pilot of their ship, the Swordbreaker, and he wields a psi-blade, which is essentially a light-saber knock-off. The second troubleshooter is Millie who used to be a private eye but during this video she didn't do much detective work. And then there's the ship's computer Canal who projects herself in the form of a cute young girl. She also likes big guns.
For the most part the episodes were, well, episodic. In the first episode on this tape the gang is hired to take care of a rogue planetary security system and they are also attacked by a guy wearing a towel on his head (and no, it is not a turban). The second episode has the gang working as security guards for a nurse academy. The third episode they are hired to look for a man's long lost friend, but they run into the dreaded Nightmare Syndicate instead. Finally, the fourth has the gang bodyguard for an alien diplomat and fighting off terrorists.
I think the main problem with LOST UNIVERSE is that it isn't funny. None of the jokes were any good, and most of the time the show just seemed dumb. While SLAYERS got a couple laughs out of me, this show barely got me to crack a smile. For a show that is trying to do to sci-fi what SLAYERS did to fantasy, LOST UNIVERSE fails miserably. It doesn't compare to other science fiction comedies like FUTURAMA or HITCHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY.
The animation for the most part was standard for a TV show. Nothing too mind blowing. There was some "ohh...ahh..." fancy CG (that's 'Computer Graphics' for the layman) injected into it, but nothing as impressive as the stuff on COWBOY BEBOP. And the music was only mediocre. Overall, visually and audibly, LOST UNIVERSE was pretty unspectacular.
The dub just wasn't very good. All three of the main characters have annoying voices and none had any comedic acting ability, which is important when the characters are supposed to be quirky and help make the show funny. Kain's voice actor, Steve Metz, sounds like he is still going through puberty. He reminds me of that pimply-faced teen character on the SIMPSONS. Also, every once in a while, the actors, especially the extras and secondary character, sound a little flat. Female characters who are high pitched and whiny are not enjoyable to listen to either.
Here is an example of how uninspiring the acting was: in the second episode the crew is hired to be security guards for a nurse academy, but only women are allowed to enter the academy because if a man comes in the students won't be able to study (the academy was for women nurses only). So that means that Millie and Canal will do the job and Kain will stay behind on the Swordbreaker. But through a computer glitch, Canal is unable to leave the ship so Kain has to dress up like a woman and go with Millie.
This looks like a recipe for comedy (just like in the original EL HAZARD OVA when Makoto had to dress up as a woman) but in LOST UNIVERSE this opportunity to make the situation seem even remotely funny was wasted. Kain dresses like a woman, though you can't really tell, yet still speaks in his normal male voice. If Steve Metz had raised his voice and tried to act like a woman the episode could have been funny. And, even though it was so blatantly obvious that Kain was a man, none of the other characters commented on it.
I can't recommend this to anyone because it is just so stupid. The box says it's for ages twelve and up, but I didn't see anything too objectionable (though a man did get his arm impaled by a horn). Also, I find it hard to believe that anyone over the age of twelve would enjoy this. All in all, it was mediocre.

Released in North America by AD Vision Inc.
VHS, 100 minutes
English Dubbed, #VHSLU/002D, $19.98
Japanese Subbed, #VHSLU/002S, $29.95
Available now in the USA
Where to buy