Outlaw Star

—by Michael Poirier

Allow me to cut right to the chase of this review: OUTLAW STAR is cool. Very cool. It is a funky, fast-paced sci-fi adventure that shoots across the screen with all the speed of a comet and all the power of a supernova. I just watched the first four episodes released by AnimeVillage.com and, to be honest, I can't wait for the rest!
The fun of OUTLAW STAR is characterized best by its main protagonist. Gene Starwind is a sly, sharp-shooting hero whose success with his gun (and with the ladies) is matched only by his propensity to get space-sick. Imagine that: the star of a space-faring series has to continually worry about vomiting onto his control panel. This sort of ironic comedy can be found throughout OUTLAW STAR, creating excellent segues between the fantastic action sequences and the delightful characters.
The stars of OUTLAW STAR are a compelling bunch. Gene's sidekick Jim is a mechanical whizkid but he is too young to be anything but continually embarrassed by Gene's shameless womanizing. Gene and Jim are hired to protect the space captain Hilda, yet she turns out to be so tough herself that she probably didn't need their help in the first place. Hilda has just rescued/kidnapped the android Melfina, and while the pretty cyborg doesn't have much to say at first, her innocence regarding human relationships causes a couple of hilarious misunderstandings.
Meanwhile, the villains of OUTLAW STAR are intriguing too. Our heroes are assaulted by a cadre of "Space Pirates" that practice a rather sinister form of Taoism, complete with ghostly dragons and skeletal zombies. They are led by a fiendish old man and a very creepy little girl who are determined to: a) kill Hilda, b) capture Melfina, c) get back the starship Hilda stole from them and d) find the occult Galactic Leyline (if not necessarily in that order). This is a very crowded galaxy, however; we also learn about the "Star Force" which opposes the Pirates, the Ctarl-Ctarl empire of savagely feline humanoids and, naturally, the freelance "Outlaws" who just try to serve their own best interests.
Getting back to those action sequences I mentioned before, the animation style is sharp but fluid as bullets and spaceships fly all over the place. OUTLAW STAR features a nifty concept regarding space combat—"grappler fighters" which use powerful robotic arms to latch onto other ships and penetrate laser defense fields. The ships are intriguingly designed too, often appearing like metallic lollipops or doorstops with fearsome appendages.
The music is mostly guitar driven, with the occasional harmonica, which masterfully feeds into the general intensity and speedy tempo of the show. One warning regarding the subtitling though—keep a finger near the rewind button on your remote because sometimes the action is so quick, you'll miss seeing something neat if you diligently read every subtitle.
If you want more plot details (or at least a second opinion), check out Ivevei Upatkoon's positive review, written when the series first appeared on Japanese TV. Through the first four episodes we only get a few minutes of the starship Outlaw Star itself, and one of the major characters has just been introduced while another has yet to appear.
However, the enormous potential of the show is unmistakable already, and I wish that I had caught the new episodes every week instead of having to wait for a new tape every four weeks. Because, as far as I can tell, OUTLAW STAR is simply luminous.

Released in North America by AnimeVillage.com
VHS, 50 mins
English Subtitled
Vol. 1 ISBN 1-58354-101-2
Vol. 2 ISBN 1-58354-102-0
$24.98 (subtitled)
Available now in the USA
Where to buy