Outlaw Star

[Avaitor]

y'no, I found Bandai's old release of this at a pawn shop for $10 a few months ago, and I passed on it.

I do regret that.

[Grave]

This is one of those series I've been wanting to check out since I never saw it. Saw some comparisons to Cowboy Bebop, and it caught my attention. Unfortunately, I don't want to shell out so much money for it since I can't find it anywhere cheap. I do a lot of my shopping on amazon and I don't particularly care for buying used copies of movies/anime, and at the same time I can't find a site that show anime online for free (then again, I don't even know where to go for watching anime in general)

[Spark Of Spirit]

Outlaw Star is an adventure show with a lot of action. While Cowboy Bebop was episodic with some story loops and Trigun was an ongoing story with some episodic adventures, Outlaw Star is pretty much a series of adventures. Of the three it's probably the most unabashedly goofy but that's what gives it its charm as the opposite extreme of Cowboy Bebop where Trigun is the balance between the two.

If I were you I'd just wait for the new boxset to come out to dive in. That's what I plan on doing after not seeing it in so many years.

[Grave]

Ah, so there is a new boxset coming? Didn't know that. Any word on a release date?

[Spark Of Spirit]

According to Foggle, Funimation just licensed it, so it should probably be out by next year.

Oh man, this needs to be an anime block.

Here's a block:

Dragon Ball
Yu Yu Hakusho
Outlaw Star
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop
Martian Successor Nadesico
Lupin III
Case Closed

Or maybe that's just what I'd watch. 

[Avaitor]

I'd watch that!

[Nel_Annette]

Sorry, someone refresh my memory and tell me if this happened on the show.

When it originally aired on Toonami, my mom made me change the channel and wouldn't let me watch again because they had used the word "faggot" at some point. And my older sister swears they said that too. And I kind of remember that as well, but I can't rationally believe they would have ever let that shit get through on old Toonami.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I've watched the uncut dub of the show, and I don't recall that word ever being used there, so I doubt that it was in the Toonami version.

[gunswordfist]

According to Foggle, Funimation just licensed it, so it should probably be out by next year.

Oh man, this needs to be an anime block.

Here's a block:

Dragon Ball
Yu Yu Hakusho
Outlaw Star
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop
Martian Successor Nadesico
Lupin III
Case Closed

Or maybe that's just what I'd watch. 

I'd watch that. What's MSN about? It's one of those shows that gets named a lot that I never bother to ask about.

[Spark Of Spirit]

According to Foggle, Funimation just licensed it, so it should probably be out by next year.

Oh man, this needs to be an anime block.

Here's a block:

Dragon Ball
Yu Yu Hakusho
Outlaw Star
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop
Martian Successor Nadesico
Lupin III
Case Closed

Or maybe that's just what I'd watch. 

I'd watch that. What's MSN about? It's one of those shows that gets named a lot that I never bother to ask about.

It's a sci-fi space show. One of my favorites for being a lot of fun with many, many characters but never gets overwhelming with them.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Here's a block:

Dragon Ball
Yu Yu Hakusho
Outlaw Star
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop
Martian Successor Nadesico
Lupin III
Case Closed

Or maybe that's just what I'd watch. 
[/quote]

No, no...I'd watch the hell out of that too! 

Sigh...I remember the days when I could watch Dragonball, Case Closed, and Yu Yu Hakusho every weeknight in primetime. Dammit, I miss Colors TV! 

[gunswordfist]

Here's a block:

Dragon Ball
Yu Yu Hakusho
Outlaw Star
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop
Martian Successor Nadesico
Lupin III
Case Closed

Or maybe that's just what I'd watch. 

No, no...I'd watch the hell out of that too! 

Sigh...I remember the days when I could watch Dragonball, Case Closed, and Yu Yu Hakusho every weeknight in primetime. Dammit, I miss Colors TV! 
[/quote]I miss it too. That reminds me, my favorite OPs are probably Baki and Guyver
Edit: I didnt know they had YYH too

[Spark Of Spirit]

As I've said elsewhere, I've been watching this via my friend's complete collection and am already on the third disc. Here's a few observations.

1. The story never stops moving.

While it's a pure action show, the story is still driven by all the character's actions and personalities. From episode 1 and its "To Be Continued" stinger ending (The text and art in this show is great, by the way) every episode hooks you and just nudges you to continue watching. Despite that, it never feels rushed or sugar-happy for carnage.

2. Action

I forgot how good the action in this show is, and for an action show that's saying a lot. You might think "Well Cowboy Bebop and Trigun had better or more ingenious action sequences than Outlaw Star" and you'd be missing the point. Outlaw Star is not stylish at all and that is its strength. It's simple, fast-paced, and in your face, which fits perfectly with the tone.

3. The dub is really good

I think it was the Space Western Trilogy when anime dubbing really hit the mark on this side of the pond, and the Outlaw Star dub is just as good as the other two. The jokes all translate well, and all the voices are dead on.

4. The characters are all likeable

Yes, Aisha and Suzuka don't drift too far from their stereotypes, but Gene and Jim are always enjoyable to watch and Melfina works well as the mother figure to balance them out. Even the villains while they might be clearly evil with nothing but bad intentions on their minds are still interesting to watch. It's a lot of fun.

5. The simple art style does it a lot of favors

The scene transitions and mid-episode bumper are perfect, the space western future bent between Grappler battles and Caster shoot-outs give it a real punch in the action levels. Yes, I guess you could say things like clothes and hairstyle date it, but it works well in the world they inhabit which is a mix between Cowboy Bebop sci-fi and Trigun journeyman. It's still good to look at, too.

Long story short, I haven't seen it in many years but it's still well worthy of being considered one of the Space Western Trilogy and mixes well with Cowboy Bebop and Trigun. If you haven't seen it in a while, give it a go. It holds up really well.

[Angus]

I remember we had a thread that compared the show to Firefly.

The grappler idea was pretty funny as well as the bullets which the latter got detailed in that forbidden episode 23.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That final battle is very visually confusing in a lot of ways.

But still, great little action show.

"See you again", huh?