Cheap Outlaw Star - Perfect Collection Boxed Set (DVD) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Outlaw Star - Perfect Collection Boxed Set

What I really enjoy about Outlaw Star is the comedy. There is some romance and plenty of action, but there is a lot of comedy as every anime should have. Gene and Jim argue half the time, Ashia's smack talk comments about all of them, the Outlaw Star's onboard computer, Gilliam, and Melfina not knowing who she is or what she does. All in all, the comedy and the action may get mixed up at times, but there are some good, even cute, moments in this series. Can't wait for Chirstmas to get this.

Sorry for being the nay sayer
Outlaw star is a space opera. It has ship battles, pirates, bounty hunters, a charismatic hero, lots of action and of course a secret treasure everybody is trying to get their hands on. Gene Starwind, the main character, wants to be an "outlaw", which in this show is the space equivalent of a ronin, a masterless warrior; he is recruited as a bodyguard and gets dragged into a plot to steal an advanced spaceship which belongs to a group of pirates and which holds the key of reaching a long lost treasure. This series records his search for that treasure, while trying to make a name for himself.

Technically speaking, this series manages pretty well. The animation is good, but not astounding. The character designs all hit the spot. On the other hand, this is the only anime series in which I've heard bad voice acting in Japanese, not to mention the English dubbing. Fortunately all of the main characters have good voice actors so the damage is not too great. The soundtrack is perhaps the weakest link as it is incoherent.Aat many times it sounds cheap and just plain out of place, working against the visuals instead of with them.

The series kicks off just fine. It sets up a very nice pace as we are introduced to Gene Starwind and his younger counterpart, Jim Hawking. However as the series progresses the episodes become more and more disjoint and at times extremely silly, not to mention cliched and rushed. For instance, at one episode Gene and his crew fight a ship which is piloted by a girl and two cats (yes, cats. Talking cats). At one point he shoots off one of the ship's arms and kills one of the cats. The other cat yells, "you killed Shimi, you bastard!". Now, despite this is meant to be a dramatic moment, anyone who doesn't burst out laughing hearing that line is taking the show way too seriously. I'm not saying all of the episodes are silly, but quite a few are. Not to mention there is magic in the show, although not too much of it. Another problem is that this show suffers from anime humor, which means too much slapstick and gags. Slapstick is fine at times but anime has a habit of overdosing.

This is a real shame since the characters themselves are likeable, and often the dialog is quick and witty. Gene Starwind makes an excellent cocky, young hero and all of the others act as a great supporting cast, albeit they are all cliched archtypes. But using archtypes in a space opera is in fact the right thing to do. So no complaints here.

One thing I see many people doing is comparing this to other anime shows out there, such as Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. My advice is - don't. Outlaw star does not compare to Cowboy Bebop. Not that I'm a big Cowboy Bebop fan, or that Cowboy Bebop is free of its faults, but the amateurish writing and soundtrack of Outlaw Star cannot compete with the professionalism displayed in Cowboy Bebop. People also say that Outlaw Star isn't original and is a Cowboy Bebop ripoff - but Cowboy Bebop in turn blatantly rips of Lupin 3, so there's no need to feel guilty here ;-).

I give this show two thumbs up for trying, for its grand scale, for the action and characters,. Animation is actually the best medium for space operas since not only it allows for doing things budget considerations wouldn't allow on live film, but we also suspend our belief while watching animation and so many things that would seem ridiculous on real film seem perfectly natural here. If you're looking for a good ride give this show a try, it'll provide good entertainment (assuming we're counting the stinker episodes out). But don't expect it to rock your world. This ain't no Miyazaki.

The Icon of Heroic Anime
Any anime fan knows: There's a lot of cliches out there. But every once in a while, something comes along that does the "same old thing" with such amazing brilliance that it is fresh again, and you realize why you loved it so much the first time.

If you've seen a lot of anime, you won't see any new concepts in Outlaw Star - but you'll love watching it just the same. The action is incredible, the characters are rich and well-developed, and the plot is compelling and twisty. Sure, it's the got the archetypical "fly by the seat of his pants in a cool spaceship waving a magic gun" kind of hero (and he's even got red spiky hair,) an android who is desparate to find out her past, a child prodigy hacker, a samurai assassin, a spastic female were-tiger with revealing clothes, and of course the prudent AI ship's computer, (not to mention a varied cast of space pirates, law enforcement, bandits, outlaws, bounty-hunters, etc.), and they're in search of something with an extremely mysterious name ("galactic lay line?" Come on!) Sounds like the same old anime thing, right?

Think again. Even if you've seen a million animes that sound just like this, you've never seen it done so well as Outlaw Star. The coolness factor is through the roof. A perfect blend of spectacular fantasy and Heinlein-esque realism. I can't recommend it highly enough.