Has My Enjoyment of Outlaw Star Changed In Nearly 20 Years?

Seventeen years ago, I watched Outlaw Star for the first time when it premiered on Toonami. To my eleven-year-old self, it was the epitome of cool. Space, eccentric characters, incredible spaceship designs, fun fight scenes, and a story that kept me coming back day after day. Other than initial reruns that would’ve aired after that first run, I haven’t watched the series since I was much younger. With Outlaw Star being added to Crunchyroll and prior experience in testing my nostalgia in terms of anime, what better time to see if I can still enjoy the show? Have I changed my opinion on Outlaw Star in 2018?

Yes and no.

For those unaware, the general premise of Outlaw Star sees protagonist Gene Starwind and his hacker friend Jim Hawking stumble upon a mysterious bio-android named Melfina, and eventually the titular Outlaw Star itself, an experimental "Grappler Ship." Along the way they are joined by Ctarl-Ctarl officer Aisha Clanclan and the assassin “Twilight” Suzuka. The ragtag group runs into a variety of villains such as the Kei pirates and the MacDougall brothers in search of the mysterious Galactic Leyline, while trying to figure out who Melfina is survive the outlaw lifestyle.

Outlaw Star debuted on Toonami in January of 2001 during the cusp of that particular anime boom in the United States. Perhaps one of the biggest things I noticed when rewatching the series is it’s absolutely astonishing that this was ever put on TV with a TV-Y7 rating. The amount of adult language, sexual content, violence, and mature themes that permeate each episode is high—which might explain why it seemed so cool, as it was something that probably shouldn’t have been on the air.

Toonami made multiple edits to make the show appropriate for a younger audience, including removing anything remotely risque along with not airing episode 23—the hot springs episode—due to that episode’s gratuitous sexual content. If you want to go back and see how they pulled this off, the unfortunate news is that it’s almost impossible—that version of Outlaw Star has been lost to time, which is extremely unfortunate from a historical and preservation sense, since I would have loved to go back and compare those versions with the unedited episodes.

Outside of the surprise from seeing the unedited episodes for the first time, one of Outlaw Star’s biggest strengths is its visual fidelity and aesthetic. Space is bright in a way that's normally not seen in sci-fi or shows based in space since the series uses pastels along with the normal darkness of space. The design of the XGP15A-II Outlaw Star—created by famed mecha designer Shoji Kawamori—is absolutely gorgeous. This style that Outlaw Star promotes fits in perfectly with the sci-fi/western/space opera universe that it creates, also extending to the soundtrack which brilliantly mixes jazz and orchestral work from Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and Shadow of the Colossus composer Kow Otani.

The strong, united aesthetic even extends to the designs of the main characters—they each have their own specific look that caters to their personalities and backgrounds. The far-reaching worlds are fantastical in a way that evokes older sci-fi, and the alien races fit within the scope of the world of Outlaw Star. Gene’s futuristic form of a duster gives him the feeling of old-school westerns, but in a way that fits in space. There's an outfit that Gene wears that's not his usual attire, but is quite similar to one from prominent sci-fi series Cowboy Bebop: a very familiar-looking dark blue suit. Both shows were made around the same time by Sunrise, so this might be a nod to Bebop, or perhaps a slight dig given that they would have been in-house competitors.

One aspect of the show that isn’t often seen is the Grappler Ships. Turning spaceship combat from the traditional dogfights into one-on-one duels with giant arms protruding from the ships is still a lot of fun to watch. Introducing large-scale melee action as a method of ship-to-ship combat is a smart decision, as it gives another way for the show to stand out amongst the crowd of spacefaring sci-fi series prevalent across all media, not just in anime. Add in the mixture of western-style duels with magic in the form of the caster weapons and it makes for a different style of combat throughout the series.

A show such as this lives and dies on its characters, and that's one of the strongest aspects that Outlaw Star has. With a cast of people that define themselves as outlaws, there are multiple instances of shades of grey surrounding everyone. Gene goes through a fascinating arc where initially we see him panic-stricken to even fly in space after watching his dad get murdered by pirates. He's eventually able to overcome that to become the pilot of the Outlaw Star, but it also pushes the question if his lax attitude toward non-serious affairs is compensation for guilt relating to his father and Melfina, and his inability to help either of them. There are also interesting dynamics throughout the series, such as Aisha and Jim’s sibling-like friendship, and Gene being able to talk to Suzuka about personal issues that he's dealing with late in the series.

There's no denying that Outlaw Star is still fun to watch, but there are some problems. Given that it’s a show from the late ‘90s in terms of its Japanese release, some social issues that are within the series haven’t aged well. There are also parts that feel disjointed, and the main narrative is broken apart by a surprising amount of one-off and filler episodes. This is especially prevalent when the Anten Seven of the Kei Pirates are introduced as potentially the new main villain force midway through the series, and then basically put on the back burner outside of two episodes and the final three episodes.

The MacDougall brothers are another antagonistic duo that are seen more throughout the series, and are made to be a genuine threat throughout. They do everything they can to steal the Outlaw Star and Melfina by pretending to be nice, having their own caster weaponry, multiple attempts to abduct Melfina by violence and manipulation, and teaming up with the eccentric scientist who helped to create both the Outlaw Star and Melfina. Despite issues with the Kei Pirates not being as prominent past the halfway point of the show, Outlaw Star makes the bounty hunter MacDougall brothers into hateable villains.

Nostalgia can be tricky to deal with as it can make you remember things better than they were, but Outlaw Star doesn't fall into that issue. It’s not as amazing as I had remembered it being from when I was 11, nor is it one of the best anime sci-fi you will see, but it’s still fun almost 20 years later. The ending does hint at a potential return, and there was a spin-off titled Angel Links featuring a few Outlaw Star side characters that aired in 1999 in Japan, and also a planned sequel OVA titled Outlaw Star 2: Sword of the Wind, but that never came to be. Still, Outlaw Star is a series that you should try to watch if you haven’t, or if it’s been a while since you last saw it. It’s still got that appeal to make space a magical place to be. Sometimes what we grow up with still ends up being fun many years later, and I'm glad that Outlaw Star could still live up to my memories, despite my concerns. Have you also gone through a rewatch of Outlaw Star, and did it live up to your expectations or what you remembered? Let us know in the comments!

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Jared Clemons is a writer and podcaster for Seasonal Anime Checkup. He can be found on Twitter @ragbag.

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