Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star

Gene Starwind has always dreamed of piloting his own ship out into the vast sea of stars. Unfortunately, not all dreams come true, as he spends his days working odd jobs alongside his partner, James Hawking, on the small planet Sentinel III instead. However, this all takes a turn when the duo takes on a job from Rachel Sweet who, unbeknownst to them, is actually a treasure-hunting outlaw. Tasked with protecting a mysterious girl known as Melfina, the meeting irrevocably changes the pair's lives as they are sent out into the great unknown aboard the highly advanced ship, Outlaw Star.

Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star follows Gene and his ragtag crew as they brave the final frontier, navigating the stars in search of answers to the mysteries surrounding Melfina. Encountering dangerous bounty hunters, space pirates, Taoist mages, and even catgirls, there is sure to be an exhilarating adventure around every corner.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Starwind, Gene Main

Shibuya, Shigeru Japanese

Clanclan, Aisha Main

Miyamura, Yuko Japanese

Melfina Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Suzuka Main

Sayuri Japanese

Hawking, James Main

Matsumoto, Rica Japanese

Hilda Supporting

Fujita, Toshiko Japanese

Gilliam II Supporting

Hashi, Takaya Japanese

MacDougall, Harry Supporting

Kashiwakura, Tsutomu Japanese

Luo, Fred Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Vertone, Valeria Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Yokoyama, Shinjirou Producer

Hongou, Mitsuru Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Nishikiori, Hiroshi Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Sep 4, 2009

Crofty

Recommended

This anime is a rare piece of genius, across 26 episodes it ranges from light-hearted humour to dark philosophical questioning, with neither ever seeming out of place. The premise is a young man, Gene Starwind, and his friend and business partner Jim Hawking, who run a business best described as a jack-of-all-trades operation, including bounty hunting, bodyguard work, anything that will pay. At the arrival on their planet of Hilda, a mysterious outlaw who frees Melfina, an amnesiac girl, from the clutches of pirates, they get caught up in events far beyond their understanding, and Gene chooses to follow his dream of freedom as an ... outlaw, and to solve the mystery of Melfina and the Galactic Leyline that Hilda and the pirates were searching for.

Each of the major charachters were written and portrayed perfectly. Gene, seemingly a selfish and arrogant ass, surprises you again and again with displays of his softer side, especially when it comes to Melfina. Jim, while only 11 often seems more mature than Gene, and tends to be the voice of reason trying to keep Gene's impulsive nature under control, yet despite that still has a lot of growing up to do, and was my favourite charachter in the show. The charachter of Melfina mostly remains undeveloped until the final few episodes, as her lack of knowledge of who she is is essential to the plot, yet it is not a bad thing that for most of the series she remains the nervous and innocent girl who only wants to find out who or what she is, as this brings out a lot of the hidden qualities of Gene and Jim. Finally, Gilliam, the Outlaw Star's computer, who one would expect to just be a functional machine, stands out as a charachter in his own right, showing bonds with Gene, Jim and Melfina that one wouldn't expect from a machine, and sometimes a hint of sarcasm in his voice as he complies with Gene's "brilliant" orders.

The story itself moves at a decent pace, never too fast to keep up, yet in places does have the occaisional filler episode, which either serves to entertain in breaks in the serious plot, or to highlight a certain plot point. While the series would be no worse without them, they were entertaining and enjoyable, and the two that spring to mind both provide background information to the universe that wasn't necessary, but still interesting to know. The universe is a wildly varied setting perfect for such an adventure, with a combination of science fiction technology and ancient eastern mysticism. The technology never gets in the way of the plot, and the mystic powers driving some events keep the show from becoming hardcore science fiction. Combined with Gene's very down to earth way of dealing with the unknown, this mix keeps the plot moving rather than letting it get bogged down in pointless explanation. That's not to say that nothing is explained, everything relevant to the plot is, but in an interesting way that doesn't just becoming a drone of dull facts, technobabble and nonsense that can often be the downfall of science fiction.

Overall, this show is incredibly enjoyable and has something for everyone. It's an adventure of the kind you used to dream of as a kid, yet it also asks what makes us human. It has it's funny moments, and also it's touching moments. It combines human (/alien/bio-mechanoid/machine/etc) drama with awesome space battles and gunfights, and even leaves this fan of explosions and lasers unsure which he enjoyed more. Watch it, you will not be disappointed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 6, 2015

Benduski

Mixed Feelings

What a let down this anime was, don't get me wrong i was really amazed for the first 4 episodes and i had my favorite character already, yeah Hilda, just 4 episodes and she had better development than Gene in all the other 22 eps. and not just that, the episodes were packed with action, interesting plot and a story that could be really great for the next eps. but that wasn't the case and i love 90's anime but the art style on this was bad, getting worse every episode.

Story
The story is interesting for what it could be not for what it is, after ... the 4th episode, the story is put aside and it turns to be an episodic anime, where it leads to nowhere and they live to pay their debts by making jobs that aren't interesting not even for Gene, but he does anyways if the sum is high or if he needs money fast, then the story sort of continues 2 eps. in the middle then again episodic, and in the last 3 eps. the story finally gets somewhere and is really good and i thought if every episode was like this, the story could be amazing but it was mediocre.

Art
The art style looked good at the beginning but in every episode the drawing was inconsistent and got worse and the characters face looked different, the animation in the fight scenes were bad, almost always, even for that time there were better animations, and because of this i couldn't like or relate to the characters, a mediocre art style.

Sound
The sound was the best of the anime, very good voice acting, great OP song, i wasn't bored because the VA, or the sound overall, there are 2 ED songs which are melodic, they are good, but i didn't felt it was fitting for the anime, the sound effects were good, overall was very good.

Character
Well the characters were normal, nothing special, just Hilda, 4 eps. and she was the best, is a shame what happens to her, she easily could be the MC, I didn't felt Gene was well developed, not even his backround, Jim was kind of interesting, i felt sorry for him in ep. 20 because he never knew what he did, it was sad, Aisha was likeable but annoying too and Suzuka wasn't interesting, she was there because... i don't know, they never got a backround, mediocre character development.

Enjoyment
For some reason i enjoyed the anime, i wasn't bored, i think i couldn't handle the animation, the filler episodes weren't bad but didn't add anything to the story, maybe i enjoyed it because the setting was in the space but anyways i got a good enjoyment.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 25, 2012

rydia91

Not Recommended

I watched this on Toonami when I was a kid and I used to think this was the best show ever. As I re-watched the first 3 episodes, I was faced with action, adventure, and the introduction of dynamic characters. I should have stopped watching right there. My favorite character was Hilda. After those episodes, I watched believing that the plot was going to come together into something deep and exciting. It didn't. After some lolly-gagging around in space and meeting some cool characters, the protagonists take up boring jobs for far too many episodes. The climax of the show was lackluster. Also, I HATED ... how they had their theme song integrated into the show! Once? Maybe. More than two is too much unless it really fits, but, in this case, it just felt super awkward. When one of the characters starts softly singing it (the scene wasn't touching in the least), I couldn't help but to shake my head. If it stuck with being a comedy, I would have loved it, but, it seemed to try too hard at the end to, all of a sudden, become serious and dramatic. I'm not trying to take away anyone else's happiness about this show;just giving the potential watchers a different POV.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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