Outlaw Star (1998-2001)

Outlaw Star is a 1998 anime space adventure TV series created by Hajime Yatate. It fits vaguely into the “western set in outer space” category but it’s also very much in the “bunch of ill-assorted misfits adventuring in outer space in a stolen super high tech spaceship” tradition. This is a formula that was used with success in series like Blake’s 7 and Farscape but Outlaw Star has more in common with the best-ever series of this type, Lexx. Outlaw Star began its run two years after Lexx debuted so there may have been some direct influence. I suspect that the old Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon movie serials may have been an influence as well - Outlaw Star has a lot of good old-fashioned space opera elements with spectacular but wildly improbably space battles.

Outlaw Star does not feature a living spaceship (which is named the Outlaw Star) but it does feature a spaceship with a definite personality.

It’s tempting to see Outlaw Star as being in the mould of Cowboy Bebop but it isn’t really. They’re both great series but the similarities are superficial.

There is also some magic. At first we might assume that this is more in the nature of paranormal phenomena but this series does eventually venture into quasi-spiritual territory.

The story takes place on the frontiers of inhabited space, and yes there’s a definite Wild West vibe. There’s the Space Force, representing the forces of law and order. Here on the frontiers of space they’re of little significance. There are pirates and there are Outlaws. The pirates are cut-throats, thieves and murderers. The Outlaws insist that they are not like the pirates. Outlaws may not be very honest but they’re not murderers. They have a romantic view of themselves as rebels.

The crew members of the Outlaw Star are definitely not noble crusaders fighting for a just cause. They’re not bad guys but they’re not quite good guys either (very much as is the case in Lexx). They have two agendas. They want to survive, and they want to get rich.

Gene Starwind and Jim Hawking run a business on the planet Sentinel. They’ll do anything as long as it’s profitable and not too illegal. Gene earns extra money as a bounty hunter. Jim is eleven years old but he’s the brains of the outfit. Gene is the muscle. Gene’s dad was a space pilot. Gene dreams of being a space pilot as well but he gets space-sick.

Then Gene encounters Hilda. She’s an Outlaw and she has come into possession of something very valuable indeed. It’s a large sealed box. When Gene and Hilda open the box they find that it contains a naked girl. Her name is Melfina. But clearly there is some secret connected with her that makes her incredibly valuable. Melfina has no idea what it is. She has no memories.

Melfina is a bio-android. She is not a robot and she is not a cyborg. She is flesh and blood. Physically she is a normal young woman. But she was artificially created. And she appears to have some specialised intellectual enhancements. Gene and Hilda would very much like to know why several very powerful pirate gangs are prepared to kill in order to get hold of Melfina.

Gene finds himself in possession of the most advanced spaceship in the galaxy, the Outlaw Star. The crew slowly comes together. At first it’s just Gene, Jim and Melfina. Melfina is vital. Only she can interface directly with the ship’s computer and unlock the ship’s full potential. To do this she has to take her clothes off. Why? Because a spaceship that can only be controlled by a nude girl is a totally cool idea.

The next crew member to be recruited is the Lady Aisha. She is a Ctarl-Ctarl cat-girl. The Ctarl-Ctarl are basically human but with a few feline characteristics. Aisha is a very high-ranking official in the Ctarl-Ctrl Empire until Gene unwittingly wrecks her career. Aisha vows revenge. Aisha assumes that everybody is in awe of her. She’s not just a formerly high-ranking official she’s a mighty warrior. Any sane person cowers in fear at the wrath of a Ctarl-Ctarl. Much to Aisha’s disappointment Gene thinks she’s amusing and rather adorable. Aisha has her own reasons for throwing in her lot with the crew of the Outlaw Star. She’s crazy and she can be exasperating but she really is a mighty warrior so she’s pretty useful.

Then there’s Suzuka. She’s a kind of samurai and she’s a professional assassin. She has a contract to kill Gene Starwind but for complicated reasons of her own she joins his crew.

What drives the plot and the actions of the major characters is the mystery surrounding Melfina. She knows that she is a bio-android but she knows nothing of the full extent of her special abilities but most importantly she does not know why she was created. She needs to know, both for her own self-identity and for her survival. Gene feels an odd sense of responsibility towards her. He’s a romantic at heart. The idea of rescuing a damsel in distress and helping her to fulfil her destiny appeals to him. He is sure she has a destiny. Melfina is sure of this as well. 

Neither knows whether Gene will be a part of her destiny but they both finding themselves thinking that maybe that would be a good thing.

They’re not in love but Melfina thinks Gene is ever so brave. And Melfina is a scared, lonely, vulnerable but very sweet girl. There’s no way Gene is not going to devote himself to being her protector.

For most people the standout episode is Cats and Girls and Spaceships and it’s incredibly poignant. An emotional punch to the gut but in a very unusual way. 

I also loved Hot Springs Planet Tenrei because it’s the kind of craziness that makes anime magic. It also adds a zany touch needed at this point in the story. The Outlaw Star’s crew are on a tourist resort planet, and it’s packed with gorgeous scantily clad babes. The Outlaw Star’s female crew members are soon parading about in minuscule bikinis and then it’s bath time and we get lots of gratuitous nudity, because gratuitous nudity is always a good thing. And when we see Aisha unclad we find that Ctarl-Ctarl cat-girls are in fact all girl where it counts.

Then we movie on to the climax with lots of cosmic weirdness and possibly hints of the spiritual and other planes of existence and other weird stuff that is handled well. And the ending offers lots of shocks and twists but it’s totally satisfying. It just feels right.

Outlaw Star is an outstanding engrossing strange and oddball series and it’s highly recommended.

It's available in a Blu-Ray/DVD combo boxed set which thankfully offers the Japanese language soundtrack with subtitles as well the English dub. Nothing on earth would persuade me to watch anime in an English-dubbed version.