@@patrick4662 And guess what? Now Netflix is making ANOTHER live action Death Note. It's possible they take another crack at Bebop because they are stupid.
@@nightmarefanatic1819 and today I saw Netflix is making live action YuYu Hakusho!!! LOL. Im not against the concept of live action versions of anime classics - but I just haven't seen them done right yet.
@@patrick4662 Alita: Battle Angel was good... And that's about it. Crunchyroll also announced that there's a live action Tiger and Bunny in the works which SHOULD be a slam dunk for an American crew but I can't underestimate the ability of anyone involved in a LA anime to fuck things up. It might actually cause anger in Japan though since it's so popular there lol.
Anyone remember that episode where Jim fell in love with that girl name Hanmyo (who had 2 talking cats) - Later in the episode Jim destroys an enemy ship not knowing the Hanmyo was the pilot, and killing her - sad episode
Guardians of the Galaxy, Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, Farscape, ...and MANY others.... It's the tale of a ragtag bunch out in space, with their lovable crew, having adventures
I saw another review vid refer to it as "eye crack" and I couldn't agree more. I don't know of another anime that looks like it, love the unique style of the characters and the space environments. And it'll always look the same no matter how much times passes so its this special little time capsule of 90s anime aesthetic.
You know, I was willing to lean towards Whedon's assertions that it was a coincidence...Up until the girl in the box. He could have at least made the box look different, my God.
The early episodes' humour had a certain style to them: what we now associate with the Disney Marvel cinematic universe which Whedon pioneered with Avengers. The tense moment is stopped with a sudden subtle humourous moment.... I would like to think Disney owes a lot to Outlaw Star.
outlaw star, tenchi muyo, cowboy bebop. the holy trinity that got me into anime. special note: I am physically incapable of listening to outlaw's end theme without crying, and I freely admit it.
@Nyaemal Hrruna omg me too LMFAO!!! I re-watched the entire series two weekends ago and always listened to the ending theme with full nostalgia and sadness. Lol. I cried at the end.....
Melfina was always my childhood crush. I don't know what's so attractive about Melfina, her shyness, her warm nature or maybe the fact that she's mostly naked all of the time.
I loved Outlaw Star so much as a kid that when I wanted to introduce my parents (who were watching DBZ at the time) unfortunately it turned out to be the Hot Spring episode....I never felt so embarrassed....
+dark0ssx whole reason i never watched Firefly inits initial run is cause i was already a HUGE outlaw star fan and i have since had arguments w pp over this (i like firefly it's great but it's as original as starwars... which is a rip off of a Kurosawa film)
+dark0ssx Actually I looked it up. While you are correct about the English episodes, that's not the Japanese episodes, nor the actual manga it was based off. The first issue for the manga was released it 1996 with the first episode of Firefly released in 2002. That's 6 years that Outlaw Star existed that Joss could have taken the idea and formed it into Firefly. And he is a self proclaimed nerd so it's definitely within the realm of possibility that he heard of Outlaw Star even if neither the show nor an English version existed.
+dark0ssx Yeah but that doesn't take into account how long Firefly was in production and pre-production (where most of the stories would be thought out). And keep in mind Joss was busy working on Buffy and Angel before all that so he may have been to watch TV and randomly come across Outlaw Star.
Outlaw Star is so damn good... such an underrated classic! I was 11 or 12 when it was on the Toonami segment of Adult Swim all those years ago and I would stay up past bedtime to watch it... I'd even turn the volume down really low so my parents didn't catch me up. Since then, I've bought it on DVD and I've re-watched it a few times. It holds up!
Yeah the Caster Gun & the fact that the Outlaw Star (and many other ships) could do freaking melee combat were some of the most memorable parts of the show. Also remember Aisha & Ryoko (from Tenchi) we’re tied as my first anime crushes as a teen. Easily angered & genuinely dangerous & deadly gals are still 100% my bag.
One of my favorite anime of all time, Outlaw Star rocks & holy crap that intro & outro music! I sang along with that every time, even if I was completely butchering the language. Thanks for not going on about Bebop for too long also, Bebop is great but honestly I've always preferred Outlaw Star to Bebop & the constant comparisons get annoying.
I don't see how anyone can compare either anime. I always saw them as too different to even be compared. Its weird because I saw Outlaw Star way before Cowboy Bebop and never thought to compare either anime because I saw them as completely different shows. Not once did I think "Hey X rips off X, but X does it better". I loved them both for different reasons.
You’re not alone! I only love Outlaw Star. I like Bebop but I don’t love it because it’s not Outlaw Star! Outlaw Star is the BEST anime series ever! It’s like a badass hero with the most badass gun ever… but he’s also broke af and has to do laundry and fight his roommates lol. He also loves bad bitches lol. He’s tough but he got a lot of flaws. He’s not the smartest for sure. He has trauma, but he overcomes his trauma. He approaches big challenges with a lot of confidence. Sometimes he’s too overconfident and survives by just luck being on his side. It’s a badass space adventure! And also a love story because the bad boy finds the true love from the hood girl. The premise of the story from the beginning is just awesome. Like, guy just does all kinds of jobs until one day he gets a job from a beautiful woman but then realizes that woman is not who she claims to be but a legendary outlaw who is at war with one of the most powerful space pirate organizations. Oh and the space pirates are not just a few ships. They are basically like kingdoms with dominion over multiple planetary systems and shit! They are very dangerous and powerful enemies to have. And it’s a treasure hunt as well… except that the treasure ends up being a machine God that grants wishes and can change the physics in the universe at will! So many badass things… Lord Hazanko and his assassins and subjects are only a small group within 1 single Pirate nation. There are like 5 different larger pirate kingdoms or nation that are not even discussed in the story and barely mentioned. It’s a huge world with epic proportions.
I'm watching it currently and I am having a blast. The show surprisingly has a lot of depth despite its romantic tone through sharp characterization. Gene is especially fun. I love how he's not exactly in control. He's competent, but really outer space(without spoilers) is a place where he is still shaky. A very nice quality as too often I find that scifi series with the small crew dyanmic either go to one extreme: an incompetent individual or a super competent individual. As Bennet said, Outlaw Star sits in the middle. And that is fine for me.
I think what really sold Toonami was just how cool the animation block shorts were. Compare to, say, that one animation block that had that weird little girl in a yellow jumpsuit and her underwater blob monster friends... Tom and the ship even had that awesome mini-series about trying to hunt the Intruder. It's like Alien but for kids FFS, and barely that, cuz it was rather terrifying in an Alien/Lovecraftian kinda way..
You know one of the things I remember fondly about Toonami? All those epic promos. Things like Dreams, and Advanced Robotics that used clips from the various shows and movies that aired on Toonami to make something really special and even inspirational.
Outlaw Star will always be my favorite. It had action and danger, comedy and romance, mystery and intrigue. It never did to much of any one thing but it always did what it tried well. I watch it about once a year and every year I get a little something more out of it. It’ll always be my favorite because it’s a show that grew with me. When I was young I was Jim, I had a lot of his troubles and problems. The older I got the more I saw myself as Gene. Now I’m starting to get up their and I see myself in a lot of the other characters like Hilda and Suzuka. It ages with you and it’s message is such that it can reach you if you’re 12 or 35.
ah yes, Outlaw Star. One of the 'hooks' that buried it self in me and made me an anime fan, and one of the first complete anime series I dropped cash on. god bless that original run of Toonami.
About the whole "Similarities between Outlaw Star and Firefly": (1) They ARE VERY SIMILAR (2) They are both awesome (3) I only ever got my wife to watch Outlaw Star & Cowboy Bebop because she loves Firefly and was willing to give an anime version of it a chance. So Joss gets a pass for imitating it a bit in my case.
I grew up on outlaw star....Love that show more than anything else. I planned for all the times it would be ran on Toonami, that was the only show I found worth my time. btw sage what was that mario hat all about?
It belonged to one of Ben's friends and colleagues, Justin Carmical aka Jew Wario "JW" who not too long ago passed away. I guess now it belongs to Sage.
I've seen dozens of different anime series, OVAs and movies from the 80s to present. I've seen many which can objectively be considered superior to outlaw star in several quantifiable ways. And yet, this show remains my all-time favorite. I am not sure I can ever explain why fully - it just fills me with the same sense of adventure and love for the journey that I got when I watched it in 2001 for the first time. It also looks cool and the aesthetic is a special time capsule, they don't draw em like this anymore. So many fun cyberpunky, fluorescent backgrounds on the various planets, and the one on one duels as well as space ship fights are animated well. The english dub is killer and the music pumps me up every single time. I don't mind that it is episodic basically from episodes 7-23, because they all push the plot forward in some small way while focusing on what is really important - the characters and their relationships with each other. The characters are some damn likable in this show and even a villain like Harry McDougal is layered and fun to watch. Gene is an awesome protagonist and I never get tired of hearing his jokes or seeing him use his wits and environments to survive fights. I even like the moments that are semi-serious - like the one used in this video of gene looking up towards the sky. Episode 15 where he fights leilong he kinda goes through an existential crisis. All the side characters we meet along the way like Hilda or the old man from the water planet episode are fun and teach gene different things that make him who he is at the end. And I don't even think that rant covers all the things I like about it. This one is just special to me, I have my nostalgia goggles on and I am not ashamed of it ha.
I clicked the link bracing myself to hear Bennett shit all over one of my favorite animes, but was surprised to hear that this is a favorite of his also.
I'm also pretty sure they showed it on Toonami where I am. Maybe with some cuts, but I totally remember an episode where Gene was restocking his supply of caster shells, and I only saw this show on Toonami.
Watched this AFTER my comments on Iria, for the record. And props to you for playing the original version of the outro. I love all forms, but this one actually got my blood running pretty hard. I miss the days when I could sing it...
I felt the show seemed to know what it was. Who ever wrote the story seemed to have figured out every little detail, and we the audience got all the info dump we needed at the beginning of each episode through the narrator before the opening credits, which allowed the characters themselves be natural. AKA the characters didn't waste time telling each other things they probably already know about just to dump it on the audience.
The Angel Links crossover episode was awesome! I loved this anime and is definitely one of my all time favorites! Also, fun fact, there was going to be a spinoff featuring Jim and it was going to suck so it got canceled before it was even drawn.
Recently wanted to show my friends Outlaw Star so I watched this again to refresh myself and to see if there was anything I might have missed. Also RIP JewWario. You are truly missed.
Outlaw star is one of my favourite animes of all time and it really burns me that although it's still a known anime among seasoned fans it seems as though the show has been largely forgotten. This show deserves a lot more love and attention that it's been given and I applaud Bennet for spotting some light on one of anime's hidden gems.
Although it's actually kind of a simple name, I just always thought "Starwind" was the coolest last name out there. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up doing something cray-zeh like changing my last name to Starwind.
DUDE you hit the nail on the head when it comes to being spoiled by bebop. it was the first one i watched and it got me hooked and also kinda disappointed that its just that much better then so many things out there
Great job with this review man. This anime was always one of my all time favorites that I always come back to watch. And that ending theme from the show.. Nostalgic overload!!
Seeing tom sit down in his chair at the start of this episode after so long seemed to just idkkk open up something in my heart lolz I literally almost just cried I felt like I was shot with a nostalgia cannon lolz
Out of every anime I have ever seen, this is my favorite. End of story. It's fun without being too thought-provoking, introspective, or straight up full of angst. When I want to watch anime, I want to watch something fun and this is the one I go to every time.
I 1st discovered Outlaw Star on the old weekday afternoon version of Toonami. It was one of the few anime I could watch with my younger brother that he didn't find too weird. And only recently, did the Saturday Night Toonami finally show it again, with blood, swearing, and nudity. I call it "the better version." Fun fact: Hilda's English voice actress is the same one as Major Kusanagi, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. But for this series, I think she used a fake name.
They are both space westerns, but there's way too many similarities. Girl in a box/damsel in distress (which adds to the head-scratcher of why he supports Anita Sarkeesian), who was an experiment, has latent yet potential to being a badass weapon/key of sorts, as well as an Inara template, in that her design/programming or personal conditioning was touched on that she was sexually used by previous owners of her. River is Melfina. Also Gene using an old-timey weapon, a castor, much like Mal using an old time pistol compared to modern tech for the future's take on modern. Kaylee being a tinkerer like Jim, and Zoe arguably being a Twilight Suzuka with her military martial arts and weapons mastery is something to consider for fans. Jayne Cobbs over-confidence is much like Aisha Clanclan's. Little reaching with the latter, but sure, maybe. Reavers being the mindless kei pirates. Mr. Universe came off a bit like Fred Luo, except sexuality. Jubal Early felt a good bit like Ron MacDougall. Dr. Mathias in Firefly is without a doubt Professor Khan, both involved in the invention of their girl-in-a-box. And in Serenity, I found The Operative to be Shimi. Both are peak human condition, relentless, and are both, in a way, reformed and retire from their dirty businesses. And temptress Hamushi, while I feel is reaching like Cobb's connection to Aisha, could be the character Saffron. I know people are trying their best to avoid Sarkeesian, but Whedon's support of her is so hypocritical. He once claimed Jubal Early as one of his favorite characters, and that character threatened Kaylee with raping her to death. I mean, wtf?! Plus all the other things he's done in his career that if put under the same scrutiny as Sarkeesian's views, would be torn to shreds. Don't get me wrong, I thought Judal was a great character. He was very much so brutal and convincingly so. Would not surprise me if he was the inspiration for The Operative in Serenity. I'm not against these characters. But I will say a very, very hypocritical thing Whedon was prepared to do before Firefly's cancellation was an unfinished episodes premise involving Inara being gangraped by reavers. ...?! What the hell nuggets?! And with all this said, I will say that I still like both shows, but hate that Whedonauts hate when you point it out, dismiss or "spit" on Outlaw Star, even if they haven't seen it, and are just so bandwagon-y. I'm a fan of Whedon (even with his latest eyeroll of a defense of Sarkeesian/oversensitive-feminism), yet I'm usually not a big fan of Whedon fans.
Can y'all shut the fuck up about Anita? Do you realize how pathetic you sound to the rest of the world? And also I will agree with you about the hypocrisy. Joss has claimed to be feminist on multiple occasions and has written some amazing female characters but ooooh boy. But feminists have pointed this out and criticized Whedon/Whedon's writing and hypocrisy. Nothing new here.
IT AIN'T THOUGHT PROVOKING!? WHA-!? Dude, when you were a kid, Melphina's "Who am I? What made me, and what did they make me for?", scene as well as Toonami's excellent scene clip mashups didn't stir that brain of yours into an emotional mess? Maybe its just me.
+malik fisher I've seen TNG's Measure of a Man, so nope. Hmm wait... two series based around a spaceship with android character? GoddamnedJapanesseripoffs!
Agreed. Those three questions are some of the deepest questions we can ask ourselves lol. If it isn't thought provoking you just aren't thinking deep enough...
3:24 Funny you should mention that. XD 6:30 Given what we know about Joss these days, I think it's fair to assume that it wasn't as much of a coincidence as he claimed. 8:02 So it's basically "One Piece" in space.
I love Outlaw Star, I actually watched it back in the 2000s and accidentally bought a bootleg DVD set. The number one thing I hated is that everyone I told Outlaw Star about was like "Oh well I like Cowboy Bebop." They weren't even close to being the same.
I agree, both are great shows but I find myself watching Outlaw Star more often. I do recommend both to people but I make sure to let them know that the similarities end at dysfunctional crew in space having adventures.
I loved this anime back then and still do this day. First DVD I bought when I received my first ever paycheck and take immediate care of it. Also like to note that I like this old style of anime, its nostalgic, calming, and soothing. Or it might be because it's autumn and I have a more homey feeling
Just as the Running Man was the first anime Sage ever watched, Outlaw Star was the first anime I ever saw. The characters, the action, the humor, the music, and even the messages from the intro to each episode are what drew me to the series, wanting to see more, and I still love all of it today. I tracked down the entire series on DVD over the years and it still holds a special place in my heart. Honestly, I can't think of a better anime that could have introduced me to the genre. Regardless of what similarities it has with Firefly, the fact that Sage agrees that Outlaw Star is still entertaining gives me a sense of assurance when it comes to the quality of anime.
I have the entire series on DVD. It's proudly one of my first full anime series I ever bought. It's currently one of two full anime series I own (the other being Gungrave). Also on a side note, Sage's silent tribute to Jew Wario get's me every time.
one of my first tastes of anime was this anime. and being a sci-fi was the draw for me in the first place. however I was working on a book that involved space melee combat then this beat me to the punch sad for me... still
This was in the early 2000's, i was a horrible student, and I took summer school in HS just to graduate. My mom promised me she'd buy me anything if I graduated, so when I did we went straight to Suncoast and I got the 3 outlaw star DVD set. It didn't matter that I had already seen the show a bunch of times on toonami or that I recorded a ton of episodes on VHS. I wanted to own OS, It was the first anime sires I bought and I still have the dvd's on my shelf, the show was more meaningful to me than anything I can think of back in my teens.
outlaw star was one bitchen anime back then seeing it as a kid. it was colorful, stylistic, and i actually saw it first before cowboy bebop. gene was likeable and memorable as were his crew. he reminded me of a casey jones like character, someone i would have liked to be when i grew up. taking life easy, not letting things get him down and having a darn fun adventure doing it.
This anime and Tenchi are what got me into anime. I liked Cowboy Bebop, but you're right. Outlaw Star is not Cowboy Bebop. They are apples and oranges. The English dubbing was actually pretty darn good in this, too. I remember buying all of the DVDs as a kid. It took forever to save up the money. I burnt all of the VHS tapes up watching them over and over again.
I just finished this series this morning. Beautiful looking series (usually), likable characters, a decent soundtrack, but the villains were kind of weak motivationally but had cool designs. A Cowboy Bebop LITE if you will. I like to theorize this takes place between Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy.
Outlaw star is a magical part of my anime history and i love to watch and enjoy it. This review is really good and I got tons of good feels just remembering the show.
I saw outlaw Star before I saw Bebop and I remember the tagline on Toonami "wild West Y2K style" Years after watching it cover to cover I got the entire series at a Best buy that was closing down for something like 12 bucks and it was well worth it.
From what I’ve saw of this show there are three essential elements that make it a classic excluding its story. The fact the show doesnt take itself too seriously, the world building and the characters
Lol, everybody went "meh" at Space Dandy as well, since it was not a spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop. It was good for a boobs-centred comedy though.
Pan Limak only thing i got to say about it was it was just to silly. Interesting to watch but it just had no serious moments. Outlaw star had the perfect balance.
Davidson1873 Well, yeah. That's one of the reasons why I dropped it as well. Space Dandy was just a comedy. Outlaw Star was an adventure, and in an adventure, there is everything: action, romance, sadness, comedy, all sorts of fun. Not just boob jokes. But that comes down to the very genre and what a show strives to be. I really don't think Space Dandy was ever supposed to make it big even in the slightest. They just did some marketing on the writers name because why not, it did make selling it easier.
"There are... some... similarities true but... coincidences happen..." This being an Anime review show I half expected that you'd follow immediately with "right, Disney?"
Dude love the review, and your absolutely right. Best anime, best characters, not complicated, best weapon and just all around fun. Kudos man. You hit the nail right on the head with this review, and I'd like to point out that in 05 I won a mini con costume contest for being Gene... it was the shit.
Outlaw Star and Sailor Moon. My pre-teen years...sigh. I still get nostalgic when I hear the ending songs from the show and how it takes me back to a feeling of bliss during those dark summer midnights. Midnights with stars. That show and its songs by Arai Akino helped me to create my own comics.
I like what you said in the beginning of the video. The new Toonami has shifted it's focus to mainly the teen and adult audience by airing on Adult Swim rather than towards a pre-teen audience like the old Toonami did on Cartoon Network. Today's generation of kids will likely never know of anime or understand it unless their older sibling or someone on a forum were to introduce them to Crunchyroll or Funimation. This is especially true since the only anime that air during the daytime in the US are toyetic things like Pokemon, Beyblade and their various clones, all while America's own animation continues to be dumbed down. As for Outlaw Star, I haven't seen the series in ages, but it's definitely one of those anime that was made in a very different time in the industry, given it's a series that has a lot of heart and soul put into it and has a great story with memorable characters, unlike a lot of today's anime, which over-rely on non-stop fan-service, bland characters, overly pretentious plot elements, and pointless romance scenes (I'm looking at you Sword Art Online). Not saying ALL modern anime is crap, since there are a number a series in recent years I do like such as Attack on Titan, One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, but there aren't as many extremely good anime as there were in the past. A series like Outlaw Star could _never_ be made in today's anime industry.
Thank you so much for reviewing my favorite anime of all time and having an unbiased opinion on it. Hopefully other people will have the privilege to watch it for themselves without comparing it to Cowboy Bebop so hard and enjoy it like I still do.
10:51 to 11:12 Why oh why can’t newer anime’s direct scenes like this anymore... the dialogue is genuine, the shots are consistent, and the character responses don’t exacerbate themselves right out of the moment/feeling being conveyed. Newer anime’s always cop out with some Loli toilet humor scenes.
A fun tidbit about Outlaw Star:
The woman who voiced Aisha in the dub also voiced Rogue in the X-Men animated series from the 90s.
That explains way too much about my childhood.
hey and check it out - a live action version of cowboy bebop WAS absurd.
@@patrick4662 And guess what? Now Netflix is making ANOTHER live action Death Note. It's possible they take another crack at Bebop because they are stupid.
@@nightmarefanatic1819 and today I saw Netflix is making live action YuYu Hakusho!!! LOL.
Im not against the concept of live action versions of anime classics - but I just haven't seen them done right yet.
@@patrick4662 Alita: Battle Angel was good... And that's about it. Crunchyroll also announced that there's a live action Tiger and Bunny in the works which SHOULD be a slam dunk for an American crew but I can't underestimate the ability of anyone involved in a LA anime to fuck things up. It might actually cause anger in Japan though since it's so popular there lol.
Anyone remember that episode where Jim fell in love with that girl name Hanmyo (who had 2 talking cats) - Later in the episode Jim destroys an enemy ship not knowing the Hanmyo was the pilot, and killing her - sad episode
jmantime that was a sad episode
on toonami gundam had a similar episode with its character then followed by Hanmyo episode and I was feelin all shades of blue for days
yeah that was a punch right in the feels
Cats, Girls and Spaceships
jmantime I wonder if he ever found out
Wow...never realized it before but...Firefly is the closest to a live action Outlaw Star we'll ever get.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, Farscape, ...and MANY others.... It's the tale of a ragtag bunch out in space, with their lovable crew, having adventures
Vash Starwind And yet they are all very different. Especially Farscape.
Jehovah obvious troll is obvious.
PS : you might want to disable capslock
@@vashstarwind36 it's more of a Space Western Sci-fi genre that everyone fell in love with. But I'm more of a Cyberpunk/Space Opera Sci-fi genre type
Jehovah Farscape was “the” shit. Fixed your statement for you.
The Outlaw Star music still kicks ass! I'm Glad I still have the whole series!
that end of the video when that song was playing brought back the memories
Outlaw Star was the show that tipped the scale for me from "looks interesting, I'll watch it" to "is there more".
same.
There was going to be until it got cancelled.
I saw another review vid refer to it as "eye crack" and I couldn't agree more. I don't know of another anime that looks like it, love the unique style of the characters and the space environments. And it'll always look the same no matter how much times passes so its this special little time capsule of 90s anime aesthetic.
"Live-action Cowboy Bebop." That aged well in 2022. 😂
And it wasn't faithful to the story.
You know, I was willing to lean towards Whedon's assertions that it was a coincidence...Up until the girl in the box. He could have at least made the box look different, my God.
Check out the name: Miranda
Miranda is a password to the layline map in Outlaw Star
Miranda is the planet that was hidden in Serenity (Firefly)
@@madmanmark08 SONOVABITCH
"Coincidence" are a set of brothers having the same name as two of the 3 protagonists of the Harry Potter series.
Whedon just straight ripped off
The early episodes' humour had a certain style to them: what we now associate with the Disney Marvel cinematic universe which Whedon pioneered with Avengers. The tense moment is stopped with a sudden subtle humourous moment.... I would like to think Disney owes a lot to Outlaw Star.
outlaw star, tenchi muyo, cowboy bebop. the holy trinity that got me into anime. special note: I am physically incapable of listening to outlaw's end theme without crying, and I freely admit it.
@Nyaemal Hrruna omg me too LMFAO!!! I re-watched the entire series two weekends ago and always listened to the ending theme with full nostalgia and sadness. Lol. I cried at the end.....
I'm guessing the first ending theme, "Hiru no Tsuki".
... I didn't want to like your videos. But I lost it at "CONFESSSSSSSSSSS."
Keep it up!
Well it isn't trying to be a masterpiece
Outlaw Star is an underrated masterpiece
Melfina was always my childhood crush. I don't know what's so attractive about Melfina, her shyness, her warm nature or maybe the fact that she's mostly naked all of the time.
I loved Outlaw Star so much as a kid that when I wanted to introduce my parents (who were watching DBZ at the time) unfortunately it turned out to be the Hot Spring episode....I never felt so embarrassed....
5 years late but i found that episode funny and wierd at the same time all the traps Gene got into that crazy pirate guy...
im getting second hand embarrassment thinking about this. yikes
Firefly aired 21 months after the first english episode of Outlaw Star, so yeah he had ample time to rip it off.
IKR?
+dark0ssx whole reason i never watched Firefly inits initial run is cause i was already a HUGE outlaw star fan and i have since had arguments w pp over this (i like firefly it's great but it's as original as starwars... which is a rip off of a Kurosawa film)
+dark0ssx Actually I looked it up. While you are correct about the English episodes, that's not the Japanese episodes, nor the actual manga it was based off. The first issue for the manga was released it 1996 with the first episode of Firefly released in 2002. That's 6 years that Outlaw Star existed that Joss could have taken the idea and formed it into Firefly. And he is a self proclaimed nerd so it's definitely within the realm of possibility that he heard of Outlaw Star even if neither the show nor an English version existed.
+dark0ssx LOL basically yeah but good show.
+dark0ssx Yeah but that doesn't take into account how long Firefly was in production and pre-production (where most of the stories would be thought out). And keep in mind Joss was busy working on Buffy and Angel before all that so he may have been to watch TV and randomly come across Outlaw Star.
Outlaw Star is so damn good... such an underrated classic! I was 11 or 12 when it was on the Toonami segment of Adult Swim all those years ago and I would stay up past bedtime to watch it... I'd even turn the volume down really low so my parents didn't catch me up. Since then, I've bought it on DVD and I've re-watched it a few times. It holds up!
❤️ I feel you! Same childhood
Ironically, I think people would give that Keanu Reeves Cowboy Bebop adaptation now over the Netflix abomination.
Yes the caster gun best weapon ever
+BeingHonest Next to the Twin Buster Rifle!!
It shoots black holes so, yeah.
boy let me tell you, Hilda is the HOTTEST character ever. she's the real STAR of the show.
hmm. the portal gun
BeingHonest Yep.
My favorite part of the show was the ending song
I'm not really into guns.
Nope, not my thing.
...ok, where can I get one of those casters?
Yeah the Caster Gun & the fact that the Outlaw Star (and many other ships) could do freaking melee combat were some of the most memorable parts of the show. Also remember Aisha & Ryoko (from Tenchi) we’re tied as my first anime crushes as a teen. Easily angered & genuinely dangerous & deadly gals are still 100% my bag.
One of my favorite anime of all time, Outlaw Star rocks & holy crap that intro & outro music!
I sang along with that every time, even if I was completely butchering the language.
Thanks for not going on about Bebop for too long also, Bebop is great but honestly I've always preferred Outlaw Star to Bebop & the constant comparisons get annoying.
I don't see how anyone can compare either anime. I always saw them as too different to even be compared. Its weird because I saw Outlaw Star way before Cowboy Bebop and never thought to compare either anime because I saw them as completely different shows. Not once did I think "Hey X rips off X, but X does it better". I loved them both for different reasons.
I love Outlaw star as well :D
They are almost nothing alike though!
@@Pooky1991 Saddly it was a product of the time and airings, the comparisons. I too felt they were 2 very different flavors of their own awesomeness!
You’re not alone! I only love Outlaw Star. I like Bebop but I don’t love it because it’s not Outlaw Star! Outlaw Star is the BEST anime series ever! It’s like a badass hero with the most badass gun ever… but he’s also broke af and has to do laundry and fight his roommates lol. He also loves bad bitches lol. He’s tough but he got a lot of flaws. He’s not the smartest for sure. He has trauma, but he overcomes his trauma. He approaches big challenges with a lot of confidence. Sometimes he’s too overconfident and survives by just luck being on his side. It’s a badass space adventure! And also a love story because the bad boy finds the true love from the hood girl. The premise of the story from the beginning is just awesome. Like, guy just does all kinds of jobs until one day he gets a job from a beautiful woman but then realizes that woman is not who she claims to be but a legendary outlaw who is at war with one of the most powerful space pirate organizations. Oh and the space pirates are not just a few ships. They are basically like kingdoms with dominion over multiple planetary systems and shit! They are very dangerous and powerful enemies to have. And it’s a treasure hunt as well… except that the treasure ends up being a machine God that grants wishes and can change the physics in the universe at will! So many badass things… Lord Hazanko and his assassins and subjects are only a small group within 1 single Pirate nation. There are like 5 different larger pirate kingdoms or nation that are not even discussed in the story and barely mentioned. It’s a huge world with epic proportions.
Outlaw star was my childhood, And I loved it.
8:50
"Why, Why did I have to be born?" *cries*
"First and foremost, the show was about fun!"
... Okay.
crowscrowcrow Ow. I just hurt my neck from that whiplash
I recently got into Outlaw Star. And my Lord I was missing out when I was young.
welcome to the party pal!
Tony Leitner
where can you watch old anime exacly
Good question
I'm watching it currently and I am having a blast. The show surprisingly has a lot of depth despite its romantic tone through sharp characterization. Gene is especially fun. I love how he's not exactly in control. He's competent, but really outer space(without spoilers) is a place where he is still shaky. A very nice quality as too often I find that scifi series with the small crew dyanmic either go to one extreme: an incompetent individual or a super competent individual.
As Bennet said, Outlaw Star sits in the middle. And that is fine for me.
I think what really sold Toonami was just how cool the animation block shorts were.
Compare to, say, that one animation block that had that weird little girl in a yellow jumpsuit and her underwater blob monster friends...
Tom and the ship even had that awesome mini-series about trying to hunt the Intruder. It's like Alien but for kids FFS, and barely that, cuz it was rather terrifying in an Alien/Lovecraftian kinda way..
You've sold me on Outlaw Star, Sage! Just bought the Blu-ray set! Gonna enjoy!
I totally lost it when he screamed "CONFE-E-E-E-E-E-E-ESS!
the line about live action cowboys bebop line hits different now
That intermission was pretty badass
You know one of the things I remember fondly about Toonami? All those epic promos. Things like Dreams, and Advanced Robotics that used clips from the various shows and movies that aired on Toonami to make something really special and even inspirational.
"Live Action Cowboy Bebop!? That would be absurd!" hits differently in 2023.
Oh no...the ending...Jewario....
Eerie0Innocence I know. It's so sad, yet touching. God rest your soul, JewWario.
I know...:(
+Eerie0Innocence touching dedication
When I saw that, I took my hat off...may his soul rest in peace....
Eerie0Innocence how did you plan that commercial?! that was awesome!
"It ain't complicated. It ain't thought-provoking, but god-damn is it fun."
That exact phrase could also describe Gurren Lagann.
+Yeti YetiInTheDen lol absolutely..
I am so glad people love this show, a lot of my friends barely even heard of it XD
Outlaw Star will always be my favorite. It had action and danger, comedy and romance, mystery and intrigue. It never did to much of any one thing but it always did what it tried well. I watch it about once a year and every year I get a little something more out of it. It’ll always be my favorite because it’s a show that grew with me. When I was young I was Jim, I had a lot of his troubles and problems. The older I got the more I saw myself as Gene. Now I’m starting to get up their and I see myself in a lot of the other characters like Hilda and Suzuka. It ages with you and it’s message is such that it can reach you if you’re 12 or 35.
ah yes, Outlaw Star. One of the 'hooks' that buried it self in me and made me an anime fan, and one of the first complete anime series I dropped cash on.
god bless that original run of Toonami.
About the whole "Similarities between Outlaw Star and Firefly":
(1) They ARE VERY SIMILAR
(2) They are both awesome
(3) I only ever got my wife to watch Outlaw Star & Cowboy Bebop because she loves Firefly and was willing to give an anime version of it a chance. So Joss gets a pass for imitating it a bit in my case.
"Can you imagine a live-action Cowboy Bebop? That would be absurd!"
Well, he wasn't wrong...
I grew up on outlaw star....Love that show more than anything else. I planned for all the times it would be ran on Toonami, that was the only show I found worth my time.
btw sage what was that mario hat all about?
It belonged to one of Ben's friends and colleagues, Justin Carmical aka Jew Wario "JW" who not too long ago passed away. I guess now it belongs to Sage.
I used to record this show on my VCR lol. To this day I still love the two ending theme songs for this anime
This man covered my favorite anime of all time and previews my second favorite anime of all time.
Outlaw Star is STILL one of my most favorite anime of all time. Just... loads of fun, with a serious and dramatic side when it needed it.
I've seen dozens of different anime series, OVAs and movies from the 80s to present. I've seen many which can objectively be considered superior to outlaw star in several quantifiable ways.
And yet, this show remains my all-time favorite. I am not sure I can ever explain why fully - it just fills me with the same sense of adventure and love for the journey that I got when I watched it in 2001 for the first time. It also looks cool and the aesthetic is a special time capsule, they don't draw em like this anymore. So many fun cyberpunky, fluorescent backgrounds on the various planets, and the one on one duels as well as space ship fights are animated well. The english dub is killer and the music pumps me up every single time. I don't mind that it is episodic basically from episodes 7-23, because they all push the plot forward in some small way while focusing on what is really important - the characters and their relationships with each other. The characters are some damn likable in this show and even a villain like Harry McDougal is layered and fun to watch. Gene is an awesome protagonist and I never get tired of hearing his jokes or seeing him use his wits and environments to survive fights. I even like the moments that are semi-serious - like the one used in this video of gene looking up towards the sky. Episode 15 where he fights leilong he kinda goes through an existential crisis. All the side characters we meet along the way like Hilda or the old man from the water planet episode are fun and teach gene different things that make him who he is at the end.
And I don't even think that rant covers all the things I like about it. This one is just special to me, I have my nostalgia goggles on and I am not ashamed of it ha.
I clicked the link bracing myself to hear Bennett shit all over one of my favorite animes, but was surprised to hear that this is a favorite of his also.
I always wanted a figure of the Toonami guy
Adam Navigato Of Tom? Which version of him?
i'd buy one of every version if they came with a little speaker that said his lines
exept season 3s
I have the funko pop of him
I dunno what it is about outlaw star's ending music but it brings such a joyous melancholy feeling in me every time I hear it :
People think that 4kids introduced anime to America, but it was Toonami that actually treated anime like and artform and not a merchandise.
I also remember watching the show at least half way through the show and loved it from just that.
Oof, that 'live action cowboy bebop' line... If only we got the Keanu version lol
I saw Outlaw Star before I saw Bebop and Personally I love both of them. (And the 1st time I saw River in the suitcase I KNEW it was from Outlaw Star)
3:30 Who's watching this video, and this particular point in 2021? 😂😂
CONFESS! COOOOOONFFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!
It's very good to see that you're still releasing these retrospective reviews. Keep on truckin, Space Cowboy!
In the UK they showed the Hot Spring episode
+CornishCreamtea07 Cool!
I'm also pretty sure they showed it on Toonami where I am. Maybe with some cuts, but I totally remember an episode where Gene was restocking his supply of caster shells, and I only saw this show on Toonami.
Where did this air on the UK?
Watched this AFTER my comments on Iria, for the record.
And props to you for playing the original version of the outro. I love all forms, but this one actually got my blood running pretty hard.
I miss the days when I could sing it...
I felt the show seemed to know what it was. Who ever wrote the story seemed to have figured out every little detail, and we the audience got all the info dump we needed at the beginning of each episode through the narrator before the opening credits, which allowed the characters themselves be natural. AKA the characters didn't waste time telling each other things they probably already know about just to dump it on the audience.
It's sad how many people overlook this show. I had fun watching as a kid and as an adult.
The Angel Links crossover episode was awesome! I loved this anime and is definitely one of my all time favorites!
Also, fun fact, there was going to be a spinoff featuring Jim and it was going to suck so it got canceled before it was even drawn.
Recently wanted to show my friends Outlaw Star so I watched this again to refresh myself and to see if there was anything I might have missed.
Also RIP JewWario. You are truly missed.
Outlaw star is one of my favourite animes of all time and it really burns me that although it's still a known anime among seasoned fans it seems as though the show has been largely forgotten. This show deserves a lot more love and attention that it's been given and I applaud Bennet for spotting some light on one of anime's hidden gems.
Although it's actually kind of a simple name, I just always thought "Starwind" was the coolest last name out there. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up doing something cray-zeh like changing my last name to Starwind.
DUDE you hit the nail on the head when it comes to being spoiled by bebop. it was the first one i watched and it got me hooked and also kinda disappointed that its just that much better then so many things out there
Great job with this review man. This anime was always one of my all time favorites that I always come back to watch. And that ending theme from the show.. Nostalgic overload!!
Seeing tom sit down in his chair at the start of this episode after so long seemed to just idkkk open up something in my heart lolz I literally almost just cried I felt like I was shot with a nostalgia cannon lolz
Out of every anime I have ever seen, this is my favorite. End of story.
It's fun without being too thought-provoking, introspective, or straight up full of angst. When I want to watch anime, I want to watch something fun and this is the one I go to every time.
Toonami also originally gave Melfina a sport bra and bicycle shorts and they toned down Fred Luo's crush on Gene considerably
Trying to live action cowboy bebop would be absurd this aged so well
I 1st discovered Outlaw Star on the old weekday afternoon version of Toonami. It was one of the few anime I could watch with my younger brother that he didn't find too weird. And only recently, did the Saturday Night Toonami finally show it again, with blood, swearing, and nudity. I call it "the better version."
Fun fact: Hilda's English voice actress is the same one as Major Kusanagi, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn. But for this series, I think she used a fake name.
They are both space westerns, but there's way too many similarities. Girl in a box/damsel in distress (which adds to the head-scratcher of why he supports Anita Sarkeesian), who was an experiment, has latent yet potential to being a badass weapon/key of sorts, as well as an Inara template, in that her design/programming or personal conditioning was touched on that she was sexually used by previous owners of her. River is Melfina. Also Gene using an old-timey weapon, a castor, much like Mal using an old time pistol compared to modern tech for the future's take on modern. Kaylee being a tinkerer like Jim, and Zoe arguably being a Twilight Suzuka with her military martial arts and weapons mastery is something to consider for fans. Jayne Cobbs over-confidence is much like Aisha Clanclan's. Little reaching with the latter, but sure, maybe. Reavers being the mindless kei pirates. Mr. Universe came off a bit like Fred Luo, except sexuality. Jubal Early felt a good bit like Ron MacDougall. Dr. Mathias in Firefly is without a doubt Professor Khan, both involved in the invention of their girl-in-a-box. And in Serenity, I found The Operative to be Shimi. Both are peak human condition, relentless, and are both, in a way, reformed and retire from their dirty businesses. And temptress Hamushi, while I feel is reaching like Cobb's connection to Aisha, could be the character Saffron.
I know people are trying their best to avoid Sarkeesian, but Whedon's support of her is so hypocritical. He once claimed Jubal Early as one of his favorite characters, and that character threatened Kaylee with raping her to death. I mean, wtf?! Plus all the other things he's done in his career that if put under the same scrutiny as Sarkeesian's views, would be torn to shreds. Don't get me wrong, I thought Judal was a great character. He was very much so brutal and convincingly so. Would not surprise me if he was the inspiration for The Operative in Serenity. I'm not against these characters. But I will say a very, very hypocritical thing Whedon was prepared to do before Firefly's cancellation was an unfinished episodes premise involving Inara being gangraped by reavers. ...?! What the hell nuggets?!
And with all this said, I will say that I still like both shows, but hate that Whedonauts hate when you point it out, dismiss or "spit" on Outlaw Star, even if they haven't seen it, and are just so bandwagon-y. I'm a fan of Whedon (even with his latest eyeroll of a defense of Sarkeesian/oversensitive-feminism), yet I'm usually not a big fan of Whedon fans.
Lol Anita
Can y'all shut the fuck up about Anita? Do you realize how pathetic you sound to the rest of the world? And also I will agree with you about the hypocrisy. Joss has claimed to be feminist on multiple occasions and has written some amazing female characters but ooooh boy. But feminists have pointed this out and criticized Whedon/Whedon's writing and hypocrisy. Nothing new here.
DBZ got me into Action shows
Gundam got me into Gaint Robots
Outlaw Star got me into Anime
Freaking TRUE!!
It was bebop for me but outlaw star was cool
I actually enjoyed this series back in the day.. should give it a re-watch
best ending theme, too. God I love that theme. And the pictures that went over it.
IT AIN'T THOUGHT PROVOKING!? WHA-!? Dude, when you were a kid, Melphina's "Who am I? What made me, and what did they make me for?", scene as well as Toonami's excellent scene clip mashups didn't stir that brain of yours into an emotional mess? Maybe its just me.
+malik fisher I've seen TNG's Measure of a Man, so nope. Hmm wait... two series based around a spaceship with android character? GoddamnedJapanesseripoffs!
Shadow the hedgehog fans, am i right?
No we all felt that too my man...we all felt it...
...See you later space cowboy...
Agreed. Those three questions are some of the deepest questions we can ask ourselves lol.
If it isn't thought provoking you just aren't thinking deep enough...
3:24 Funny you should mention that. XD
6:30 Given what we know about Joss these days, I think it's fair to assume that it wasn't as much of a coincidence as he claimed.
8:02 So it's basically "One Piece" in space.
Except it actually ended before it got annoying
I'm very disappointed that you never mentioned the opening, the show was recommended to me by a friend in school because of the opening.
Would have loved to have seen some mention of "Angel Links" the spin-off series Outlaw Star spawned.
I love Outlaw Star, I actually watched it back in the 2000s and accidentally bought a bootleg DVD set. The number one thing I hated is that everyone I told Outlaw Star about was like "Oh well I like Cowboy Bebop." They weren't even close to being the same.
I agree, both are great shows but I find myself watching Outlaw Star more often. I do recommend both to people but I make sure to let them know that the similarities end at dysfunctional crew in space having adventures.
I loved this anime back then and still do this day. First DVD I bought when I received my first ever paycheck and take immediate care of it. Also like to note that I like this old style of anime, its nostalgic, calming, and soothing. Or it might be because it's autumn and I have a more homey feeling
Just as the Running Man was the first anime Sage ever watched, Outlaw Star was the first anime I ever saw. The characters, the action, the humor, the music, and even the messages from the intro to each episode are what drew me to the series, wanting to see more, and I still love all of it today. I tracked down the entire series on DVD over the years and it still holds a special place in my heart. Honestly, I can't think of a better anime that could have introduced me to the genre. Regardless of what similarities it has with Firefly, the fact that Sage agrees that Outlaw Star is still entertaining gives me a sense of assurance when it comes to the quality of anime.
I have the entire series on DVD. It's proudly one of my first full anime series I ever bought. It's currently one of two full anime series I own (the other being Gungrave). Also on a side note, Sage's silent tribute to Jew Wario get's me every time.
one of my first tastes of anime was this anime. and being a sci-fi was the draw for me in the first place. however I was working on a book that involved space melee combat then this beat me to the punch sad for me... still
This was in the early 2000's, i was a horrible student, and I took summer school in HS just to graduate. My mom promised me she'd buy me anything if I graduated, so when I did we went straight to Suncoast and I got the 3 outlaw star DVD set. It didn't matter that I had already seen the show a bunch of times on toonami or that I recorded a ton of episodes on VHS. I wanted to own OS, It was the first anime sires I bought and I still have the dvd's on my shelf, the show was more meaningful to me than anything I can think of back in my teens.
outlaw star was one bitchen anime back then seeing it as a kid. it was colorful, stylistic, and i actually saw it first before cowboy bebop. gene was likeable and memorable as were his crew. he reminded me of a casey jones like character, someone i would have liked to be when i grew up. taking life easy, not letting things get him down and having a darn fun adventure doing it.
This anime and Tenchi are what got me into anime. I liked Cowboy Bebop, but you're right. Outlaw Star is not Cowboy Bebop. They are apples and oranges. The English dubbing was actually pretty darn good in this, too. I remember buying all of the DVDs as a kid. It took forever to save up the money. I burnt all of the VHS tapes up watching them over and over again.
I just finished this series this morning. Beautiful looking series (usually), likable characters, a decent soundtrack, but the villains were kind of weak motivationally but had cool designs.
A Cowboy Bebop LITE if you will.
I like to theorize this takes place between Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy.
Outlaw star is a magical part of my anime history and i love to watch and enjoy it. This review is really good and I got tons of good feels just remembering the show.
This is the very first episode of anything you've produced that I've seen. And honestly. GRADE A+ content here sir!! SUBSCRIBING!!
Nuh uh Sage, Firefly is the name of the ship's class, its name is Serenity. Tss tss
I saw outlaw Star before I saw Bebop and I remember the tagline on Toonami "wild West Y2K style"
Years after watching it cover to cover I got the entire series at a Best buy that was closing down for something like 12 bucks and it was well worth it.
That bebop joke aged
From what I’ve saw of this show there are three essential elements that make it a classic excluding its story. The fact the show doesnt take itself too seriously, the world building and the characters
3:24 welp it happened alright.....
Lol, everybody went "meh" at Space Dandy as well, since it was not a spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop. It was good for a boobs-centred comedy though.
Pan Limak only thing i got to say about it was it was just to silly. Interesting to watch but it just had no serious moments. Outlaw star had the perfect balance.
Davidson1873 Well, yeah. That's one of the reasons why I dropped it as well. Space Dandy was just a comedy. Outlaw Star was an adventure, and in an adventure, there is everything: action, romance, sadness, comedy, all sorts of fun. Not just boob jokes. But that comes down to the very genre and what a show strives to be. I really don't think Space Dandy was ever supposed to make it big even in the slightest. They just did some marketing on the writers name because why not, it did make selling it easier.
Davidson1873 Space Dandy had serious moments. Hell, in season 1 alone, we got a few episodes that were pretty serious for the show, I'd say.
Like?
Iiii
"There are... some... similarities true but... coincidences happen..."
This being an Anime review show I half expected that you'd follow immediately with "right, Disney?"
Dude love the review, and your absolutely right. Best anime, best characters, not complicated, best weapon and just all around fun. Kudos man. You hit the nail right on the head with this review, and I'd like to point out that in 05 I won a mini con costume contest for being Gene... it was the shit.
Outlaw Star and Sailor Moon. My pre-teen years...sigh. I still get nostalgic when I hear the ending songs from the show and how it takes me back to a feeling of bliss during those dark summer midnights. Midnights with stars. That show and its songs by Arai Akino helped me to create my own comics.
I like what you said in the beginning of the video. The new Toonami has shifted it's focus to mainly the teen and adult audience by airing on Adult Swim rather than towards a pre-teen audience like the old Toonami did on Cartoon Network. Today's generation of kids will likely never know of anime or understand it unless their older sibling or someone on a forum were to introduce them to Crunchyroll or Funimation. This is especially true since the only anime that air during the daytime in the US are toyetic things like Pokemon, Beyblade and their various clones, all while America's own animation continues to be dumbed down.
As for Outlaw Star, I haven't seen the series in ages, but it's definitely one of those anime that was made in a very different time in the industry, given it's a series that has a lot of heart and soul put into it and has a great story with memorable characters, unlike a lot of today's anime, which over-rely on non-stop fan-service, bland characters, overly pretentious plot elements, and pointless romance scenes (I'm looking at you Sword Art Online). Not saying ALL modern anime is crap, since there are a number a series in recent years I do like such as Attack on Titan, One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, but there aren't as many extremely good anime as there were in the past. A series like Outlaw Star could _never_ be made in today's anime industry.
Great review sage! Just ordered the blu ray on Amazon today. Can't wait!
Thank you so much for reviewing my favorite anime of all time and having an unbiased opinion on it. Hopefully other people will have the privilege to watch it for themselves without comparing it to Cowboy Bebop so hard and enjoy it like I still do.
The best ending song and sequence of any anime, ever!
10:51 to 11:12 Why oh why can’t newer anime’s direct scenes like this anymore... the dialogue is genuine, the shots are consistent, and the character responses don’t exacerbate themselves right out of the moment/feeling being conveyed. Newer anime’s always cop out with some Loli toilet humor scenes.