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0In this episode, by popular request Daryl reviews the 1998 sci-fi Western Outlaw Star, which we all remember so little about it’s almost like we’re seeing it for the first time. The original Toonami Generation is now middle-aged, after all.
Introduction (0:00 – 1:03.22)
Anime Boston is just two weeks away; we’d better start working on all those panels we’re doing, huh? For now, it’s another new anime season, and another batch of titles to check out. We talk about what we’re watching, since there’s a fair bit of good stuff airing right now. But also, Gerald saw a movie that displeased him mightily. We spend about 45 minutes discussing this.
But then we also talk about the incredibly short print runs of both manga and anime these days, which means we have no choice but to bring up the fact that the recent policy decisions being undertaken by the government are now having tangible effects on our existences of watching cartoons, playing videogames, and going to fan conventions. This is less than 15 minutes worth of discussion, but we know this is all anyone will pretend we talked about. So look: we’d love to stick to just talking about anime and avoid politics anything, but politics thinks otherwise. If want to argue about this, we will just delete/hide your comments without responding or showing them to anyone.
Rough news all around, and while it’s affecting merchandise right now (model kits, toys, apparel), printed materials are supposed to be exempt from all this tariff junk as are goods from Canada and Mexico that are compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). That should theoretically include most authored anime Blu-Rays and UHDs…except since we recorded this they’re talking about levying tariffs on foreign-produced media. Can that actually happen? Realistically not, but we’ve been saying that about a lot of things lately that are happening in the dumbest possible way. As The Comics Journal succinctly put it, “they might fuck us up at any moment.”
Review: Outlaw Star (1:03:22 – 2:29:08)
Daryl reviews a series that has been highly requested over the years, presumably because Outlaw Star aired during what people now nostalgically refer to as the “golden age” of Toonami/Adult Swim: that time during their early inceptions where they were first showing anime nationwide, effectively creating a brand new wave of anime fandom that spanned wider than fansubs or retail store rentals/releases had ever done before. Outlaw Star’s hybrid of Eastern mysticism with science fiction and the tropes of the American Western made it reasonably accessible to audiences who did not have prior knowledge of Japan, but the fact that it aired concurrently with two other space Westerns, one of which was Cowboy Bebop (the TV series of which wasn’t technically made by Bones like we said on account of the studio not existing until a few months after Cowboy Bebop TV was made, such that Bebop TV is also by Sunrise albeit by a different team, but the founders of Bones were the same people who made Bebop), means it is forever destined to be thought of as lesser by comparison even 27 years later. Nevertheless, we’ll try to evaluate it separately from that, seeing as how it’s been 27 years and all.
Absolute classic, nothing (really) wrong with it. A stellar (get it? stellar?) balance of episodic formula and plot. Great ending, just a step below perfection. English dub is real good, only sub purists will protest. Excellent musical score, same for OP and ED. Show is also a good crowd pleaser, good for group streams. Which is a nice little bonus. Now, if only both America and Europe got the same release………. european Bluray set has 1 extra disk, which means less compression. Meaning all americans ought to import Outlaw Star. I am now stuck with the US set, unsure if I should sell it. I mean, selling a product you know is inferior?
Does the European set have dubtitles as well instead of subtitles? That’d be a bigger selling point to get the actual sub.
Surprised that you guys didn’t bring up Shin Samurai-den Yaiba, the new adaptation of the manga by Gosho Aoyama. It’s been a fun time and incredibly well animated.
I enjoyed the 2nd and 4th My Hero movies more than the 1st and 3rd one due to having the entire 1-A class being a part of the movie instead of just being the big 3 (Deku, Shoto, and Bakago) and guest star. My rankings would be 2nd (even though the climax was a bit cheap), 4th, 1st, and then 3rd.
I think Amazon took the wrong lesson when they tried to push anime. Their attempt was Anime Strike where you have to pay an additional subscription fee for it since you have Amazon Prime as well. They basically tried the HBO route back in the day where you paid an additional fee to get HBO along with paying for your cable TV. Of course Anime Strike failed when you’re trying to double dip the anime fandom. But Amazon basically took that as “Anime isn’t popular”. That’s probably why they only have 1 or 2 shows per season and don’t market it heavily since it isn’t worth the money to market it.
It’s sort of funny to me that if you compare Spike, Vash, and Gene by looks that Gene would come in last but yet he’s the only one who actually had sex. Both Spike and Vash can easily get laid but actually refuse to have sex.
It’s a shame that Outlaw Star wasn’t as big as Cowboy Bebop. For me, I lean towards liking Outlaw Star more than Cowboy Bebop partly due to Adult Swim overplaying Cowboy Bebop.