Outlaw Star occupies an unusual space in western anime fandom. The show ran on Cartoon Network's Toonami block around the turn of the millennium, enjoying repeated success through re-runs of its 26-episode season. It also featured heavily in Toonami's advertising at the time, cementing its place as a memorable establishing series for those who were getting into anime at the time. The fact that you can spot Outlaw Star cosplayers at anime conventions to this day speaks to the endurance of its influence.

In spite of that, however, Outlaw Star never made it to the same level of fondness as its other nostalgic brethren of the time. It's not still being exploited as a franchise like Dragonball or Sailor Moon, it didn't receive myriad additional adaptations like Ghost in the Shell, and it hasn't seen any attempts at revival like Trigun. It doesn't even enjoy the same mainstream ‘classic’ status as its most obvious cousin, Cowboy Bebop, as evidenced by how much longer this blu-ray release took to come out (and the more low-key treatment it got) compared to that legendary series. So with such a lack of staying power despite so much nostalgia behind it, Outlaw Star's true popularity falls into question. Fortunately, this oft-requested release from Funimation affords us the opportunity to revisit the series with fresh eyes.

The core story of Outlaw Star concerns Gene Starwind and his cast of space frontier ne'er-do-wells using the titular experimental super-spaceship to search out a cosmic treasure called the Galactic Leyline. Rather than kicking off with this premise right away, the show actually takes its time putting this main framework into place. The Outlaw Star itself doesn't even appear until four episodes in, and it doesn't get its name and distinct red paint job until another episode later. A full multi-episode arc is dedicated to introducing Gene and his partner Jim, enlightening them about the Military/Pirates/Outlaw trichotomy of the space Wild West through their ostensible mentor Hilda, then reestablishing their own motivations moving forward alongside a few ancillary characters like Aisha Clan-Clan and the MacDougall brothers.

What's interesting about the show's initial commitment to a slowly developing story arc is that roughly half of the show's content to follow is purely episodic. Less charitable viewers may deem these episodes as ‘filler’, but given how much of Outlaw Star gets by on these side adventures, it seems more as if an adventure-of-the-week formula was something the series initially intended all along. These ‘filler’ episodes are also interesting in how they're placed within the overall plot. “Advance Guard From Another World” is a delightful spot of weirdness that progresses a few elements from the major space race arc it follows and slips in development for characters like Melfina. On the other hand, “A Journey of Adventure…Huh?” is an utterly disposable stop between major arcs that does feel like the series just killing time. The disparate quality between these episodic interludes is the most uneven element of Outlaw Star; for every exceptional one-off story laced with overarching plot developments like “Gravity Jailbreak”, you have a pointless drop in the status quo like “Demon of the Water Planet”.

What holds the show together in these more lackluster moments (and even drives it in its best moments) are its characters. Admittedly, these cast members weren't all that original even in 1998. Gene Starwind is the flippant, cocksure, mildly lecherous captain who likes to skate by on his luck, while his partner Jim Hawking is the genius kid hacker, and their other crewmates all fall within similar tropey frameworks. What infuses these characters with so much life is how much focus and mileage the show gets out of them through their various adventures. Gene of course has a tragic backstory underpinning his stock swagger, but the subconscious fear of space it's left with him creates a unique contradiction for a character who needs to travel space for the entire plot to work. This creates a reason for the Outlaw Star to be a ‘special’ for Gene beyond easy sentimentality; it's literally the only thing he can pilot effectively, which will eventually help him to get over his fears.

The other characters are all defined outside their archetypes in different ways. Jim isn't just a kid hacker, his intergenerational friendship with Gene actually addresses the differences in worldview caused by their age gap. Melfina may be an android girl MacGuffin with identity issues, but her quest to find out who she is gets uniquely woven into her relationship with Gene, bolstered not by the usual ‘love at first sight’ setup, but by the opposite situation, as they don't understand how to act around one another for a large portion of the story despite developing feelings under the surface. Serious swordswoman Suzuka comes and goes as she pleases, so her simple independent streak makes her one of the least developed characters, but she's still interesting enough that the audience is engaged when she pops up. Catgirl alien Aisha is probably the breakout character of the series. She falls into the ‘dumb comic relief’ role of many 90s anime (that also featured catgirls), but she's so over-the-top that regardless of winning or losing, she owns every scene she's in. It's interesting to watch how she and Suzuka evolve into the heavy hitters of the ship's crew, and Gene's reliance on them over the course of the series speaks to the camaraderie the whole team develops. Perhaps that's one secret of Outlaw Star's endurance: we grow close to the characters as they grow close to each other.

But what really makes Outlaw Star stand out immediately from its brethren is how unapologetically it is a product of its time. Whereas series like Cowboy Bebop employed a more grounded look and feel that spoke to its consistent universal appeal, Outlaw Star creates itself entirely in the moment, ending up as something of a posterchild for '90s anime production. You won't find anything this aggressively late-90's in its looks this side of Saber Marionette J. Physiques are exaggerated to the point of caricature, hairstyles are razor-sharp shrubs in a variety of bold colors, and everything moves in smashes and crashes to a pulse-pounding soundtrack and smash cuts set to gunshot sounds. To those who didn't experience it in the moment, Outlaw Star may even come across as an exaggerated parody of what they think 90's anime was like.

Despite some dated aspects of the visuals, Outlaw Star's reckless absurdity gives the show its greatest stylistic strengths. The most obvious example of this is the Grappler ships. This insane, distinctive visual was one of the major selling points of the series when it first came out: spaceships with multiple mechanical arms that could engage in hand-to-mechanical-hand combat in space, often employing giant handheld weapons! The show goes completely all-out with the designs of these ships, and the visual overload of the Grappler combat aesthetic lets Outlaw Star wear its absurdity well. When everything in a show is exaggerated to such a degree, a spaceship using a robot arm to pull out a katana and start swinging it at another spaceship is something the audience will question much less than usual. It doesn't stop with the Grappler ships, either. Common recurring enemies are ornately-dressed Tao magic users, who speak in Chinese chants and transmogrify giant spiritual dragons, helping to sell the anachronistic mash-up style that makes Outlaw Star so distinctive. The idea of magic existing in this otherwise wholly sci-fi universe is taken at face value by everyone in it, creating the show's other distinct visual idea: the Caster Gun. Gene's signature magic-bullet-shooting gun is an iconic concept that certainly cemented Outlaw Star's cool factor in the minds of those that recall it today.

That presentation is bolstered by the actual animation of Outlaw Star being a sight to behold at its best. The over-the-top designs move with fluidity, even during outrageous stunts like running along an enemy's weapon chain or wrapping someone in an exploding whip. Episodes like “Final Countdown” and “Grave of the Dragon” boast some exceptionally smooth action animation. And of course, the aforementioned grappler ship combat is on another level in inventive visuals. The ships in Outlaw Star often move like fighters in a show like Dragon Ball Z, hurtling through the stars so quickly that the camera seems to be straining to keep up.

The look of the show is reproduced with impressive quality in this HD remastering. Being restored from original film in an era when anime was still being mostly hand-drawn, the show upscales extremely well. The lines are razor-sharp and the colors almost shockingly bold, mostly free from excessive grain or noise. There are a few places where the way the cels are overlaid on the backgrounds is a bit too distinct, as well as a handful of distance and in-between shots that were obviously never meant to be seen in high-definition, but for the most part this is the absolute best Outlaw Star has ever looked. Save for the ridiculous 90's style and 4:3 aspect ratio, the visuals hold up alongside today's animation quite well.

Outlaw Star's outrageous style and commitment to rule-of-cool anachronistic world-building are the good hallmarks of it being a product of its time, but that qualifier also carries some ill with it in the truly outdated aspects of the show. The first full episode of issues rears its ugly head in the sixth, ‘The Beautiful Assassin’. Introducing sword-wielding femme fatale Suzuka, this episode crumbles under its messy structure of arbitrary assassination rules and good old-fashioned sexism, as Gene stupidly cannot bring himself to engage Suzuka in full combat and ends up defeating her by stripping her instead, leaving the previously stone-cold killer a blushing mess of loosened robes. This whole sequence followed by its silly symbolic speech from Gene is just embarrassing to watch, a poorly-executed debut for an otherwise conceptually cool character that you'll scarcely even notice the potential discomfort posed by Fred Luo. Fred, miraculously for a gay anime character in the late 90's, isn't all that offensive. He's somewhat effeminate, but not cartoonishly so, and he does get a couple of uncomfortable ‘predatory’ jokes towards both Gene and Jim, but he's otherwise a fully-realized character shown to be a useful friend to his allies and a shrewd businessman. For Suzuka's part after this episode, the show is happy to bring her in as a regular crewmember and just kind of forget about the terrible way in which she was introduced. Other episodes follow suit in tripping the line of good taste for the sake of satisfying expected tropes of '90s anime, but if nothing else, looking at Outlaw Star through today's lens shows how much things have (or sometimes haven't) changed in anime writing.

Perhaps the biggest indictment of Outlaw Star's legacy comes from its failed attempt to establish one. One episode titled ‘Law and Lawlessness’ introduces Duuz and Valeria, private security officers who would go on to be characters in Angel Links, a later series ostensibly set in the same universe as Outlaw Star. The episode is fine on its own, but it feels perfunctory in its attempts to set up this larger shared setting, and the fact that virtually no one remembers Angel Links only confirms that people weren't chomping at the bit for an expanded Outlaw Star universe. However, the series enthusiastically ends with a clear setup for another season. Gene and Melfina get new designs, and the whole crew is reunited in a post-final-credits stinger to head off for new adventures. But of course, that second season never happened, leaving the series on a false ‘See You Again’ that still feels like a betrayal to this day.

Funimation's release for this new collection packages the show well in a nice slipcover box with some attractive painted art of Gene on the cover, and if you want to go even further there's a Collector's Edition that includes an even nicer box designed after the Outlaw Star ship with an included artbook. Extras are sadly rather thin for this anticipated release otherwise. There's a collection of commercials, all Japanese ones for the television and video releases of the show (so none of the excellent bumpers Toonami produced for the English version back in the day) and the cursory clean openings and endings. Probably the most notable inclusion is the ‘Pilot Video’, a short pre-production concept video for the series. It's an interesting little piece that shows off unusual initial takes on things that would be reworked for the series proper, including the more ornate Grappler headset that Gene wears in the first episode. Nothing else, no interviews, no documentaries, and no commentary are included.

The voices bringing these characters to life are a noteworthy part of their appeal, and some viewers' nostalgia for the tones of the English dub may be inseparable from nostalgia for the show itself. Robert Wicks' Gene is perhaps the most iconic portrayal, given the actor has had generally few anime roles otherwise, marking his voice as ‘Gene’ more than many other dubbing actors who are recognizable as themselves today. His perforamance stands far apart from the Japanese actor, whose Gene is decidedly more youthful and punkish, though both actors hit Gene's sleazy moments just right. The other dub actors are all surprisingly solid matches for their Japanese counterparts, particularly Lenore Zann as Aisha, who hits all the high, feral notes of the original performance with startling accuracy. One notable difference is Gilliam II, the Outlaw Star's onboard computer, who sounds rather imposing and serious in Japanese compared to his more low-key delivery in English. While there are a few stumbles in places with breaking tone and matching lip-flaps, the dub overall holds up very well, though maybe moreso if you're simply used to it after all these years. The overall translation sticks fairly close to the Japanese script, save for Jim referring to Gene as ‘aniki’ not being translated to ‘Bro’ or anything of the sort, as Jim simply calls Gene by name in the dub.

For all that Outlaw Star does right and in spite of the things it doesn't, perhaps its strict adherence to its era is the show's biggest liability. As a rollicking late night 90's anime, it's distinctly above-average, but it doesn't seem to have much resonance beyond just being fun. There are no grand thematic challenges or experimentation in single-episode storytelling like in Cowboy Bebop, just exciting space adventure plots for 26 episodes. There are some interesting structural choices now and again, such as the staggered flashbacks leading into “Mortal Combat with the El Dorado”, as well as an ending that gets somewhat existential in a way that seemed almost obligatory for anime of this era. But for the most part, Outlaw Star is just a romp. Those who grew up with it will not be betrayed by their nostalgia, because even if only for fun factor alone, this is a show worth remembering. For those who are new to it, this series is certainly entertaining enough to check out just to see what all the hype is about, and you'll probably at least have a good time. Even if it never affects you on a deeper level, you'll at least remember the ride.