Forum - View topicANNCast - Outlaw Star
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DmonHiro
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Oh man... I remember this...
This was Ayako Kawasumi's debut role as Melfina. Brings back memories... Man, remember how CN screwed up a little, and removed the fanservice episode? And then left people wondering where the heck those super-special shell came from? Clever move, having a plot point in the hot springs episode. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4421 |
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Was it a mistake on their end? I figured they did it on purpose since it was airing before there was even an Adult Swim block, and there was quite a bit of risque content, even without the boobs, that probably wouldn't have flown as children's programming. Even after Adult Swim started, they shied away from more sexual situations, such as in Blue Gender when a sex scene was completely removed on a late night time slot specifically reserved for "mature" programming. That episode made for quite the surprise when I bought the Bandai DVDs later on because I had no idea about the episode until then. |
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DmonHiro
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No, it wasn't a mistake that CN didn't air the episode. It was deliberate, but they neglected to add in at least some sort of nod to how Gene got the super rare shells. If you didn't know about it, you'd think he always had those.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Don't go rush out and buy the DVDs, wait for the BDs. They're seriously better than Bebop's or Escaflowne's.
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Greed1914
Posts: 4421 |
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That is encouraging to hear. Outlaw Star seems to be one of the shows where Funimation is still stuck waiting to get the materials from Japan. |
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DmonHiro
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The Outlaw Star BD does indeed look gorgeous. I vouch for it looking better then the CB ones.
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KH91
Posts: 6176 |
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Man, Outlaw Star is one of my favorite shows from back then and still is. Good times.
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 863 |
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I agree with a lot of the points. It's a great show if you want pure simple fun,but it lacks thematic depth to it,which holds it back from a being a classic(It helps that it's not trying to go for any sort of depth though). I do think the show loses a little something after those first 4 episodes,which were just excellent at grabbing you and not letting go. It's certainly dated in a lot of aspects,but the good outweighs the bad here.
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Covnam
 Posts: 3644 |
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The remastered DVDs looked great, too bad they didn't come out here. I'll definitely be upgrading to the blurays when they come out. Great show.
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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Something Hope touched on only briefly is Outlaw Star's connection to old English-language science-fiction stories. Aside from the illustrations that are in the credits sequence that resemble the kind of art paired with sci-fi stories the middle of the 20th century, I am fairly certain that the psychic cactus is a homage to "The Handicapped" by Larry Niven and I am completely certain that the high-gravity planet from episode 22 is a homage to Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement. My knowledge of classic sci-fi is far from comprehensive so I imagine I missed plenty more.
I agree with the consensus regarding Outlaw Star's lack of thematic weight, but I differ in seeing what seems to be an attempt to create some, even from the very beginning. As soon as Melfina wakes up she bursts into tears because of existential angst; she's essentially the same character as Rei from Evangelion (artificial person manufactured to serve the selfish needs of someone else with no regard for her as an individual) except that her capacity for emotion is normal and so she feels deeply sad about having no reason to be anywhere or do anything. When she gets decked out in her normal costume for the first time it isn't playing her up as the cute female lead because she looks miserable. She sticks around with Gene and Jim just through inertia; she has nowhere else to go. She has a conversation with an alien priest about these feelings of not belonging in one episode. When the younger MacDougal brother asks her to come with him, it's like this should be a high point in a character arc; for the first time someone is treating her as an individual who can make choices for herself and it's the villain doing it! But it doesn't really work because he seems like a psycho who'd probably murder her and so it isn't a plausible choice. And as for Gene, I don't think he's supposed to be cool; on the contrary I think he's supposed to be faking it badly. One of the opening teasers says "a boy has a right to dream" which tells us Gene is a boy and not a man. He's too hung up on grief over his father's death and the desire to be cool and strong. There's a scene where Melfina reaches out to him and he just grabs her because (as I saw it) the only way he can think to relate to a woman is through sex since he's clearly been buying it for a while. This isn't what she wants and he just upsets her which makes him lash out and then curl into a fetal position and cover his ears to ignore her crying. This is a very childish reaction. If Melfina could seriously consider going with the MacDougals (although, as stated, she can't), it should really be forcing him to realize that although he is justifiably angry that the MacDougals killed his father, it's no one else's job to care; the MacDougals aren't Melfina's enemies. The ending feels like it should be merging these two lines; Gene learns to actually be in love with a woman and in doing so Melfina gets treated like a real person and gets a reason to make a choice to leave the Leyline and go back to the normal universe. But that's not really what's happening because these things aren't connecting together. It feels less like incompetent execution and more like they decided not to even really try and just left debris from aborted plot-lines laying about. Oh, and I guess someone should mention that Angel Links technically takes place in the same setting as Outlaw Star. It really doesn't deserve much more mention than that. Last edited by Fronzel on Fri Jan 29, 2016 8:33 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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belvadeer
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Outlaw Star was definitely one of the greatest anime for me, and it had Duuz and Valeria, which led me to Angel Links. Ah, the memories.
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5420 Location: Iscandar |
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Don't worry about the podcast's audio Zac; it is perfectly listenable.
This was an enjoyable podcast, and congrats on your 250th episode. I consider Outlaw Star a Good anime with low ambitions, but it is fun and very rewatchable. I actually like the show's conclusion; I remember it being weirdly satisfying. And Zac keeps killing it with those Right Stuf ads. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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I consider Outlaw Star to be my gateway drug. It was one of the first anime I saw that I knew was anime (so Digimon and Pokemon don't count here, I didn't realize either of them were anime), and it was the one that got me into the fandom and I've been stuck ever since. It's not my all-time favorite series, but it's top 5 for sure for me. And yeah, I definitely consider the last two episodes to be the weakest of the series, like it suddenly remembered it should have a plot and therefore wrap up when most of all the other episodes were episodic space adventure fun, but I still can't hold it against it somehow.
Now, if only Funi would release the damn Blu-rays, we know they got the rights! If they did m multiple special editions of it (like how they had the Amazon and Funi ones for Bebop), I'd so have to buy them ALL!! |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3982 |
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Yeah, classicalzawa, we need it.
Really hope we get a dual-audio blu-ray of this, the BD remaster looks awesome. |
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Scottran7
 Posts: 10 |
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Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but Outlaw Star is my favorite anime of all time. And I have seen a lot different animes. :p
Saw it when it was first on Toonami and really liked it then, but it wasn't my all time favorite then. Over time though, I actually feel like I appreciated it more and more because less and less anime seems to be fun to watch these days. They are all about deep and serious themes or fan service for the most part. The nice thing about OS is that it combines a little of every genre I think and so it's a nice well rounded show. Sure, some of it's dated, but I think the art style fits it. I'm glad though that even if people aren't a huge fan of it, it's still remembered fondly. I don't know if it needs a 2nd season or a spin off, but a stand alone movie would be nice. Trigun and Cowboy Bebop got one, so it's only fair. Nice Podcast btw. I enjoyed it. |
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