By Cheyenne Ewulu
Hello! Cheyenne, The Nostalgia Queen, is back! And welcome back to Funimation Flashback, the series where I, Cheyenne, talk about my favorite anime titles from my childhood.
So that means the late ’90s through the early ’00s! (The best years if we’re being honest.) But, before we jump into today’s topic, be sure to follow Funimation everywhere for more dope anime content just like this!
In today’s episode, we’ll be blasting off into space! We’re gonna be talking about one of the dopest Space Western anime of all time…Outlaw Star. You have no idea how excited I am that I get to gush over this treasure of an anime, especially since Gene Starwind was one of my first-ever anime crushes as a kid…but you guys didn’t tune in to hear me talk about that, right? Moving on…
Outlaw Star centers around troublemaker Gene Starwind, a jack-of-all-trades who gets by, taking on odd jobs as a bounty hunter with his partner, Jim Hawking. Eventually, Gene stumbles upon the Outlaw Star and heads out on an adventure to find the mysterious Galactic Leyline before dangerous pirates find it first.
Some of you may have watched this gem on the Toonami block; others might have watched this on a channel like Adult Swim. No matter where you watched, I’m sure we all have the same thoughts about Outlaw Star, and it’s that this anime is definitely one of the greatest.
First of all, the opening for this anime is a whole BOP. I stand by the notion that anime intros are supposed to get you fired up to watch whatever series you’re tuning in to, and this song definitely does that. Nineties anime never fails to have the best intros and outros. I’m not being biased, either. Everybody knows it’s just facts.
The ending songs are also great as well. They bring a tear to my eye high key every time I listen to them, because it really reminds me of when I was a carefree kid in my parents’ basement watching Outlaw Star for the first time on TV. Seriously. Look up the opening (below) or ending and tell me it doesn’t hit you hard right in the feels. The nostalgia is real, y’all.
The anime has a great supporting cast of characters, too. Aside from Gene Starwind and Jim, we have Aisha Clan-Clan, the feisty and super strong Ctarl-Ctarl, former space officer, and also my second favorite character in the series.
We also have the badass outlaw Hilda, also known as “Hot Ice” Hilda, who is the sworn enemy of the Kei Pirate Guild, as well as the mischievous MacDougall Brothers. There’s also the super-skilled female ninja assassin “Twilight” Suzuka, and, last but not least, Melfina, a droid who is the key to accessing all the treasures in the Galactic Leyline. They’re all unique in their own way, and each serve an important purpose to the story line. You really can’t help but fall in love with these characters.
The animation style for this series is crisp. It still holds up despite it being an anime that was released in 1998. It captures the beauty of space so well and really makes you wish you were there with the characters. The anime itself is mostly dramatic with some comedic undertones.
If you haven’t seen this masterpiece just yet, I would say it’s slightly similar to anime like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop. If you love those two shows (and I don’t even have to know you to know you do), then Outlaw Star definitely needs to be added on to your quarantine binge-watch list immediately.
Y’all. Seriously. This is an anime that you need to rewatch. And one that you need to start if you haven’t experienced it already. The action, story and character dynamics are just as awesome to watch now as they were back then, I promise.
Where can you binge this piece of perfection? On the Funimation app, of course. Duh. That concludes this episode of Funimation Flashback. If you haven’t already, be sure to follow Funimation everywhere on social media for more anime goodness, and I’ll see you space cowboys—on the next one.
