Outlaw Star was originally serialized in the monthly Shueisha magazine Ultra Jump between 1996 and 1999 for a total of 21 chapters. Three volumes of collected chapters were published in Japan between August 1997 and January 1999. Although no official English version of the manga exists, it has been published in Chinese, German, Italian, and Spanish. Sunrise produced a 26-episode anime adaptation that was directed by Mitsuru Hongo and aired on the Japanese station TV Tokyo in early 1998. The animated series has since been translated and broadcast worldwide. This includes an English version from Bandai Entertainment that received an edited airing on the North American Cartoon Network blocks Toonami in early 2001 and later on Adult Swim in early 2002. Outlaw Star has been licensed for release in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment and in Europe by Beez Entertainment. A few Japanese-exclusive audio CDs and light novels have been spawned since the start of the manga's publication.
Outlaw Star is a space opera/space Western set in the fictional "Towards Stars Era" (到星歴, Tōseireki) universe.[4][5][6][7] During its past, an asteroid containing a material known as "dragonite" crashed in the fictional Arashon desert of northern China. Scientists found that the dragonite contained properties related to "ether", an energy source that would allow spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light, and thus traverse large distances of the universe in a short time.[6] As new colonies were formed throughout the vast reaches of outer space, pirates, assassins, and outlaws began to threaten humanity's new frontier. To create order, the Earth Federation established four empires: USSA, Einhorn, Piotr, and Tenpa.[4] However, internal power struggles within the factions and conflicts amongst one another become abundant, leading to inevitable lawlessness. The storyline starts shortly after an infamous outlaw named "Hot Ice" Hilda flees from the Kei Pirates, a branch of the Tin'Pa. Hilda has stolen from them a highly-advanced prototype ship dubbed the XGP15A-II and a suitcase containing a bio-android called Melfina, the only being capable of interfacing with the ship.[4]
The Outlaw Star
Outlaw Star was created by Morning Star Studio. Takehiko Itō was the manga's director, writer, and chief artist. Itō was aided in his duties by Hajime Yatate, a pseudonym of writers at Sunrise.[11][12] Others who contributed to the work include producer Kenzoh Tomita; starship designer Shoji Kawamori; character concept and imageboard illustrators Yutaka Minowa and Hajime Jinguji; and a team of production designers and assistant artists.[11] Outlaw Star takes place in the Toward Stars Era, the same universe as Itō's Uchuu Eiyuu Monogatari (宇宙英雄物語, lit. "Future-Retro Hero Story"), a pulp-science fiction manga that was first serialized by Kadokawa Shoten in 1988.[4][13][14] Itō has described this earlier work as "something out of boy's dream" and took a much more mature, scientific approach when writing Outlaw Star.[15] The author also referenced aspects of Chinese culture when creating Outlaw Star.[16]
On March 16, 2017, Funimation announced[56] that Outlaw Star would be released in North America in both standard and Collector's Editions on June 13, 2017. Each edition includes a DVD and Blu-ray copy of the series, while the Collector's Edition comes in a metallic chipboard artbox designed after the XGP-15A2 and includes a 100-page artbook. Following Funimation's acquisition of the series, it aired again on Cartoon Network as part of Adult Swim on the Toonami programming block starting on August 20, 2017, and concluding on March 18, 2018. Due to its late night broadcast on Adult Swim, the anime was aired with many fewer edits and included the U.S. television premiere of episode 23.[57]
Critical reception for Outlaw Star has been favorable. Eric Luce, Ivevei Upatkoon, and Michael Poirier of EX.org all gave similarly positive reviews for the Japanese manga, Japanese anime, and English anime versions of Outlaw Star respectively.[9][71][72] Luce was complimentary of the manga's "raw" yet "good and distinctive" artwork, detailed backgrounds, and good placement of characters among one another. However, he was annoyed that all the women have a "disturbing tendency to all have the same silicone stiffened chests" and that characters typically wear mad grins.[9] Upatkoon found the artwork of the anime version to be good, and he particularly enjoyed the opening sequence, but took issue with the occasionally inconsistent character designs. He also appreciated the show's dichotomy between serious and humorous subject matter, shown by the titular ship in its grappler mode and how it communicates with the crew.[71] Poirier found the main protagonist Gene to be the anime's best characterization: "Gene Starwind is a sly, sharp-shooting hero whose success with his gun (and with the ladies) is matched only by his propensity to get space-sick. Imagine that: the star of a space-faring series has to continually worry about vomiting onto his control panel. This sort of ironic comedy can be found throughout Outlaw Star, creating excellent segues between the fantastic action sequences and the delightful characters." Poirier was intrigued by its other characters as well, and was impressed by the "sharp but fluid" animation style and the spaceship designs.[72] Mania.com's David Owens appreciated the artistic style specifically for the characters, nearly all of which he incidentally found likeable.[73] Jacob Churosh of THEM Anime Reviews additionally noted high animation quality throughout.[74] Although he proclaimed the vehicle designs of Outlaw Star to be superb, Protoculture Addicts writer Martin Ouellette judged the animation and character designs to be "less lucky" and lacking in "the special aura" of Sunrise's acclaimed 1998 series Cowboy Bebop.[8] Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, authors of The Anime Encyclopedia agreeably denoted Outlaw Star as "no competition for Cowboy Bebop in terms of style, content, or execution".[18]
In 1999, Sunrise produced a spin-off television series titled Angel Links (星方天使エンジェルリンクス, Seihō Tenshi Enjeru Rinkusu, lit. "Angels of the Stars: Angel Links"). Outlaw Star and Angel Links take place in the same universe; characters from both series appeared in an episode of Outlaw Star, but the two have little else in relation.[85][86] Morning Star Studio also drafted a proposed sequel to Outlaw Star in the form of a single-episode OVA special titled Outlaw Star 2: Sword of Wind on its official website with character designs and a plot outline.[87][88] Set three years after the events of Outlaw Star, it was to continue the adventures of Gene Starwind in his new starship named "Sword of Wind". Due to the lack of the franchise's popularity in Japan and the busy schedule of animation director Mitsuru Hongo, no production date was set.[76][89] In October 2001, Takehiko Itō commented that his team only had static, preliminary plans for the sequel series and that they could perhaps continue the manga series in the future.[89]
In an unexpected turn of events, the XGP 15A-II and its navigation system, Melfina, were stolen from both factions by an outlaw named "Hot Ice" Hilda.[3] Hilda intended to use the ship to steal the treasure of the Galactic Leyline from the Kei Pirates for herself. She hid the ship inside a space station disguised as a floating asteroid[1] and escaped to Sentinel III when she was pursued by Soi Len and Roi Fong.[3]
The Outlaw Star boasts a state-of-the-art propulsion system with four Unsen engines powered by four independent Newton fusion reactors. The immense thrust of these engines allowed it to escape the gravity well of Farfallas whereas the Horus and Soi Len's ship could not. Like all starships in the Toward Stars Era, it also features a Munchhausen sub-ether drive to enable faster-than-light travel.
As a grappler ship, the Outlaw Star sports an array of weapons. Its primary method of combat is the use of a pair of robotic grappling arms folded under the ship when not in use. Alone, these arms are sufficient to battle other ships. To boost their combat effectiveness, the arms can be armed with a large machine gun and knife. The Outlaw Star is outfitted with at least five guns. Two on its dorsal surface and one underneath its ventral body. With two more located on its forward port and starboard side.
While not weapons, the ship boasts camera pods that can be launched with a live feed video to the ships pilot so it can see beyond its own line of sight. The Outlaw Star is outfitted with missile launchers on its port and starboard front portion and its midsection. The rate of fire its missiles can be fired in a single salvo are at the user's discretion. However, given the cost of missiles, they are seldom used.
The rollicking comedy-adventure Outlaw Star began as manga by Takehiko Ito and the artists at Morningstar Studios, who also made the animated series. In the distant future, interstellar space is divided between Pirates and the Space Forces. The self-proclaimed Outlaws scratch out a living in the odd spaces unoccupied by the two powers.
Starting out as a jack-of-all-trades outlaw with his young partner Jim Hawking on the backwater planet of Sentinel III, he ends up embroiled with space pirates due to the actions of another outlaw called "Hot Ice" Hilda who has stolen a new experimental grappler ship.
Following the start of interstellar travel, ships began to use grappling type arms for space based repairs and cargo handling. However, Chinese space pirates learned to use them in combat to attack other ships. It got to such a point that the legitimate space forces created grappling ships of their own to combat the pirates. 2ff7e9595c
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