Outlaw Star

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Outlaws. This was the name given to those who travelled space with only his freedom as his guide."

Based on a popular manga by Takehito Ito, the first show in Sunrise's Toward Stars universe, Outlaw Star is a Retrofuture Space Opera writ large.

In the universe, there are three major powers: the Space Forces who enforce the law, the Space Pirates who defy it and the "outlaws" who owe allegiance to neither side. Gene Starwind, a big fish in the small pond of his home planet, dreams of going to the stars. A simple bodyguard job quickly spirals out of control and ends with him coming into possession of the most advanced spaceship in the galaxy (which he dubs the Outlaw Star) and the biological navigation system that controls it, an Artificial Human named Melfina.

This is only the beginning of his problems, as between trying to scrape together enough cash to pay for his new ship's upkeep, he has to contend with both the Space Forces and pirates trying to get the ship back as they all race against each other to reach the mysterious "Galactic Leyline". Helping Gene are his young partner Jim Hawking, the exotic but hot-tempered Catfolk alien Aisha Clan Clan, the sword-wielding assassin Twilight Suzuka, the somewhat incoherent shipboard AI Gilliam, and others who come and go from the plot. If you like "pulp"-era science fiction, you'll like this show.

Outlaw Star is available uncut on VHS and DVD from Bandai in North America, and an edited version of most of the series has been shown on both Toonami and Adult Swim. The show is available in Australia from Madman.

Rumor has it that Joss Whedon's Firefly was heavily influenced by Outlaw Star. This has, appropriately enough, been Jossed by the man himself on multiple occasions in interviews, who says that he was actually inspired by The Killer Angels. Certain common elements between the two still raise a few eyebrows, though.

See also Angel Links, also a part of the Towards Stars universe.


Tropes used in Outlaw Star include:

Jim Hawking: Hello! You've reached Hawking, from Starwind and Hawking Repairs! We fix everything from tractors to relationships, so how can we help you today?

The episode, of course, is the kind of thing you get when someone does explain a Noodle Incident. It's every bit as weird as your imagination would make it out to be.

"This show gets a free pass for being the most wish-fulfilling sci-fi title ever. Everything you can love about sci-fi is here: space races, space combat, diverse planets, alternate dimensions, weird aliens, hot aliens, aliens of questionable gender(seriously, what is that?), giant robots, bio-androids, human cyborgs, cold-sleep beauties, shapeshifting beast men, laser-gun fights, sword fights, fistfights, paintball, Mad Scientists, Tao magicians, robotic panthers, kung-fu housecats, and a Hot Springs Episode that is actually funny.

  • Truce Zone: Blue Heaven.
  • United Space of America: Thoroughly averted. The galaxy in the TS timeline is thoroughly Chinese in culture if not in government. Complete with Hong Kong-style Truce Zones such as Blue Heaven.
    • The currency is also called 'wong' (both singular and plural), which may be related to the Korean 'won' (though much more valuable).
  • Unobtainium: Dragonite apparently one of the rarest substances in the universe. Given that it's needed to power faster then light drives, and its nonrenewable one wonders how they've kept from running out of the stuff.
    • Perhaps because space is infinite and the human sphere of influence is constantly expanding so new sources are found.
  • The Unseen: The Tendo King, enigmatic Man Behind the Man with Tao magic ability implied by Hazanko to be god-like. The Tenpa Emperor takes this Up to Eleven with implied power far exceeding that.
  • Used Future
  • Wagon Train to the Stars
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Doubles as Fridge Horror. One episode features Aisha entering a fighting tournament. Because Ctarl Ctarl aren't allowed in the tournament, she poses as a professional wrestler named Firecat, locking the real Firecat in a locker and stealing her uniform. At the end of the episode the entire building is set on fire, and the main characters are shown to have escaped. But what happened to the real Firecat, last shown still being stuck in the locker?
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?
  • Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Suzuka seems to be able to cut anything with her wooden sword, up to and including oncoming trucks. This seems to be because she mostly uses it to make cutting shockwaves.
  • The Worf Barrage: Gene's bazooka
  1. but still far more solemn than the opening theme