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Outlaw Star - Perfect Collection Boxed Set

Outlaw Star - Perfect Collection Boxed Set

List Price: $59.98
Your Price: $44.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "9 Lives" McDoogal!
Review: I recently recieved this box set and have watched all of it.In a nutshell,it's an awesome value and well worth the money.I have never watched all of outlaw star until now,and I am very pleased with the ending;it's nowhere near as tragic/dark as cowboy bebop's ending.And for me,that was a good thing.I still can't get over the fate of harry mcdoogal though!!

You probabally already know,but there is ALOT that has been cut out of the cartoon network version.It's funny to hear jim and gene cuss,and the few nude shots don't hurt either!Do yourself a favor and get this anime treat!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great collection at a great Price
Review: This box set saved me [money]. The series is entertaining and somewhat original. The only thing I'd like to have had is a bonus DVD with Extra features, etc, like the one with Now & Then, Here & There. Of course that set'll cost you [a little more] more than this one. Altogether, a great value.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great Space Epic
Review: This box set is great to own for any fan of space Anime. The series is presented in three DVD cases with two discs in each. The DVDs are the same as what has already been out for a while so if you have them all you get is the nice looking box. ...P>The first nine episodes are very good and really get the series off to a strong start with only the ninth episode really being just filler episode. These are probably the best episodes other than the ending and really are very story driven. You get your first look at the crew here and find out a good amount about most of there pasts. Enough is told about each to make them interesting but enough is left out to make you wonder about them.

The next two DVDs mostly are just filler episodes that help you get a feel for each of the crew members of the outlaw star. They are still fun to watch though and almost every anime has them (Cowboy Bebop which was mostly filler). Really because of the fact that this section doesn't really have much going for the story I wish I could give the box set a review of 4.5 stars.

The final section brings is the great end of the series. Fans of the Cartoon Network version will be happy to see episode 23 which in my mind is probably the best episode of the last section. I should also point out that Cartoon Network did a lot of editing of the episodes to make them able to play on TV. If your old enough to want to buy it and liked it on Cartoon Network you will probably be able to handle it. Just expect more adult language and some areas where the women are topless.

Overall the reason to pick up the Outlaw Star box set is because of the price. I have paid a lot more for fewer episodes of anime before....

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: surprisingly watchable
Review: I really didn't expect a whole lot from Outlaw Star, but, as it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised. While it's true that the show hasn't an original thought in its head, it manages to put the cavalcade o' cliches together into a decent enough, if not spectacular, whole.

I think that the show's biggest asset is its utter lack of self-consciousness--it doesn't even make a token effort to be original, but somehow that works to its benefit. Look at Melfina, for instance. Get this: she's an android discovering what it means to be human (there's also a bonus cliche involving amnesia, but we'll let that go). When Captain Tylor did that, I cringed. But here, somehow (thanks in part, certainly, to her oh-so-earnest English voice actor), I was able to accept it. And then there's Aisha, a--gack--catgirl who can only be described as "feisty." Annoying and tedious? You would think, and yet somehow she manages to steal essentially every scene she's in (thanks in large part, again, to her excellent English voice actor--is it clear by now that I highly recommend the energetic dub over the too-subdued Japanese?). And the MacDougall brothers are good antagonists, especially the younger, whose spoiled-rich-kid persona is highly entertaining. As for the others...well, Suzuku, the assassin girl, doesn't get much to do, and Gene himself might as well be replaced with a sign saying "plucky Buck Rogers-type goes here"--neither of them is unlikable or anything, there's just not much to them (though the interactions between the latter and his partner, the eleven-year-old Jim, are sporadically amusing). Furthermore, some of the scenes with Fred Lou, the flamboyantly gay outfitter who finances much of the crew's adventuring, are borderline offensive all I can say regarding the areas in which the show is lacking is a hearty "whatever." The only thing about the show that consistently annoyed me were the horribly inane intro narration bits that came before each episode. Other than that, it's all good, moving along at a good clip and culminating in an okay ending. Not earth-shattering, not hugely memorable, but if you want a pleasantly undemanding space opera type thing, you could do worse.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Kick ....
Review: One of the great anime series ever. This is one of the best anime's ever.... Its my favorite. Nothing compares(except for Cowboy Bebop). The really cool thing about it is that the characters aren't too far out there and you can relate to them(friends say i act like Gene). This is the greatest series ever.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good steeping stone into the World of Anime
Review: Well, let me begin by saying that I'm a hard grader, so 3 out of five is a GOOD score (not Great, but good). Outlaw Star is a decent anime. I have seen worse, much worse (Icezelion ,*ahem!*) The animation isn't breathtaking, but it conveys the story well. I love lots of the characters: Gene, Jim, Aisha, and...yeah, that's about it. (Well, I kinda like Harry and that freaky Professor guy whose name I can't remember). I haven't finished the last disc, but according to my brother, the last few episodes are rushed badly. They tried to cram too much into the last two episodes. Other than those two, the series runs smoothly, slightly slow at times. The characters are funny-especially Gene and Jim (I still wonder how those two got paired up). The voice actors are great in English, but Jim is very annoying (possibly due the fact that he's played by a She). I really didn't like Melfina-she's a very weak character and quite idiotic at times. She keeps saying how Gene promised to help her find out who she is and it was a promise and blahblah...I don't know what Gene sees in her personally, but hey, it's his life...The plot is pretty good: I've been inspired by that show many times to work on my own. So for an overview: animation=decent, voices=very good, plot=very good, characters (minus Melfina)=great, overall=very good. It is definately not the best anime out there, but it's a nice series. I really want Fushigi Yƻgi, though.(And Cowboy Bebop)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: i own the 3 seperate dvd's,but i still think i'll order the box set...Outlaw Star is about the adventure of Gene Starwind & Jim Hawking, who gets mixed up with a outlaw named Hilda.
Now Gene must fight for his life to unlock the mysteries of
the bioandroid Melfina...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Sorry for being the nay sayer
Review: Outlaw star is a space opera. It has ship battles, pirates, bounty hunters, a charismatic hero, lots of action and of course a secret treasure everybody is trying to get their hands on. Gene Starwind, the main character, wants to be an "outlaw", which in this show is the space equivalent of a ronin, a masterless warrior; he is recruited as a bodyguard and gets dragged into a plot to steal an advanced spaceship which belongs to a group of pirates and which holds the key of reaching a long lost treasure. This series records his search for that treasure, while trying to make a name for himself.

Technically speaking, this series manages pretty well. The animation is good, but not astounding. The character designs all hit the spot. On the other hand, this is the only anime series in which I've heard bad voice acting in Japanese, not to mention the English dubbing. Fortunately all of the main characters have good voice actors so the damage is not too great. The soundtrack is perhaps the weakest link as it is incoherent.Aat many times it sounds cheap and just plain out of place, working against the visuals instead of with them.

The series kicks off just fine. It sets up a very nice pace as we are introduced to Gene Starwind and his younger counterpart, Jim Hawking. However as the series progresses the episodes become more and more disjoint and at times extremely silly, not to mention cliched and rushed. For instance, at one episode Gene and his crew fight a ship which is piloted by a girl and two cats (yes, cats. Talking cats). At one point he shoots off one of the ship's arms and kills one of the cats. The other cat yells, "you killed Shimi, you bastard!". Now, despite this is meant to be a dramatic moment, anyone who doesn't burst out laughing hearing that line is taking the show way too seriously. I'm not saying all of the episodes are silly, but quite a few are. Not to mention there is magic in the show, although not too much of it. Another problem is that this show suffers from anime humor, which means too much slapstick and gags. Slapstick is fine at times but anime has a habit of overdosing.

This is a real shame since the characters themselves are likeable, and often the dialog is quick and witty. Gene Starwind makes an excellent cocky, young hero and all of the others act as a great supporting cast, albeit they are all cliched archtypes. But using archtypes in a space opera is in fact the right thing to do. So no complaints here.

One thing I see many people doing is comparing this to other anime shows out there, such as Cowboy Bebop or Trigun. My advice is - don't. Outlaw star does not compare to Cowboy Bebop. Not that I'm a big Cowboy Bebop fan, or that Cowboy Bebop is free of its faults, but the amateurish writing and soundtrack of Outlaw Star cannot compete with the professionalism displayed in Cowboy Bebop. People also say that Outlaw Star isn't original and is a Cowboy Bebop ripoff - but Cowboy Bebop in turn blatantly rips of Lupin 3, so there's no need to feel guilty here ;-).

I give this show two thumbs up for trying, for its grand scale, for the action and characters,. Animation is actually the best medium for space operas since not only it allows for doing things budget considerations wouldn't allow on live film, but we also suspend our belief while watching animation and so many things that would seem ridiculous on real film seem perfectly natural here. If you're looking for a good ride give this show a try, it'll provide good entertainment (assuming we're counting the stinker episodes out). But don't expect it to rock your world. This ain't no Miyazaki.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: excellent
Review: This series is often referred to as an action/sci fi, with little attention paid to the comedy. Although it is indeed an action/sci fi series, comedy abounds and perhaps because some viewers lack a sense of humor or a comedic wit they can't appreciate the show in all its comedic value. At times, I found myself appreciating the humor more than the action or the story, but I am not inferring that the latter is mediocre by any means. The action scenes are great as they are filled with pretty intense fighting (whether they're gun fights, ship fights, etc.) This isn't even half of what Outlaw Star has to offer, though. The plot is pretty good, but the ending had me a little disappointed because I felt as if something was missing. You know what I mean? It's the same feeling when Gundam Wing was finished, but then all the loose ends were tied up with the release of Endless Waltz. Well, it would be nice to have the "Endless Waltz" for Outlaw Star just to expel the ambiguity and ambivalence that this series left inside of me. Perhaps the "to be continued" at the end of the last episode was an intimation for a concluding three or four episodes that were never created. At any rate, I was satisfied enough with the ending to not ponder any further and to conclude that everything was fine and dandy in the Outlaw Star universe. I find nothing to complain about with Outlaw Star. Voices, story, characters, everything essential to an enjoyable anime are all present and are ready to take you for a 26-episode ride that will leave you satisfied.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great space action-adventure series
Review: This series is one of my ultimate favorites. It has all the makings of a great anime series supurb animation, great storyline, and wonderfuly written charaters. The basics of this series have to do with a pair of space outlaws just trying to make a buck, find a incerdible space ship with it's human-androd navigator, and assemble a rag-tag crew and their adventures which end up with them seaching for the "Glatic layline". Filled with comody, action, and some really interesting weapons systems, this will be a great addition to anyone collection.


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