Okay, before I begin, I would like to warn you all that this review may contain completely unnecessary swearing.  This is because I just finished watching Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob at BullsEyeArt.com.  (if you would like to skip most of the naughty words, don't read the first two paragraphs, as they are somewhat unnecessary anyway)

          Okay, I remember when I first heard about Outlaw Star, a long fuckin' time ago at some fucked up motherfucking bitch ass website motherfucker (heh heh).  Anyway, after I read the review I did my usual deal of going to a bunch of other sites and seeing how they reviewed it.  I came upon one that proclaimed Outlaw Star to be not so grand, saying that it lost steam quickly after the first 5 or so episodes and became very repetitive.  Since I was spending money all willy-nilly on anime at the time and Outlaw Star wasn't fully released on DVD yet (it still isn't) I was easily swayed into not buying it.

          Recently Cartoon Central has been showing edited Outlaw Star episodes in their Toonami deal (it still pisses me off that those motherfuckers changed what that little blue guy looks like, I mean fuck dude, now he looks fuckin' gay, before he was just some short, fat guy who could've made a cameo in ReBoot).  After watching the first episode I called up Josh and told him how cool it was, he told me to go over to Schuster's house to make fun of people playing Werewolf (D&D type game) and to later watch wrestling and play the Oni demo on Schuster's computer (seriously dude, it don't fuckin' get much fuckin' better than sneakin' up on some unknowing bitch fucker and breaking his fuckin' back).  After I talked to Josh I went and ordered Outlaw Star on DVD and within 3 days (Express.com is good) I had my shit and was wondering what the fuck that stanky ho was talkin' about that wrote that turkey shit review of Outlaw Star (no offense to the person who wrote the review, you'd understand if you'd ever have seen Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob).

          On to the review, since I have only seen the first 18 episodes out of 26, I am not completely concrete on the story as of now.  (note, if I remember to, I will change this review after I have watched the whole series)  What I do know however is that the plot is very, very well done.  It seems to me that the writers of Outlaw Star realized that they had a whole 26 episodes to utilize in the story, so they didn't cram the whole thing down your throat in the first 10 episodes and then have you watch the show with a growing feeling that you can predict the ending and that you just saw this same thing happen three episodes ago (*cough coupokemoncough cough*).  Let me put it this way, I can't remember an episode where I was able to predict what would happen next, (well, since I wrote the review I did remember one time, but that still ain't bad) hell, it was fun to be surprised.  Oh yeah, it centers on a guy named Gene Starwind who is trying to be a bounty hunter and gets caught up in a race for the galactic layline with his friends.

          Okay, next we do the characters (not in that way you pervert!).  In my quest for reviews on OS, I came upon one that stated that he/she thought OS was actually better than Cowboy Bebop because of the characters.  Now, I'm not one to say that OS is better than CB because I think that they are two completely different styles of anime (it all comes down to your opinion), but I can say that, IN MY OPINION, I thought that OS did generally have more interesting and fun characters (with the exception of Ed).  Let me introduce you to a theory that Josh and I have come up with, I'll call it the Bubbles Phenomenon. 

Bubbles Phenomenon

          Josh and I believe that many of the most popular anime "shows" have at least one character that can be compared to Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls (Bubbles kicks ass).  Here is a list of some of the anime I have viewed that I can recall had a Bubbles type character.  Bubblegum Crisis - Nene, Cowboy Bebop - Ed, Dragonball Z - Majin Buu, Geobreeders - *can't remember the name*, Haunted Junction - Miss Hanako, Slayers - Goury, Tenchi Muyo - Mihoshi, Trigun - Milly.  As you can see, all of these anime titles have a Bubbles type character, and all of them are good.  Hell, these aren't even that many titles and I'm positive that the Bubbles Phenomenon is present in many of the other hundreds (dunno if it's thousands) of anime titles.

          What Outlaw Star seems to do is break up this Bubbles Factor and distribute it to more than one character in the show, namely Aisha and Melfina.  I must say that I enjoy watching these characters about as much as the characters from Trigun, and that is saying quite a bit.

          Now, on to the animation.  Again, we see another anime TV series that goes far beyond the call of duty when it comes to the animation quality.  Everything is very nicely detailed and the animation itself is nice and smooth.  This show also doesn't suffer from crappy crap syndrome where they animators reduce the quality of detail so they can get in a higher frame rate, or when you see a show that doesn't have that much detail throughout but cranks it up during the action sequences.  Nope, Outlaw Star does a wonderful job of maintaining excellent animation and detail no matter what is going on.  Also, I must say that the animators did do a wonderful job with the fight scenes.  The fight scenes in this show, be they ship to ship battle in space, hand to hand combat or gun toting action are among my favorite to watch out of any anime series.  (especially when Aisha starts kickin' ass)

          Lemme talk about the music quick before I start talking about Cartoon Network again.  The music to this show is very well done, as far as I have noticed, they don't repeat tracks previously played but seem to have original music for any scene that requires it (but I may be wrong).  The music itself fits surprisingly well with the action taking place, it just kicks ass (even though it's not something I would buy as a soundtrack).

          All right, now to Cartoon Network.  When I watched the first episode on CN, I was recording it and had the idea to record the rest of the episodes.  After I got the DVD's I was very, very glad I decided to spend the extra money.  Cartoon Network has cut out many of the things vital to the show's personality, as well as many things vital to helping explain the plot of the show.  There is a lot of swearing, adult situations, violence and sexual references cut out, and I mean a lot.  The first time I saw that Gene was actually grabbing the waitress' ass when he hugged her I laughed my ass of, Also, when Gene and Melfina are talking and the subject has to do with eating shit rather than asking a certain person for help, when Gene asked Melfina if she really meant it and she said "umm I guess so" it was said so damn well that I not only laughed my ass off, but rewound it about 10 times and laughed my ass off over and over again!  Stuff that helps explain the personalities of the characters, like when Gene goes to the whore house in the first episode and talks to the woman (I don't wanna say WHORE) there about his dreams, is cut out.  Stuff like that, it's like I say, if you want to show an adult anime in America, don't chop the shit out of it until it's a kids show, 'cause then the whole idea of the show is more than likely to be shot to shit.  Hell, I've seen peoples heads get cut off and lifted up as trophies, I've seen hot and heavy sex scenes, I've heard swearing, I've seen extreme violence and I've seen it all before 8:00 fuckin' PM!  Hell, the only nudity OS has is some hinder shots, the only sex it has is implied sex, the worst swearing is 'shit' and the most violent thing I've seen on this show so far is a guy getting shot in the head, don't give me this censor bullshit you pieces of fucking monkey shit!  This is a big part of the reason why anime is considered kids shows in America, it's because all anyone sees is a bunch of nancy pants lollipop-fucking shit!

          Umm oops I kinda got off subject there for a second anyway, I had been debating whether or not to rate Outlaw Star as Excellent or Magically Delicious I decided that I'd have to rate it as excellent, since I can change it if I have to since I haven't seen the whole series and I also just watched a bunch of Cowboy Bebop.  Anyway, I'm just playing it on the safe side.  WATCH THIS SHOW!  But not on Cartoon Network if you can help it.

Genre - action

Animation - very, very nice... the artwork is good and the animation stays nice and smooth throughout, I still think the US should stop making cartoons and pay Japan to make 'em for us

Sub vs. Dub - I think I remember that the sub is a bit better than the dub, but not a whole lot

the Good - great action, great characters, great animation, really good music, Aisha, really good story... it just doesn't get boring

the Bad - crap... there was something... oh yeah, apparently, in the future, outer space has  an atmosphere, otherwise how can you explain the fact that sound seems to travel in space... but this isn't that bad, since I've only seen one anime (haven't even seen any movies that have no sound in space) that doesn't have sound in space, and that is Iria: Zieram the Animation

Overall - buy this, don't watch it on TV because it may screw up your perceptions of the show... well, maybe watch one or two episodes o see if you like it and then buy it (26 episodes)