Outlaw Star is about a man named Gene who acquires a ship called the Outlaw Star after a chance encounter with a mysterious pirate and a naked girl in a box named Melfina, who just happens to be the power source of the mysterious Outlaw Star. Pirates and other people start to come after Gene for Melfina and the Outlaw Star. Gene and crew decide to go to the Galactic Leyline with their Outlaw Star as a great treasure is rumored to be there and most important of all, the secret to Melfina's past.

Outlaw Star has been referred to as the more action oriented counterpart of Cowboy Bebop and I agree to some extent. This series is very stylish, and is actually funny and entertaining at the same time. While there were a few times were Outlaw Star got a bit too silly for it's own good, there was a very good mix. However, Outlaw Star just wasn't structured very well. It started off real cool, then it kind of went into a slump of filler episodes in the middle of the series and then it got rather ridiculous in the last 4 episodes.

The biggest problem I had with this series was the bad guys. First, they have some bad guys for about the first five episodes. Then the next 10 episodes seem like episodes where they search for a new bad guy and then the real bad guys (like 12 of them) aren't even introduced until the last 8 episodes. Now, that's not good, because there isn't sufficient time to deal with each bad guy. Around the end of the series, (which I might add was pitiful.) there is a ton of fighting. It's like some kind of Mortal Kombat tournament in which each character has to take on their respective bad guy. It was ridiculous. Also, the fights were a bit too short since each one had to be squeezed into 30 minutes. Another problem I had was with the end-end. It was very predictable.

However, the thing that this series really has going for it is the characters. The main characters are all very good, each having different personalities and their moments to shine. The sub characters are even really funny too. Fred, who constantly hits on our hero Gene, provides some great comic relief. Even, Aisha, the cat girl is a riot too. Suzuka, the assassin is really neat, Gene's sidekick Jim is cool too. Even, Gene, himself, even though he is a total jerk at times, is still a good character. It's a shame that I can't remember any of the bad guys' names though. It probably helped to watch it in Japanese, because when I watched it in English, I thought, that the characters sounded totally wrong (most of them, especially Jim. Melfina was actually really good.) and that the voice acting was very poor. I quickly reverted back to subtitled Japanese.

The art was pretty good. It seemed to be a bit drab at times, but other than that it was ok. Character designs were very good though. The music was good. I love the opening theme, and the classy bar music was excellent.

I'm still wondering how they got this on cartoon network though. They must've had to make quite a few cuts. Especially in the resort episode, with the naughty pictures of Url, I guess Cartoon Network decided to skip that episode all together.

I think this is a good series. The problem is that it started to fall apart and the plot just seemed to stall and meander in the middle of the series. The episodes were funny, but they did nothing to advance the plot and came off as being filler episodes. I have no problem with filler episodes but when a series is only 26 episodes long. Filler episodes are going to take time away from the real episodes. And, unfortunately, this happens, because the bad guys come off as totally superficial and some plot points are never explained. (For example, who sent the MacDougall brothers to kill Gene and his father in space in the first place and why?) I do recommend this series. It is very good, and while it doesn't have the best plot, it does make up for it with style and great characters. Plus, each DVD is a bargain, for 9 episodes for 40 dollars, uncut with Japanese and English. Well, it could've been better; it's still worth your time.