Outlaw Star

Episode 5-6

With Gene, Jim, and Melfina finally aboard the titular spaceship, the time is ripe for Outlaw Star to properly introduce the other two crew members who show up in the opening. Well, they're not crew just yet, but the other option is for Aisha and Suzuka to form a Team Rocket-esque duo to show up every episode and ineffectually try to get vengeance on Gene. I'd be cool with that myself, but I imagine the show will go the more conventional route of them crashing on Gene's couch for most of the series instead.

First up is Aisha Clan-Clan, the pompous catgirl who briefly got into a parking dispute with the OS brigade when they were on the run from bounty hunters in episode 3. Since botching that whole affair, she's been demoted and stranded at Blue Heaven, waiting for the chance to hunt down Hilda and reclaim her status in the process. Only problem is you can't really capture a corpse, and Hilda didn't leave one behind anyway. So Aisha settles for just beating the stuffing out of Gene by utilizing her beastly strength and agility, which would probably work if she weren't a total dumbass. Despite the cat features and nyaa-based puns, Aisha more resembles a dog in being impulsive, easily swayed by food, dumb as a sack of bricks, and eminently lovable for all of it. The joke about her trying to go weretiger only to be foiled by being lightyears from the nearest moon is an easy standout, but in general she provides just the right amount of energy to make for a strong anti-antagonist.

Besides introducing Aisha, episode 5 also takes some time for Gene and Melfina to bond a bit. Despite unfreezing episodes ago, Melfina hasn't gotten much to actually do or say until now, so it's nice that she gets to show some introspection. I get the impression the show will be pushing a romance between these two, so letting them actually talk about how they're feeling – especially in the wake of Hilda's death and all the mysteries they've been left to unravel – goes a long way in developing that. Gene promising to help Melfina find out who she is and where she come from is super charming, and it's just as touching to see her help him when his Space PTSD riles up. Their relationship could easily fall into Gene The Manly Man and his wilting wallflower waifu, so having them share a moment of mutual vulnerability gives me hope there will be more to them.

Episode 6 introduces the fifth star of the show: Suzuka the Twilight assassin. Suzuka is one of those classic Capital A Anime samurai: she follows a code that only allows her to killer targets at sundown, politely asks her opponent's name before a duel to the death, and can slice a truck in two with a wooden sword because why not? I'm personally a sucker for ridiculous sword nonsense, and while she doesn't call out the names of any special attacks (yet), Suzuka definitely scratches that itch. I'm less enthused by Gene defeating her by effectively stripping her – mostly because I feel like a killer as determined as she is should be totally cool fighting in the buff. Least they could do is let her slice down Gene to his tighty-whiteys as payback. The con Gene pulls to get her to shift her assassination from Fred to him is pretty clever, though, and if it keeps her showing up and doing cool stuff with her sword, I'll take it.

Speaking of Fred, though... oh boy. There's lots of stuff in Outlaw Star that screams “I'm from the 90's!” but a remarkable amount of it has aged pretty well. Not so for Fred Luo who, while relatively tame as far as gay stereotypes in anime go, still introduces himself by invading Gene's personal space and telling Jim, a child, to hit him up in a couple years. Thankfully he never gets much worse than that, but I still had to role my eyes pretty damn hard at the singular gay character in the show being a pushy guy who constantly gets up in Gene's bubble. It's a hoary old trope that persists in anime to this day, and while Fred is far from the worst example of it, I desperately hope it doesn't continue through any future appearances. That issue aside, these two episodes work well as introductions to the extended cast, even if they don't move the overarching plot forward much. Both Aisha and Suzuka seem like fun personalities that could mesh well with Gene and co., and while still a little threadbare I'm at least starting to get behind the central relationships. Now if only Gene could stop being so cruel to poor Gilliam, we'd be all set for the next adventure.

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Outlaw Star is currently streaming on Funimation and Hulu.