Outlaw Star Episode 07 – SETTING COURSE! …To Set Course for Adventure

I’m slowly but surely getting into the unknown, unwatched, territory of Outlaw Star. Soon, I’ll be at the point where I dropped the series, to my shame. It’s a somewhat big shame, given how good this episode is in getting people pumped for adventure.

So after two episodes of character study on the final two crew members, we now have Gene prepping the Outlaw Star for further adventures. While he’s pretty darn good piloting the thing, doing the whole captain thing BEFORE the ship even gets moving is much harder. This includes not only launching the darn thing (in a humourous scene with Gilliam), but also having the money necessary to keep it docked, never mind live off of. I forgot most of these scenes, so seeing them again is a nice thing. Despite having his own state-of-the-art ship, that don’t mean it comes with wealth to maintain it.

Another interesting find is how Gene can REALLY be a sleazebag. We’ve seen him play around with Iris and copulate with high-end escorts, but I forgot he tried to pull it off on a sleepy Melfina. Kindof a big misstep really, since he’s been a pretty good guy to her since Episode 02, and she has latched onto him tightly. I pretty much expected him to restrain himself BEFORE Jim gave him a well-deserved frying pan to the head. Alas, he did it, but at least Jim saves us from him ruining his character TOO MUCH.

Now, here comes the part where I remember the most from this episode: the fights. The Kei Pirates are at it again, and assault Gene on two fronts. One goes after his work building and the other where the Outlaw Star is docked. Both are quite intense, well-done scenes, with Suzuka showcasing her power in a conventional fight between warriors. This is good, since we did not see this Suzuka last week, where most of her lethality was mere description and Gene’s fighting style was anything BUT conventional. On Gene’s end, it’s a gunfight in the style similar to the last bit of him in the opening. He outmaneuvers and outsmarts his opponents in any way he can, and it shows how good he can last despite being wounded.

Unfortunately for him, and for us, the battle has been postponed until next episode. While Suzuka’s done on her end, Gene will not only have to deal with his opponent again, but also make sure he doesn’t succumb to his wounds. A groovy cliffhanger we haven’t had for a while, not since the first, probably second episode. It is obvious he’ll survive, but as always it will be nice to see how everything turns out in the end after not watching this for a while.

The undiscovered country that is the Outlaw Star episodes I’ve not watched continues to grow ever closer.

Future Notes Next Generation:

  • More Toonami edit fun and speculation. I don’t remember the prologue being part of the broadcast, feels like I’ve seen this for the first time. Gene being a perv is obviously either cut or censored. They leave this scene pretty much intact on TV except no blood spray, and this shot of Jim’s hand was cleaned off from any blood. This makes his “What the hell is this!?” line (which was overlooked in the initial broadcast), all the more hilarious.
  • Suzuka’s not a very patient woman, it’s just the following episode, and she was ready to duel Gene again.
  • Intriguing also how the Kei Pirates have yet to find out Hilda's dead, so I'm curious how such a fact will colour their actions in later episodes, never mind how Gene uses it to his advantage.

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