Trivia / Outlaw Star

• Acting for Two: Toshihiko Seki voices Fred Luo and Ark Manaf.
• Banned Episode: "Hot Springs Planet Tenrei" never saw the light of day on America's Toonami block due to its nudity and sexually suggestive content. Not even [adult swim] aired it during the show's short run there (though they simply re-aired the Toonami edits rather than making their own version^note hypothetically, an [adult swim] cut of this episode would have some of the nudity unedited. Aisha ranting about wanting a hotter hot spring while naked would be affected, as would most of the stripping in Urt's booby-trapped video, but the rest of the nudity would more or less be intact). Over in the UK, the cartoon channel CNX attempted to air the episode, but a lot of cuts had to be made to pass the censors. This edit was too short and too messy to watch, so it was shelved. While most anime episodes with fanservice that get banned from television are filler, "Hot Springs Planet Tenrei" was different. This episode actually was vital to the overarching plotline. The DVDs and online are the only places you can see this episode as it was originally (both in Japanese and English). However, this was finally averted in 2018 during the show's return run on Toonami. Complete with a TV-MA rating,^note During that run, the rest of the series oscillates between TV-PG and TV-14 it aired entirely uncut, save for a few minor edits, such as Aisha's nipples being erased every time she's shown from frontal angles.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: "Ian Hawk," the English voice actor for Jim Hawking, is really a woman - Brianne Siddall. Jim's also voiced by a woman (Rica Matsumoto) in Japanese.
• Directed by Cast Member: Wendee Lee is the director of the English dub and voices Twilight Suzuka and Soi Len.
• Dub Induced Plothole: If you only watched the TV broadcast, you might be wondering where Gene got those rare Caster shells. For the answer, see above (and seek out the DVD).
• He Also Did:
  • Shoji Kawamori was the mechanical designer for Outlaw Star; he designed the titular ship.
  • Chiaki Morosawa (the head writer of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny) wrote episode 9: "A Journey of Adventure! Huh?"
  • Series creator Takehiko Ito was a character designer for NG Knight Lamune & 40 and K.O. Beast, as well as being the original designer of Unicron. He also created Zegapain nearly a decade after this series.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Outlaw Star was available uncut on VHS and DVD from Bandai Entertainment in North America until Bandai went out of business in 2011; the rights fell into limbo and it went out of print for several years. It took some time, but eventually this show, along with a few other Sunrise shows, found a new home at Funimation in 2013. Most of the series has been shown— in edited form— on both Toonami and [adult swim], though the uncut version was shown on Toonami in 2017. Following the merger of Crunchyroll and Funimation, it is no longer available for streaming.
• The Other Darrin: One of the Luo family bodyguards was voiced by Richard Cansino in his first couple appearances but replaced by Bill Timoney during the Great Space Race.
• What Could Have Been:
  • A pilot teaser trailer for the series, released in 1996, shows some of the early ideas and designs for the series that were unused. In particular, "Hot Ice" Hilda had a much younger looking design, and Jim was accompanied by an unused pink bunny character.
  • A Sequel OVA titled "Sword of the Wind" was briefly considered to be produced. This sequel would've taken place a few years after the events of the anime, and focused primarily on Gene, now piloting a new ship called "Sword of the Wind." The OVA's proposal was negatively received, primarily for the treatment of the characters. In particular, Melfina would barely appear, apparently now attending college and Jim was said to have parted ways from Gene, due to both a falling out, and finding a love interest that was essentially an Expy of Hanmyo. On top of those issues, Suzuka and Aisha weren't planned to appear at all. Overall, it's not surprising why this pitch was rejected in favor of Angel Links.

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