Anime of the Year 1998-I Winter - Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star

Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star has the upper hand this season while Perfect Blue is an honorary masterpiece

1. Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star Outlaw Star 星方武侠アウトロースター [Sunrise] (Finished 24/24) Tags: Space Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi Gene Starwind has always dreamed of piloting his own ship out into the vast sea of stars. Unfortunately, not all dreams come true, as he spends his days working odd jobs alongside his partner, James Hawking, on the small planet Sentinel III instead. However, this all takes a turn when the duo takes on a job from Rachel Sweet who, unbeknownst to them, is actually a treasure-hunting outlaw. Tasked with protecting a mysterious girl known as Melfina, the meeting irrevocably changes the pair's lives as they are sent out into the great unknown aboard the highly advanced ship, Outlaw Star. Seihou Bukyou Outlaw Star follows Gene and his ragtag crew as they brave the final frontier, navigating the stars in search of answers to the mysteries surrounding Melfina. Encountering dangerous bounty hunters, space pirates, Taoist mages, and even catgirls, there is sure to be an exhilarating adventure around every corner. Watched it in the past and it still looks great, surprised to know it ran before Cowboy Bebop. It's good that Sunrise decided to move in direction of their in my opinion only previously worthy franchise of Dirty Pair with making plot continuous. It results in their first firm masterpiece from me.   Overall Rating: 8/10

2. Sexy Commando Gaiden: Sugoi yo!! Masaru-san セクシーコマンドー外伝 すごいよ!! マサルさん [Magic Bus] (Finished 4/48) Tags: Shounen Gag Humor, Martial Arts, School Comedy Okometsubu Fujiyama has recently transferred over to a new school, Wakame High School. His goal is to make 100 friends--until he meets the extremely weird Masaru Hananakajima. Masaru is a martial artist whose specialty is the "Sexy Commando" form of martial art. Masaru forms a club based on this art, including Fujiyama, who he nicknames Fuumin, in the club. The club becomes full of strange, yet wacky people. Aliens, mustaches, and cute fuzzy animals are encountered as the club moves along and gets steadily more popular. Noticed late that each episode is just 8 minutes, but since it has opening, let it stay in this lacking new titles season. It's evident that it comes after gag sketch manga as there is always abstract background like in manga, thus feels schematic. Humor is generally ok, but with accent of trunks flashing to disorient enemies, so not great.   Overall Rating: 5/10

3. El Hazard: The Alternative World 異次元の世界エルハザード [Pioneer LDC] (Finished 3/13) Tags: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy  Miz plans to retire as a Great Priestess of Water to married life with her darling Fujisawa and as replacement the young Qawoor Towles arrives to Floristica. Jinnai sees Qawoor's initiation ceremony as a chance to infiltrate Makoto's laboratory but accidentally activates a mysterious thingy that sends them all through the dimensions to a grey industrial city protected by a huge castle in an alternative world. This franchise is already greatly compromised, so alternative look might help, but the problem is that it's not much different apart from the new world which specifics are not explained at all. This might be not the worst El Hazard anime ever, but the approach it uses can easily anger both fans and newcomers.   Overall Rating: 5/10

4. Burn Up Excess バーンナップEXCESS [Magic Bus] (Finished 3/13) Tags: Shounen Detective Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi, Ecchi Follows the exploits of Team Warrior, a special anti-terror wing of the Neo-Tokyo Police force. Team Warrior is comprised of the habitually broke Rio, gun-crazy Maya, computer specialist Lillica, tech-expert Nanvel, piliot/voyeur Yuji, and is led by the enigmatic Maki. The team faces a number of missions, ranging from bodyguard duty, breaking up robbery and arms rackets, and providing security for a very powerful tank. Rio and company continually thwart the terrorist aims of Ruby, an operative for a shadowy cabal of powerful men. Before the final showdown, the circumstances behind the formation of Team Warrior, how the precocious Rio came to join it, and Maki's painful past will be revealed. Franchise managed to improve with time in humor and action, but the question is whether it's enough. It's easy to watch, and that's decent already.   Overall Rating: 6/10

5. Bannou Bunka Neko-Musume (1998) All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku TV 万能文化猫娘 [Production Reed] (Finished 12/12) Tags: Seinen Mecha Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi Each episode centers on Nuku Nuku's adventures and mishaps in high school, and her relationship to students, the overall series plot centers on the evil Mishima Industries' scheme to dominate the world through its products. In opposition to this plan are the slightly nutty Kyuusaku Natsume and Nuku Nuku, the android who acts as a companion to his young son. Nuku Nuku's classmates are all eccentrics, Futaba, the class president, is a domineering control-freak, who cannot leave her authority in school. Chieko Shirakaba is the rich snob with the two yes-girls who always take her side. There is a bookworm, a mystic, a scientist, and a pop singer. All of these are true to their descriptions: the mystic is always foretelling doom via tarot cards, spirits, or some other occult technique. The pop singer never says anything except as a song. The bookworm always has her nose in a book. These eccentricities add to the series' humor. With all the random stuff happening on the screen my head begins to hurt very soon. It surpasses original in that, so only watchable by those who can appreciate absurd humor.   Overall Rating: 5/10

6. Bomberman B-Daman Bakugaiden B[ボンバーマン]ビーダマン爆外伝  [Madhouse] (Finished 3/48) Tags: Comedy, Sci-Fi Madhouse 1000 years ago, the beautiful B-da City was attacked by the Dark B-da in their quest to control the entire Blue Solar System. The heroic B-Daman, drawing on their legendary power and ingenious technology, were able to restore peace to the universe. But, it is only a matter of time before evil forces strike again…Our hero, SHIRO BOM with his friends continue to patrol the Kingdom, fight against Dark B-da, always alert to danger, always ready for fun. Only three episodes seem to be translated. This should have been marked as for kids. It's too schematic to even be treated it as comedy with all those pseudo lego-men as characters and simple backgrounds.   Overall Rating: 5/10

7. AWOL エイウォール [Studio Deen] (Finished 3/12) Tags: Military, Space Action, Sci-Fi Cyress is a peaceful place. People are going about their lives. Two lovers embrace, a family throws a birthday party for their child, a group of people party at a local restaurant. But suddenly, their surroundings explode into smoke and flame. A group of terrorists has snuck through the planetary defenses and has begun an assault. Defenseless, there is little the people of Cyress can do. As the military scrambles to discover what happened, the terrorists manage to hijack seven PDP missiles, which are capable of destroying an entire planet. These terrorists, who call themselves "Solomon" can now hold entire planets hostage! They must not be stopped. Wow, just wow. Compared to AWOL even Angel Cop with similar concept would look like a thriller. Super boring anti-terrorist story with similar looking team in same-looking battle suits, and each episode is some 50 minutes which is twice longer than usual... It's so bad I'm speechless.   Overall Rating: 4/10

8. Gakkyuu Ou Yamazaki King of Classroom, Yamazaki 学級王ヤマザキ [Magic Bus] (Finished 3/53) Tags: Comedy  Yamazaki comes to Earth from an other planet, hoping to conquer our planet. But he soon realizes, that in order to conquer the world, he has to conquer a his own classroom first. That's why he comes up with lots of different ideas to get everybody to follow him. Also, he spends most of his time making Tatsuya (the class rep.) miserable. Having his loyal and strange dog Watanabe always by his side, and the help from his grandparents, Yamazaki is always doing crazy things with his class, completely forgetting his primary goal, and only thinking in becoming "The King of the Class". Not translated. As you can see, it's another absurd gag comedy.   Overall Rating: 5/10

9. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden Legend of the Galactic Heroes Gaiden 銀河英雄伝説外伝／千億の星、千億の光 [K-Factory] (Finished 3/24) Tags: Military, Space Action, Drama, Sci-Fi Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Gaiden is the first of two OVA adaptations of side stories from the Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu novel series. This first adaptation follows the achievements of Reinhard von Müsel and Siegfried Kircheis of the Galactic Empire before the fateful Battle of Astarte. The Silver-White Valley Reinhard and Kircheis graduate from their military academy and are immediately sent to the frozen frontier planet Kapche-Lanka. Unbeknownst to them, their new superior schemes to kill Reinhard on behalf of a rival of Reinhard's sister Annerose von Grünewald. Dreams of the Morning, Songs of the Night Reinhard and Kircheis are assigned to the Imperial Military Police, where they uncover the corrupt and oppressive practices of the Empire's law enforcement. They are soon ordered to investigate the murder of a student at their alma mater. Dishonor As Reinhard awaits the bestowal of his new title of Count von Lohengramm, he sends Kircheis to the artificial resort satellite Kreuznach III for a vacation. Restless from the lack of work, Kircheis assists the local police with a drug trafficking case related to an attack on a disgraced former Vice Admiral. A Hundred Billion Stars, a Hundred Billion Lights While Reinhard is still a commodore in charge of only a single squadron, he laments the incompetence of his superiors during a battle against the Free Planets Alliance. Amassing military successes under the direct command of Vice Admiral Richard von Grimmelshausen, Reinhard repeatedly clashes with Hermann von Lüneburg, a commodore and former regimental commander of the Alliance's infamous Rosen Ritter. Another portion of fan materials has arrived. After the miserable ending of the series I can hardly care.   Overall Rating: 5/10

10. Tekken Tekken: The Motion Picture 鉄拳 [Studio Deen] (Finished 2/2) Tags: Martial Arts Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi After being thrown off a cliff as a child, Kazuya Mishima enters the King of Iron Fist Tournament to extract revenge from his father, multi-billionaire Heihachi Mishima. Meanwhile, WWWC operative Jun Kazama and Hong Kong detective Lei Wulong also enter the tournament to investigate on Heihachi's illegal activities involving cloning and genetic engineering. A handful of other skilled fighters are also in it merely to win the grand prize of $1 billion, not knowing of the true purpose of the tournament and fate that awaits them. Every fighting should have its anime, apparently. But since all such anime suck anyway, just 55 minute OVA with characters appearances and maybe a bit of background is fine, no need to bother about real story.   Overall Rating: 5/10

11. Shihaisha no Tasogare Twilight Of The Dark Master 支配者の黄昏 [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Shoujo Mythology Action, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Supernatural Since the beginning of time, monstrous Demons and noble Guardians have battled for Earth - the everlasting gift of the one great Mother, creator of all life. A deep hatred burns between Demon and Guardian; the Guardians prevented the Demons from destroying humanity and the world itself. Eons later, Neo-Shinjuku City: few Demons or Guardians remain to continue their epic war. Humans rule the Earth, with no real memory of either Demons or Guardians. Yet deep within the dark underworld of the city, one supreme Demon is alive and plotting to subjugate mankind. Only one Guardian is left to do battle, and the fate of the human race is at stake. A lot of violence and nudity, some horror thriller, but scenes with many characters jump around fast without even selecting some protagonist, so it's mostly just the looks and simple thrills not growing into something bigger.   Overall Rating: 5/10

12. Makai Tenshou Ninja Resurrection 魔界転生 [Phoenix Entertainment] (Finished 2/2) Tags: Historical, Samurai Action, Supernatural Get ready for a nightmarish journey through faith and betrayal as the infamous Jubei Yagyu wields his deadly blades against the forces of good and evil alike. In an orgy of unbelievable savagery, the armies of the Shogun give no quarter as they ruthlessly slaughter their enemies. Trapped on the rocky isthmus of Amakusa, the faithful await divine aid as the demon stirs in their midst. Desperate for vengeance, a Child of Heaven becomes the emissary of Hell. Tortured by visions of Amakusa's final hour, legendary swordsman Jubei Yagyu returns to his ancestral home seeking respite from the bloody duties of a feudal retainer. Life in the village of Yagyu possesses a serenity ill-befitting days of armed rebellion and unholy alliance. For Jubei the tranquility is far too transparent, and soon, chilling rumors reach him. Four dead heroes renew their claim to life, feeding on the fear and violence of the age. Forced to take up the sword once more, Jubei returns to the path of vengeance and damnation in Ninja Resurrection! It starts rather well, but the further it goes, the more chaos and body horror starts to get involved, and final impression left is mostly disgust.   Overall Rating: 4/10

13. Perfect Blue パーフェクトブルー [Madhouse] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Adult Cast, Psychological, Showbiz Avant Garde, Drama, Horror J-pop idol group CHAM! has spent the last two years entertaining its fans. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and CHAM! must see one of its members, Mima Kirigoe, leave the group to pursue her acting career. While Mima's choice is met with a mixed response, she hopes her fans will continue to support her. However, Mima's life begins to change drastically after her departure from the group. Wanting to shed her pop-idol image, she takes on a role in a crime drama series, and her career as an actress gradually becomes more demanding and taxing for both Mima and her manager, Rumi Hidaka. To add to Mima's growing unease, an obsessed fan who is incapable of accepting that Mima has quit being an innocent idol, begins stalking her; a new anonymous website begins to impersonate her life with intricate detail; and CHAM! also appears to be doing better without her. One by one, each disturbing development drives Mima to become increasingly unhinged and unable to distinguish reality from fantasy. It was one of the first anime that I watched, and thus it had quite a strong influence. Can't say I enjoy it much, but it's definitely well done, it touches important topic and stays in memory even after two decades, so it's at least borderline masterpiece.   Overall Rating: 7/10

14. Ginga Tetsudou 999: Eternal Fantasy 銀河鉄道９９９ エターナルファンタジー [Toei Animation] (Finished 1/1) Tags: Space Action, Drama, Sci-Fi Based on the story by manga master Leiji Matsumoto (The Cockpit, Queen Emeraldas), the 55 minute featurette picks up one year after the events of Galaxy Express 999 in which a young boy named Tetsuro and his motherly companion Maetel worked to rid the universe on the Mechanized Empire who had taken over Earth. It's yet another epilogue to the series as events happen one year after and the Earth has become even more gloomy , and only Express 999 remains roughly the same. This show never had a real story, only circumstances of characters to explore and travelling. In my opinion, the whole piece is an advertisement for forthcoming Queen Emeraldas OVA. There's a bit of everything and nothing in the whole, as usual .   Overall Rating: 6/10

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