Review provided by TJ
Title: Lost Universe
Director: Takashi Watanabe
Author: Hajime Kanzaka
U.S. Distributor: Nozomi/ Lucky Penny
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Format and Length: DVD; 26 ep; 650 min
Genre: Sci-Fi
Industry Age Rating: 13+
Overall Personal Rating: B
Similar Series: Cowboy Bebop, G Gundam
Synopsis:
Kane Blueriver is something called a Trouble Contractor. Something like a bounty hunter, he takes freelance jobs helping out either the police force, corporations, individuals, or anyone who is offering payment. His partner, Canal Volfield is also the A.I. System of his ship Swordbreaker and has an ability to project a hologram and give it mass so that she can interact with people. On one of his jobs, Kane runs into Millie Nocturne, a woman whose goal in life is to be the best in the universe at everything. Her favorite things to brag about are being the best shot in the universe and the best cook in the universe. Her current goal was to expose an blackmarket auction to become the best detective in the universe, however, once Kane shows up, his job interferes with hers thus screwing up all of her plans. She then decides to tag along on Swordbreaker using the excuse that he owes her for causing her to get fired.
As the story progresses, Kane, Millie, and Canal get targeted by the organization Nightmare whose goal is to destroy all the Lost Ships, of which Swordbreaker is one, to make their ultimate objective of spreading darkness across the universe that much easier. Once Nightmare starts focusing heavily on Kane, he puts his focus on them and puts his job as a Trouble Contractor to the side until he can destroy Nightmare once and for all.
Commentary:
Overall, Lost Universe was a good series. The characters are interesting, if not slightly gimmicky, and many of the episodes are fun to watch. The only complaint I have is that once the story gets focused on the conflict with Nightmare, it actually gets boring. The first 13 episodes are standalone episodes as Kane and crew take various jobs and have silly arguments among themselves. The comic relief is actually really good. The arguments between Canal and Millie are always silly and in one episode Canal’s hologram projection system malfunctions will hilarious results.
However, the second half of the series is when I just started losing interest. Once the conflict with Nightmare became the plot rather than Kane’s job as a Trouble Contractor, it became boring. After episode 13 it almost felt like I was watching a completely different series. The new plot was mediocre at best and left a lot of questions unanswered. The biggest question being what exactly were the Lost Ships. The series makes it seem like they were extremely rare and incredibly powerful ships. However, Kane and crew got into a battle with a Lost Ship at least once an episode, sometimes twice, which made it seem like they weren’t as extremely rare as the series would like to have it seem. And the only real difference that was noticeable between a Lost Ship and a normal vessel was that the Lost Ship had an advanced A.I. with its own consciousness and will.
One last thing that does need to be mentioned is the voice acting. Normally, personally, I have no problem with English voice acting. But it is bad in Lost Universe. I highly recommend watching this series subbed.
Overall Grade: B
Lost Universe starts off really well. The first half is very enjoyable and fun to watch. However, once it develops a focused plot, the quality just drops.
