I was surprised to find that the first episode of this show aired so early. Then again, it is the outlier with only six episodes and all. Let me first say that I have never seen any other works of Leiji Matsumoto, or any anime from the 80's for that matter. After watching this first episode, it was pretty standard fare: boy saves damsel in distress and make their escape from the masked villain.
What I'm really digging about this show are the retro character designs. I feel like a lot of contemporary anime use the same facial templates and just add eye color and the crazily impossible hairstyles, which is a rather unfortunate change. As far as the setting goes, the first thing that came mind was a game my cousin got me when I was a kid: Dune 2000. It was probably the whole sand sci-fi environment with the huge sand-worms. The show also uses a bunch of in-universe jargon, which is probably typical of most sci-fi shows out there to really immerse you into their world. Unfortunately, this is only 6 episodes in duration, so I doubt we'll get much of the world explained to the viewers.
As for the characters, nobody in particular really stood out to me. The main character, Sam, is your typical carefree happy-go-lucky kind of guy. The main girl, Maya, seems like the rather useless type. Then again, I should give her credit for escaping the enemies on her own. The segment with the doctor seems to show that she knows something about Maya because of the ominous music that played. The masked villain seems to treat her with rather high regard, so perhaps the faction that he's with thinks her as some sort of "Eve" in this wasteland of sand. My favorite character thus far is probably the red-haired captain. She can tell fortune, her hair is ever-flowing, and she just stands there while being fired at by lasers like a boss. What's not to like?
The overall quality of the art so far is pretty disappointing. It's pretty obvious that they are under-budgeted. It's especially noticeable during the span when they first introduce Port Oase. The animation wasn't all that great either. It was mostly simple character movements, shaking the screen, and panning the camera. Overall, it was a pretty mediocre episode. However, I'll continue watching because it's only six episodes long. This is my first exposure to Leiji Matsumoto's works after all, so if I like it, I might try one of his older series.
-Bern
