FRHS Weekly Group Review: Chapter 1

[Mantis]

So, the idea is that every Friday I'll create a thread where we read what's been translated of Future-Retro Hero Story, which if you don't know is essentially a prequel to Outlaw Star, although the characters are entirely different...


That's our redhead hero, Juji, with his ship I assume.

...That is, except Ark, Hadul and Urt, the three wizards of Tenrei. It's also set way before Outlaw Star during the Fixed Star Era. This shall be interesting. Unfortunately the scanlation isn't that long. It's by You're Welcome Scans and they only completed thirteen chapters, so this'll serve as a preview of the whole story I guess (since there are many more chapters) and will last around three months.

Shall we begin? Let's read the first chapter and share our thoughts when we're done. I don't think there's a need to spoiler tag our posts since it's common sense that there will be spoilers below and in subsequent threads. Don't scroll down until you're done. You can join at any time, but try to catch up if you're far behind.

Chapter 1

[Zemekis]

Hey, just wanted to post here and say I will be reading this and making some comments afterwards. This is just a placeholder, i'll probably come back and edit this after I read it. Hopefully some people see the new post and come over here to join us as well.

Edit 1: Really struggling to find time. The boss took me with him for lunch so I couldn't read over lunch break as I had expected.

[Zemekis]

AS PROMISED here I am with my FRHS Chapter 1....response? Reaction? Idk.

Overall fun and enjoyable, but there wasn't a lot of substance there in my opinion. It was cool seeing the crossover characters so early in the series, but I feel like it would have been more exciting for a Chapter 5 reveal or something. I know this came before OLS, but with my frame of reference I would have preferred that sequence of events.

As Mantis and others have stated in the past, this series takes itself a lot less seriously than OLS or even Angel Links, and I can't say that's really a strong point. It's got the late-80's thru 90's panty shots and such that (while classic) don't add much, and the characters yelling at each other all the time isn't really funny to me. The being said, some decently interesting backstory is laid out, particularly at the beginning. Was I the only one thinking at the beginning that it's nearly the same setup as OLS? Gene looks almost exactly like Roger, there's a female figure with some sort of key to the galaxy/space treasure, Roger/Juji have a special one-of-a-kind ship...This is a lot closer to OLS than I was expecting.

[Mantis]

I decided to postpone my reply (and creation of the second thread) to give you a chance to read it yourself, but the schedule will continue as originally planned so thread #3 will emerge by the end of Friday. Having read this first chapter it's time to share my thoughts...

I've really enjoyed this. Obviously, fans should compare it to the Outlaw Star manga rather than the anime (if at all) since the original is Takehiko Ito's style. But yes, FRHS's tone is a lot lighter than Outlaw Star's, the manga included. I think there's more comedy, but it's also serious to an extent. (I suppose a bit like the OLS manga then. There's a lot of comedy there too.) It's a great first chapter that's encouraging me to continue onto the second sooner rather than later. Juji is an interesting character. He's sort of like a younger version of Gene, but a lot more spunky rather than lazy? On the other hand, personality-wise Roger isn't like Gene despite the similar appearance.

Was I the only one thinking at the beginning that it's nearly the same setup as OLS? Gene looks almost exactly like Roger, there's a female figure with some sort of key to the galaxy/space treasure, Roger/Juji have a special one-of-a-kind ship...This is a lot closer to OLS than I was expecting.

You certainly weren't. I'd say Roger looks older than Gene which is a given, but he does look more like how I'd imagine Gene's father, instead of Norman Starwind, Gene's actual father. Roger's spacesuit resembles the ones Gene and Norman wore when Norman was killed. More particularly the usage of the star symbol which indeed becomes Gene's tattoo. I think there's a possibility that Gene's a descendant of Roger (and Juji), but I get the feeling that might be revealed in the future. (A big might.) And like Gene Starwind, Roger and Juji are American.

Yeah, the whole female with a key thing suggests that Outlaw Star was paying homage to Future-Retro Hero Story.

The time period piqued my curiosity. It appears that the Fixed Star Academy in FRHS was built right after World War II. Yet there are crazily futuristic spaceships, as well as magic. (I guess this would be what was referred to as "old magic" in Outlaw Star, which eventually had to be stored in caster shells before fizzling out thousands of years after FRHS.) Is this supposed to be loosely based on reality (WWII mentioned) with some kind of dimensional merge? Hopefully all will be answered soon.