Space Adventure Cobra

Before Space Dandy, there was Cowboy Bebop, and before Cowboy Bebop there was Captain Harlock. But somewhere in between Harlock and Bebop was another character in the "wacky sexy space rogue" genre, a goofy gun-arm wielding himbo by the name of Cobra.

Spike Spiegel didn't invent the iconic "Bang" scene, he was just keeping up tradition!

Space Adventure Cobra has everything I love in a Space Adventure show: colorful backdrops of alien landscapes, cool retrofuturistic sci-fi concepts that are as low-tech as they are high-tech, wild JRPG-esque character designs, and a lovable dumbass of a protagonist. And the funky 70s fusion jazz soundtrack is the perfect icing on the cake.

Put this against any Casiopea or Weather Report album and tell me it isn't a perfect fit.

So what's our story about? Cobra is a jovial guy with a swashbuckling swagger and a dopey sense of humor that he uses to cover up a rather mysterious past. He and his cyborg partner Armaroid Lady travel from planet to planet in search of some unbelievably valuable legendary treasure. Being a sort of space pirate comes with a reputation, however. Enemies are always chasing after them, seeking old debts unpaid, eager to get a slice of whatever it is that Cobra's got onboard that ship of his. So what's he really hiding? I'll tell you. One of his arms is not-so-secretly the most powerful weapon anyone in his universe has ever seen: a laser cannon that can be controlled by Cobra's own mind and emotions.

That's not at all how "unarmed" combat works.

This anime follows a slow-paced adventure format that *does* have a central thread of a story running through it, but that's not particularly important. The meat of the show is about going on various misadventures, chasing tail and treasure, with only whispers of a bigger treasure to lead the way. It's not a show you watch for one contiguous plot. You can clearly see from the genre-hopping, mood-swinging adventure of the week format that creator Buichi Terasawa loved all types of stories and settings, and wanted to use Cobra's universe to explore all of them. This very old-school, anything-goes approach makes it easy to see why Cobra had such an influence in the sci-fi community at the time, and the ripples of that influence spreading out into other media for many years down the road.

Anybody else wanna negotiate?

"Space Pirates" isn't the core theme here, it's only set dressing. This show wants to take you for a ride. Underground tank battles in the desert, a no-rules hyperviolent Baseball stadium, a magic genie with a harem, snowboarding on a desolate planet, you name it. Watching Cobra react to the various dangers he faces is the show's real strength. The myriad ways in which he robs the rich and hangs out with the downtrodden is far more important than getting to his supposed destination, and that's an admirable thing that I think more shows could stand to take a lesson from.

Space Aladdin wouldn't have been a bad alternate title for this show.

Okay, now this may be a bit of an aside, but I do want to take a moment to talk about butts. It's no surprise that a show about a Space Rogue who likes the ladies would feature a lot of bikinis and skintight suits and whatnot, but it's kind of nice to see that also extends to our main character getting a lot of skintight ass shots as well. Not quite equivalent exchange, but definitely appreciated. It also makes me laugh because I know some conservative parents (including my own) are always worried that if a boy watches shows about girls he'll end up gay somehow, but then they suggest that he watch shows about manly men (Space Adventure Cobra, for example) to dissuade them from having any homoerotic awakenings. Hilariously, this show regularly gives us shots like this:

It's a fact that a lot of gay awakenings happen in the locker room during The Sports Arc of many young people's lives.

That said, this is one of those shows that embraces its sexy side and encourages a general horniness that - as I've mentioned in other reviews - you simply don't see enough of in sci-fi, at least in my opinion. It also isn't afraid of what most people nowadays recognize as freaky fetishes and kinks, and isn't afraid to get a little cartoony with that. And that's a good thing!

Totally Spies was far from the only cartoon to fuel our kinky little imaginations growing up!

At the risk of - once again - sound extremely crusty and out of touch, I hate to say "they don’t make shows like this anymore", because that's demonstrably false, but there is at least a *grain* of truth to that statement. Space Adventure Cobra is a product of its time, where you didn't need to tell a holistic story if you had enough weird alternate interests and inspirations to fill your adventures with. After all, it's the life you live in between the big story moments that really counts, and this show excels at this type of storytelling.

And that philosophy, steeped in the unflinchingly cool world of 70s retrofuturist interplanetary space adventurers and sick fusion jazz, is what makes Space Adventure Cobra such a timeless and endearing show to me.

Watching Cobra constantly on the run from getting shot a lot is also half the fun!