Ja Kanji: | ロスト・ユニバース |
Ja Romaji: | Rosuto Yunibāsu |
Type: | light novel |
Author: | Hajime Kanzaka |
Illustrator: | Shoko Yoshinaka |
Publisher: | Fujimi Shobo |
Demographic: | Male |
Magazine: | Dragon Magazine |
Imprint: | Fujimi Fantasia Bunko |
First: | December 20, 1992 |
Last: | April 20, 1999 |
Volumes: | 5 |
Type: | manga |
Author: | Shoko Yoshinaka |
Publisher: | Kadokawa Shoten |
Demographic: | Shōnen |
Magazine: | Monthly Dragon Junior |
Imprint: | Kadokawa Comics |
First: | December 1997 |
Last: | November 2002 |
Volumes: | 4 |
Type: | tv series |
Director: | Takashi Watanabe |
Producer: | Noriko Kobayashi Yoko Morimura Yumiko Yazaki Masaki Yamakawa |
Music: | Osamu Tezuka |
Studio: | E&G Films |
First: | April 3, 1998 |
Last: | September 25, 1998 |
Episodes: | 26 |
Episode List: | List of Lost Universe episodes |
is a series of science fiction light novels, running from 1992 to 1999, by Japanese author Hajime Kanzaka. It was later adapted into a 26-episode anime series by E&G Films that ran from April 3rd to September 25th, 1998. The series aired on TV Tokyo in the same time slot in which the anime adaptation of Kanzaka's previous work Slayers had previously been shown.
The anime is known as "Universe Police" in China and Hong Kong.
In Slayers, it is mentioned that the main characters of that series live in a world that is one of the four created by the mother of all creation, called the Lord of Nightmares. This world was known as the Red World. Lost Universe, however, takes place in a different world, known as the Black World. Whereas the demigods of the various worlds, such as Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo and Dark Star Dugradigdo had physical presence in that world, they appear in the Black World as "Lost Ships," intelligent spaceships of unknown origin that have powerful or somewhat divine powers with more advanced technology than any other device in the universe.
Their rarity and superiority have sparked suggestions that they have been made by an advanced ancient alien civilization or come from the beginning of the universe itself. Being a central part to the plot, the "Lost Ships" are intelligent beings with different loyalties and even their own agenda. Kain Blueriver, a "trouble contractor," inherits a "Lost Ship" from his grandmother and from there, he and his sidekick Milly, together with Canal, the ship's computer, journey to find a source of the evil that threatens the universe.
When the first novel of Lost Universe was released in 1992, it enjoyed moderate success. Kanzaka was already in negotiations for the Slayers anime.
A manga adaptation by Shoko Yoshinaka was published in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Dragon Junior magazine from December 1997 to November 2002 and was collected into four volumes.
See main article: List of Lost Universe episodes. Lost Universe ran for 26 episodes and was plagued with numerous production problems. Most notably, large amounts of the raw work for the first few episodes were destroyed in a studio fire and had to be quickly replaced, resulting in reduced quality for those episodes.[1] It also ran during the Southeast Asian financial crisis of 1998, which severely limited budgets for anime series across all studios. A Lost Universe film was rumored in 1998, but was cancelled in favor of more Slayers films.
Lost Universe is distributed in North America by Enoki Films, and was originally licensed for American distribution by ADV Films, who released the series onto both dubbed and subtitled VHS tapes and bilingual DVD. Following ADV's bankruptcy in 2009, the rights to the anime have since transferred to Nozomi Entertainment who re-released the complete series in a new bilingual DVD box set. The entirety of the show's English dub can be streamed and watched for free on Nozomi Entertainment's YouTube channel.
The 4th episode entitled, which aired on April 24, 1998, was initially animated by a South Korean animation company, San Ho Studio. Because the studio had only basic reference sheets of the characters to go by, the results wound up being dismal in quality. that it was therefore later reworked for the Laserdisc releases, and the term "yashigani" would later be adopted by Japanese anime fans as a derogatory term for poor art and animation in anime. The San Ho depiction of that episode is no longer considered canon.