Lost Universe is a series of science fiction light novels, running from 1992 to 1999, by Japanese authorHajime Kanzaka. It was later adapted into a 26-episode anime television series that ran throughout the summer of 1998 on TV Tokyo during the same time slot that the anime adaptation of Kanzaka's previous work, Slayers, ran. This anime is called "Universe Police" in China and Hong Kong.
Plot
In Slayers, it was mentioned that the main characters of that series live on 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 demi gods 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 space ships 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 has sparked suggestions that they have been made by an advanced ancient alien civilization or by coming 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. Kane 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.
Characters
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Media
Light novels
When the first novel of Lost Universe was released in 1992, it enjoyed moderate success, while Kanzaka was already had negotiations in the works for the Slayers anime.
Manga
Anime
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 was destroyed in a studio fire and had to be quickly replaced leading to fairly sketchy quality for those episodes. It also ran in 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. The rights have since transferred to Nozomi Entertainment who re-released the complete series in a new bilingual DVD box set. The 4th episode entitled Yashigani Hofuru, which aired on April 24, 1998, was initially worked on by a South Korean animation company, San Ho Studio. They only had basic manuals of the characters. The result was so dismal in quality that it was later reworked for the Laserdisc releases. The San Ho depiction of that episode is no longer considered canon.
