Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Manga / Outlanders

Go To

1[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Outlanders15_6301.jpg]]
2
3''Outlanders'' (アウトランダーズ, Autorandāzu) is a {{Manga}} written by Creator/JohjiManabe, best described as a SpaceOpera with a strong dose of ScienceFantasy, an ActionGirlfriend and a whole heaping load of FanService. It tells the story of the alien Princess Kahm and [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Tokyo News Photographer]] Tetsuya Wakatsuki as they try to save the earth from the invading forces of the interstellar [[TheEmpire Santovasku Empire.]] [[LoveObstructingParents Oh, and Kahm's father is the emperor.]] The Santovasku (referred to as Saint Evascureze in the [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVA]]) use giant techno-organic spaceships, or "Biomechs," and they utilize both their [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens advanced technology]] as well as their [[MagicKnight mastery of sorcery]] in their assault on Earth.
4
5The manga was originally serialized in ''Monthly [=ComiComi=]'' from 1985 to 1987, and compiled into eight volumes. It was distributed in English by Creator/DarkHorseComics in the United States prior to the expiration of their license on the property. The Dark Horse version was translated by Toren Smith of Studio Proteus. There is also an ''Outlanders'' [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVA]], produced by Creator/{{AIC}} in 1986 on behalf of Creator/TatsunokoProduction and is not listed on Tatsunoko's web site. In 2005, Creator/CentralParkMedia released a remastered version of the [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVA]] with new voice actors. A poll was conducted to select said actors, with fans selecting who they wished to voice the characters.
6
7Manabe would later revisit the ''Outlanders'' universe with the one-shot manga, ''The Key of Graciale''. Although it is not a direct prequel to his earlier ''Outlanders'' manga in terms of plot, Princess Kahm does return as heroine complete with her band of trusted servants in tow.
8
9The OVA [[AdaptationDistillation condenses roughly the first half of the series into a single self-contained episode less than an hour in length; all but the main story elements, in addition to most of the non-essential characters, are subsequently dispensed with.]]
10
11[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant This should not be confused with]] the ''Outlanders'' novel series by Mark Ellis, spun off from the ''Literature/{{Deathlands}}'' series of post-apocalyptic novels.
12----
13!!''Outlanders'' provides examples of:
14
15%%* ActionGirl: Kahm and her best friend, Battia.
16%%* ActionGirlfriend: Both the above.
17%%* TheAlcoholic: Geobaldi has a big jug of... [[GargleBlaster something]] he takes a swig from almost every time he's seen.
18* AlienPrincess: Kahm, a HornedHumanoid Alien Princess of a the Santovasku Empire, and an {{Expy}} of [[Anime/UruseiYatsura Lum]]. She enters the series running from an ArrangedMarriage.
19%%* ArrangedMarriage: Kahm is fleeing one of these.
20%%* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler:''Quintuplets'', even!]]
21%%* BetaCouple: Battia and Geobaldi.
22%%* BittersweetEnding: At the end of the manga, [[spoiler:Kahm and Tetsuya survive all the events of the story [[BabiesEverAfter and have children of their own]], but they paid a huge price for it.]]
23%%* BizarreAlienBiology: [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with Kahm and Battia. Possibly played straight with Geobaldi, but is not made clear.
24%%* BoisterousBruiser: Geobaldi, toned down from his BloodKnight introduction in the manga.
25%%* BrainwashedAndCrazy: In the manga, the Emperor resorts to [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind-wiping Kahm]] to stop her relationship with Tetsuya. [[spoiler: Tetsuya succeeds in regaining her memories.]]
26%%* ButtMonkey: Tetsuya
27%%* CatGirl: Battia has cat ears.
28%%* ChainmailBikini: Kahm and Battia's attire of choice.
29* CreatorCameo: Creator/JohjiManabe himself voiced a background character in the Japanese dub of the OVA. He also drew chibi versions of himself as extras in the manga.
30* CurbStompBattle: Sick of Geobaldi calling him a monkey, Tetsuya uses Kahm's sword to attack him, only to be slashed to ribbons. Kahm is forced to employ a secret healing technique to save him afterward. The incident is not mentioned again.
31%%* DistressedDamsel: Kahm briefly becomes one of these after bringing Tetsuya to meet her father. It didn't go well.
32%%* TheDulcineaEffect: Tetsuya quickly succumbs to this.
33%%* DwindlingParty: [[spoiler:Battia, Gerobaldi, and Raika all die in that order when trying to rescue Kahm, after Earth's Destruction.]]
34%%* EarnYourHappyEnding: In the manga. [[spoiler:Considering what happened, it may be somewhat bittersweet.]]
35%%* EarthShatteringKaboom: [[spoiler:Ironically this is not applied to the [[ColonyDrop Earth's Destruction]]. This, however, applies to the Destruction of the Santovasku Empire.]]
36%%* EveryoneComesBackFantasyPartyEnding: The special epilogue to the manga.
37* {{Expy}}: A green-haired alien princess with horns and a bikini comes to Earth with her father's invasion fleet, and then decides on a whim to marry a Japanese boy after he sees her topless. If that's not familiar enough, she's named Kaamu (instead of Ramu) in Japanese. The major difference is ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'' plays the whole alien invasion angle for comedy, and it's all but forgotten by the end of chapter two.
38%%* {{Fanservice}}: ''Rampant''.
39%%* FirstGirlWins: Gender inversion. Tetsuya is the first human male Kahm meets that isn't ugly and trying to kill her.
40%%* FishPeople: Nao and the entire Nuba tribe. They're not aquatic, but still.
41* FiveRoundsRapid: Early in the OVA, Kahm lands her ship on Earth while being attacked by the military, presumably the UsefulNotes/{{JSDF}}. Her ship wipes the floor with them. After personally slaughtering a whole squad with only her sword and ChainMailBikini, she bumps into Tetsuya taking pictures of the action. Cue plot and no further mention of the destruction.
42%%* FunnyAnimal: Geobaldi, a starship captain and MasterSwordsman implied to be from a world enthralled by TheEmpire.
43%%* FuroScene: Sort of, as the scene is an actual bath as opposed to a soaking bit.
44* GagDub: Central Park Media's dub, released in 2005, wasn't afraid of tossing in some groan-worthy one-liners for the heck of it. Memorable lines include Tetsuya begging for one final chance at sleeping with Kahm as he's dragged away by guards, a soldier asking for permission to die, the line "banana-eating retard", and a soldier saying (after being stabbed through the mouth) "Oh man, now I'm freakin dead!".
45%%* GladToBeAliveSex: [[spoiler:Tetsuya gets his happy ending.]]
46%%* GratuitousEnglish: In the theme song.
47%%* HalfHumanHybrid: The implied result of Kahm and Tetsuya's relationship. [[spoiler:Not just ''implied'' in the manga.]]
48%%* HardDrinkingPartyGirl: Battia has elements of this.
49%%* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Geobaldi after being convinced by Tetsuya and DoubleSubverted with]] Raika. [[spoiler:See ShipperOnDeck.]]
50%%* HornedHumanoid: All of the Santovasku royals, but Kahm's horns are much cuter than her father's.
51%%* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: So insignificant in fact that [[spoiler:the Earth is destroyed at the two-thirds point.]]
52* InterSpeciesRomance: Well, duh. As Tetsuya discovers first-hand after accidentally depriving her of her ModestyTowel, and in subsequent encounters, he and Kahm are not only [[MaleToFemaleUniversalAdaptor anatomically compatible]], but also [[HalfHumanHybrid biologically.]]
53%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Geobaldi
54* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Princess Kahm briefly forgets Tetsuya and tries to kill him (again)]], due to the magic of the Santrov Emperor.
55%%* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler:Tetsuya by the end of the entire series is the last human alive.]]
56%%* LoadBearingBoss: The Emperor is a particularly egregious example, causing the collapse of an entire planet.
57%%* LoveAtFirstSight: More or less what happens between Kahm and Tetsuya, at least in the anime. (The manga is somewhere between BestHerToBedHer and FireForgedFriends.)
58%%* LoveObstructingParents: The Emperor frowns upon his daughter's shenanigans.
59* MagicKiss: Kahm gives Tetsuya the ability to understand her alien language with a kiss, which she says is a simple spell. Though later they cast an area-effect version of the spell, probably so Kahm didn't have kiss the entire [[FishPeople Nuba tribe]].
60* MeaningfulName: Geobaldi, is [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous named after]] Italian folk hero and revolutionary warrior '''Giu'''seppe Gari'''baldi'''. Guess who he ends up fighting for? His NumberTwo is Gari, of course.
61%%* OneHeadTaller: Battia and Geobaldi. Battia's no shrimp, but Geobaldi is [[TheBigGuy massive.]]
62%%* OrganicTechnology: Santovasku tech seems to be equal parts this and {{Magitek}}.
63%%* PlanetSpaceship: Earth's moon is revealed to be a millennia-old ship, the superweapon called "Dola".
64%%* ReadyForLovemaking: Kahm is an eager woman indeed. Her outfit facilitates this.
65%%* RebelliousPrincess: Kahm again.
66%%* RescueSex: Almost happens, but is [[MomentKiller stopped]] by Battia and Geobaldi reminding them that they still have a nigh-impossible escape to execute.
67%%* TheRival: Battia's intial appearance leads to a SwordFight with her friend Kahm, but we quickly discover she's more of TheLancer.
68* RubberForeheadAliens: Mostly. Kahm only has a pair of horns that wrap around her hair, and Battia has [[CatGirl cat ears.]] Then there's [[FunnyAnimal Geobaldi.]] [[spoiler:Justified in that they originally came from Earth.]]
69* RunningGag: Everyone keeps calling poor Tetsuya a monkey.
70%%* ShamelessFanServiceGirl: Kham, of course.
71* ShipperOnDeck: Raika, the German girl from the manga. [[spoiler:She sneaks aboard Kahm's flagship to try to kill her, and ends up coming out of hiding after listening to the Emperor offer to leave Earth alone if Tetsuya leaves Kahm -- just to deliver a ShutUpHannibal. She immediately starts working on arranging the wedding ceremonies.]]
72* ShoutOut: Kahm is a horned alien, which could be a reference to the Boazanians from ''Anime/VoltesV''. They ''heavily'' resemble Prince Heinel's.
73%%* SlapSlapKiss: How Kahm and Tetsuya meet. The kiss confers Kahm's language to Tetsuya.
74* SidekickCreatureNuisance: Kahm's personal staff includes two [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda-sized]] frog-creatures and their three children. [[TheMatchMaker the woman offers Kahm advice]] on how to court Tetsuya during the FuroScene. The couple's catchphrase is "Leave them alone", in reference to our favorite green-haired space princess and her squeeze.
75%%* {{Squee}}: Kahm's reaction to Tetsuya coming to her rescue. Almost results in RescueSex.
76%%* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Tetsuya's old boss Aki once the AncientConspiracy turns her into the BlackMagicianGirl Jilehr.
77%%* SwordFight: Several.
78* ThatsNoMoon: In the manga, [[spoiler:Earth's moon]] is revealed to be an ancient space battleship.
79* ThrowAwayCountry: Subverted in the manga; Japan is completely destroyed by the end of the first storyline (although all significant characters escaped). [[spoiler:[[InsignificantLittleBluePlanet Earth]] is destroyed about two-thirds through the series.]]
80%%* TreacherousAdvisor: Court advisor and fleet commander Progress is implied to be this by Kahm, but never gets a chance to enact whatever scheme he had in mind. [[spoiler:Neo is revealed to be one as well.]]
81* TwerpSweating: The Emperor doesn't even bother ''trying'' to intimidate Tetsuya. He's got that part down pat. He just skips straight to the [[DisproportionateRetribution execution by being fed to nasty giant alien worms.]] Cue Battia pulling a [[Franchise/StarWars Lando Calrissian]] to save Tetsuya from the aforementioned horrible fate.
82* WaterfallShower: While Kahm is having a bath, she goes over to the portion of her bathing pond where the waterfall is and has a waterfall shower to rinse off the shampoo that she had in her hair.
83* YouCantGoHomeAgain: At the end of the manga, [[spoiler: Tatsuya and Kahm both lose their planets.]]
84%%* YouSexyBeast: Battia, to Geobaldi.

Top