Taking place in an alternate universe from Slayers, Lost Universe is a space-opera tale that follows Kane Blueriver and his ship Sword Breaker (controlled by an A.I. called Canal Vorfeed). In the first episode, the pair of freelance problem-solvers run into a whiney woman named Millie, who of course latches herself to the crew and becomes the third hero in the series.
Lost Universe starts off kind of slow and spends a lot of time developing the characters' personalities early on, even though it seems the most important information isn't really realized until the last half of the show. We learn that Kane inherited Sword Breaker from his grandmother, and that Kane has a great amount of psychic strength that enables him to use weapons like the Psycho-Blade.
Early in the series, there is also mention of several super spaceships called "Lost Ships." These ships are intelligent, seem to have an awesome amount of power and can consume their pilots (if necessary) in order to gain even more power. Followers of Slayers will recognize the names of these ships, like Darkstar. Of course, there is a crime syndicate known as Nightmare who is trying to collect all of the Lost Ships and use them to bring about mass destruction.
As the series progresses, several Lost Ships become uncovered, and it is revealed that Sword Breaker is, in fact, a Lost Ship. Millie, Kane and Canal travel all over the galaxy trying to not only eke out a living by performing various odd jobs, but also foil Nightmare's plans whenever possible. And as you would expect from any self-respecting space series, it all concludes in a massive space battle between the ultimate good and the ultimate evil.
Like I said, the first half of the show is slow to get started, but as some of the mysteries get unraveled, the action picks up and the show's overall story really starts to shine. The series has the same flair as Slayers, so anyone who enjoyed that show should definitely give Lost Universe a try.
