Pure over-the-top gratuitous absurdity.
Yes, there’s the fan service with the ladies at Boobies and lingering shots of Scarlet.
But mainly it’s a rollicking romp through the wacky profundities of space.
The show is a visual feast. Each episode director was given total artistic freedom, featuring a multiplicity of art styles.
And as always for a Watanabe project, excellent music.
It definitely belongs in the top tier of Watanabe’s catalog with Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo. It feels sacrilegious, but I wonder if it surpasses its two companions.
I hesitate to proclaim as to which one is “best”.
But would I rewatch Space Dandy before the others?
Yes.
A few months after this initial draft, my opinion of this anime has only increased. Bebop is still a must-watch for its style and its place in its canon. Samurai Champloo is Watanabe’s most coherent story. However Space Dandy has cemented itself in my favorite work. This show is certainly the first one I’d rewatch.