Coyote Ragtime Show

Coyote Ragtime Show (コヨーテ ラグタイムショー) is an original action series created by ufotable.  The series originally aired during the Summer of 2006.

    Far into the future of mankind, which is now spread through out the cosmos, vagabonds, pirates and jacks-of-all-trade type people are known as Coyotes. One of the most infamous Coyotes known only as Mister has been missing for some time and is being hunted by a very persistent, by the book, detective named Angelica. She tracks him down in a remote prison where he is soon to be released after serving time for a mundane offense. The day before he is scheduled to be released, Mister, with the help of two companions, Bishop and Katana, breaks out of prison in a very spectacular way. As he breaks out of jail a powerful mobster named Marciano has sent her cyborg minions to capture him.  In one fell swoop Mister breaks out of jail, destroys the place, evades the mob and the law, ready to take on his next adventure.

    Before he was jailed his best friend, the King of the Coyotes was murdered by Marciano. He adopted his young daughter Franka who also inherited his vast wealth. Marciano is not only after the treasure of the late King but also after Misters head. Mister heads off to his safe house to pick up Franka and then head out to retrieve her late fathers inheritance. Aside from the people chasing them the biggest problem they have is that the planet the treasure is on is scheduled to be obliterated by the galactic government due to a disagreement with the planets inhabitants. Mister must use all of his cunning and skill, as well as that of his partners, if he is going to secure the King of the Coyotes treasure before it is destroyed or falls into someone else’s hands.

    This is a well drawn, action packed, adventure that is reminiscent of Cowboy BeBop, Black Lagoon and Gunsmith Cats. This is a balls to the wall space action series that gives us bad guys that are truly bad and good guys that are unscrupulous. There is plenty of fan service in a number of ways, the most obvious one being Marciano’s 12 killer androids, who all happen to be girls dressed up as Victorian maids. If there was anything more fan boy pleasing than cute, archetype ready, girls in frilly costumes wielding large and deadly weapons killing with zeal, I don’t know what it would be. What this also offers in the fan service departments is loose cannon, fun loving heroes who can’t lose or die, kind of like a classic Hollywood action film. The animation is above average in quality while the character design is reminiscent of this genre from the mid 90’s OAV’s. The typical pop opening and ending themes are forgettable for anyone other than the ones who will go out and buy the soundtrack(s). The characters are pretty transparent and don’t leave the stereotypes they were cast in. The viewer just sits back, enjoys the ride and waits for it to end, which isn’t always a bad thing. There are series' that are more entertaining and better written than this one, but all in all, it’s a fun little jaunt and at only 12 episodes you’re not wasting a lot of time watching it.

    So if you enjoyed Cowboy BeBop, Gunsmith Cats, Black Lagoon, Lethal Weapons 1-10 or any other action series that deal with persistently optimistic good guys, this is a good series to pick up and watch while drinking beer.

 

UPDATE: ADV/Funimation released all 12 episodes to DVD in the North American market. It is currently available on Crunchyroll as well.