Space Cobra

Entry updated 20 October 2025. Tagged: TV.

Japanese animated tv series (1982-1983). Based on the Manga by Buichi Terasawa. Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Directed by Osamu Dezaki and Yoshio Takeuchi. Written by Haruya Yamazaki, Kosuke Miki and Kenji Terada. Voice cast includes Nachi Nozawa and Yoshiko Sakakibara. 31 25-minute episodes. Colour.

This series mixes nonstop adrenaline-pumping Pulp action with Satire, following the blond, cigar-chomping space outlaw Cobra (Nozawa). Armed with an infamous Psychogun, a Ray Gun grafted into his left arm (see Cyborg) and accompanied by his trusty Android partner Lady Armaroid (aka Armoroid Lady) (Sakakibara), Cobra travels a Far Future cosmos, seeking adventure and treasure while battling galactic crime syndicates, Monsters, and tyrants. Terasawa conceived the series as a genre cocktail, mixing spaghetti Western, samurai stories and spy fiction, creating a flamboyant Space Opera universe of surreal Alien landscapes and baroque technology. Major arcs include Cobra's feud with the crystalline cyborg Crystal Bowie (named after David Bowie) and the "Rugball" death-sport tournament (see Games and Sports). The story contains various nods to sf classics; for example its opening, when Cobra overcomes self-induced Amnesia after a visit to a dream-manufacturing company, is probably inspired by Philip K Dick's "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (April 1966 F&SF). (See also Memory Edit.)

The original manga, serialized as Cobra (later vt Space Adventure Cobra) in Weekly Shōnen Jump and collected in 18 volumes (1978-1984), sold over fifty million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time. The popularity of the series led to Teresawa's decades-later sequel, Cobra: Over the Rainbow (6 vols 2019-2020). The franchise also saw a large number of Videogames, with over twenty published from 1982 until as recently as 2025. Most were Japanese-exclusive, with The Space Adventure (1991 Hudson Soft TurboGrafx-16, Sega Genesis) and Space Adventure Cobra – The Awakening (2025 Microids PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, PC) being the among the few released in North America and Europe.

The Anime series debuted in July 1982 with the feature film Space Adventure Cobra (1982) directed Osamu Dezaki; the Television series begun airing in October. Its vibrant visuals – full of exotic alien vistas, geometric designs and neon-lit surrealism – gave it a distinct look among 1980s anime, setting it apart from the more realist or cyberpunk fare of the time. Its groundbreaking cinematic framing and sensual French bandes dessinées Comics-inspired art, blending influences from Barbarella (1968) and Zardoz (1974) with Star Wars (1977), and such Métal Hurlant-style illustrators as Jean "Moebius" Giraud, with the larger-than-life flair of US Superhero comics and Fantastika illustrations in the manner of Frank Frazetta or Boris Vallejo. Due to Terasawa's numerous inspirations from French works (Cobra's face was even modeled on the French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo), it became very popular in France, where it has gained cult-production status with Cobra a pop-culture icon akin to Space Pirate Captain Harlock. Later revivals included animated side-stories and sequels through the series The Psychogun (2008), Time Drive (2009) and Rokunin no Yūshi ["Six Heroes"] (2010), which updated the animation while preserving Terasawa's style.

The show's adult sensibilities – featuring gunplay, scantily-clad femmes fatales, and psychedelic visuals – pushed the boundaries of 1980s Japanese sf; its enduring influences on Anime can be seen in works like Dirty Pair (1985), Outlaw Star (1998), Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999) and Space Dandy (2014), that likewise mix various genres and pair high-stakes action with a playful, sometimes flamboyant tone. Cobra's swaggering, laconic persona was also a direct model for Dante, the irreverent demon-hunter of the popular Videogame Devil May Cry (2001 Capcom PlayStation 2, 3 and 4 Windows Xbox 360 Xbox One Nintendo Switch). The franchise's longevity, along with its East-West fusion of aesthetics and influences makes it a key Japanese sf creation inspired by European and US pop culture, which was in turn reflected in Western works – the director of The Fifth Element (1997), Luc Besson, cited it among his formative influences – a retro, unapologetic yet timeless Space Opera adventure that feels at once globally familiar and distinctly Japanese. [PKo]

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