As an avowed anime skeptic, this caught me way the hell off-guard with lively animation, good music, and decent characters despite the dub's best attempts at massacring anything resembling relatability. Criminally underrated and likely to remain that way without a DVD release; the two-hour "Phoenix 2772" version is worth tracking down, as the "Space Firebird" cut removes much of the darker content and a silent ten-minute prologue that is a masterpiece in itself.