What does Future-Retro Hero Story mean?

Well, the original Japanese title (宇宙 英雄 物語) happens to be Uchuu Eiyuu Monogatari. Which actually translates to Space Hero Story instead. That English title is also used on some of the CDs, but the English or you can say Engrish title 'FRHS' is used all the time.

Future Retro does probably imply the pre-90 sci-fi look and style, mostly the pulps and space adventure shows. FRHS is a Japanese manga series that is drawn cartoony and is a parody of Captain Future and the Lensmen books, but makes jokes towards Star Wars and the like as well. So you just know the main hero happens to be a red head! A very fun romp to read in kanji (it's not translated yet) or to listen to by the CDs. Also since it's from Takehiko Ito, there tends to be injokes towards other works by him. So keep a really good eye for stuff.

The manga series spawned off at least 14 CDs. The majority of them Drama CDs or Radio plays.

Note: The titles may not be always correct (like Fever in our Space), so check the images or info on the item for the titles or numbers. Numbers after a  second '-' or a period means there are two CDs in the case. CDs, 29L2-86, WPCL-628.629, and WPCL-401 were produced by Warner Brothers and Pioneer. The rest were from Media Rings/Jasrac. WB/P had a different voice actor (Taiki Mastsuno) for the main hero while Media Rings used Takeshi Kusao. However all the other voice actors were kept the same during the change from one company to the other.

• Fever in our Space # 29L2-86 Released: 1989 07/25
• Space Hero Story* Karaoke CD  # WPCL-628.629 Released: 1991 12/21
• What a Wonderful Adventure! # WPCL-401 Released: 1991 06/25
• Space Hero Story Act 1 # KICA-7001-7002 Released: 1993 02/24
• Space Hero Story Act 2 # KICA-7003-7004 Released: 1993 04/30
• The FRHS BGM collection (Plus Special Drama) # KICA-7005 Released: 1993 03/24
• Space Hero Story Act 3 # KICA-7006-7007 Released: 1993 04/30
• The Future Retro Villain's Story # KICA-7008 Released: 1993 07/21 Released: 1994 03/23
• The FRHS Vocal Collection # KICA-7009
• The Future-Retro Hero Story Outlet Disc 1 # KICA-7019 Released: 1997 04/09
• The Future-Retro Hero Story Outlet Disc 2 # KICA-7020 Released: 1997 04/09
• The Future-Retro Hero Story Outlet Disc 3 # KICA-7021 Released: 1997 04/09
• The Future-Retro Hero Story Outlet Disc 4 # KICA-7022 Released: 1997 04/09
• The Future-Retro Hero Story Outlet Disc 5 # KICA-7023 Released: 1997 04/09
  
  The CDs you will find everywhere are What a Wonderful Adventure and Space Hero Story Act 1. Don't let people rip you off with those two due to how easy they are to find. The only way you might find any of the Outlet CDs, Act 3, and Villain's Story is thorugh Yahoo Japan Auctions, so count yourself really lucky if they show up on ebay. The rest is in the mid-range, sometimes you see them once in awhile on ebay or if you don't see them try using Rinkya.

And expect me to write more gudies to Takehiko Ito's series merchandise later on!

If you want to check out the manga, go to Anime News Network's Manga Encyclopedia's entry on it or check out Jinmen Juushin's scanlation.

Ark Manaf, Urt, and Handull are characters from this series that appeared in the animated show, Outlaw Star. The esipode they appeared in was not aired on Cartoon Network, if you can snag a DVD set of OLS, you can see them. In FRHS, they were the bumbling bad guys, though!