Stella Online: a game set in the vastness of space with an equally wide variety of options for players. What if this game wasn’t just an escape, but your new reality? That’s the situation for Hiro, a programmer who finds himself the captain of a speedy, powerful ship. After fighting pirates in his first battle within the game, he docks at a station where he discovers that a bigger challenge to him than pirates may be the beautiful but admittedly scary Lady Serena, and Elma, another mercenary he meets on the streets of a cool but lawless city.

Within minutes of the opening scene, you’ll probably be doing what I did—rolling your eyes at the lame dialogue, which includes the actual line, “What am I doing here?” followed by Hiro saying things to himself like “This is a game set in space with a high degree of freedom as its selling point.” Combined with unremarkable animation, character designs that are indistinguishable from other sci-fi series, and bad CGI, I started immediately thinking that this Reborn as a Space Mercenary is likely to find itself on the short list of worst anime of the season. But as the episode moved forward, I really started to get the 90’s and early 2000’s sci-fi and fantasy vibe of the show, complete with cringey jokes, smirking gangsters, and action scenes that are there just ’cause. The audience for this show is really those who remember or especially appreciate those simple anime (think The Irresponsible Captain Tylor as a highlight of the genre), so if you’re in that crowd—and I somewhat am—you’ll find a charm in the show. I found myself laughing a few times despite the weak dialogue, and I do like Hiro, who is rascally and has an addiction to carbonated drinks. None of that makes this a good series, but it has its place for a certain type of viewer—and if that’s you, you’ll enjoy this blast from the past.

Reborn as a Space Mercenary—I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship! can be streamed on Crunchyroll.