One of the problems of being from the UK is that the early wave of anime distribution often gave us films or ovas of popular anime of the time so I'm in a difficult position of reviewing the anime based on it's film rather than it's tv series, this has happened with Rayearth, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Knights Ramune, Master of Mosquiton and Detective Conan although to give Conan some credit at least there's a recap of the premise at the start of each film, then you have today's subject Space Adventure Cobra.

Just a quick recap because I at least have two tv episodes experience of this going into the movie, Cobra is a bounty hunter who was completely remodeled after faking his death and along with his android partner sets out to reclaim his former glory, a very much plays up like James Bond in space meets Lupin the 3rd, with Cobra himself possessing the iconic Psychogun, a powerful arm cannon that would later inspire Megaman.
In this movie, Cobra has a run in with arch nemesis Crystal Bowie after pursuing a female bounty hunter of whom she falls in love with Cobra which mentally connects with her other sisters, however Crystal Bowie has one of them in mind control which sets up a plot that could decide a galaxy's fate.
It's 80s artistry at it's finest mixed with a story that asks more questions than it answers, I found with this movie I got a sense of what I could expect from the TV series as it falls into the Conan category rather than the Rayearth category so I find that I'm able to at least fairly judge the franchise, it's a good time but don't expect anything to immediately make sense, with a dub that for the time is exceptional.
Final Verdict: Cobra quite rightly is up there with other legendary anime heroes and I don't believe for a minute that you could do worse for an introduction than watching the movie before the TV series, in fact it covers Cobra's backstory quite well so if anything it gives you a heads-up before diving into the series proper