![]() ![]() It was a real pleasure for me to digitally restore the 1986 HGM English dub of Captain Harlock. Oh, and let's not forget one bad-ass determined fighter who never gives up on an opponent, of whom one fan noted, "Chuck Norris has nightmares at night worrying he'll wake up and find Captain Harlock standing at the foot of his bed." (laugh) And all of that is how Captain Harlock starts cutting his swath through the Golden Age of Anime. And what a character he cuts in that show! A space pirate who's actually a good guy, fighting to save Earth both from an impending alien invasion and an uncaring bureaucratic government whose officials are more interested in pleasing themselves than helping the people! A friend to the oppressed and a foe to any oppressors, whose best ally winding up being the government official who's been trying through two-thirds of the show to put him in jail for good! A space captain whose seeming laxity with his crew actually conceals a well-knit and tight bunch who would gladly give their lives for him at the drop of a hat! A caring man who risks his own life time and again for the sake of the young daughter of his late best friend, the man who designed and supervised the building of his mighty space galleon Arcadia! And on and on and on. For many people it is the classic or heydey Harlock from the Golden Age of Anime, and 1978's Space Pirate Captain Harlock television series is his first official on-screen appearance in that timeframe. ![]() The only two things we can do are to either create a composite image, as I did in my own Leijiverse Integrated Timeline many years back or pick whatever thread or subset of the Leijiverse that best appeals to your particular tastes and fancies and deal with the iteration of Harlock you get in that one. He has both evolved and been reimagined several times over the years, just as Matsumoto-san's so-called "Leijiverse" of creations has, so that trying to paint one single image of Phantom F. Even so, during his lifetime, he became one of those figures that literally rocked the universe around him. He is mortal after all, not an immortal superhero. He's a very complicated character with plenty of adventure, comedy, excitement, drama, and even tragedy throughout his life - and yes, he eventually dies when all is said and done. He's not just a stock cardboard hero, either. He cuts a wide swath across it, and there are so many homages to him in many of the anime shows and movies which followed that it would be impossible to list them all off of the top of my head. Captain Harlock is one of the iconic figures of the Golden Age of Anime in Japan. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2023
Categories |