Hello again readers and welcome back
for Day 2 of Anime Picks Week. This next write-up was at the
suggestion of my dad and I have to concur this particular piece of
anime covers so much in it. A dystopian timeline with humanity being
nothing more than couch potatoes, minds fully at ease that their
governments are tending to their every woe that all they do is
recreation. No opinions are voiced, no movements are made and no
one speaks up. Utopia in some minds, but for others it is viewed as
a lethargic, easy target from above. Not everyone on the planet or
around it are going to stand for alien invasion. This is Captain
Harlock.
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| Snake Plisken... I hear you were dead. |
Based on the manga known as Space
Pirate Captain Harlock by artist Leiji Matsumoto (Submarine
Super 99, The Galaxy Railways, Gun Frontier, Cosmo Warrior Zero,
Queen Emeraldas and Arcadia of My Youth)
comes a future of the year 2977, with vast star travel and ferrying
but the planet as a whole seems to be falling into a slow but steady
sense of despair. The general mood is apathy and none can be
bothered to reach beyond their four walls let alone the depths of
space. One man and his crew of brigands fight the governments and
the alien oppressors known as the Mazone, a species of plant female
humanoids that claim to have a link to Earth itself and demand it
back. With the only way to be a hero to his planet is to be an
outlaw, Harlock hoists the skull and crossbones as they cripple
vessels, end blockades and thwart the world's new alien masters.
Harlock
is not alone in his battles. The crew of the Arcadia has Daiba
Tadashi, a 14 year old lad that joined the Arcadia after the death of
his father by the Mazone. Chief Navigator Kayla Kerry, a young woman
that scheduled for hard labor for striking the military officer that
made light of her father's passing. La Mime , an alien woman who is
the last of her kind, saved by Harlock she has psychic abilities and
holds one of the closest bonds with the captain. Caliban, first mate
to the Arcadia who is kind of the comic relief when he is not
building model ship kits and blowing everyone away with his
mathematical genius. Maji. The ships chief engineer managing to keep
that ship in the sky. Doctor Zero, chief medical officer that is
constantly bandaging the crew and snapping at the ship's cook that he
points out does not offer enough vegetables and lastly Miss Masu, the
curmudgeon cook who holds Doctor Zero and his cat Mi-kun in content
due to their unorthodox visits to the kitchen.
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| Sweetie, bangs are out this season. |
Earth
Defense Navy and Infantry are constantly attacking the Arcadia or any
of their scout ships, convinced that Harlock is the greatest threat
the planet has ever known. Continuously exposing the schemes and
plots of the Mazone, Earth Defense is of the belief that Harlock is
merely throwing them off the scent and he is more than responsible
for piracy, treasonous behavior, moral conduct and murder. Will the
Mazone ever be defeated? Will Earth ever truly be free? Will Miss
Masu and Doctor Zero just bump uglies on the prep table?
Quick
few bits of info on this series now. The 1978 series gave you about
13 episodes that the Mazone made their way to Earth in a large sphere
and appeared as ancient Mayan gods to those that saw them. While the
Arcadia of My Youth shows Harlock's choices and beginnings on being a
pirate and acquiring the Arcadia. This series has produced multiple
manga and anime based on Harlock or his ancestors to show his family
has always rocked the boat of society. Gun Frontier is an amusing
series of Franklin Harlock, a gun fighter that searches for a lost
clan or tribe of Japanese foreigners and even a spin-off female
counterpart called Queen Emeraldas whose manga has a huge following
that she also got a series and a few films as well. A computer
animated film in 2013, Space Pirate Captain Harlock was released and
apparently dropped 30 million into the project. Hell I am stoked to
go watch it now!
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| Damn space floozies attacking me in my sleep. |
