Space Pirate Captain Harlock Discussion Thread

[Vicserr]

It's time to give this site some old school education using one of the greatest space operas of the late 70's... 1978 Space Pirate Captain Harlock, created by Leiji Matsumoto (Space BattleShip Yamato, Galaxy Express 999)

Official Site
ANN

Ok, I see you're wondering how I'll be able to watch this great classic legally...

You can visit Funimation.com or Crunchyroll.com


Note (borrowed from Shikieiki Yamaxanadu)
As usual, please try to follow these three easy forum courtesy habits when replying:
1) If you're the first person to post about an episode in any given week/day, please respond to the root post (this post) and indicate in the subject line which episode you're posting about.
2) If someone has already posted about an episode before you, please respond to that post (or a relevant reply to that post). Keep in the right subthread.
3) Don't use the blue "Post Reply" button because it causes your reply not to correctly inherit the subject line of the post you're replying to. Just click "Quote" to the post you want to reply to.

[Vicserr]

The year is 2977, Earth is a prosperous planet, it's filled by ppl full of apathy and only thinking about fulfilling their needs as television is filled with subliminal messages to keep the populace docile, it's food grown on farm planets and brought to Earth, the few ppl that want to go beyond the status quo and go to the sea of stars are branded as bandits, the Greatest of them all is Captain Harlock.

The Star Ship Arcadia intercepts a cargo ship full of food, jewels and booze from a farm planet, taking the food and spacing the rest of the cargo... to the chagrin of Dr Zero (who like all Matsumoto's doctors, is a Boozehead) Astronomers are being murdered as a strange object is heading toward Earth and our valiant space pirate returns to Earth to celebrate the birthday of a good friend's Daughter, the cute girl named Mayu, with the entire Earth Defense Force wanting to capture him.

[Vicserr]

A resource fleet from one of the farm planets in route to Earth is destroyed by unidentified forces, Commander Kirita of course thinks is was Harlock, the Arcadia intercepts and destroys the UFO, Harlock and the famous astronomer Prof. Daiba are worried that the object approaching Earth is something more than a mere meteor, Kirita and the School headmistress try to force Mayu to contact Harlock, and the Arcadia makes a last ditch effort to destroy the black sphere.

[Vicserr]

The Black Sphere has impacted Earth, Prof. Daiba is trying desperately to make the Higher Ups of the Government see that the sphere is the harbringer of an alien invasion as a shadowy figure follows him and his son. As Prof Daiba takes his results to the Central research center, he's murdered by the Black cloaked woman, who also tries to eliminate Tadashi Daiba but is saved by Harlock and her body burns, and they both learn the origins of the Black Sphere and we get the guided tour of the Space Pirate Ship Arcadia as it faces the first Assault wave of Mazone ships.

[Gundamhead]

Hey! Aren't you only supposed to do one episode per week? I wouldn't mind participating in this, but I don't want to watch that fast!

[Vicserr]

Originally Posted by Gundamhead

Hey! Aren't you only supposed to do one episode per week? I wouldn't mind participating in this, but I don't want to watch that fast!

Sorry, just building some lead time
I'll let the feet off the gas but I'm excited because this will be my first full viewing since my youth in the 80's.

[Daniel_Perales]

Originally Posted by Vicserr

Sorry, just building some lead time
I'll let the feet off the gas but I'm excited because this will be my first full viewing since my youth in the 80's.

Funny you should mention that.

I just finished watching the entire show about 3 weeks ago (the very first time that I've seen the whole thing in it's entirety).

I remember discovering this show when it was being broadcast on a local UHF station here in NYC at around 1979 or 80, sub-titled, too. This was also the very first time that I was exposed to Leiji Matsumoto's work as well ("Star Blazers" came soon right after).

Great show.


Danny

[Garasharp K7]

Heh. Harlock is not a show where you can watch just one episode and then leave it for a day, let alone a week. I went through half the series last weekend. It's got that 'just one more ep' vibe that keeps you coming back each time. Trouble is, one ep isn't enough...
I was fortunate that the show was run three times a week back when I first saw it in the late '80s. (and with a repeat omnibus on weekends too) I didn't have to wait too long for my fix back then.
I never saw Star Blazers growing up, so Harlock was my first exposure to Matsumoto's works as well.

[Garasharp K7]

Originally Posted by Vicserr

The Black Sphere has impacted Earth, Prof. Daiba is trying desperately to make the Higher Ups of the Government see that the sphere is the harbringer of an alien invasion as a shadowy figure follows him and his son. As Prof Daiba takes his results to the Central research center, he's murdered by the Black cloaked woman, who also tries to eliminate Tadashi Daiba but is saved by Harlock and her body burns, and they both learn the origins of the Black Sphere and we get the guided tour of the Space Pirate Ship Arcadia as it faces the first Assault wave of Mazone ships.

Bah! what feckless morons these earthlings are! A great sphere descends from the heavens, crushing an entire city, presumably killing thousands - and do they do anything about it? Do they think there's something amiss? Well, no. Not really. As long as they've got their dog races and golf courses, then it's all good right? Ya have to wonder whether Earth is worth saving at all....

Anyway, I reckon we all have a good few memorable anime moments that stick with us over the years - those scenes that stay etched in our brains from the first time we see them; Professor Daiba's assassination and the gaunt spectral Mazone hiding in the shadows is one such scene for me. Can't forget her bursting into flames either. The show had loads of other memorable scenes, but I'll comment on those when more eps are discussed later.

[Isuzu Inugami]

Originally Posted by Vicserr

The Star Ship Arcadia intercepts a cargo ship full of food, jewels and booze from a farm planet, taking the food and spacing the rest of the cargo... to the chagrin of Dr Zero (who like all Matsumoto's doctors, is a Boozehead)

Heh, everyone on the Arcadia is a boozehead! I especially love it when Mime looks a little flushed.

our valiant space pirate returns to Earth to celebrate the birthday of a good friend's Daughter, the cute girl named Mayu, with the entire Earth Defense Force wanting to capture him.

This is insane, which is why I love it. He busts through the defense forces just to wish her a happy birthday.

Also, Mayu comes from an strange earlier era in which panty shots were entirely innocent.