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Captain Harlock 宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, also transliterated Captain Herlock) is the main character of several anime and manga series by writer/artist Leiji Matsumoto. Harlock is an archetypical Romantic Matsumoto hero, a space pirate with a rugged-individualist philosophy of life. He is shown with a patch over one eye, a scar across his cheek, carrying a great black cape, and frequently holding either a laser-rapier or a glass of wine. Like many of Matsumoto's lead characters, he is the embodiment of the grand individualist, noble as he is taciturn, rebellious, stoically fighting against totalitarian regimes, whether they be earthborn or alien. He has often been compared to Ragnar Danneskjöld, the freebooter of Atlas Shrugged, in character and appearance as well as many of the gallant Yakuza roles played by Takakura Ken. When asked by Tadashi Daiba for whom Harlock is fighting, Harlock's reply is "I fight for no one's sake. I only fight for something deep in my heart". Harlock's character seems to be the embodiment of many Western and Japanese conceptions of the heroic as an ideal and this has contributed to his immense popularity worldwide. The first series featuring Harlock in the lead role was 1978's Space Pirate Captain Harlock, but his first appearance was in some of Matsumoto's manga books as early as 1966. The very first appearance of the character seems to be Matsumoto's manga "Adventures of a Honeybee" in 1953. As with most of Leiji Matsumoto's works, continuity is not a crucial issue; an appearance of any particular version of the character does not necessarily connect to any previous or following versions, and the interconnectedness of the various series is a common subject of speculation among fans. Summary of storylines Though there are slight variations in each retelling of Harlock's story, the essentials remain the same. Matsumoto presents a future in which the Earth has achieved a vast starfaring civilization, but is slowly and steadily succumbing to ennui or despair, often due to defeat and subjugation by an alien invader (thus invoking strong parallels to post-World War II Japan). Rising against the general apathy, the space pirate Captain Harlock denies defeat and leads an outlaw crew aboard his starship Arcadia to undertake daring raids against Earth's oppressors. Even though they have defeated Earth and devastated its peoples, the invaders are often presented in a sympathetic light, being shown as having some justification for their actions. In the original television series, Harlock's crew included the mysterious, alcohol-imbibing alien woman Miime (the last survivor of her home planet, she was rescued by Harlock following its devastation), a robot, and a drunken doctor. The series presented a story arc in which a huge black metal sphere strikes Tokyo and ancient Mayan legends appear to be walking the Earth again. The invaders turn out to be the Mazone, a race of vegetable-based, Modigliani-necked women who explored Earth in the mythic past and are now back to reclaim it. Only Harlock and his mismatched crew are brave enough and capable enough to face the enemy. Matsumoto is at his best when dealing with the vastness of space and the darkness of the human heart, and Captain Harlock provides him with plenty opportunities to ply his art. The episodes features some astute directing stunts (split-screen, flashbacks) and are excellently served by a symphonic score executed by the Tokyo Philharmonic. For all its pulpy space-opera feeling and its action, the series raises a number of issues — from the importance of challenges in the life of men to the limits of violence as a solution to both small- and large-scale problems. The outcast Harlock is well aware of the plight of the Mazonese, a refugee people fleeing a dying planet, and finds neither pleasure nor vindication in his battles nor in his final, melancholic victory. Some of the mechanical design on the series is strongly reminiscent of the first Star Wars film, even if the original Harlock manga predates the American movie, prompting some controversy as to "who stole what". In 1982 the character was reprised in the animated feature film Arcadia of My Youth (also known as "My Youth in Arcadia," a less accurate translation that nevertheless adorned many posters and other memerobilia in Japan), designed as an origin story which largely contradicted the one appearing in the 1978 series (episodes 30-31). The movie was followed by 22 episodes of the Endless Road SSX series (also known as Eternal Orbit SSX / Infinite Course SSX / Mugen Kidou SSX though the title references a nebulous pathway resembling a road), a sequel series which dealt with Harlock and company's continuing struggle against the Illumidas occupying force, who still retained control of Earth at the end of the theatrical feature. Both film and second series feature a newly designed starship and lack most of the original crew, but are noteworthy for the presence of Emeraldas, a female counterpart to Harlock originally appearing in a series of Matsumoto-penned graphic novels (manga). In the 1990s, Matsumoto also released a short series variously known as Harlock Saga or as The Ring of the Nibelung. Set to the music of Richard Wagner and following the Siegfried legend, the story pits the captain and his crew against a race of "gods" set on redesigning the universe to their liking. The series' foremost point of interest is the deployment of the whole Matsumoto cast of characters (from all his series) in various roles. Gun Frontier was a 13 episode series from 2001. As a change of pace, it was a mostly comedy adventure series which featured W. Franklin Harlock Jr. and Tochiro Ōyama as they bumbled their way through the wild west 1880s in search of a lost tribe of Japanese immigrants. In the 1990's, presented a version of the story in which Captain Zero, a human veteran of the Earth-Mechanized war, is commanded by the Machine Men, who won the war and now rule Earth, to hunt down the Space Pirate who is still resisting the invaders. This series focuses on Zero and his misfit crew as they take on the hopeless mission, fighting a more skilled enemy who also may be more justified in his actions than they. Harlock, Tochiro and Emeraldas put in mostly supporting guest appearances, and are shown as being slightly younger than their previous incarnations; Harlock doesn't even have his trademark eyepatch yet. Most notable is the return of Harlock's ship to the original Blue Arcadia Design (not seen since the original TV series), though now green and named Deathshadow, the name of Harlock's first battleship which appeared in the Arcadia feature and the 999 films, where it had an altogether different design. As usual, the continuity is essentially nonexistant, even though the series does feature story points appearing in previous Matsumoto films and television shows. Captain Harlock: The Endless Odyssey OVA is something of a sequel and a re-imagining at the same time. It visits the continuity of the original series for the first time in nearly 20 years, following the final episode of Space Pirate Captain Harlock. We see a return of all the old crew, including many faces not seen in years, such as Dr. Zero and the daughter of Tochiro and Emeraldas, Mayu. The series also brings back the idea of the spirit of Tochiro actually silently "haunting" the Arcadia, rather than being infused in the computer. The first part of the series details Harlock, Miime, Dr. Zero, and Tadashi Daiba finding all of the crew of the Arcadia spread out around the universe. Harlock summons everyone from the crew (most are extremely overjoyed to return to the Arcadia) in order to fight a mysterious and ancient evil which has caused the Earth to disappear, and whom use fear to conquer their foes. Although nearly every part of this series is geared to be a sequel to the original series, Endless Odyssey reintroduces Tadashi Daiba as if he had never been on the ship before, as well as killing his father for a second time. Many fans of Matsumoto have been completely perplexed by this, as reintroducing Tadashi was generally felt to be unnecessary. Although the SSX series had featured a similar but unrelated young hero named Tadashi Monono, many had looked forward to a reunion of the old crew including the original Tadashi. The redheaded Mazone spy Shizuka Namino also reappeared, now as a black-haired holographic assistant to Dr. Daiba, and the date of the series is approximately one hundred years after the events of the original series, demonstrating rather decisively the degree to which its author seems to disdain full and logical continuity. While the OVA is relatively short, it was a big hit with Matsumoto fans as it was a return of many of the things many felt made Harlock so memorable, although the character of Harlock himself is far less fallibly human and emotional than in most previous incarnations. It is also the first time the spelling of "Herlock" has been officially set in the title (the spelling has appeared to change at random in Japanese videos and related publications, though the pronunciation has remained "Harlock"). While Harlock and company have made cameo appearances in later works of Matsumoto, this has been the last time so far that a Harlock themed story with Harlock as the lead has been released. It is unknown what Matsumoto plans to do with the character from here, although he has stated that Harlock is his favorite work, and that he'll make stories about him until the day he dies. The ever-changing backstory Any continuity within the works of Leiji Matsumoto depends on two things: in what period of his career from which the story comes and Matsumoto-san's mindset at the time. This is often explained by his personal writing philosophy of toki no wa, which can be loosely translated as "the infinite possibilities of space and time." This in part explains the seeming contradictions with the stories involving Captain Harlock and his friends. There is, however, a simpler explanation to the confusion. Captain Harlock and his world have been developed and occasionally re-developed as Matsumoto changes his conceptions about them. Captain Harlock has come a long way from his days as the dark, brooding, eye-patch bearing man of Matsumoto's early manga stories. For example, the original Captain Harlock television series was conceived as an independent, standalone work. Captain Harlock, the roguish space pirate (and pointedly celibate per the tale), displays the full range of human emotions at one point or another during the course of the story. When Captain Harlock made the transition to the big screen for My Youth in Arcadia, as well as the two Galaxy Express 999 feature films and the subsequent Endless Orbit SSX television series, his back story was significantly changed. He was a military officer before he became a space pirate, the circumstances of which were related in My Youth in Arcadia. This was also the only on-screen incarnation in which Harlock was married (per the early manga stories). The tragic death of his wife Maya at the hands of Earth's alien conquerors plays a large part in turning Harlock from unconquered space captain to brooding space pirate. The backgrounds of other major characters, such as fellow pirate Emeraldas and best friend Tochrio Oyama, were also altered in accordance with Harlock's new backstory. This incarnation of Captain Harlock also brought about a new green-painted Arcadia, replacing his blue one of old. According to published reports it was developed in cooperation with Studio Nue at the request of the film studio involved so they would not have to pay licensing fees for use of the design from the original television series. Captain Harlock used a completely different ship in his early manga stories, the Death Shadow, which makes a cameo appearance as his last military command in the feature film My Youth in Arcadia, as well as in the Galaxy Express 999 features, where it is seen as the rusted remnants of a ship sitting at the base of Mt. Gun Frontier on planet Heavy Meldar. The 1983 SSX series attempted, with some degree of success, to bridge this gap by showing the final fate of the ship, after it is used by the Illumidas invaders as a tool to destroy the Arcadia, and subsequently crases on Heavy Meldar. Tochiro Oyama eventually returns to the derelict ship near the end of the series as his death is imminent, for a somewhat re-imagined version of his death scene in the 1979 Galaxy Express 999 film. When Matsumoto's works again became popular in the 1990s and he began to pen the original manga for Harlock Saga, he again changed the backdrop of Harlock and his universe. This time it was based in part on Wagner's Ring cycle and required significant reworking of almost every one of Matsumoto's stock stable of characters in order to make the story fit. With Harlock Saga, the continuity established in the "classic" Harlock anime movies (and Endless Warrior SSX) was completely pitched out the window and rewritten from scratch. Harlock's character reverts to that in the original 5-volume manga from which the TV series was derived. He has never been married; he has always been a space pirate and always will be. He is only a teenager when the Earth is conquered; it is his father Great Harlock who first takes up the "fight for freedom" touched upon in My Youth in Arcadia (albeit under different circumstances). The Death Shadow was his father Great Harlock's ship. In fact Great Harlock had two Death Shadows of two different designs, the older of which just so happened to look like the original Arcadia from the original Captain Harlock television series (but this time in green instead of blue!). This one Captain Harlock inherits from his father after Great Harlock's death as depicted in the Harlock Saga manga; and so on, and so on. While the basic concepts of Captain Harlock and his world remain the same, the backstory and timeline have changed yet again. The "revival" backstory from the Harlock Saga manga and anime is the one Matsumoto has been using for Harlock and company in every story since, from Maetel Legend through Cosmo Warror Zero and Captain Harlock: Endless Odyssey. It even plays its part in his latest animated effort, Space Symphony Maetel, which tries (and succeeds to some degree) in resolving part of the problems created by multiple contradictory background stories for Captain Harlock and his friends. The apparent contradictions between the old "classic" tales and the newer "revival" ones continue to confuse many Captain Harlock fans; that is, until they read the original Harlock Saga manga and understand what Matsumoto has been doing lately with his most famous icon. Controversy Matsumoto initially cancelled the Endless Odyssey series due to Director Rin Taro's use of the Star of David as the demonic Alien's symbol. Matsumoto was reportedly horrified and made the following statement, "My blood was frozen when I found the Star of David symbol appeared. I believe you cannot debase any religion...I bear that in mind whenever I make stories. I cannot allow my characters to appear in any Anime that tramples on my philosophy." While Matsumoto eventually allowed the series to air with the necessary corrections being made, he has firmly distanced himself from the project. Each episode now carries a disclaimer of the production being a "Rin Taro" vision of Matsumoto character and concepts. The Harlock character under Rin Taro's direction is noticeably more aggressive and less patient with both friends and enemies alike. Stylistically, the animation of the new series far surpasses anything to date but still fails to capture the magic of the original. Other appearances Captain Harlock, or characters indistinguishable from him, have made frequent "unbilled cameo" appearances in many other works of Leiji Matsumoto, including Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas, and Galaxy Railways (as the joker in a deck of playing cards). Captain Harlock was originally intended to appear in Space Battleship Yamato during their return voyage from Iscandar. The idea was dropped for a number of reasons which probably included the fact that the rights to Yamato were at the time owned by executive producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki. This idea evolved into simply finding Mamoru Kodai (Alex Wildstar) alive on Iscandar. The idea was still used later in a Yamato manga by Matsumoto where Yamato later encounter's Mamoru who assumed the false identity of Captain Harlock (as revealed when hero Susumu Kodai finds a copy of a Captain Harlock manga among his supposedly dead brother's belongings). Character prototypes for Captain Harlock go back as early as 1953 when Leiji Matsumoto, as a teenager, drew his first acclaimed manga "Adventures of a Honeybee". The character was originally called Captain Kingston and over the years underwent slight revisions until around 1966 when he emerged as the Heidelberg-scarred, one eyed, cloaked pirate with which he is mostly associated. Studio Nue's take on the Arcadia makes a brief cameo at the end of the original Super Dimensional Century Orguss television series during middle of the show's climatic battle sequence (episode 34); and also in a couple of shots during the battle in episode 27 of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross. The cameos were an homage to Matsumoto, who was then in the heyday of his "movie" period (the 1980s). In Kia Asamiya's Space Battleship Nadesico manga, there is a comic one of the main characters reads called Space Vagrant, in which a character called Captain Government features (who pilots the Death Skull mech). The Captain and his ship (The Space Vagrant) resemble Harlock and the Arcadia closely, which is most likely intended as a homage by Asamiya. There is a rather surprising parody of Captain Harlock as the center of the episode "Space Booty" in the cartoon series Megas XLR as well. The legendary establishing shot of Harlock's ship, the Arcadia, is directly ripped in every detail in the Megas episode. Although the Harlock rip-off and the parody of the Arcadia are named differently, and the Harlock parody is considerably different in personality to the real Harlock; it is impossible for those familiar with the material to not notice. In a storyline in Marvel Comics Star Wars series, the character Lando Calrissian adopted the alias of "Captain Drebble" for a mission, with his disguised appearance strongly resembling that of Harlock, prompting many surprised letters from anime-loving readers. In the anime, Lost Universe, Kain Blueriver, makes several reference to Captain Harlock. Official An English dubbed version of a handful of the 1978 Captain Harlock TV episodes saw limited release in the U.S. (around 1981), mostly on cable and produced by Ziv international. In all, four episodes of the series were dubbed, with the initial two (episodes 1 and 9) appearing faithful to the original story. Several names were changed such as the Mazones becoming Zetons. Two further episodes (2 & 3) were given a far less serious dub by Ziv, and one of the most highly joked elements in this adaptation was the change of Tadashi Daiba's name to Tommy Hairball. These episodes were subsequently acquired and redistributed in the early 1990s by Malibu Graphics, who advertised the episodes as "never-before-seen," and "completely unedited," neither of which were the case. The tapes were also mastered badly, with music often drowning out dialogue and the audio and video out of sync by as much as five seconds at times. The 1978 series was dubbed again in 1985, this time by Harmony Gold USA (of Robotech fame) and known as Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years. Using the same style as Robotech to meet TV syndication's 65+ episode requirement, the Harlock Series was connected with another Matsumoto series, Queen Millennia to tell an intertwining story. Unlike Robotech, however, episodes were made by inter-cutting whole scenes from each of the component series in each episode, with the Queen Millennia story not actually reaching its original conclusion. The story as it unfolded was very confused and difficult to follow, and plot points would often change from one episode to the next with no apparent explanation. Never seeing wide release, this version is not too well known, even to hardcore fans. Considering Matsumoto fans' intensely fierce attitude towards preserving the artistic integrity of his work, that is probably for the better. In 1979, a subtitled version of the original series appeared on Japanese language UHF broadcast channels in Hawaii and New York City. This version was shown once and the tapes apparently destroyed. Unofficial As an unedited version of the 1978 series has never been released officially in English, the entire original series was fansubbed on VHS, while latterly digital fansubs of several episodes have been made. A fan edit of the Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years series has also been produced, which has separated the component Captain Harlock and Queen Millennia series back into two separate productions, and removed all of the added dialogue that linked the two unrelated series. Foreign Releases In France and Quebec, "Captain Harlock" is known as Albator, to avoid confusion with the completely different character Captain Haddock, and is very popular there. The name "Albator" was first proposed by Eric Charden, who designed the French version of the 1978 series introductory song, in memory of one of his friends, whose family name was Balator, sometimes nick-named The Albatross and having a psychological profile close to Harlock's. Since a massive airplay on the French and Canadian TV (Antenne 2 and Radio-Canada) in 1979, Captain Harlock/Albator has become a cult hero for an entire generation of French-speaking people, so that French people often use the expression "Génération Albator". The whole soundtrack has been re-recorded for the French version. The Tokyo Orchestra was replaced by intimist but futurist synthesisers performed by the French musician Eric Charden. And, the last but not the least, the French main theme of Albator 78 - Les Sylvidres was anthemic and a big hit on the French radios. Both complete series Space Pirate (1978) and Endless Orbit SSX (1982) have been dubbed into French as has the My Youth in Arcadia Movie (respectively known in French as Albator 78 - Les Sylvidres (Sylvidres being the French name for the Mazone) and Albator 84 - L'Atlantis de ma jeunesse. In Latin America, a dubbed version was widely shown in the early 1980s. In this version, Harlock was renamed as "Capitan Raymar". The series shown there were the complete uncensored original series. Another complete version dubbed in Spain also exists, and retains the original character names. List of Titles Harlock vs. Herlock Both "Harlock" and "Herlock" are common translations of the Japanese name into Roman script and both have been used in both Japan and America. "Harlock" has been used more often, but some recent American releases have used the "Herlock" spelling. The OAV series released in 2002-2003 in Japan (and also in America by Geneon) is titled as SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HERLOCK, OUTSIDE LEGEND The endless odyssey. Whats in a name? The word "harlock" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon "hoarlocke," meaning "one with gray hair." It is interesing to note that Captain Harlock actually had white hair in at least one of his early manga appearances. While there remains some speculation * as to the name, it is commonly accepted by fans that Captain Harlock bears the traditional name of his male ancestors. The first Phantom F. Harlock was a World War I German flying ace who was also a baron with an estate near Heilgenstaadt. This is the traditional home of the Harlock family and is located in the German province of Thuringen. This man is the same Phantom F. Harlock featured in the Owen Stanley Mountans scene that opens the feature film My Youth in Arcadia. World War I flying ace, 1920s air pirate, and famed "aerial explorer" were but three of the hats that the first "Captain Harlock" wore. What the F.in Phantom F. Harlock stands for has never been explained. The most likely answer is Frank or some other Germanic form of the same name. Franklin Harlock Jr., a relative of the above-named Phantom F. Harlock, was a gunslinger who played a major role in the Gun Frontier stories of Leiji Matsumoto. He also happens to bear more than a passing likeness to other notable members of the Harlock family. Franklin Harlock's age would have made him a close ancestor, uncle, or distant cousin of Phantom F. Harlock I. There are three other men named "Captain Phantom F. Harlock" that are of note in the Harlock family tree. The first, of course, is everybody's favorite space pirate. He was the 99th and last to bear the traditional family name. The second was the Captain Harlock that came so close to appearing on-screen in the very first Star Blazers (Uchuu Senkan Yamato) series. Circumstances conspired against this happening; however, he too is part of the Phantom F. Harlock tradition. The third is Captain Phantom F. Harlock II, son of the first Captain Harlock and a World War II ace in his own right. The end of his flying career is depicted in the World War II flashback sequence in the feature film My Youth in Arcadia. Harlock in the Media In recent years, an Italian association * has adopted Captain Harlock as their symbol. Harlock represents a superman who never fights for gold but only for justice and peace. | |||||||
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