(which reads something like kyaputenn Harokk in katakana)
It was disappointing, and yet it was good and I liked it. Fact is, there isn’t enough Harlock in it. Animation or not it doesn’t matter, if I watch a movie called Harlock I expect him to be the main character, and not just a figure - as important as it might be - merely in the background. That’s the mail problem with this movie. The lead is not Harlock, is Yama.
The movie is otherwise well done and spectacular to see, but it could have been more interesting. This feels more like a sequel, a passing-the-crown kind of thing.
The story is a bit complicated but ok. It starts with a few men boarding the Arcadia hoping to be accepted as part of the crew. They need to pass a test, saying why they want to join them: those who say honor or money get thrown out, but Yama says ‘freedom’, so he’s accepted in. We learn right away that he’s a spy sent to kill Harlock, and he knows it too.
Humanity is under the control of the Gaia Coalition, far away from the Earth who is considered the fabulous home where they want to return.
Yama’s older brother Isra is an important man working for the Gaia Coalition; when they were children Yama caused an accident that forced Isra on a wheelchair and almost killed their friend Nami. We see Isra and Nami talking, but only later in the film see that she’s a holoprojection, her body is unable to move, inside a medical chamber that keeps her alive.
Also later in the film we learn the story of what happened to Earth and Harlock: when humanity decided to go back to Earth, they were now so many that they started the war of Homecoming, until a peace-treaty was signed when the Gaia Coalition declared Earth a sacred place to be left alone, so nobody was authorized to land on Earth. Obviously not everybody agreed with this, so a fleet was sent to defend Earth: Harlock was the fleet captain! He believed in it, but also believed in equality and didn’t accept the fact that a condition for the treaty was that powerful men on either side were allowed on Earth. Harlock didn’t accept that, he thought of it as a betrayal, as a tyrannical act I guess, so he turned against them destroying the ships that had landed on Earth and of course battle against any other fleet ship that tried to stop him. He had just one ship, so in his desire to protect Earth from ‘everyone’, he asked Miime to protect the Earth covering it in Dark Matter, but the experiment went terribly wrong and the Earth was seemingly ruined, all life on it destroyed.
The Gaia Coalition kept the real conditions of Earth a secret from humanity. Being given immortality by the Dark Matter that also covered his ship, Harlock has devoted his life to change what he did, planning to use some sort of time-bombs to restart things over, whatever that means… they don’t know yet that Harlock wants to destroy their timeline and have a new one start over.
Harlock’s power comes from Miime, a member of the dying race of the Nibelung that he saved - so I guess there are other Nibelungs in the universe? Or is she the last one? I was not clear on this point; anyway, she joined the Arcadia and it was through her that Harlock knew about Yama’s secret mission. When Yama first lands on some place to place one of the bombs, it seems like he’s going to die, with no way of coming back on the ship, but Harlock throws himself out of the Arcadia joining him down there, to work together to save themselves. He’s not surprised when Yama points a gun at him, and he simply states that if he wants to do it he should have a good reason, a free choice, because he’s all about freedom. Yama was doing it only for his brother, but now he’s not sure anymore that that’s the right thing to do. Joining forces, they manage to get back to the Arcadia. Isra is sent to destroy the Arcadia and he’s told to use the Kaleidostarsystem against Harlock, and it’s a big battle that brings them to Earth. This is where they all learn the truth about it, because they see its condition, it looks like a dead planet. At first the Arcadia prevails because Yama knows Isra battle plans, and Isra understands that Nami gave them to him and is terribly jealous. He always loved Nami and never got over what happened to her. All this time she thought that he was angry at Yama for putting him on a wheelchair, but when she realizes that she’s the source of his torment she decided to free him. You can clearly see in her face that she’s lying, that she’s only trying to provoke his reaction when she tells him that she loves Yama, always have, and that she never loved him (Isra).
Isra is furious and pulls the plug of her chamber, killing her, not realizing the truth because blinded by his rage and jealousy.
He even lies to Yama, saying she caused her own death when she tried to record a message for him, causing some problem that destroyed her chamber, or something.
The Arcadia crew is taken hostage, but Yama frees them (it was so annoying when Yattaran questioned if they should now believe him after he betrayed them… I mean he has reason to be angry but it’s not like he has any other choice, he’s in a cell and Yama is opening it for him, so…) when he sees some flowers on the surface. He takes one as proof to show them all that the Earth is not yet dead, it’s fighting back, starting to live again. He tells Harlock that he doesn’t need to reboot the universe (as the Doctor did :lol:) because the Earth is slowly healing itself. Now Harlock has a new mission, to exposure the lies of the Gaia Coalition and reveal the truth to humanity. He has Yama sends a message to all of mankind, destroying the holo-emitters that showed a paradisiac planet, thus showing to everyone how Earth really looks like, but also speaking about the flower.
At this point, the Gaia leader orders Isra to use a supermegaweapon to destroy the Arcadia and the Earth who is so close to it; Isra doesn’t want to destroy Earth, his mission had always been to protect it.
He battles the Arcadia, they board each other’s ships in a big battle; when face to face, Isra shoots Yama in the face, leaving a scar very similar to Harlock’s. When Isra is about to kill him, behind him comes Harlock that shoots him instead. When the first test of the superweapon fails, it is clear that with his maneuvers Isra had the Arcadia move from its position, in order to save the Earth. Harlock tells the dying Isra that at least he was coherent to the end.
To protect both the Arcadia and Earth, I think, Harlock asks Miime to convey all the Dark Matter to the outside, for some reason. Result is that now Harlock is no more immortal.
Having for now defeated the Gaia fleet, it is stated that the Arcadia will keep defending freedom and Earth, and that Harlock is a necessary symbol of that freedom, so the figure and idea of captain Harlock must go on forever. It ends with Miime back on the Arcadia bridge, saying that she devoted her life to the Arcadia and that she’ll die with it; we see Harlock sitting on his big captain chair while Yama is at the helm, with the same scar and wearing the eyepatch that Harlock gave him to look exactly like him. Basically Yama will be the new Harlock when this Harlock will die.
The end.
So, there were some very cool scenes, and the animation was spectacular, but there was not enough ‘Harlock’ in it.
Harlock-space pirate
ITA Capitan Harlock
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