Harlock Saga (DVD)

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"Harlock Saga" is another piece in the collective works of Leiji Matsumoto, a renowned manga (Japanese comics) artist, animator, and writer. All together, his works form what could be called, for want of any other term, the Matsumoto-verse. While there are many parts to it- Galaxy Express 999, Queen Emeraldas, Space Cruiser Yamato- the Matsumoto-verse´s larger than life character has always been space pirate Captain Harlock. No matter which series it is, you can always bet that Harlock will show up at some point, if only for a moment.

Matsumoto´s distinctive character design permeates this DVD. The technical devices are drawn down to excruciating detail and exactness, while the people are more fanciful. The eyes especially are unique, not as large as in other anime series, containing whirls of color. The character designs look like vintage 70s or 80s animation, which I like. I also enjoy the fact that the main characters are out of their teens, nor are they all perfect human specimens. Harlock has an eye patch and a scar across his face, Emeraldas has a large scare on her face, and Tochiro, Harlock´s friend, is just plain odd looking.

The Matsumoto-verse has been building since the 70s. However, every installment is separate, much like any individual Sherlock Holmes mystery. If you have been so unlucky as to have not seen any of the other pieces, you an still watch this without any trouble. "Harlock Saga" is a six OVA series that is an adaptation of Wagner´s "Das Ring Des Nibelungen," which is itself based off of three Scandinavian and two German sources, the Scandinavian of which are The Saga of the Volsungs, the Poetic (or Elder) Edda, and Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, and the German of which are Thidriks Saga of Bern and the Nibelungenlied. According to a friend of mine, if you only read one of those sources, read the Nibelungenlied. I would like to see "Das Ring Des Nibelungen" and then watch "Harlock Saga" again, just to see how it compares. But enough of the background, you say, what about the actual show?

Tochiro, scientific genius and Harlock´s best friend, and Emeraldas, Tochiro´s lover and captain of her own ship, the Queen Emeraldas, hijack a Galaxy Patrol ship and force it to dock on an asteroid colony. They´re trying to find their navigator, Meeme. To their horror, everyone on the asteroid is dead. When they find Meeme, she tells them that the sacred Rhein Gold is about to be stolen, and that Harlock must prevent this at all cost, then disappears.

What follows is a grand quest to stop the gods in Valhalla from awakening and waging war, which could destroy the entire galaxy, to rescue Meeme, and to recover the stolen gold. Captain Harlock is too noble, too brave, and just too all around great to shy away from such a challenge.

Video:
The video aspect ratio is 1.33:1 (full-screen on 4:3 monitors). There were no noticeable defects in the video. Although the animation style is more old-school, the animation quality was fairly high. There was a good deal of computer graphics employed to add highlights and effects to various elements throughout the show, and they all worked for me. My only complaint was the fully CG-rendered Arcadia (Harlock´s ship). Frankly, combined with the really poor outer space behind it, that two seconds looked just plain amateurish. When this was created in 1999, there were video games that looked better. However, the CG Arcadia´s screen time is all but nonexistent, so I really can´t take off for this.