Arcadia Of My Youth

In the distant future, Earth has lost a war to the Illumidus Empire and humanity now cowers under their rule.  One soldier has refused to give up the fight to free his homeworld.  That man is Captain Harlock.  Once a man on the losing end of a desperate struggle, Harlock soon finds his way into the company of likeminded friends: tech genius Tochiro, the beautiful pirate Emeralds, and the alien sympathizer La Mime.  Together, these four wayward souls are all that stand between a desperate people and the wrath of the Illumidus.  This is where one of the galaxies greatest legends begins: the legend of the man who will always fight for his Arcadia…Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

The universe of Leiji Matsumoto is one I feel I never spent enough time in when I was starting to get into Anime (probably because I never knew it existed until much later).  The works of the scifi storyteller (including Space Battleship Yamato, Galaxy Express 999 and Space Pirate Captain Harlock) all feel like quintessential Anime tales, tales of an era of Anime long ago that are still fondly remembered today.  Captain Harlock’s name may not mean that much in the present (at least right now) but im still glad that even years after this film was released, I was able to check out the origin story of one of Animes greatest legends.  While it might not be as perfect as Galaxy Express 999, Arcadia of My Youth is a very close equal in many regards.

Origin stories can be tricky.  Harlock’s appearance in Galaxy Express 999 and its subsequent sequels never really instilled a need for one in my opinion.  He was cool, he was commanding and definitely not to be messed with.  I’m sure there was more to Harlock but could a starting point match the legendary status he had become?  As it turns out, yeah it can.  Arcadia of My Youth takes all of those already established qualtities of Harlock and shows us he’s always had them and that’s what makes him so likeable.  Harlock is a man of honor and carries himself calmly with little emotion, though he isn’t immune to a chuckle or a cry of agony.  But most of all, Harlock has a heart that will not quit even when the odds are stacked against him.  Its all of this and more that makes Harlock a sort of center of gravity that pulls in both friends and foes alike.  Many familiar faces associated with Harlock are present for this film, including his best friend Tochiro (with whom we learn Harlock has more of a history than we thought) and Emeraldas, another of Matsumoto’s many beautiful bad ass ladies.  While the focus of the film is on how Harlock met these two for the first time, it’s also notable that Harlock has a rather nice report with villains who earn his respect and vice versa.  Just goes to show that Harlock might be the most loveable guy in the universe…if you don’t piss him off, then he’ll just tear you to pieces in awesome fashion.

If Harlock hadn’t been written so well, this movie would’ve flopped very early on.  But Arcadia of My Youth carries itself with more than just a strong leading man.  The movie is an gem of beautiful animation, not quite Galaxy Express 999 level but still of that charming late 70’s/early 80’s style that shows a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into each handdrawn frame, especially during the launch of the Arcadia.  The soundtrack is able to switch back and forth between exciting, tragic, haunting and wondrous all at the drop of a hat pretty flawlessly.  And the story?  Well it can hit pretty hard.  Occupational rule on Earth is never a fun subject matter when you see how bad humanity has it.  That’s, however, almost the least of the more tragic tales in Arcadia of My Youth.  This movie doesn’t hold back on some of its subject matter and you feel for pretty much any character fighting for the side of good or an innocent caught in the crossfire who gets killed.  Themes of freedom, sacrifice, love and determination are everywhere and always invoke a strong emotional response.

So yes, Arcadia of My Youth is a great movie but it isn’t totally perfect…close but not quite (and I kind of hate to say that I have a couple of problems with the movie).  The first is a couple of flashback scenes that detail the generational history between Harlock and his eternal best friend Tochiro.  They are important to the tale as a whole, sure.  I just think that the big WWII flashback where their ancestors first meet could have been shortened a little bit.  It is a good scene, it just goes on a bit long when I feel we should have been further along in this movie that clocks in just over two hours.  The second is Harlock’s doomed romance with Maya, a girl he left behind on Earth who voices a radio broadcast of hope for the humans.  We don’t really get to see much of Harlock and Maya together and they don’t even get a flashback of their time together.  In a way, while Maya should be the second most important person to Harlock in this movie, after Tochiro, we see Harlock’s friendships with Emeraldas, La Mime and friend turned ally Zoll a lot more fleshed out.  Maya is supposed to be critical to Harlock’s development and she is.  I just feel like we didn’t see enough of it ourselves.  Lastly, the English Dub of this film isn’t bad, all of the actors give good performances.  However, this sounds very much like a dub that came out right after the film was released in Japan in the early 80’s.  So the sound quality is going to vary and it doesn’t sound like its been cleaned up completely since then.  It’s a good dub but it could sound better.

You know, even with that paragraph above, I still think the Pros outweigh the Cons on this one.  Arcadia of My Youth is a great scifi Anime flick that should be just as fondly remembered as Galaxy Express 999.  Harlock is a character that will live forever, even if his name isn’t spoken of as much in Anime circles today.  The story is both swashbuckling space adventure and tragic tale of war and the search for hope in despair.  The animation, music and action are all on point and, some minor pacing bumps aside, all still hold up very well today as a full package of classic Anime.  Much like the Yamato and Three Nine, the Arcadia and her Captain were pioneers of 70’s scifi Anime and it feels right that they got a great origin to match their unforgettable legend.  It really does make me want to dive more into the Matsumotoverse, which im sure I said after finishing Galaxy Express 999.  Fly on Harlock, may you find your Arcadia and I hope to see more of your adventures down the line.

9/10