Harlock Saga Part 1 Episodes 1-3

The Rhine Gold.  It is said to be the very center of the Universe itself, containing power beyond comprehension.  Guarded for millenia, it has now been stolen by ruthless bandits.  Their leader fashions the gold into a ring and declares he will conquer the Gods of Valhalla.  One voice cries out for a savior and the one who answers is a man whose name is feared across the universe.  He is the one who will challenge anyone who crosses his path and eliminate all who prey on the helpless.  He is the Pirate who flies the spaceship Arcadia with a Skull and Crossbones flag…Space Pirate Captain Harlock.  Once again, the fate of the universe is in his hands.

Captain Harlock is a name that’s come up a few times here at the Gundam Anime Corner.  Not only did he have a central role in the Galaxy Express 999 movies, we also looked at his origin story, Arcadia of my Youth, last year.  While the universe made by Leiji Matsumoto isn’t as prevalent as it was in the late 70’s and early 80’s, occasional titles featuring his characters and world pop up from time to time (Space Battleship Yamato just had a new iteration last year).  In the late 90’s we got Harlock Saga and the trailer for this one looked promising.  Sporting a very haunting music track, it looked like we were gonna get another epic adventure worthy of Anime’s greatest space pirate.  Annnnd I’m still waiting for something notable to happen that isn’t an act of stupidity, another variation of the same doomed prophecy, or  a random planet blowing up (and you know you’ve done wrong when that cant get you excited).

First off…Harlock himself barely does anything besides stand around, look cool and steer the ship.  I mean yeah he’s kind of known for all of those things but he was far more involved in the action of those aforementioned titles above than he is here.  It’s like he’s a bystander or guest star in his own OVA.  In many ways, this might as well be titled “Tochiro Saga” because Harlock’s best friend is more at the center of things than Harlock himself.  Heck, everyone seems to be doing more of anything in this Anime than Harlock.  And one of those people is possibly the dumbest freaking character I’ve had to complain about in a long time.  Now, bear with me, a beautiful woman visits you and warns you not to create a ring of ultimate power from a very, very powerful nugget of gold when a particular stranger asks you to do so.  Ok, then that stranger comes by and asks that very favor…you say no.  But if youre DARED…then it's ok and no ones gonna get on your case for doing the one thing that you were not to do.  Yep, that’s Tadashi Daiba, whose role so far is to perform this act of stupidity then join up with the Arcadia crew because he’s a legacy member.  This kid might’ve just doomed the universe because the Albriech poked at his pathetic pride…I would be far more pissed if I found out I’d wasted my time getting him that warning AND wasting a cameo from Galaxy Express 999 beauty Maetel. 

Harlock Saga’s other biggest crime is that it is painfully slow and borderline boring, even when something exciting does happen.  You can feel how grand and epic this OVA wants to be: Harlock chasing down some jerk who stole the gold that could be used to create The One Ring to battle Gods and risk the fate of the universe.  Instead it kind of panders about almost aimlessly.  We’re getting a lot of build up but I don’t know if it will payoff.  Meeme keeps going on and on about how her brother is going to destroy the universe by destroying the Old Gods and every time she is allowed a scene with dialogue, it’s always a different variation of that warning.  I get the feeling we’ll get to the finale and it’s going to be the quietest letdown that happens while Harlock just sips wine and lets the problem sort itself out.  I also feel like we’re missing an episode prior to the premiere.  We’re kind of just thrown into the thick of things and expect to catch up somehow.  This is one of those times where I feel like Harlock Saga was catered to that very exclusive Matsumoverse fanbase that’s see all the other unconnected tales.  Arcadia of my Youth and Galaxy Express 999 worked for me because they were solid origin stories that tied in other elements from other Matsumoto works without feeling like you were missing an in joke.  I don’t get the same welcoming vibe from Harlock Saga.  But then again, I feel like this OVA was conceived with great things in mind and they forgot to inject any feeling of excitement and instead got bored midway through production.

Yeah it doesn’t look good so far for Harlock Saga.  A quest involving Space Gods and the One Ring of Power AND Captain Harlock should feel grand and exciting while actually being both of those at once.  Instead we’re plodding along a 6 episode track that doesn’t feel worth it beyond the very haunting and fitting soundtrack (I’m sure this kind of operatic score is Harlock’s personal playlist).  Well we’ll see if the good Captain can turn this ship around and rescue this sinking OVA next week.