CAPTAIN HARLOCK
Original title: Uchu kaizoku kyaputen Harokku
Characters: Captain Harlock, Tadashi Daiba, Kei Yuki, Meeme, Yattaran, Dr. Zero, Maji, Masu-san, Mazoniane, Regina Raflesia, Commander Cleo
Author: Leiji Matsumoto
Directed by:
Rintaro
Production: Toei Animation
| Country: Japan
Year: 1978
Broadcast in Italy: 1979
Gender: Science fiction
Episodes: 42 mm
Duration: 24 minutes
Recommended age: Children from 6 to 12 years old |
 Captain Harlock (in the Japanese original
uchuu kaizoku Kyaputen Harokku, i.e. space pirate
Capitan harlock) It was conceived and written by the Japanese screenwriter Leiji Matsumoto, initially as a manga comic that met with considerable success, so much so that it was transformed into an anime in 1978 by Toei Animation. In Italy it will be broadcast on Raidue in April 1979. The cartoon series made this character famous all over the world, to the point that the latest Disney masterpiece "The treasure planet" as well as the short story "Treasure island "was also inspired by the figure of the mythical and dark
Capitan harlock that wanders through space with a spaceship "Alkadia" in all similar to a real ship. The success of Capitan harlock comes from his figure of the classic dark handsome (as well as from his fascinating adventures). He is dressed in a cape and a black costume, with a skull on his chest. Like any self-respecting pirate he has a patch on his right eye and a scar on his face, is armed with a sword and a laser beam gun (the "cosmic gun") and is not a very talkative type.
 The story of Capitan harlock is set in 2976 in a world dominated almost exclusively by the machines that have replaced man as regards all physical work and that serve him to the point of making him lazy and listless. The price that the earth paid for man's greed was the depletion of all its resources, in fact it has almost dried up the seas and many resources are drawn from other planets, because now the earth is no longer productive. Among the earthlings there is a boy with a free spirit who, driven by his desire for adventure and rebellion towards that kind of society aboard a spaceship called Alkadia, sets sail from the earth to travel in the cosmic "ocean".
Capitan harlock and his men at first derided, were accused by the earthlings of being rebel revolutionaries, therefore they hunted him down as if they were criminals. For its part Capitan harlock does not disdain to plunder the spaceships loaded with resources destined for the earth. Meanwhile, a mysterious object from space crashes into the earth and the scientist, prof. Daiba senses that this could be a kind of "flag" used by the extraterrestrial colonizers to mark their next conquest: the earth. Worried about all of this, he warns Defense Minister Kirita who doesn't believe him and takes everything lightly, preferring to continue his virtual golf game. At that point, prof. Daiba realizes that he will have to fight a personal war to try to save humanity. Back in his study, his son Tadashi, studying the route of that extraterrestrial object, came to the conclusion that "the flag" comes from a very distant area of the cosmos, devoid even of stars. To ascertain his son's data, Daiba goes to the central ministry for research to be able to do more in-depth research, but as he enters the ministry laboratory with Tadashi's data, a mysterious female figure wrapped in a black cloak kills him. Meanwhile, Tadashi, who had followed his father in disguise, rushes and lashes out at that figure, but is attacked by the woman who tries to strangle him, at one point someone comes to Tadashi's rescue and kills the criminal woman. Tadashi is invited by his savior, hidden in the shadows, to take the astronomical data and take them to the analysis laboratory.  Here they discover that the mysterious object comes from a distant nebula in the cosmos, where the mysterious female figure who killed her father probably comes from. In fact it is a plant extraterrestrial being with a constitution similar to terrestrial plants, even if physically it resembles a woman, it is part of the people of the Mazonians you command
from Queen Raflesia, they are preparing to conquer the Earth. The mysterious character invites Tadashi to follow him aboard his ship, needless to say that he is none other than Capitan harlock, the famous space pirate.
 Some time later Tadashi is summoned by Prime Minister Kirita as he learns that the boy is aware of the space pirate's refuge
Capitan harlock, which he is hunting. However, Tadashi does not want to betray the one who saved his life and with whom he made a deep friendship, so he refuses to cooperate and in response the prime minister has him arrested on charges of treason. All this, however, concerns a very specific plan, in fact Tadashi is now nothing more than a lure to bring Captain Harlock to save him. In his cell, Tadashi meets Yattaran, deputy commander of Arcadia who got himself imprisoned in order to have him escape. Thanks to Yuki Kei, a blonde girl from the crew of Capitan harlock, who manages to evade the surveillance of the guards Tadashi and Yattaran manage to escape and foil the plan to capture Harlock, but they also have an encounter with some Mazonians always hunting for Tadashi and his information, who are killed by Yattaran. After escaping aboard a shuttle, Yattaran reveals to the two that the Mazonians arrived in the solar system many years ago and planted their "seeds" by mixing with the human race and assuming the appearance of women to deceive the earthlings, the conquest of the earth is vital to them as their planet has exploded and they find themselves wandering through space in search of a homeland. Meanwhile, Yuki spotted a fleet of Mazonian spacecraft ready to attack their spaceship. A tough battle then begins where, however, Yattaran's spacecraft seems to have the worst, as it is severely hit. Tadashi faints, but when he wakes up he finds himself on a bed in an infirmary, aboard the Alkadia with the legendary Captain Harlock next to him. In fact, the three were rescued from Captain Harlock's Alkadia and his crew who defeated the Mazonian ships. Among the various characters of Alkadia we remember the figure of little Mayu, a little girl who has the particularity of playing an ocarina with a sweet and poignant melody, which contributes not a little to the "dark" atmosphere of this anime. Mayu was entrusted to Captain Harlock after the death of her parents: Tochiro Oyama, a very short chap, but the greatest astronaut engineering scientist in the universe and  Emeraldas a beautiful woman with long red hair. Captain Harlock met Tochiro Oyama and Esmeralda several years earlier, inside a saloon where he defended the two, subsequently the two managed to save him from hanging and after an escape they became friends. Tochiro Oyama is actually the Alkadia construction engineer who after his death was reincarnated in the onboard computer of the spaceship to which Captain Harlock talks as if it were a human being. Of note are the episodes of the cartoon "My friend, my youth" and the subsequent "The secret construction of Alkadia". Although Captain Harlock manages to defeat the Mazonians of Queen Raflesia (between the two there is a sort of admiration and respect), saving the earth from danger, the men will continue to hunt down our hero, which will force Halock to continue the his wandering in space. But the originality of this series is also given by the fact that there is no precise boundary between the good and the bad and in fact, Minister Kirita will eventually become friends with Harlock even managing to save the very precious on-board computer of Alkadia, from the Mazonians. . Likewise Queen Raflesia, she is not an evil queen, but she is only forced to save her people.
After this mythical television series, other cartoons about Captain Harlock have been made, but they have few elements in common with the first series.
These are: "The Arcadia of my youth", "Captain Harlock - 2nd series" of 1982 and "Captain Harlock and the ring of the Nibelungs".
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Captain Harlock, the names, images and trademarks are copyright Toei Animation - Leiji Matsumoto - Tamiya Takeshi - Kominato Yoichi - Koizumi Yoshiaki and of those entitled and are used here for cognitive and informative purposes.
Video by Captain Harlock
| Episode titles | First series:
01. Pirate flag in space
02. Assault from the unknown
03. A woman who burns like paper
04. Under the banner of freedom
05. At the edge of the stars
06. Queen Raflesia
07. The pyramid at the bottom of the sea
08. The cunning tactic of the queen
09. The terrible human plants
10. To the secret planet
11. Laura with sparkling eyes
12. In the crater from the volcano
13. The haunted castle
14. The tombstone at the foot of the sphinx
15. The Northern Lights
16. The farewell song
17. The skeleton of space hawks
18. The warriors - shadow
19. The trap of Queen Raflesia
20. Yura - the uninhabited star
21. Goram!
22. The sepulcher of space
23. Yattaran, model maker poet
24. The shooting star
25. Doctor Zero's daughter
26. Long journey to the homeland
27. Alkadia's decision
28. The Ulysses nebula
29. Clashes on the Rainbow Planet
30. My friend, my youth
31. The secret construction of Alkadia
32. Music from the planet Wind
33. Even one kind heart
34. The lullaby of the galaxy
35. Being mysterious
36. The living computer
37. The empty case
38. May's Invisible Father
39. Death of Kirita
40. The ship of the mirage
41. Raflesia and Harlock: close encounter
42. Farewell, space pirate!
| Second series:
01. Sabotage
02. The shadow of death
03. The invasion
04. The pirate ship
05. The captain
06. The orphan girl
07. The pen of the sword is worth more
08. The ghost ship
09. The oasis in space
10. Revenge
11. The iron planet
12. The great challenge
13. The golden goddess
14. The mysterious light
15. The sea of death
16. The spy
17. The tornado
18. Esmeralda is in danger!
19. The living computer
20. The ideal planet
21. Toshiro's secret
22. The fire of heaven |
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