Captain Harlock
Captain Harlock [宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック]
Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku,
Space Pirate Captain Harlock, also transliterated
Captain Herlock) is the main character of several
anime and
manga series by writer/artist
Leiji Matsumoto.
Harlock is an archetypical
space pirate: a patch over one eye, a scar across his cheek, always wearing a great black cape, and frequently holding either a laser-rapier or a glass of wine. Like many of Matsumoto's lead characters, he is as noble as he is taciturn, grimly fighting for a just cause.
The first series featuring Harlock in the lead role was
1978's
Captain Harlock, but his first appearance was in some of Matsumoto's manga books as early as
1966. The very first appearance of the character seems to be Matsumoto's manga "Adventures of a Honeybee" in
1953. As with most of Leiji Matsumoto's works, continuity is not a crucial issue; an appearance of any particular version of the character does not necessarily connect to any previous or following versions, and the interconnectedness of the various series is a common subject of speculation among fans.
Though there are slight variations in each retelling of Harlock's story, the essentials remain the same. Matsumoto presents a future in which the Earth has achieved a vast starfaring civilization, but is slowly and steadily succumbing to ennui or despair, often due to defeat and subjugation by an alien invader (thus invoking strong parallels to post-
World War II Japan). Rising against the general apathy, the space pirate Captain Harlock denies defeat and leads an outlaw crew aboard his starship Arcadia to undertake daring raids against Earth's oppressors. Even though they have defeated Earth and devastated its peoples, the invaders are often presented in a sympathetic light, being shown as having some justification for their actions.
In the original television series, Harlock's crew included an alcohol-imbibing alien, the mysterious woman Miime, a robot, and a drunken doctor. The series presented a story arc in which a huge black metal sphere impacts the Earth capital city and ancient
Mayan legends appear to be walking the Earth again. The invaders turn out to be the Mazone, a race of vegetable-based,
Modigliani-necked women who explored Earth in the mythic past and are now back to reclaim it. Only Harlock and his mismatched crew are brave enough and capable enough to face the enemy.
Matsumoto is at his best when dealing with the vastness of space and the darkness of the human heart, and
Captain Harlock provides him with plenty opportunities to ply his art. The episodes features some astute directing stunts (split-screen, flashbacks) and are excellently served by a symphonic score executed by the
Tokyo Philharmonic. For all its pulpy
space-opera feeling and its action, the series raises a number of issues " from the importance of challenges in the life of men to the limits of violence as a solution to both small- and large-scale problems. The outcast Harlock is well aware of the plight of the Mazonese, a refugee people fleeing a dying planet, and finds neither pleasure nor vindication in his battles nor in his final, melancholic victory. Some of the mechanical design on the series is strongly reminiscent of the first
Star Wars film, even if the original Harlock
manga predates the American movie. As a result, a heated debate about "who stole what" is still raging among the fans.
In
1982 the character was reprised in the animated feature film
Arcadia of My Youth, designed as a prequel to the 1979 series (though in terms of continuity, it is many ways an alternate telling of the same story). The movie was followed by 22 episodes of the
Endless Orbit SSX series, again set before or in an alternate version of the original 1979 storyline and describing the events leading to Harlock's exile from Earth. Both film and second series feature a newly designed starship and lack most of the original crew, but are noteworthy for the presence of Emeraldas, a female counterpart to Harlock originally appearing in a series of Matsumoto-penned graphic novels (manga).
In the 1990s, Matsumoto also released a short series variously known as
Harlock Saga or as
The Ring of the Nibelung. Set to the music of
Richard Wagner and following the
Siegfried legend, the story pits the captain and his crew against a race of "gods" set on redesigning the universe to their liking. The series' foremost point of interest is the deployment of the whole Matsumoto cast of characters (from all his series) in various roles.
Gun Frontier was a 13 episode series from
2001. As a change of pace, it was a mostly comedy adventure series which featured W. Franklin Harlock Jr. and Tochiro Ōyama as they bumbled their way through the wild west 1880s in search of a lost tribe of Japanese immigrants.
In the 1990's,
Cosmo Warrior Zero: Warrius Zero presented a version of the story in which Captain Zero, a human veteran of the Earth-Mechanized war, is commanded by the Machine Men, who won the war and now rule Earth, to hunt down the Space Pirate who is still resisting the invaders. This series focuses on Zero and his misfit crew as they take on the hopeless mission, fighting a more skilled enemy who also may be more justified in his actions than they. Harlock, Tochiro and Emeraldas put in mostly supporting guest appearances, and are shown as being slightly younger than their previous incarnations; Harlock doesn't even have his trademark eyepatch yet. Most notable is the return of Harlock's ship to the original Blue Arcadia Design (not seen since the original TV series), though now green and named Deathshadow. As usual, the continuity is extremely shaky, this is treated as yet another possible alternate universe.
Captain Herlock: The Endless Odyssey OVA is something of a sequel and a remake at the same time. It visits the continuity of the original series for the first time in nearly 20 years, following the final episode of Space Pirate Captain Harlock. We see a return of all the old crew, including many faces not seen in years, such as Dr. Zero and the daughter of Tochiro and Emeraldas, Mayu. The series also brings back the idea of the spirit of Tochiro actually silently "haunting" the Arcadia, rather than being infused in the computer. The first part of the series details Harlock, Miime, Dr. Zero, and Tadashi Daiba finding all of the crew of the Arcadia spread out around the universe. Harlock summons everyone from the crew (most are extremely overjoyed to return to the Arcadia) in order to fight a mysterious and ancient evil which has caused the Earth to disappear, and whom use fear to conquer their foes.
Although every part of this series is geared to be a sequel to the original series, Endless Odyssey reintroduces Tadashi Daiba as if he had never been on the ship before, hence the remake part. Many fans of Matsumoto have been completely perplexed by this, as reintroducing Tadashi was generally felt to be unnecessary. Although it isn't the first time Tadashi has been introduced again, many had looked forward to a reunion of the old crew including the original Tadashi.
While the OVA is relatively short, it was a big hit with Matsumoto fans as it was a return of many of the things many felt made Harlock so memorable. It is also the first time the spelling of "Herlock" has been officially set in the title. While Harlock and company have made cameo appearances in later works of Matsumoto, this has been the last time so far that a Harlock themed story with Harlock as the lead has been released.
It is unknown what Matsumoto plans to do with the character from here, although he has stated that Harlock is his favorite work, and that he'll make stories about him until the day he dies.
Any continuity within the works of Leiji Matsumoto depends on two things: in what period of his career from which the story comes and Matsumoto-san's mindset at the time. This is often explained by his personal writing philosophy of
toki no wa, which can be loosely translated as "the infinite possibilities of space and time." This in part explains the seeming contradictions with the stories involving Captain Harlock and his friends. There is, however, a simpler explanation to the confusion. Captain Harlock and his world have been developed and occasionally re-developed as Matsumoto changes his conceptions about them. Captain Harlock has come a long way from his days as the dark, brooding, eye-patch bearing man of Matsumoto's early manga stories.
For example, the original Captain Harlock television series was conceived as an independent, standalone work. Captain Harlock, the roguish space pirate (and pointedly celibate per the tale), displays the full range of human emotions at one point or another during the course of the story. When Captain Harlock made the transition to the big screen for
My Youth in Arcadia, as well as the two
Galaxy Express 999 feature films and the subsequent
Endless Orbit SSX television series, his back story was significantly changed. He was a military officer before he became a space pirate, the circumstances of which were related in
My Youth in Arcadia. This was also the only on-screen incarnation in which Harlock was married (per the early manga stories). The tragic death of his wife Maya at the hands of Earth's alien conquerors plays a large part in turning Harlock from unconquered space captain to brooding space pirate. The backgrounds of other major characters, such as fellow pirate Emeraldas and best friend Tochrio Oyama, were also altered in accordance with Harlock's new backstory.
This incarnation of Captain Harlock also brought about a new "green" Arcadia, replacing his blue one of old. According to published reports it was developed in cooperation with Studio Nue at the request of the film studio involved so they would not have to pay licensing fees for use of the design from the original television series. Captain Harlock used a completely different ship in his early manga stories, the Death Shadow, which makes a cameo appearance as his last military command in the feature film
My Youth in Arcadia.
When Matsumoto's works again became popular in the 1990s and he began to pen the original manga for
Harlock Saga, he again changed the backdrop of Harlock and his universe. This time it was based in part on Wagner's Ring cycle and required significant reworking of almost every one of Matsumoto's stock stable of characters in order to make the story fit. With
Harlock Saga, the continuity established in the "classic" Harlock anime movies (and
Endless Warrior SSX) was literally pitched out the window and rewritten from scratch. Harlock's character reverts to that in the original 5-volume manga from which the TV series was derived. He has never been married; he has always been a space pirate and always will be. He is only a teenager when the Earth is conquered; it is his father Great Harlock who first takes up the "fight for freedom" touched upon in
My Youth in Arcadia (albeit under different circumstances). The Death Shadow was his father Great Harlock's ship. In fact Great Harlock had two Death Shadows of two different designs, the older of which just so happened to look like the original Arcadia from the original Captain Harlock television series (but this time in green instead of blue!). This one Captain Harlock inherits from his father after Great Harlock's death as depicted in the
Harlock Saga manga; and so on, and so on. While the basic concepts of Captain Harlock and his world remain the same, the backstory and timeline have changed yet again.
The "revival" backstory from the
Harlock Saga manga and anime is the one Matsumoto has been using for Harlock and company in every story since, from
Maetel Legend through
Cosmo Warror Zero and
Captain Harlock: Endless Odyssey. It even plays its part in his latest animated effort,
Space Symphony Maetel, which tries (and succeeds to some degree) in resolving part of the problems created by multiple contradictory background stories for Captain Harlock and his friends. The apparent contradictions between the old "classic" tales and the newer "revival" ones continue to confuse many Captain Harlock fans; that is, until they read the original
Harlock Saga manga and understand what Matsumoto has been doing lately with his most famous icon.
Captain Harlock, or characters indistinquishable from him, have made frequent "unbilled cameo" appearances in many other works of Leiji Matsumoto, including
Galaxy Express 999,
Queen Emeraldas, and
Galaxy Railways (as the joker in a deck of playing cards).
Captain Harlock was originally intended to appear in Space Battle Ship Yamato during their return voyage from Iscandar. The idea was dropped for a number of reasons which probably included the fact that the rights to Yamato were at the time owned by executive producer Yoshinobu Nishizaki. This idea evolved into simply finding Mamoru Kodai (Alex Wildstar) alive on Iscandar. The idea was still used later in a Yamato manga by Matsumoto where Yamato later encounter's Mamoru who assumed the false identity of Captain Harlock (as revealed when hero Susumu Kodai finds a copy of a Captain Harlock manga among his supposedly dead brother's belongings).
Character prototypes for Captain Harlock go back as early as 1953 when Leiji Matsumoto, as a teenager, drew his first acclaimed manga "Adventures of a Honeybee". The character was originally called Captain Kingston and over the years underwent slight revisions until around 1966 when he emerged as the Heidelberg-scarred, one eyed, cloaked pirate with which he is mostly associated.
Studio Nue's take on the Arcadia makes a brief cameo at the end of the original
Super Dimensional Century Orguss television series during middle of the show's climatic battle sequence (episode 34). The cameo was an homage to Matsumoto, who was then in the heyday of his "movie" period (the 1980s).
In Kia Asamiya's Space Battleship Nadesico manga, there is a comic one of the main characters reads called Space Vagrant, in which a character called Captain Government features (who pilots the Death Skull mech). The Captain and his ship (The Space Vagrant) resemble Harlock and the Arcadia closely, which is most likely intended as a homage by Asamiya.
There is a rather surprising parody of Captain Harlock as the center of the episode "Space Booty" in the cartoon series
Megas XLR as well. The legendary establishing shot of Harlock's ship, the Arcadia, is directly ripped in every detail in the Megas episode. Although the Harlock rip-off and the parody of the Arcadia are named differently, and the Harlock parody is considerably different in personality to the real Harlock; it is impossible for those familiar with the material to not notice.
An English dubbed version of a handful of the 1978 Captain Harlock TV episodes saw limited release in the U.S. (around 1981), mostly on cable and produced by Ziv international. What little was seen appeared faithful to the original story. Several names were changed such as the Mazones becoming Zetons. One of the most highly joked elements in this adaptation was the change of Tadashi Daiba's name to Tommy Hairball Dexter. This series was dubbed again in 1985, this time by Harmony Gold USA (of Robotech fame). Using the same style as Robotech to meet TV syndication's 65+ episode requirement, the Harlock Series was connected with another Matsumoto series, Queen Millenia to tell an intertwining story. It was released as
Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years. Never seeing wide release, this version is not too well known, even to hardcore fans. And considering Matsumoto fans' intensely fierce attitude towards preserving the artistic integrity of his work, that is probably for the better.
In 1979, a subtitled version of the original series appeared on Japanese language UHF broadcast channels in Hawaii and New York City. This version was shown once and the tapes apparently destroyed.
In France and Quebec, "Captain Harlock" is known as Albator, to avoid confusion with the completely different character
Captain Haddock, and is very popular there. The name "Albator" was first proposed by Eric Charden, who designed the French version of the 1978 series introductory song, in memory of one of his friends, whose family name was Balator, sometimes nick-named
The Albatross and having a psychological profile close to Harlock's. Since a massive airplay on the French and Canadian TV (Antenne 2 and Radio-Canada) in 1979, Captain Harlock / Albator has become a cult hero for an entire generation of French-speaking people, so that French people often use the expression
"Génération Albator". The whole soundtrack has been re-recorded for the French version. The Tokyo Orchestra was replaced by intimist but futurist synthesisers performed by the French musician
Eric Charden. And, the last but not the least, the French main theme of "Albator 78 - Les Sylvidres" was anthemic and a big hit on the French radios. Both complete series Space Pirate (1978) and Endless Orbit SSX (1982) have been dubbed into French as has the My Youth in Arcadia Movie (respectively known in French as
"Albator 78 - Les Sylvidres" and
"Albator 84 - L'Atlantis de ma jeunesse".
In Latin America, a dubbed version was widely shown in the early 1980s. In this version, Harlock was renamed as "Capitan Raymar". The series shown there were the complete uncensored original series. Another complete version dubbed in Spain also exists, and retains the original character names.
*Uchū Kaizoku Captain Harlock [宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック] (Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Albator78, Die Abenteuer des fantastischen Weltraumpiraten Captain Harlock) (TV series) (42 episodes, 1978-1979)
*Waga Seishun no Arcadia Mugen Kidō SSX [わが'春のアルカディア無限軌"ＳＳＸ] (Albator 84, Arcadia of My Youth: Infinite Course SSX, Harlock 84, My Youth in Arcadia: Endless Road SSX) (TV series) (22 episodes, 1982-1983)
*Uchū Kaizoku Captain Harlock Arcadia-gō no Nazo [宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック アルカディア号の謎] (Harlock Movie 1, Space Pirate Captain Harlock: Riddle of the Arcadia Episode) (movie) (34 min, 1978)
*Kaizoku Kikan Arcadia [海賊旗艦アルカディア] (pilot) (4 minutes, 1982)
*Nibelung no Yubiwa [ニーベルングの指輪] (pilot) (4 minutes, 1999)
*Waga Seishun no Arcadia (Harlock Movie 2, Arcadia of my Youth, My Youth in Arcadia, Vengeance of the Space Pirate)[わが'春のアルカディア] (movie) ( 135 min, 1982 )
*Queen Emeraldas (OAV) (4x 30min episodes, 1999)
*Harlock Saga Nibelung no Yubiwa Rhine no Ōgon (Harlock Saga: The Ring of the Nibelung) (OAV) (6x 30min episodes, 1999)
*Space Pirate Captain Herlock The Endless Odyssey Outside Legend (OAV) (13x 30min episodes, 2002)
Both "Harlock" and "Herlock" are common translations of the Japanese name into Roman script and both have been used in both Japan and America. "Harlock" has been used more often, but some recent American releases have used the "Herlock" spelling, most notably in Geneon's release of
Space Pirate Captain Herlock: Endless Odyssey.
The word "harlock" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon "hoarlocke," meaning "one with gray hair." It is interesing to note that Captain Harlock actually had white hair in at least one of his early manga appearances.
While there remains some speculation [
1] as to the name, it is commonly accepted by fans that Captain Harlock bears the traditional name of his male ancestors. The first
Phantom F. Harlock was a World War I German flying ace who was also a baron with an estate near Heilgenstaadt. This is the traditional home of the Harlock family and is located in the German province of Thuringen. This man is the same Phantom F. Harlock featured in the
Owen Stanley Mountans scene that opens the feature film My Youth in Arcadia. World War I flying ace, 1920s air pirate, and famed "aerial explorer" were but three of the hats that the first "Captain Harlock" wore.
What the
F.in
Phantom F. Harlock stands for has never been explained. The most likely answer is
Frank or some other Germanic form of the same name. Franklin Harlock Jr., a relative of the above-named Phantom F. Harlock, was a gunslinger who played a major role in the Gun Frontier stories of Leiji Matsumoto. He also happens to bear more than a passing likeness to other notable members of the Harlock family. Franklin Harlock's age would have made him a close ancestor, uncle, or distant cousin of Phantom F. Harlock I.
There are three other men named "Captain Phantom F. Harlock" that are of note in the Harlock family tree. The first, of course, is everybody's favorite space pirate. He was the 99th and last to bear the traditional family name. The second was the Captain Harlock that came so close to appearing on-screen in the very first Star Blazers (Uchuu Senkan Yamato) series. Circumstances conspired against this happening; however, he too is part of the
Phantom F. Harlock tradition. The third is Captain Phantom F. Harlock II, son of the first Captain Harlock and a World War II ace in his own right. The end of his flying career is depicted in the World War II flashback sequence in the feature film My Youth in Arcadia.
