Harlock: Space Pirate

WOW! This had some very eye-popping animation. Visually, this is stunning. Unfortunately, trying to appreciate the story-line presented here just caused the blood- vessels in my head to start bursting as well. What I'm left with is an overwhelming desire to fall down and experience an epileptic seizure - to help get rid of the headache. The only complaint I have about the animation is the fact that some of the space combat scenes were repeated more than twice, as so many animation movies are prone to do. Other than that, this is one of the most visually appealing animated movies I have ever seen. I don't know what it is about Japanese writers that doesn't seem to inform them of any other audience outside of their own culture, but their sappy-happy, juvenile themes of romance and social behavior is just plain annoying to me. Okay, "annoying" doesn't quite describe it. It's downright vomit-inducing. The worst part of this movie is the fact that no matter how many times the main space ship in this movie seems to be destroyed, it's engines out of energy, the crew worked-over, and the story-line played-out to the very end - no matter how stupid it gets, nothing is more important to the climax than to insist the ship and all of its' crew sail off into the proverbial sunset. The emphasis on continuing the romance trumps all else - no matter how implausible, and no matter how much damage that does to the overall enjoyment of the plot. It would have been so much more satisfying to see this come to an end about 25 minutes sooner than it did - with a little more blood and guts to go along with the epic battle scenes. Just when you think someone has reached their end - no, there's some stupid plot twist that brings them back to life. Forget the fact that they're no longer an essential part of telling a good story - it's so much more important that everybody stay around, feel good, and stay around for more adventures to come. We MUST have a happy ending - because isn't that how epic battles always end?

I do not know much (nothing) about the universe, it was a first. Those with more knowledge might disagree with me, might find plot-holes or flaws in the events, for me as a stand-alone movie: I find it strange ( due to the difference in culture maybe ) but rather enjoyable. The animation is great and detailed, the story is solid (again, strange for my acquired European taste, the values there are a little different than here), voice acting is rather good as well. There is intensity, enough action for two movies, a plot-twist or two, some tears here and there, pretty much everything one could ask for. I for one liked it, enough to re-watch it in the future.