Around 1995, Japanese animation (anime) began pouring into North America, Europe and across the globe in video form. Most of these titles were unknown outside of Japan and never covered by animation journals. Whether a title is highly popular or very obscure, a high-quality theatrical feature or a cheap and unimaginative direct-to-video release, they all look the same on a store shelf. Therefore, Animation World Magazine will regularly review several new releases (including re-releases not previously covered) that have merit and about which our readers should know.

Harlock Saga. © 1999 Leiji Matsumoto-Shinchosa/ Bandai Visual / 81 Produce.

Harlock Saga.
OAV series, 1999. Director: Yoshio Takeuchi. 180 minutes. Price & format: DVD bilingual $29.99. Distributor: U.S. Manga Corps/Central Park Media. (This is a combination of the earlier video edition in two volumes; Harlock Saga, v.1, Clash of the Space Pirates and v.2, Wrath of the Gods. Dubbed only, 90 minutes and $19.99 each.)

One of the seminal influences in anime was cartoonist Leiji Matsumoto, who virtually created the interstellar sci-fi action/adventure genre in the 1970s. Space Battleship Yamato (1974) spun off numerous TV and theatrical sequels, which overlapped several other Matsumoto deep-space creations, notably Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999. Captain Harlock, starring a charismatic "good guy" space pirate who is actually fighting to save Earth from a corrupt planetary government and tyrannical space invaders, originally appeared as a 42-episode TV serial from March 14, 1978 through February 13, 1979. This was followed by several TV and theatrical sequels in the 1980s (plus guest appearances of Harlock in the Galaxy Express 999 series), tapering off to a few direct-to-video titles during the 1990s. Bootleg Harlock videos were a major influence in the early days of American anime fandom.

Harlock Saga, a six-episode OAV series released bimonthly from January through November 1999, sounded in its full Japanese title like an attempt at serious culture: Harlock Saga: Der Ring des Nibelungen - Das Rheingold. Yes, a transformation of Wagner's Ring Cycle into an interstellar saga for the fate of the universe. This sort of thing has worked well with sci-fi novels (there have been numerous reworkings of The Odyssey or The Argonautica as a heroic space explorer's discovery of exotic new planets), but a visual production like Harlock Saga suffers badly. If the 81 Produce production group (the animation studios credited are Studio March and Sono Sun Planning) thought that basing the story on operas would justify limiting the animation to only three or four characters in any scene, they were wrong. A mighty space dreadnought with a crew of just three or four, or planets with populations of less than a half-dozen each, are simply not convincing. Audiences of operas can accept characters who die while singing melodramatically when their parts are finished. In a "serious" adventure drama, having each planet self-destruct in a spectacular cataclysm just as the hero and his crew blast off for the next world is less convincing, and quickly becomes monotonous as well. The music is rich (performed by the Moscow International Symphonic Orchestra), and is mostly re-scored from Wagner's original to work effectively with each scene (the "Ride of the Valkyries" does not need any re-scoring to make great music for the space battles), but it sounds unoriginal. Finally, Harlock Saga is one of those productions designed for an audience that is already familiar with the cast and background story. American viewers will be more familiar with the supporting characters from the Teutonic operas than with such strangers as Harlock (standing in for Siegfreid, roughly speaking), Tochiro, Emeraldas, Meeme & Daiba who have the major roles here.

Space Pirate Alberich, leader of the Nibelung people from the planet Nibelheim [sic.], steals the gold from the planet Rhein because its unique molecular structure makes it the most powerful weapon in the universe. Alberich plans to use it to overthrow Wotan, leader of the Immortals of the planet Valhalla who is having an invincible space fortress built for him by Fasolt & Fafnir, two giant engineers from the planet Risenheim. Harlock and his loyal crew realize that the conflict between Alberich's Nibelung space armada and Wotan's Death Star is likely to result in the destruction of all humanity. Their duty is to steal the gold back from Alberich and return it to Rhein. Lots of minimally-animated Sturm und Drang result.