Captain Herlock

After conquering the galaxy, mankind has reached its apex and is now on a steady decline. The resources of the universe are diminishing, and around 500 billion humans begin to return home to Earth. Thus begins a war between the various factions of humans for control of the planet. Eventually, an authoritarian government known as the Gaia Sanction prevents the re-population of Earth.

Captain Herlock was one of the Elite Wing who was tasked by the Gaia Sanction to defend the Earth. His fleet of ships was unstoppable under his command. However, the Gaia Sanction allows a diplomatic elite to immigrate to Earth, which angers Herlock. He goes rogue and fires upon the diplomats and the rest of his fleet. He decides to unleash dark matter on the planet to make it uninhabitable, but also becomes engulfed in it which immortalizes him.

One hundred years have passed, and the legendary Captain Herlock is still at large, with only the Arcadia under his control. The Gaia Sanction continues with their plans for control over the Earth, while hiding its true state. But Captain Herlock is preparing for one final showdown with them, which will determine the fate of the world!

Captain Herlock Main

Oguri, Shun Japanese

Miime Main

Aoi, Yuu Japanese

Yama Main

Miura, Haruma Japanese

Ezra Main

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Yuki, Kei Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Yattaran Supporting

Furuta, Arata Japanese

Nami Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Tori-san Supporting

Narrator Supporting

Kobayashi, Kiyoshi Japanese

Aramaki, Shinji Director, Storyboard

Fukui, Harutoshi Script

Takeuchi, Kiyoto Script

Okamura, Tensai Storyboard

Reviews

Dec 2, 2017

Tyrannicswine117

Recommended

Warning possible Spoilers

It was kinda surprising to see that this movie was actually a remake of the original series back in the seventies, so I saw what the movie would offer and it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

Story (6/10)

However just because it isn't bad, doesn't mean it has it's weak points and the story is definitely a weak point, sure it was simple as our MC Yama is a spy on Harlock's ship and tries to kill him, until he starts to realise what Harlock is doing and then a whole bunch of stuff that seemed like a ripoff of Wall-E happened, like ... the fact that after many years of suffering, the Earth is finally supporting life again just seemed way too familiar.
Although despite the story seeming familiar, it did have it's own stuff to go on, like ulterior motives, betrayal, hidden secrets and a whole religious scheme made the movie/film a little more interesting to watch, because for many years humanity has been fooled that the Earth was a safe haven, when really it wasn't and the whole government was keeping it hidden from the public.
I couldn't exactly tell whether the pacing was good or not, considering what happened in the movie/film, although I do think the ending was one big Deus Ex Machina, especially when it came to Yama's character whose look and appearance resembled Harlock quite a bit, so his outcome by the end wasn't a surprise for me.
The story wasn't bad, it just didn't have a lot of impact for me, apart from a few things that did make the movie/film stand out.

Characters (6/10)

The characters were another weaker aspect of the movie/film, because it looked like there wasn't any development for them whatsoever, well apart fro Yama and Harlock, but their the main characters so of cause there has to be some development there, but all the other characters felt like they were just along for the ride and some of them like Yuki and Miime looked like they could've been big characters, but since this is a movie/film you have to put concentration on certain character's, otherwise there'll just be too much for the viewers to handle.
It also surprises me how, apart from the bad guys and cannon fodder troops, no-one actually dies, which kinda disappointed me, but at the same time it didn't because it's setting up the TV series from the seventies.
Pretty much there wasn't much interest in the characters other than that they can kick some ass and the concentration on Yama wasn't too bad either, until it's the usual he's doing this for someone he loves that he ended up hurting, which reminds of the only surprising death in the movie/film and that was the girl Yama liked, so there was something here.

Art (8/10)

Now I haven't seen many anime's in the 3-D CGI format, but it works really well here surprisingly, the designs of the ships were very well done, especially the Arcadia, which had a menacing, but badass feel to it.
The design of the characters, weapons, armour and equipment was also top notch, although Harlock's crew's armour did look a lot like the Big Daddy suit from Bioshock, which I'll accept because it looked badass.
Even the locations looked great too, including the capital city on Mars, it looked like something out of a fantasy, but made for a sci-fi setting.

Sound (7/10)

The soundtrack was pretty good, it captured the feel of what it would be like to be a space pirate, especially during the first space battle, it captured that feeling very well, although after that I couldn't really remember much else of the soundtrack.

Extras:

The action was definitely something entertaining to watch, awesome space battles, pretty hectic gunfights with CQC elements including a fight in zero-G and there was also quite a lot of Slow-mo in some fight scenes too, it didn't spoil the moment, but added a nice extra detail to the characters movement as they started kicking ass.
Another thing is, I will watch anything in sub or dub, but I watched this in dub and thought "yeah this would be better in sub" so if you're going to watch this in dub, don't I would recommend watching it in sub, because some of the lines just didn't mix well with the lip-sync.

Enjoyment (7/10)

Overall (7/10)

Overall this was a alright space pirate adventure, kickass space battles and great looking effects, but with a meh story and characters it can be a mixed result, however if you're interested in stuff like this, then I'd consider watching this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 21, 2024

acataLuca

Mixed Feelings

this one is a struggle, the animation is surprisingly good. aside from that the issue with the story is that there is none, it's a mess with no real chance to connect with any character.

however, if you want a nice movie to look at and are able to get distracted by the pretty visuals of the battle even though you have no idea why it happened, consider this a recommendation. I know I liked it in the "so bad it's good" way (and I found it completely for free on youtube so it was a winning situation)

the characters don't seem to be anything ... like the 70s anime, but perhaps they are so bland that you can project the personality you want them to have easily. the female characters in the show also have typical "you have a great personality" body types and the whole aesthetic resembles final fantasy cutscenes of around the same era.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Apr 1, 2024

Worm_Death

Not Recommended

This movie feels like the anime equivalent of the Final Fantasy VII remake.
While the movie looks extremely visually impressive, it's all style without substance or lack of style in this case. In every single case, without exception, I prefer stylized designs over hyperrealistic ones. Leiji Matsumoto's designs and characters have an extremely distinctive, instantly recognizable look, but they've been robbed of those stand-out qualities to just look realistic.
While I find the CGI to look impressive, the characters' movements seem really weird. They are clearly mo-capped, which isn't bad by itself, but they have this weird, flowy quality that almost makes it hard to ... watch them. The hair physics engine they use is clearly too sensitive, so even when they stand still and talk, their hair is influenced by that. It's a minor gripe but one I continually noticed throughout the movie.
I was not too fond of how the characters were treated. While I did enjoy Kei being of more use than in the original series, she is a lot harder now and not as soft, which made her really charming in the original. Outside of her and Harlock, the characters have no distinctive personalities. Miime and Yattaran are only recognizable in design and don't resemble much of their original selves outside of that. Yattaran was also a goofy character who made model ships. He meant business when it came out, but he isn't his own character here.
I also did not like Yama. He was more of the main character than Harlock and quite dull. He's at war with his brother throughout the movie, and Harlock just pitches in to help out. Yama has no real personality, and I wasn't invested in his story. I hate how the Harlock characters became so sidelined because of him; it was a major disappointment.
Lastly, the movie simply didn't have that Harlock and Matsumoto charm. While Harlock was mainly a drama-oriented series, there were lighter moments where the crew just had fun and felt like a family. That is stripped away here. While I understand that this is a movie, so that can't pad up that limited time with those moments if Yama's scenes were cut, you easily could flesh out Harlock's crew. I'm disappointed only Harlock, his bird, Kei, Yattaran, and Miime were brought back; his entire crew had a lot of charm, like the doctor, engineer, cook, and even Mayu. Tochiro is barely mentioned and serves a very small purpose.

So, it's not a good movie on its own, and it's not a good movie for Harlock fans. Do not watch. It's technically impressive, so if you want to just look at some shots and be inspired, that's about the only positives you can glean from this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Captain Harlock Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Akanezora - Jan 1, 2014	62 replies	by _-_Sally_-_ »» Jul 24, 2023 9:24 PM
	I don't really know what's going on, but I love Miime. salsalsalsal - Dec 23, 2022	1 replies	by The_Holyone66 »» Dec 23, 2022 6:25 AM
	Captain Harlock not Herlock omy785 - Aug 21, 2017	19 replies	by valoon »» Aug 19, 2022 5:17 AM
	Captain Harlock music Sad_Joker - Mar 5, 2019	0 replies	by Sad_Joker »» Mar 5, 2019 12:05 AM
	Is this related to the series or manga? Tyler117 - Sep 7, 2014	3 replies	by Brynhildr »» Mar 18, 2015 7:08 PM

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