Captin Harlock.

For those of you who do not know who Leiji Matsumoto is. I can only tell you that you should.
If your a Anime fan, you should because it is a classic, almost required watching as it wear. And if your a fan of Sci-Fi then you should watch because of the influence that his work has had on Japanese And Western Sci-Fi.

Let me back track a bit.
Leiji Matsumoto is famous for works such as Space Battleship Yamato. Captain Harlock. The Galaxy Express line and all of the shows that go along with them. In fact Galaxy Express is the best selling Manga in Japanese History, It is literally required reading in Japanese Junior High school.

All in all that's most likely well over 1200 some episodes of TV shows and a dozen movies.
A few things really give away a Leiji Anime. First is the heavy stylization of space ships. If you see a anime were a space ship looks like a WWII battleship. A Train, And Sailing Vessel. then you can bet its a Leiji Anime. (Or At the Very Least he worked on it)

On top of that allot of ideals and visual effect you see in other media are from his work.

And the Spokesperson of the Leiji Matsumotos work is the AMAZING! Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

It's really quite hard to explain Captain Harlock as a character. But the best way is just to say this. If you crosses Captain Kirk with Han Solo And Obiwan Kenodi. You might get some wear close enough to the ideal of Harlock. Simply put Harlock is made of 90% Manliness. And 90% Awesome.

So the list of Awesome tropes that captain Harlock has.
Awesome Face Scar.
Eye Patch.
Bad Ass Red Trench Coat.
A Giant Space Battle Ship: Names the Arcadia. (That kind of looks like a cross between a WWII battleship and a Star Destroyer) Space Fighters that look like Star Fighters from Star Wars.
The list goes on.
And understand that Captain Harlock and Leiji's work are the trope namers for many of these tropes.

_
Now before you go out and watch this show I have a warning for you.
For the most part When I watch a anime, I go and watch one episode of it in Both English And Japanese. And Because I don't speak Japanese, If the English Is alright Ill watch it in English.
(On a side note, I can in fact speak Japanese.... About as well as a second grader)

But I can't do that in Harlock.
No really I can't.
I have never seen a English Dubbed Anime that's this bad.
Were to start. (List)

#1. The Music.
The Japanese Score to Harlock is Pretty damn good, It's got allot of brass in it, Allot of very well chosen mood pieces and the music always seems to fit the events taking place, the music is never the center of attention, but it is always good at supporting the story taking place. And the Original Japanese Oppening score is a very Epic Space... Sea... Shanty? Ballad... Ya.

#2. The Opening Theme.
I know I just covered the music but I think the opening theme needs to be touched on by its self.
So the Japanese Opening theme is a kind of Japanese Sailing Song, Think of Pirates singing a sea shanty, only in Japanese. Is it Great? No. Is it Bad? No. But it has personality.
No... Second thought. No it's Great...

The English Opening Theme. Is TERRIBLE! Lets just say this, It sounds like it was done by a Bad Deo Cover Band. Now I know this Anime was dubbed in the late 1970's. (The Anime was made in the late 50's) But really this is the best we could do?
Its so bad that after a wile the English Dubbing doesn't even have a opening theme.

#3. Voice acting.
OK so the Japanese Voice Acting Isn't great but its not bad ether, The Voices don't fall into the formal annoying Japanese Voice Problems. (Unnaturally High Pitched Female Voices, And Tough Males that have overly effeminate voices.... Or male cats having the deepest voices on the show, I'm talking about you Sailor Moon)
And that might be the charm of Captain Harlock, For the most part the voices match up. And are not grating, they actually sound like normal Japanese People

And to be fair the English Voice Acting Isn't bad. But with the exception of maybe two characters there is nothing great ether, and the rest of the voice crew seams dreadfully miss matches. The 17 year old female on the Arcadia Sounds Like shes voices by a 60 year old women.

#4. Length.
OK so no rude Jokes.
But the first episode of the English Dubbing covers almost four episodes of the Japanese Show. And not in a good way. Allot of the episodes are simply cut out, and some are clearly in the wrong order.

#5. Stupification.
The Setting and Back Story to The Japanese Version has a very Interesting premise, Technology and Robots have made it so Humans don't really need to work that much, so most people just sit around and watch TV all the time. Harlocke Pirates Food and Supply's and stores them for the time when the Incompetent Earth Government needs the supply's for the people.

And with the exception of a few people that still work on intellectual and Artistic Stuff, Most people do nothing, Basically its all about Apathy and Social Atrophy.

This seams to have been to complicated for the viewers when they did the American Dubbing, So they just cut it down to. "The Rich Have Everything, The Poor have nothing and do all the work, Harlock is Robbin Hood in space." It's one of the most insulting adaption changes I think I have ever seen.



But the overall impact of the show is pretty staggering. Allot of the big names in Western Si-Fi have stated that it was a huge inspiration to them.