Forum - View topicCaptain Harlock & Galaxy Express 999; where to start?
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NefariousPlatypus
Posts: 53 |
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Do these shows still hold up? Are they any good to begin with? How are they connected?
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CrisGer A.A.
 Posts: 170 Location: 世田谷区 Setagaya Ward |
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Galaxy Express is a total joke, one of the anime series that should never have been made. Dont bother.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18442 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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CrisGer A.A., the OP was not asking for an opinion on whether or not the franchise is worth watching.
Here's a thought: Next time why don't you not bother to post unless you're going to answer the (very legitimate) question posed? This was just rude. |
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gsilver
Posts: 649 |
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I'm watching the Galaxy Express 999 TV series right now, and I'm finding the writing of it quite interesting.
The morality of the show tends to be completely broken (each episode is framed as a moral tale, but a lot of them are completely backwards, one of the weirdest was wherespoiler[it showed a man who was a tyrant and murdered most of his subjects as well as his wife. His son appears, and the man treats the son horribly, and the son ends up dying in part because of his father's actions. The son's reaction is "I'm glad that I had time to spend with my dad" despite his father contributing to his own death, as well as the annihilation of the entire kingdom] and it isn't long before you realize that spoiler[any robot who isn't completely evil is almost certainly fated to die within an episode or two of their introduction] Though despite the utterly broken morality of the show, I'm finding the worlds to be creative and interesting, especially ones that have physical properties that are very much unlike earth. It's a fun adventure series at its core, and the overall structure of the series has a deeper message on the path of one's life. Galaxy Express 999 the movie was one of my gateway animes, thanks to the Sci-Fi channel way back in the day. Animation-wise, it has held up far better than the series. As for how GE999 and Harlock are connected, it's a very loose one. Leiji Matsumoto has a number of characters who exist in many of his works, though their stories and allegiances can very significantly from one series to the next. It will be helpful to have a general idea of who Captain Harlock is when watching 999, but don't expect him to be exactly the same as he was in his own series. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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There really is no direct canon or continuity in Leijiverse works, aside from pure direct sequels:
GE999 Movie 1 -> Movie 2 Arcadia of My Youth -> Endless Orbit SSX GE999 TV -> Eternal Fantasy (movie 3) That's about it, everything else can be seen in a loose set up of timelines, but it doesn't fully connect. But what's weird is that some things need to be watched before watching others, a little on that later. As for where to start, Harlock should usually be started with the 1978 TV series. It introduces the world, the character, and his main motivations, as well as the overarching plot the entire series within the first few episodes. With Galaxy Express, you can begin either the films or TV series, but the movies are vastly shorted and now available in smeared DVNR'd BluRay... alas. They're quite beautiful, but the TV series focuses more on each planet and the relationship between Tetsuro (the protagonist) and his travel buddy Maetel. That's the main stuff, everything else is usually for people with greater interest, and this is where it gets hairy and confusing. There's a third major series called Queen Millennia which ties into Galaxy Express through some prequel OVAs in the 90s, but the 80s TV show and movie seem largely unrelated on their own. That prequel, Maetel Legend, as well as the Queen Emeraldas OVA around the same time and the later sequel (but still prequel to GE999) Space Symphony Maetel, shouldn't be viewed before Galaxy Express, since it spoils a ton of stuff about the histories of major characters. All three help connect Queen Millennia to GE999, but it seems to radically change the fate of that series' major character. Further on Queen Millennia, the movie for that film is re-imagining of the series and quite good. You can watch it on its own just fine. With Harlock, Arcadia of My Youth is unrelated to the 78 show, but is followed by mixed tone TV series that at once seems more kiddy but has a ton of large battles. In the 90s there's Harlock Saga, a take on Wagner's Ring Cycle, and unrelated to everything else. The early 2000s brings Endless Odyssey which somewhat follows the 78 series through a little bit of flashback and shared characters, but has its own self-contained story. Mostly unrelated to everything else are Gun Frontier, where Harlock and Tochiro are in the old west. I haven't seen it, but I've heard it's not great. Cosmo Warrior Zero, DNA Sights 999.9, and the Galaxy Railways are still more Leijiverse entries, but still mostly unrelated aside from cameos. That's how most of these works are connected, like Harlock and Emeraldas will just show up in the various GE999 titles, do their thing and leave. I'd say start in the 70s either way, with Harlock TV and the GE999 films. Those movies are easily available, and Discotek will be releasing Harlock later this year. |
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EricJ
 Posts: 876 |
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Like Disney, Marvel, Tezuka, or the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Matsumoto like to think that the characters from all his series hang out together in the same universe. Normally they wouldn't, but it's just a bit of manga-artist ego. Apart from the movie crossovers, there's no real connection, although it's hinted that Tetsuro got his gun, hat and poncho spoiler[from Harlock's old pal Tochirou.] No reference outside the movie, though; more likely Matsumoto just liked the design.
Except that the GE999 Movie 1 is pretty much the condensed entire series, end spoilers included (except for gratuitous Harlock and Queen Emerldas crossovers that weren't as obvious in the series), and Arcadia is a fan-waste of time for those hoping to learn the series. Basically, where to start? Um, the originals, Episode 1 of each.  They're independent serial stories, so they have a beginning and end, and set everything up from the outset. (Yes, smartypants, they even explain the one about "Wait, if the 999 is a spaceship, how can they stick their heads out the window?" ) Toei syndicated them pretty much everywhere on streaming by now, so Hulu or Crackle should serve better than messed-up Funi.com.
All Leiji Matsumoto tends to be naively and hysterically melodramatic even by 70's kids-anime standards (which is saying something), but that's part of its "space fairytale" charm. After that, it's all for taste: I find GE999 is the more elegant and involving series, while Harlock is an iconically cool character trapped in rather silly plots. Harlock is straight-up retro space opera, while 999 becomes so allegorical with message-laden fantasy-concept planets, that Tetsuro almost becomes a sort of Pinocchio in reverse, wondering whether to stay a "real boy", with Maetel as the definitive Blue Fairy. |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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I recommend the movies over the show because 113 low budget episodes is a lot to get through. Even if the movies spoil, the show is always about the journey and lesson learned from each visit to a new planetary destination.
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guildmaster
 Posts: 364 Location: Hot & Humid FL |
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This is good info. I might look into these seeing as how they're from the same person who created SB Yamato / StatBlazers.
Man, there's a lot of stuff to sort out. |
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kanwalkk
Posts: 1 |
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grr that's really annoying about picture push!
express news Last edited by kanwalkk on Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:03 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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If you haven't seen any of Matsumoto's works, you should also keep in mind that it's an acquired taste and that not everybody is going to enjoy his works. A lot of people find them tedious, depressing, and overly preachy.
Personally I don't think the new Space Battleship Yamato 2199 has the same feel which is why I like it a lot more than some other works he was behind. I don't feel like I'm slogging through mud to finish it. |
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walw6pK4Alo
Posts: 9322 |
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That's because Matsumoto has no creative input on 2199. If it were up to him, there'd be fewer women on board, I bet.
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EricJ
Posts: 876 |
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Well, that was my point: With Harlock, or the Yamato crew, it's a lot of retro 70's-manga posturing, and chest-beating about Freedom, and Sacrifice, and Fighting the Battle to the End. But in 999, it's all told through young Tetsuro's eyes, and that IS how a 10-11-yo. would see it if he was telling the story: Big epic good-vs.-evil battles, last chances to save the world for Everybody with your one Big Gun, and lessons to be learned. All this stuff was meant to be eaten up by 10-yo. fans in any of the titles; here, it just has the innocence to get the Big Allegorical Message across. When you have villains of the week who threaten Tetsuro with "I'll keep you here forever!" or "I'll use you in my experiments!", it's obviously pitched at a different storytelling level than Yamato's journey to Iscandar. (As the Narrator's unintentionally-campy stentorian voice declares in the final episode's fadeout, spoiler[maybe the entire series was all just one big symbolic dream Tetsuro dreamed of his future--The train is Destiny! Maetel is Hope!]...Yes, it's a silly pasted-on attempt at Art for the finale--and trying to borrow a little of "Night on the Galactic Failroad"s symbolist vibe--but y'knoowww, there might be a lot of evidence to back it up, if you wanted to go in that direction...) |
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