Arcadia of My Youth

In my heart, I believe this to be a great movie, for its time. The 1982 animation was acceptable, but doesn't compare to Queen Emeraldas Or Harlock Saga.

Now, on with the praise. I have grown up with Captain Harlock, under the guise of Albator (which is the French name) up here in Canada, and though I didn't see much of the series back then, Harlock stayed in the back of my mind to this day.

I own Arcadia of My Youth, and love it. Its story is very straight forward, and easy to follow. Essentially, it is to fight for your dreams and survive to enjoy them, no matter the cost.

I find the characters to be believable, such as Maya (Harlock's only love, and the Voice of Free Arcadia), because of her fragile nature and her devotion to try to save Earth from its catastrophic fate. Emeraldas a free-spirited, space-trader and Harlock's old friend, who crosses Harlock's path after she crash lands on Earth attempting a difficult passage in space. Tochiro, Harlock's new friend, a master engineer and kind of the comic relief in this movie, but not to the point of distraction. And then there is Harlock, which I identify with, because of his strong, silent presence. He is willing to do everything in his power to help his friends, just so long as they try to help themselves as well. He lives by his own personal code of honor, which echoes my own..."upon my honor, to do my duty."

He turns his back on Earth, because they decide to side with the invaders, The Illumidus, instead of fighting for its freedom, and Earth's government doesn't want any rogue elements such as Harlock's group. Harlock and company are exiled from Earth, which Harlock couldn't care less, because he doesn't want to cling to something that is dead anyway.

This movie is meant as an introduction to the characters of the Harlock series and try to make some sense of the convoluted mess that is the Matsumoto Universe, and I find it succeeds in this undertaking.

I feel this movie is worth seeing, if only to see how it all began, due to the fact that the Harlock series characters are enjoying some renewed interested in the past couple of years with the release of the Queen Emeraldas OVA and Harlock Saga OVA.

"I Live in freedom, under my flag."

First of all it has to be said that i saw the movie in Italian language, so maybe the translation didn't help.

The movie jumps from a scene to another without any sense, the "deus ex machina" director solves EVERY problem the characters may have: they must find someone? next scene somehow they meet him/her/them.

They look for someone in a planet and magically they land right next to them. And this happens for EVERYTHING and anyone looking for someone/something.

The story itself has many holes, some of them very disappointing, the dialogs are sometimes absurd: "it's impossible to find any weapons!" (said by the captain 20 seconds after punching an enemy soldier and taking his rifle). The characters are absolutely flat and do not evolve : the story adds nothing to the characters development: they start and end exactly the same characters like nothing happened.

The appearing of Mr Bird is somehow ridiculous. This is a sad stain on my memory of the Captain.

The world and character building is beautiful. You can see the thought put into the uniforms, the ship designs, and the factions at play. Technologies and natural wonders have rules around their interaction, and they are never broken.

Even characters you don't suspect have unique moral values, and they all scheme and act upon those values. I can trace the through-lines of the protagonists and the antagonists, and that's the mark of a well-rounded script.

However, I must contrast this with the goofy moments, for example action scenes that are prolonged solely for melodrama. I watched this with my father, and he regarded it as one of the worst films he'd ever seen. I don't blame him. Anime from my experience seems allergic to subtlety and nuance. This film, at least in its cinematography, is hardly an exception. From characters stating what they feel at any given moment to its obnoxiously blatant WWII motifs, you might tune out if you take it scene by scene.

However, as a whole, especially if you appreciate older animation, I recommend this as a well woven tapestry of storytelling.

This film is not only a Masterpiece, it is also one of the best films ever made. Many consider Miazaki's animes as Masterpieces but I do consider - and I know I'm far from being alone - that Waga seishun no Arcadia (1982) is above Princess Mononoke and other Miazaki's masterpieces. The recent Bluray released in France as a collector edition is truly amazing, with a beautiful picture and all the cinematic grain retained. The team on this film was simply a dream team. Waga seishun no Arcadia's director,Tomaharu Komatsubata, a veteran in Japanese animation who worked on many iconic films like Star Blazers, and series like Grendizer or Galaxy Express 999, is a very underrated film director, whose work on this film is simply fabulous. Chara designer, Kazuo Komatsubara (1943-2000), was simply one of the best character designers ever and his work as animation director on this movie is one of his best achievements. Composer Toshiyuki Kimori (1947-1988) achieved a wonderful and haunting soundtrack that fits perfectly to the mood of the film. And last but not least, composer Masaki Hirao added a couple of very atmospheric - and once again haunting- songs for Maria Asahina and Shibuya Teppei. Though the series Waga seishun no Arcadia: Mugen kidô SSX (1982-83) follows the film,it's not very coherent to the mood of the film, which is quite violent and shocking at times and definitely NOT FOR CHILDREN, while the series was obviously made for a larger audience.Though quite good, the series lacks the darkness and mood of the film. Needless to say that those who love the film might be surprised. To conclude, I will simply say that Waga seishun no Arcadia is definitely the best Harlock film. And one of the best films ever.

And no film, modernized or CGIed -like in 2013-, will ever surpass it.

Never did, never will. Arcadia go, Hasshin!

I had this movie on video tape years ago in Japanese with subtitles and I loved it. It's a modern epic. I recently it saw it dubbed in English and the voice acting was some of the worse I've ever heard, plus the wonderful music was mixed so low it was barely there. I will add this to my collection, but only if I can find the original Japanese with subtitles and the original sound mix.