Conformity is the elephant in the room of so much of what drives so many anime stories. It's nice to see that art that swims against that torrent gets time to shine as well.
@@jessh4016 Ultimately humans are not ants nor robots. Humans are comprised of individual entities each unique. Even if you support "collectivism" you have to justify it using reality, and reality dictates that you start from the bottom up. Good luck.
one thing to know about yamato is while the anime lacks matsumoto's finer moral details that are found in harlock, the manga actually reflects what you spoke about in it's later chapters where the earth bares little respect for the feelings of its heroes and their sacrifices, forcing the yamato crew to reunite and steal their beloved ship from the disassembly line to sail through space with their own goals. also harlock appears in the manga's first half where he is the only human aboard the Acadia albeit with cybernetics keeping him alive from grave injuries, which leads the yamato crew to believe he is susume's older brother who barely survived but since the bridge in drenched in shadows, we can't tell for certain. okita leaves harlock with one last message as a comrade "STAY ALIVE"
Trying to get fine details on the screen is... difficult. Not the least because you have a maximum resolution of 640x480, interlaced, at 24 FPS. And a limited time, and budget, and runtime. And the fact that an animated TV show, and indeed a combat effective ship, are a team effort. It plays as a big team thing, but no one there is being pressured into being part of the team, they all signed on with that dream.
"Imagine if the man who gave his body and soul to protect his commander was now telling his crew to die for no one but themselves," You mean the Boss from MGS3? The anti-militarist? That sounds sick as hell.
in terms of Harlock is that an antagonist or protagonist? I agree though it is sick as hell and many people tend to do it because their morals can change on aesthetic and it does not matter over what, some of these are very simple like accepting someone over the money they give you bur rejecting someone over the money they lack, their the conflict is over obtaining true love and/or making someone understand the reality of their actions, another example which would be "authority" figures who set up stings and at times honey trap others, sending people to cells or schools for technicalities or specific needs that don't come at the price of anyone but the more arrested brings in more pay and others aren't allowed to be "heroes" because they just don't happen to have a badge. These types of people can be in just about anywhere and anyone can be like them but its best not to as then it becomes more of a dog eats dog world. In "true classic superhero tales', dramas, and so on, these things and topics tend to be central antagonist or at the very least present drastically, 4 examples of this are the stories of Batman, Kamen Rider/Masked Rider, Godzilla, and Astro Boy.
It's crazy how this anime came out in the late 70s but is especially relevant in modern day Japan with how their society is run, some stories just age incredibly well and Harlock is an excellent example of this, it's something that's incredible to witness and watch
I think one stumbling block this essay has is that, in trying to paint Harlock as the Anti-Spokon, it kinda ignores the BIG thing both philosophies agree on: they're both anti-stagnation. The self-improvement for the betterment of the team promoted by Spokon is as against stagnation as Harlock's stubborn pursuit of individualistic passions. The opposition therein is WHY the two are anti-stagnation. For Spokon, it's because stagnation is detrimental to the health of the nation/sports team/pirate crew/military unit/shared dream/*insert collective here* while for Harlock stagnation was detrimental to the health of the INDIVIDUAL first and foremost.
maybe this is what it says on the tin, but I think you can strongly argue that spokon as a genre is much more useful as a tool to promote things that reinforce the status quo.
i think it's also important to point out that there are many different kinds of stagnation. there is stagnation in the sense of production, in the sense of a loss of populace or might or some sort of general concept that affects the whole nation, and then there is stagnation of the individual, of the social, of their personal understanding of the world, of that which they care about deep in their heart. i think it would be fair to argue that the spokon genre only fights the first kind, while allowing the second to flourish, since conformity encourages you not to challenge yourself socially and to change your interests to mold to the status quo, while capitan harlock seems to encourage you to fight the latter, leaving the health of the wider society by the wayside should it interfere with who you are and what you wish to become.
As it is right now for Japan, we do suffer from the more abusive part of the "sports konjou" the conformity is really stagnating the hearts and minds of people here down into a spiral of abuse, tbh. So from my point of view, sports konjou doesn't really touch all that much on anti-stagnation. It's only really repeating things that we already know about nakama and guts. Or in other words, unpaid overtime until you die from overwork stress because the company is your family, your nakama. It's getting better as people are starting to gain a bit more individuality and the courage to say no
@@ComicalConqueror Yes, says on the tin. And quite a few of these manga and anime is really good at selling what's on the tin. Or are you gonna tell me that Dragon Ball is NOT about self-improvement and never settling for less than your best because it has elements of Spokon and is thus icky icky bad bad conformity propaganda so let's ignore the actual text in favor of the imagined subtext?
The fact that Japan operates as a collectivist society doesn't mean that all Japanese are happy with this. Many are not. But they don't dare break ranks, because of how those who do are treated in Japan. It is sad really.
Why I like blue lock sports anime it goes against the Japanese collectivism mentality where being the best trumps being a mere cog in a machine like team.
I remember trying to watch Capt. Harlo0ck on our local French channel back in the early 80s, where it was renamed "Alabator' (all together now, "Albaaaaa-tor! Albaaaaa-tor...!"). The problems were that, one, my French stunk even back then when I was "learning" it, and they aired the episodes out-of-sequence. As much as Crunchyroll gets on my nerves, I appreciate being able to FINALLY watch the complete series there. R.I.P Makio Inoue.
Harlock will always hold a special place in my heart, along with Galaxy Express 999. It's vision of the future may have always felt a bit exaggerated, and its love of grand drama may not appeal to everyone, but it's part of what gave it charm to me
Today the World as presented in Harlock doesn't even seem that exaggerated. Like, today we have the football world cup playing out in stadiums that cost thousands of lives to build. Thousands of people died to fuel the entertainment of the masses. It doesn't get much more dystopian than that.
@@jeffumbach honestly yeah, we might as well have given these workers swords and spears and make them fight for our entertainment. Survival rate would probably have been higher.
That's truly so incredibly retarded that I can't even believe you are comparing a dystopian world that exists for self pleasure to ONE country that skipped safety regulations to get money from a company and their competence. Which is an entirely different political issue. You could have said the rise on loneliness, only fans, tinder, social media. Anything. And you chose the most unrelated and misunderstood topic that you could ever think of.
Great video. Harlock means a lot to me, and I think you may have touched on something I have never been able to put words to. He encourages us to be the most genuine version of ourselves, and in that honesty, we can find our own way in the world.
I found SBY as a preteen around 2009 and really got into it, but never got around to watching Harlock for some reason. Knowing your takehome from the franchise that you commented being a mindset I wish I'd learned a decade ago is hilarious. If God is my witness I will get around to watching the show before the year's out!
Interesting analysis. Ive watched this anime some years ago, and its one of my favourites from 70s decade. And one of the things that made me like the anime was that one of the crew members was a geek who loved building models, basically me back then lol
Yattaran is one of the best characters and embodies the message perfectly, he's not vital to the crew at first glance, but his knowledge and love of reduced models saved the Arcadia and everyone on board more than once
glad to see someone bringing up nishizaki's role and importance behind yamato. so many people misattribute yamato's nationalist themes to matsumoto but that was all nishizaki, especially once you get to the second movie and its ending.
Yamato's journey to Iscandar reminds me of the Japanese submarine missions to Germany to bring back technology that could stop the bombings over Japan. I love the show, but it's like a revisionist's nationalistic fan-fiction
I, too, love M.D. Geist. He can't stop. He's just a soldier. He was commander of Special Maneuvering Force and had the super mundane fighting ability by virtue of the specific biological cloning technology. It doesn't get much cooler than that.
When asked why he activated the Death Force after fighting so hard to get into the control center to deactivate it, M.D. Geist's only words were, "NG+ yo" And that is why he is the greatest.
I think I love the songs more than I love M.D. Geist x3 It's a fun bloody mess and certainly, special. But frankly, I'm more for the other movie that came with the "Mecha Masters" DVD box, namely GenoCyber. Of course the amount of violent depictions in that one is disturbing to say the least. Also let's not forget, *CYBERNETICS GUARDIAN CYGUARD* Holy shit that album kicks so much ass! 80's *JAPANESE* Trash Heavy Metal, and this Cyguard is so metal *IT PULLS A BATTLE AXE OUT OF IT'S GLAM ROCK HAIR!* :DDDD
I'd love to see modern animes talking more about individualism, it's almost a crime to see how much the Japanese culture forces people to be accepted by the "collective" and be equal so everybody. Their high suicide rates can the traced to that in a lot of cases and it fuels their bullying situation.
Whereas Western media emphasizes "individualism" while fostering the exact same attitudes of hard work, competitiveness, and unquestioning obedience towards authority and "common sense" (i.e. group consensus)
@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 what is regarded as "common sense" does indeed change with cultural shifts, which is why many are familiar with older generations referring to the younger generations as lacking common sense. Group consensus (as the medias and educational systems would have you believe) these days is comprised of many social dos, don'ts and ideologies which take priority over many things common sense once dictated. Here's a damning example of this truth: common sense of yesterday- men can't have babies. Fit that in the equation of today's belief systems. Now, "intuition" is arguably the result of a sort of auto-response mental suggestion cumulative of what is understood as precedent (truthful/factual or not) and what is observed during a situation or event, basically an assumption generated by the subconscious. Intuition is not always correct and the batting averages varies individual to individual. Now, how one regards this "suggestion" (supernatural, instinctual etc.) is another story altogether, but inarguably this suggestion this intuition is going to be largely based on individual knowledge, no arguing this as 2 individuals can report with conflicting intuition, undoubtedly group consensus/societal etiquette is a heavy inluencer on intuition and common sense.
@@MCArt25 That's because in the west, "individualism" is used to represent a political stance, which by nature of being political must necessarily be a collectivist notion.
Sorry Pacific Rim fan here. During development the producers constantly argued with Guillermo on certain aspects of the film, one of them being the Jeager design. They didn't like the 2-pilot system & wanted to change it, but Guillermo stressed that it was essential for the science behind the mechs & for the pilots to work as a team to fight against the Kaiju. Guillermo also loved the idea of different countries building their own Jeagers because he felt that symbolically; its not just one person or nation fighting to save the world, its the world working together to save itself. Guillermo was huge fan of mecha anime & defiantly knew what he was doing. He wanted to make something that paid homage to the classic anime he watched & create something that Western & Eastern fans of the genre would appreciate. But scummy corporate interest got in the way & we ended up with the shit stain that is Pacific Rim: Uprising.
I love Harlock. That constant, desolate wind howl or spaceship hum, long, solemn pauses to reflect. It really formed my mood at 6 years old back in the 80s.
Harlock is Greta because it doesn't see individualism as opposed to collective action. The bond of the crew in his ship is important throughout the series and they dedicate themselves for each other, but none of that is done though some blind nationalism, but because they know that only together they can avhieve their individual goals. This is an important lesson that I think kids should really have, so they know to look for groups that help their quirks shine instead of having to control them
Humanities true potential is only achieved through contradictory means. When every individual fights for the collective, and when the collective fights for every individual. When the individual sees the collective as just a means of profit, or the collective sees the individual as disposable, it leads to the decay of human progress and power.
At the end of "Black Hawk Down", a Delta force soldier tries to explain to a Ranger why they do what they do. "...they don't get it; it's about the guy next to you". I've no problem with nationalism; it's an extension of tribalism, which is our true nature, like all the primates. But, true tribalism differs from socialism in that each individual member of the tribe matters to every other member the tribe. That's the failing of huge nations; a tribe must be relatively small to have that bond. The tv series "Firefly" reflects this. It's epitomized in an exchange between Simon and Mal: Simon: "you don't even like me; so why'd you come for us?" Mal: "You're on my crew; why are we still discussing this?" They're all on his ship for different reasons, yet they come to bond as a tribe for each other. Even the ones they don't like. I'm starting to suspect a lot of "Firefly" was cribbed from "Captain Harlock".
Excellent upload; I am curious is there a way to parse the development of Yamato’s two conflicting creators over the series run? Because I feel the show itself gradually comes to odds with that nationalistic intention (such as once the Yamato effectively destroys Garmilas, Kodai has an emotional break down over the entire idea of “we’re raised to get better than others and to win” with the addendum of “so what happens to the ones that lose?? Do they not deserve happiness??”), plus how the themes of Yamato shifted over the series existence.
Saw it for the first time back in 1979, when it aired for the first time. In Italy, Captain Harlock is legendary. From the italian opening : "Il suo teschio è una bandiera che vuol dire libertà". "His skull is a flag that means freedom".
Given that Leiji Matsumoto passed away a week ago, it seems like a good time to visit what made him tick and this has been a very good glimpse. I was attracted to Harlock, but didn't entirely know why. So I thank you for helping me to unlock that.
Harlock is the intellectualism anime needed. Thank goodness he became the mainstream animated show in french-speaking parts of the world, with a brand new amazing soundtrack with that.
I found my love for Harlock in my teens, after hunting the anime down once I saw the 3D Adaptation and deciding that skull ship with lasers is cool. Seeing it so early in my life made the lessons Harlock taught me part of the foundation for my adult life. I’m glad you made this, and hope more people go watch the show.
yo that movie is hella epic. Its got an almost totally diferent overall message from the anime; but harlock himself still holds the same values. thats how i ended up watching the anime as well
This video basically explained why Captain Harlock appeals to me, much like Emeraldas does. I've become so disenfranchised with the system, and over time realized that it wasen't broken, *It was working as intended.* If I were able I'd probably take the path they took. I rather be free than live in the illusion of it.
Spokon encourages duty and conformity Harlock encourages individuality and following your own dreams And then there's me, stuck in the middle, with neither the ability to conform to society or any real desires or ambitions of my own.
@@satansjihad6353 Max Stirner and other proto-existentialist authors are nice and everything, but they're not going to give anybody a road map on where to find a reason to live. What you should recommend instead is for OP to explore more art, try to find deeply fulfilling relationships with people, and learn more about things which interest them in the moment. If you spend enough time doing those things, you'll eventually figure out what you want to struggle for.
I don't know about the "conformity" bit, while it's true in some animes, it's not like the shared dream isn't rebelling against something, thus One Piece and Marine/ world government or even in a game like Persona 5.
@@UmTois Those are exceptions, though, not the rule. One Piece's contemporary series and competitor Naruto is very overtly in favor of conformity and placing society over the individual.
One of the disappointing things about the 40k board game is that you can't have an army of ragtag wierdos of all shapes and sizes. Like, even the Tau who are supposed to be a multispecies coalition have units that all look almost identical. I've fantasized of having pilot minis in mechs that look like Lieji Matsumoto characters. I definitely think GW should have a board game where you are some kind of space pirate/trader and your crew consists of an assortment of funny characters of your choice.
I never missed this show back in the 80 when i was a child. It was one of the first anime I ever watched but the deeper meaning escaped me back then. There was deep sentiment of melancholy on the series that I really liked. The way the story was told was so different from any and all american cartoons was what really defined what anime is to me. Your essay is great as usual, thank you!
LMAO The I saw the Wiki entry I paused and read it expecting something horrible. When I finished reading I unpaused and said "he sounds extremely based" exactly at the same time you did.
To be honest, I'm kind of surprised Captain Harlock became as well loved as it is. Don't get me wrong, the show even without the underlying themes is really interesting and certainly worth a watch but given Japan's mindset always seemed to be about national pride and "spoken" that I'm surprised they allowed a show like Harlock to air given that the themes seem to run counterproductive to what Japanese was touting at the time.
I don't agree on the Yamato part. Captain Okita frequently reminds Susumu to not waste his life in suicide missions. In fact, if the Yamato were to kamikaze it would be nosensical, since the whole of humanity depends only on it.
Sacrifice "for the greater good" was the point. If we lose the ship, but save humanity.... Look at the last mission of the actual Yamato. Their orders were to fight through and beach themselves.
Keep in mind the difference between Yamato and Star Blazers (and even the Yamato 2199 re-imagining). Okita felt the battle of Pluto was lost, there was no point to continue and ordered retreat. Mamoru Kodai not only refused the order but called Okita a coward for not fighting to the last. Part of Okita’s shame was he should have done that because that was his training. Yamato was not a ‘hole card’ yet to be played. Star Blazers changed the plot point to Alex Wildstar sacrificing himself to cover the retreat against Capt. Avatar’s objections. Interestingly enough this plot point was introduced in Yamato 2199. I wonder many things about that, and other minor story alterations. I won’t leap to assume the production staff actually took cues from Star Blazers but it’s a very interesting question, isn’t it? 😁
@@steveharrison9901 The writers from 2199 did say they took inspiration from the American Star Blazers dub. Another aspect of the dub that was integrated into 2199 was the Android army the gamilas used as all helmeted soldier deaths in the original anime were retconned to be robots.
It's pretty funny how much different the manga version of Getter Robo became in comparison to the original tv shows with the end result of humanity eventually merging with Getter energy and becoming the enemy of the entire universe.
The concept of Getter Rays merging with Humanity turns out to be more utterly relevant than ever before because we are the ultimate destroyers of our world.
Cannot stress enough how the spokon aspect of Getter Robo only exists in the Toei anime. In the original manga, Hayato and Ryoma are fucking homicidal psychopaths that couldn't give less of a fuck about soccer lmao
Lots of modern manga/anime, particularly the battle shonen, owe a lot of 60s/70s sports manga/anime. From a superficial level with the idea of tournament arcs and training arcs but on a deeper level with the "feel" of getting stronger to beat impossible odds like you mentioned in the video.
Harlock serves as the personification of the balance between individualism and cooperation. Each member of his crew is an individual, bringing with them not only their own passions, but their own strengths and talents as well. Yet, they are a crew - they all serve the Arcadia, its captain, and each other out of mutual respect, contributing their individual strengths toward the mission's success, with the understanding that that corporate success is but a stepping stone toward each of their individual goals. In his writings to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul speaks of the church being one body, made of many parts. He compares the church to the human body, reminding his audience how each part of the body is designed with a specific function to perform a particular task; yet all these serve the ultimate goal of maintaining the body's own health and well-being, while simultaneously allowing the body to interact meaningfully with the world around itself. A truly functioning society is similar; we don't all do the same thing, because we're not all the same person. Yet, each of us wants something, and each of us understands we can get that something if we help enough other people get the things they're after. While our paths and goals may be diverse and disparite, our pursuit of them can still ultimately contribute to mutual success. We do not need to be in conflict with each other to get what we want - on the contrary, if we are willing to help others, we will often find the help we ourselves need. Harlock embodies the radical notion that mutuality does not need to devolve into conformity. That one can be fully themselves, yet still be exactly what the rest of the world needs them to be. That we don't have to sacrifice our dignity for the sake of the status quo - on the contrary, our individual passions, and our pursuit thereof, can actually improve our situation, both as individuals and as a society. Law should not burden us or keep us from our passions, but direct us and give us the framework by which those passions may not only be achieved, but achieved in the most constructive and profitable way possible. He also exposes the real selfishness of conformity - by keeping your head down and doing as you're told, you might guarantee your own survival, but you do so at the cost of never achieving your full potential, and moreover, denying the benefits of that potential to the rest of society. The conformist effectively sells his soul for a crust of bread, enjoying neither the freedom to pursue his goal, nor the riches that come with reaching it. Even as I write this, I find myself convicted, knowing that I have sacrificed many of my own dreams on the altar of survival. Harlock's philosophy can perhaps be summarized thus - Don't just survive. LIVE.
Harlock is in Matsumoto´s rushed first manga adaptation of Yamato. The site Our Starblazers goes into which version did what in exhaustive detail. Rintaro´s The Endless Odyssey OVAs might be my favorite version of this. I tried them all and failed to warm to any of them or even Leiji Matsumoto and his manga but what a trailblazer. His works are now highly dated relics of the past but he 100% pushed the industry forward.
Hard disagree on it being dated. I argue that anime's storytelling just became really nihilistic for a long time. You'll see a resurgence in the relevance of these more operatic works as time goes on. People are starved for an ounce of meaning.
@@Leijiverse I am more critical of his manga work than the anime adaptations. It's a chore to get though. The best Harlock manga is the Dimensional Voyage remake and he didn´t draw it.
This is the video I have been waiting decades for. I have always loved Harlock so much, but found him baffling. Now everything I have seen him say, do , and sometimes more importantly *not* do makes sense! Thank you MercuryFalcon!
I'd seen the character before, but I never knew what it was from. I do think emphasizing either collectivism or individualism too much leads to problems. Stagnation and loss of self in the former, and narcissism and nihilism in the latter. Both can lead to burnout. Running yourself ragged for others, or wearing yourself out because you are too proud to ask for help.
This was an excellent video. You pretty much nailed the appeal of the original Harlock and why so many adaptations after the TV series miss the mark of his so often. The Lupin comparison is fairly amped because they both Harlock and Lupin were popular back then despite them being against the norm of what was expected of anime back then.
So HARLOCK is where I got my belief in artists from. I don’t care if those who create share my vision or see things as I do. I want them to embrace their passion, add their touches to my work and visa versa. Passion drives growth and passion can only thrive when tested.
You can see why Matsumoto had such regard for Raphael Sabatini and, more specifically Capt. Peter Blood when giving character to Harlock. Both individuals who crafted crews out of ragged, liminal people. Individualism lending strength, not weakness.
Fun little side note.. both members of Daft Punk are huge Captain Harlock fans and in the Weeknd’s video for I Fell It a coming they are both dressed just like him.
Captain Harlock and Star Trek captains were sadly the source of most of my fatherly inspiration, ESPECIALLY Harlock's speech in Galaxy Express 999 about taking risks.
I would gladly be a cool free individual who, nevertheless, lives in a society, and sometimes has to serve it (without dying for the glory of the emperor).
Very interesting. I have been thinking about this, communitaire thought is VERY important, but to some degree. Same with the individuality. Too much of this and you have nazis talking about their "right" to hate and induce violence, or a society based on selfishness. On the other hand, althought communitary thought is just essencial for survival, too much of it and you could be used as a mindless tool by the people in power. What would be the right mesurement? Very interested in whatching this anime, never heard of it before
I find issue with the notion that Harlock is any different to its spocon counterparts in the portrayal of its protragonists. The sporty protagonists are all driven, passionate, etc. and so are Harlock and his crew. The "lazy" and dispassionate people portrayed in Harlock are what you would call in real life, losers, and this concept still falls in line with the same spocon core messaging. Harlock is not a hero for losers at all. Especially not a hero for lazy NEETs.
I remember picking this up on dvd in what I would eventually find out to be the Discotek media booth a few years ago at Anime Expo. I had no idea what I was in for, but when I finished this with my sister it was one of my favorite animes I've watched.
I think that Harlock is still Kodai Mamoru. Something happened to make him change his morals. New Voyage. It destroyed him. Losing Tochiro probably made it even worse for him.
Great video. I’m familiar with ‘guts!’ As a driving force in anime but I don’t think I ever read how specific sports were to that. Or at the very least that term. I think you may have missed something about Harlock, the crew and the…. Hm, ship’s contract? Yes, come on board if you will fight for what you believe in, but it seems unspoken that your personal beliefs still must be sidelined for the welfare of the ship and your comrades. How many times did Tadashi want to just kill every Mazone without hesitation and Harlock said “No. we need…”? Do as you like but pull together in battle. The thing is, to many of that sounds like contradiction but I don’t think it is. Good that you brought Nishizaki into the mix. Yamato was clearly his idea and project. He just wasn’t getting any traction until he brought Matsumoto on board and I am convinced that Matsumoto’s designs along with the work of Studio Nue (in its earliest form) that sold the show. I liken it to when George Lucas had Ralph Mcquarrie (sp?) crank out some art that got everyone fired up. And don’t forget the other key player in Yamato. Ishiguro. He tied it all together.
The Getter Robo pilots in the manga was quite different from the ones in the anime. Ryoma (the leader) was a badass karate user and Hayato led a band of delinquent school revolutionaries. Musashi (and later, Benkei) were consistent between anime and manga, though - Musashi was a judo practitioner and Benkei was a baseball player, who even wore catcher's gear when he piloted.
@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 i guess so, i see people use their service, a badge, or the practice of the usage of a form of combat or weapon as they glorify their ability to put others down usually through morals that change on aesthetic and based on a consensus that ever so often makes it seem like its a dog eat dog world regardless of over what the topic is and if the action verbal or physical be done to cause such pain is normalized or not.
Funny how history gets rewritten. The crew of the original Yamato most certainly did not think they were on a suicide mission, they had no idea they were partaking in an exercise of futility. Japans’s stubbornness to adapt had led them to create the biggest, baddest, and most obsolete destroyer the world had ever seen, but they didn’t know that last bit until it was too late. The Yamato was Japans pride, and it’s crew would have thought themselves all but invincible. Of course things didn’t work out that way, as aircraft and submarines had already arrived on the scene and taken over naval combat. The history of the real Yamato is more of a laughing stock. It was made to slug it out with other huge destroyers, and got blown up by a bunch of tiny airplanes. It spent most of its short career limping back and forth between the frontline it never got to and the repair docks.
It's amazing how many different forms nationalism can take when I started to hear about themes of individualism and got worried only for things to turn around pretty quickly when looking at collectivist propaganda in turn. This is a lovely little video that now has me considering seeing if I can read Captain Harlock.
This was a wonderful analysis, among all UA-camrs who talk about anime I feel you're among those who really knows and understands the themes of each work and makes great retrospectives and analysis. It's amazing how Harlock is still being referenced to this day, I'd say even more than Yamato, at least outside of Japan
Reminds me of an analysis of My Hero Acadamia I watched tears back, pointing out how it glorified individuality as well. I can’t help but see it as a synthesis between Harlock’s themes and spokon. They improve themselves, and have incredibly different visual styles and techniques. They work individually and as a team. Both attitudes have their appropriate time and place.
I've been watching A series of videos about 'Captain Harlock' by Corn Pone Flicks, and how the many attempts at adapting him for the US market haven't been very good. They either fail to grasp who he is, or just flat out don't give A crap and just do it their way. Also, you illustrate how individualism is A response to conformity, and how that spirt has resinated with the fans outside of America so well.
@@zarrg5611 more so, I'd say America went so full fucking hyper-individualistic that now people are atomized and desperate to form cliques and communities anyway they can, even if in false forms. As an American, Captain Harlock may have warned against suicidal Japanese collectivism and it wiping away your identity. But it's all too easy to go the opposite way and have everything be atomized and without unity. The entire prospect of his ship's crew not having any unifying goal or belief and all that came across as anarchy bullshit that probably wouldn't work well irl. Unfortunately most anime don't do balance and go full ham to either one thing or the other
@@zarrg5611 america has a continent-wide monopoly of radio stations blasting out monotonous music glorifying the country lone wolf life etc etc. So yeah. Very much glorifying the lone wolf as a myth but not in practice. Given media which promotes actual differences they of course have to neuter it.
Not sure why I'm all of a sudden seeing more videos about the Lleijiverse and other older anime, but it warms my old heart to see these classics get some modern day love.
It's not often that my views evolve while watching this kind of video... but having seen through to the end, I'm now interested in seeing the original Captain Harlock animes, that came before the movie, in their entirety. I don't care who makes them, any story that promotes individualism (respect for the innate value of the individual) is worth my time.
Speaking of Yamato…my friend and I were watching the life action adaptation…they state “the original Yamato was launched as a ship of peace, on a mission of good will” and we nearly through our shoes through the TV..
I find the end of the series quite frustrating actually, taking nothing away from what it thematically meant up to that point. Maybe i'm misremembering, but I dont remember the Mazone really being defeated. Yes Harlock defeated the Empress and got them to agree to not colonize Earth with the fleet, but all the dormant Mazone on earth woke up and seemingly destroyed earth society. The rejection of societal conformity seems less potent when the species that is practically a hivemind succeeds.
I didn’t feel any nationalist messages while watching the updated Yamato series 2199 and the ones that follows. More than anything the primary message that I got from the series is making Choices for yourself and following your convictions.
Remember kids: if you drink too much, you can go from being cool like Captain Harlock to being all too much like the captain in Project A-Ko.
LOL 🍷🍷🍷 Project A-Ko was spot on in its parodies. 🤣
Safe to assume anyone who tries to be like Harlock ends up like the captain in A-Ko
In shame, I realize it's been too long since I last watched Project Ako.
I don't have time to to explain *hic* the need to drink to animals like you!
*OPEN FIRE*
@@K05H I remember watching my Central Park Media LaserDisc of Project A-KO 4 or 5 times a week when I first bought it in 1996. 🤩
Conformity is the elephant in the room of so much of what drives so many anime stories. It's nice to see that art that swims against that torrent gets time to shine as well.
Anglo-Westerners still holding onto pieces of the American Dream also love shoving individualism wherever they can.
@@cybertron1000s I live in the US and advocate for collectivism. The balance is skewed differently depending on where you go.
@@cybertron1000s As opposed to be forced to conform in a collective?
@@jessh4016 Ultimately humans are not ants nor robots. Humans are comprised of individual entities each unique. Even if you support "collectivism" you have to justify it using reality, and reality dictates that you start from the bottom up. Good luck.
@@cybertron1000s Individualism doesn't even originate from America...
one thing to know about yamato is while the anime lacks matsumoto's finer moral details that are found in harlock, the manga actually reflects what you spoke about in it's later chapters where the earth bares little respect for the feelings of its heroes and their sacrifices, forcing the yamato crew to reunite and steal their beloved ship from the disassembly line to sail through space with their own goals. also harlock appears in the manga's first half where he is the only human aboard the Acadia albeit with cybernetics keeping him alive from grave injuries, which leads the yamato crew to believe he is susume's older brother who barely survived but since the bridge in drenched in shadows, we can't tell for certain. okita leaves harlock with one last message as a comrade
"STAY ALIVE"
Meanwhile, Harlock probably hates cyborgs because of certain people.
I have never watched this anime, or read the manga, and I am now extremely confused
Trying to get fine details on the screen is... difficult. Not the least because you have a maximum resolution of 640x480, interlaced, at 24 FPS. And a limited time, and budget, and runtime. And the fact that an animated TV show, and indeed a combat effective ship, are a team effort. It plays as a big team thing, but no one there is being pressured into being part of the team, they all signed on with that dream.
Manga name?!!??
@@hyperman8690 space Pirate Harlock 1978
Getter Robo: "There's no 'I' in 'team'."
Texas Mack: "But there is 'me' in 'team'."
Devilman: "There is 'me' in 'meat'."
"There's no 'I' in 'team', and there's no 'you' in 'team'. Who the hell's in the goddamn team?"
@@the-letter_s Well there's tea in it, so the British will come colonize it I suppose.
@@planetfall5056 and not use spice from it later
Just like you can't spell dyslexia without sex. :)
"Imagine if the man who gave his body and soul to protect his commander was now telling his crew to die for no one but themselves," You mean the Boss from MGS3? The anti-militarist? That sounds sick as hell.
Character develoment indeed
in terms of Harlock is that an antagonist or protagonist? I agree though it is sick as hell and many people tend to do it because their morals can change on aesthetic and it does not matter over what, some of these are very simple like accepting someone over the money they give you bur rejecting someone over the money they lack, their the conflict is over obtaining true love and/or making someone understand the reality of their actions, another example which would be "authority" figures who set up stings and at times honey trap others, sending people to cells or schools for technicalities or specific needs that don't come at the price of anyone but the more arrested brings in more pay and others aren't allowed to be "heroes" because they just don't happen to have a badge. These types of people can be in just about anywhere and anyone can be like them but its best not to as then it becomes more of a dog eats dog world. In "true classic superhero tales', dramas, and so on, these things and topics tend to be central antagonist or at the very least present drastically, 4 examples of this are the stories of Batman, Kamen Rider/Masked Rider, Godzilla, and Astro Boy.
RIP Leiji Matsumoto. Your works inspired science fiction genre in every single anime and tokosatsu.
It's crazy how this anime came out in the late 70s but is especially relevant in modern day Japan with how their society is run, some stories just age incredibly well and Harlock is an excellent example of this, it's something that's incredible to witness and watch
They are called "ahead of it's time"
I think one stumbling block this essay has is that, in trying to paint Harlock as the Anti-Spokon, it kinda ignores the BIG thing both philosophies agree on: they're both anti-stagnation. The self-improvement for the betterment of the team promoted by Spokon is as against stagnation as Harlock's stubborn pursuit of individualistic passions.
The opposition therein is WHY the two are anti-stagnation. For Spokon, it's because stagnation is detrimental to the health of the nation/sports team/pirate crew/military unit/shared dream/*insert collective here* while for Harlock stagnation was detrimental to the health of the INDIVIDUAL first and foremost.
Spot on.
maybe this is what it says on the tin, but I think you can strongly argue that spokon as a genre is much more useful as a tool to promote things that reinforce the status quo.
i think it's also important to point out that there are many different kinds of stagnation. there is stagnation in the sense of production, in the sense of a loss of populace or might or some sort of general concept that affects the whole nation, and then there is stagnation of the individual, of the social, of their personal understanding of the world, of that which they care about deep in their heart. i think it would be fair to argue that the spokon genre only fights the first kind, while allowing the second to flourish, since conformity encourages you not to challenge yourself socially and to change your interests to mold to the status quo, while capitan harlock seems to encourage you to fight the latter, leaving the health of the wider society by the wayside should it interfere with who you are and what you wish to become.
As it is right now for Japan, we do suffer from the more abusive part of the "sports konjou" the conformity is really stagnating the hearts and minds of people here down into a spiral of abuse, tbh.
So from my point of view, sports konjou doesn't really touch all that much on anti-stagnation. It's only really repeating things that we already know about nakama and guts. Or in other words, unpaid overtime until you die from overwork stress because the company is your family, your nakama.
It's getting better as people are starting to gain a bit more individuality and the courage to say no
@@ComicalConqueror Yes, says on the tin. And quite a few of these manga and anime is really good at selling what's on the tin. Or are you gonna tell me that Dragon Ball is NOT about self-improvement and never settling for less than your best because it has elements of Spokon and is thus icky icky bad bad conformity propaganda so let's ignore the actual text in favor of the imagined subtext?
The fact that Japan operates as a collectivist society doesn't mean that all Japanese are happy with this. Many are not. But they don't dare break ranks, because of how those who do are treated in Japan. It is sad really.
yeah those nips are hella sad
Why I like blue lock sports anime it goes against the Japanese collectivism mentality where being the best trumps being a mere cog in a machine like team.
That we don’t like it doesn’t mean we want to destroy it.
Our safety depends on it. We don’t have a big country to do as we please like the USA
@@grumblekin I think you overestimate North America's stability...
The younger generations are more likely to push back, but only so much because sometimes even an individualist needs a support network.
Captain Harlock's spirit of freedom and fierce individuality has always really appealed to me.
that's what americans say before invading a country
@@slorenz5626 Let me give you my freedom and fierce individuality. Babe.
Same !!!!
Like your Sherlock hound pfp
@@slorenz5626 Quick, someone said something positive -- you gotta inject some negativity!
I remember trying to watch Capt. Harlo0ck on our local French channel back in the early 80s, where it was renamed "Alabator' (all together now, "Albaaaaa-tor! Albaaaaa-tor...!"). The problems were that, one, my French stunk even back then when I was "learning" it, and they aired the episodes out-of-sequence.
As much as Crunchyroll gets on my nerves, I appreciate being able to FINALLY watch the complete series there.
R.I.P Makio Inoue.
ALbaaaaa-tor ! ALbaaaaa-tor ! Le corsaire de l'eeeesp-ace ! que de souvenirs, et c'est sur Crunchyroll ?
I think captain Harlock have some Charles De Gaulle vibes and it's why he is so loved here in France, under the name of Albator
Harlock will always hold a special place in my heart, along with Galaxy Express 999. It's vision of the future may have always felt a bit exaggerated, and its love of grand drama may not appeal to everyone, but it's part of what gave it charm to me
Today the World as presented in Harlock doesn't even seem that exaggerated. Like, today we have the football world cup playing out in stadiums that cost thousands of lives to build. Thousands of people died to fuel the entertainment of the masses. It doesn't get much more dystopian than that.
@@TheExecutorr approaching peak bread and circuses like at the fall of the Roman Empire.
@@jeffumbach honestly yeah, we might as well have given these workers swords and spears and make them fight for our entertainment. Survival rate would probably have been higher.
That's truly so incredibly retarded that I can't even believe you are comparing a dystopian world that exists for self pleasure to ONE country that skipped safety regulations to get money from a company and their competence. Which is an entirely different political issue.
You could have said the rise on loneliness, only fans, tinder, social media. Anything. And you chose the most unrelated and misunderstood topic that you could ever think of.
Great video.
Harlock means a lot to me, and I think you may have touched on something I have never been able to put words to.
He encourages us to be the most genuine version of ourselves, and in that honesty, we can find our own way in the world.
I found SBY as a preteen around 2009 and really got into it, but never got around to watching Harlock for some reason. Knowing your takehome from the franchise that you commented being a mindset I wish I'd learned a decade ago is hilarious. If God is my witness I will get around to watching the show before the year's out!
Interesting analysis.
Ive watched this anime some years ago, and its one of my favourites from 70s decade. And one of the things that made me like the anime was that one of the crew members was a geek who loved building models, basically me back then lol
Yattaran is one of the best characters and embodies the message perfectly, he's not vital to the crew at first glance, but his knowledge and love of reduced models saved the Arcadia and everyone on board more than once
glad to see someone bringing up nishizaki's role and importance behind yamato. so many people misattribute yamato's nationalist themes to matsumoto but that was all nishizaki, especially once you get to the second movie and its ending.
Yeah exactly, one can tell because Nishizaki exaggerates nationalism and WW2 denial heavy
Yamato's journey to Iscandar reminds me of the Japanese submarine missions to Germany to bring back technology that could stop the bombings over Japan. I love the show, but it's like a revisionist's nationalistic fan-fiction
@@米空軍パイロット Especially with the plot twist that humans shot first.
Nishizaki is already gone.
I, too, love M.D. Geist. He can't stop. He's just a soldier. He was commander of Special Maneuvering Force and had the super mundane fighting ability by virtue of the specific biological cloning technology.
It doesn't get much cooler than that.
When asked why he activated the Death Force after fighting so hard to get into the control center to deactivate it, M.D. Geist's only words were, "NG+ yo"
And that is why he is the greatest.
I also love MD Geist. He's dangerous. The most dangerous. 😂
I think I love the songs more than I love M.D. Geist x3 It's a fun bloody mess and certainly, special.
But frankly, I'm more for the other movie that came with the "Mecha Masters" DVD box, namely GenoCyber. Of course the amount of violent depictions in that one is disturbing to say the least. Also let's not forget,
*CYBERNETICS GUARDIAN CYGUARD*
Holy shit that album kicks so much ass! 80's *JAPANESE* Trash Heavy Metal, and this Cyguard is so metal *IT PULLS A BATTLE AXE OUT OF IT'S GLAM ROCK HAIR!* :DDDD
So do I. M.D. Geist is awesome! He's like poor 80's badassery distilled into one character.
M.D Geist is dope, but I mostly still think about it because it was created by my favorite Kamen Rider writer, Riku Sanjo
I'd love to see modern animes talking more about individualism, it's almost a crime to see how much the Japanese culture forces people to be accepted by the "collective" and be equal so everybody.
Their high suicide rates can the traced to that in a lot of cases and it fuels their bullying situation.
thats why i like blue lock, it may be a sport manga but it has this atitude about honing your ego that it makes me connect to some of the themes here.
Whereas Western media emphasizes "individualism" while fostering the exact same attitudes of hard work, competitiveness, and unquestioning obedience towards authority and "common sense" (i.e. group consensus)
@@MCArt25 "common sense" is not group consensus, but intuition.
@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 what is regarded as "common sense" does indeed change with cultural shifts, which is why many are familiar with older generations referring to the younger generations as lacking common sense.
Group consensus (as the medias and educational systems would have you believe) these days is comprised of many social dos, don'ts and ideologies which take priority over many things common sense once dictated.
Here's a damning example of this truth: common sense of yesterday- men can't have babies. Fit that in the equation of today's belief systems.
Now, "intuition" is arguably the result of a sort of auto-response mental suggestion cumulative of what is understood as precedent (truthful/factual or not) and what is observed during a situation or event, basically an assumption generated by the subconscious. Intuition is not always correct and the batting averages varies individual to individual. Now, how one regards this "suggestion" (supernatural, instinctual etc.) is another story altogether, but inarguably this suggestion this intuition is going to be largely based on individual knowledge, no arguing this as 2 individuals can report with conflicting intuition, undoubtedly group consensus/societal etiquette is a heavy inluencer on intuition and common sense.
@@MCArt25 That's because in the west, "individualism" is used to represent a political stance, which by nature of being political must necessarily be a collectivist notion.
The opening to Captain Harlock give me chills, such a fantastic show.
Harlock is the hero we need, not the one we deserve.
your comment hit me like a ton of bricks 0.o
Sorry Pacific Rim fan here. During development the producers constantly argued with Guillermo on certain aspects of the film, one of them being the Jeager design. They didn't like the 2-pilot system & wanted to change it, but Guillermo stressed that it was essential for the science behind the mechs & for the pilots to work as a team to fight against the Kaiju. Guillermo also loved the idea of different countries building their own Jeagers because he felt that symbolically; its not just one person or nation fighting to save the world, its the world working together to save itself. Guillermo was huge fan of mecha anime & defiantly knew what he was doing. He wanted to make something that paid homage to the classic anime he watched & create something that Western & Eastern fans of the genre would appreciate. But scummy corporate interest got in the way & we ended up with the shit stain that is Pacific Rim: Uprising.
If only he made a sequel
@@PeachDragon_ I would’ve preferred a prequel leading up to the first movie, but yes.
I love Harlock. That constant, desolate wind howl or spaceship hum, long, solemn pauses to reflect. It really formed my mood at 6 years old back in the 80s.
Harlock is Greta because it doesn't see individualism as opposed to collective action. The bond of the crew in his ship is important throughout the series and they dedicate themselves for each other, but none of that is done though some blind nationalism, but because they know that only together they can avhieve their individual goals. This is an important lesson that I think kids should really have, so they know to look for groups that help their quirks shine instead of having to control them
Humanities true potential is only achieved through contradictory means. When every individual fights for the collective, and when the collective fights for every individual. When the individual sees the collective as just a means of profit, or the collective sees the individual as disposable, it leads to the decay of human progress and power.
At the end of "Black Hawk Down", a Delta force soldier tries to explain to a Ranger why they do what they do. "...they don't get it; it's about the guy next to you".
I've no problem with nationalism; it's an extension of tribalism, which is our true nature, like all the primates. But, true tribalism differs from socialism in that each individual member of the tribe matters to every other member the tribe. That's the failing of huge nations; a tribe must be relatively small to have that bond.
The tv series "Firefly" reflects this. It's epitomized in an exchange between Simon and Mal:
Simon: "you don't even like me; so why'd you come for us?"
Mal: "You're on my crew; why are we still discussing this?"
They're all on his ship for different reasons, yet they come to bond as a tribe for each other. Even the ones they don't like.
I'm starting to suspect a lot of "Firefly" was cribbed from "Captain Harlock".
@@Hiraghm I mean they Al’s stole blatantly from outlaw Star.
Excellent upload; I am curious is there a way to parse the development of Yamato’s two conflicting creators over the series run? Because I feel the show itself gradually comes to odds with that nationalistic intention (such as once the Yamato effectively destroys Garmilas, Kodai has an emotional break down over the entire idea of “we’re raised to get better than others and to win” with the addendum of “so what happens to the ones that lose?? Do they not deserve happiness??”), plus how the themes of Yamato shifted over the series existence.
those guys would be allies to the greatest superheroes of all time based on those questions alone
Saw it for the first time back in 1979, when it aired for the first time.
In Italy, Captain Harlock is legendary.
From the italian opening : "Il suo teschio è una bandiera che vuol dire libertà". "His skull is a flag that means freedom".
Given that Leiji Matsumoto passed away a week ago, it seems like a good time to visit what made him tick and this has been a very good glimpse. I was attracted to Harlock, but didn't entirely know why. So I thank you for helping me to unlock that.
Harlock is the intellectualism anime needed. Thank goodness he became the mainstream animated show in french-speaking parts of the world, with a brand new amazing soundtrack with that.
I found my love for Harlock in my teens, after hunting the anime down once I saw the 3D Adaptation and deciding that skull ship with lasers is cool. Seeing it so early in my life made the lessons Harlock taught me part of the foundation for my adult life. I’m glad you made this, and hope more people go watch the show.
yo that movie is hella epic. Its got an almost totally diferent overall message from the anime; but harlock himself still holds the same values. thats how i ended up watching the anime as well
Where did you watch it? Because I am trying to find it.
This video basically explained why Captain Harlock appeals to me, much like Emeraldas does.
I've become so disenfranchised with the system, and over time realized that it wasen't broken, *It was working as intended.*
If I were able I'd probably take the path they took. I rather be free than live in the illusion of it.
Yep those systems are functioning as intended by and for the corrupt, they only look broken to us because we were all taught lies.
Spokon encourages duty and conformity
Harlock encourages individuality and following your own dreams
And then there's me, stuck in the middle, with neither the ability to conform to society or any real desires or ambitions of my own.
Read Max Stirner.
@@satansjihad6353 Max Stirner and other proto-existentialist authors are nice and everything, but they're not going to give anybody a road map on where to find a reason to live. What you should recommend instead is for OP to explore more art, try to find deeply fulfilling relationships with people, and learn more about things which interest them in the moment. If you spend enough time doing those things, you'll eventually figure out what you want to struggle for.
I don't know about the "conformity" bit, while it's true in some animes, it's not like the shared dream isn't rebelling against something, thus One Piece and Marine/ world government or even in a game like Persona 5.
@@UmTois Those are exceptions, though, not the rule. One Piece's contemporary series and competitor Naruto is very overtly in favor of conformity and placing society over the individual.
Sail the Sea of Stars, Captain Matsumoto.
Love whenever people talk about Harlock
It’s been two months after the video. R.I.P Leiji Matsumoto
Captain Harlock is so badass, he was adapted into the Warhammer 40k universe
Really? How?
@@piotrwisniewski70 I guess he refers to Commander Sebastian Yarrick?
One of the disappointing things about the 40k board game is that you can't have an army of ragtag wierdos of all shapes and sizes. Like, even the Tau who are supposed to be a multispecies coalition have units that all look almost identical. I've fantasized of having pilot minis in mechs that look like Lieji Matsumoto characters. I definitely think GW should have a board game where you are some kind of space pirate/trader and your crew consists of an assortment of funny characters of your choice.
Source: trust me bro
If anyone's wondering Erasmus Haarlock is a rogue trader in 40k, he's probably a reference to this guy. That's probably what the op meant.
I never missed this show back in the 80 when i was a child. It was one of the first anime I ever watched but the deeper meaning escaped me back then. There was deep sentiment of melancholy on the series that I really liked. The way the story was told was so different from any and all american cartoons was what really defined what anime is to me. Your essay is great as usual, thank you!
LMAO The I saw the Wiki entry I paused and read it expecting something horrible. When I finished reading I unpaused and said "he sounds extremely based" exactly at the same time you did.
Love Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999. Definitely need to see the rest of Leiji’s works.
Watch Captain Future, Leiji´s Character Design, not credited to him. One of the Best Sci-Fi Anime Space Opera based on Real Science Concepts.
@@juan.toys.n.bricks and the great theme song.
Not to forget Space Battleship Yamato
@@284JBr I haven’t seen that one yet but I have been wanting to and this video just made me want to see it even more!
I personally like the 2199 remake more than the original. It's a good way to start into the francaise
To be honest, I'm kind of surprised Captain Harlock became as well loved as it is. Don't get me wrong, the show even without the underlying themes is really interesting and certainly worth a watch but given Japan's mindset always seemed to be about national pride and "spoken" that I'm surprised they allowed a show like Harlock to air given that the themes seem to run counterproductive to what Japanese was touting at the time.
A perfect summary of why Harlock is an amazing character
I don't agree on the Yamato part. Captain Okita frequently reminds Susumu to not waste his life in suicide missions. In fact, if the Yamato were to kamikaze it would be nosensical, since the whole of humanity depends only on it.
Sacrifice "for the greater good" was the point. If we lose the ship, but save humanity....
Look at the last mission of the actual Yamato. Their orders were to fight through and beach themselves.
It it could be easily inferred that Okita's voicing the words of a wiser Matsumoto Senior post WW2.
Keep in mind the difference between Yamato and Star Blazers (and even the Yamato 2199 re-imagining). Okita felt the battle of Pluto was lost, there was no point to continue and ordered retreat. Mamoru Kodai not only refused the order but called Okita a coward for not fighting to the last. Part of Okita’s shame was he should have done that because that was his training. Yamato was not a ‘hole card’ yet to be played.
Star Blazers changed the plot point to Alex Wildstar sacrificing himself to cover the retreat against Capt. Avatar’s objections.
Interestingly enough this plot point was introduced in Yamato 2199. I wonder many things about that, and other minor story alterations. I won’t leap to assume the production staff actually took cues from Star Blazers but it’s a very interesting question, isn’t it? 😁
@@steveharrison9901 The writers from 2199 did say they took inspiration from the American Star Blazers dub. Another aspect of the dub that was integrated into 2199 was the Android army the gamilas used as all helmeted soldier deaths in the original anime were retconned to be robots.
It's pretty funny how much different the manga version of Getter Robo became in comparison to the original tv shows with the end result of humanity eventually merging with Getter energy and becoming the enemy of the entire universe.
The concept of Getter Rays merging with Humanity turns out to be more utterly relevant than ever before because we are the ultimate destroyers of our world.
Cannot stress enough how the spokon aspect of Getter Robo only exists in the Toei anime. In the original manga, Hayato and Ryoma are fucking homicidal psychopaths that couldn't give less of a fuck about soccer lmao
Lots of modern manga/anime, particularly the battle shonen, owe a lot of 60s/70s sports manga/anime. From a superficial level with the idea of tournament arcs and training arcs but on a deeper level with the "feel" of getting stronger to beat impossible odds like you mentioned in the video.
Harlock serves as the personification of the balance between individualism and cooperation. Each member of his crew is an individual, bringing with them not only their own passions, but their own strengths and talents as well. Yet, they are a crew - they all serve the Arcadia, its captain, and each other out of mutual respect, contributing their individual strengths toward the mission's success, with the understanding that that corporate success is but a stepping stone toward each of their individual goals.
In his writings to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul speaks of the church being one body, made of many parts. He compares the church to the human body, reminding his audience how each part of the body is designed with a specific function to perform a particular task; yet all these serve the ultimate goal of maintaining the body's own health and well-being, while simultaneously allowing the body to interact meaningfully with the world around itself. A truly functioning society is similar; we don't all do the same thing, because we're not all the same person. Yet, each of us wants something, and each of us understands we can get that something if we help enough other people get the things they're after. While our paths and goals may be diverse and disparite, our pursuit of them can still ultimately contribute to mutual success. We do not need to be in conflict with each other to get what we want - on the contrary, if we are willing to help others, we will often find the help we ourselves need.
Harlock embodies the radical notion that mutuality does not need to devolve into conformity. That one can be fully themselves, yet still be exactly what the rest of the world needs them to be. That we don't have to sacrifice our dignity for the sake of the status quo - on the contrary, our individual passions, and our pursuit thereof, can actually improve our situation, both as individuals and as a society. Law should not burden us or keep us from our passions, but direct us and give us the framework by which those passions may not only be achieved, but achieved in the most constructive and profitable way possible.
He also exposes the real selfishness of conformity - by keeping your head down and doing as you're told, you might guarantee your own survival, but you do so at the cost of never achieving your full potential, and moreover, denying the benefits of that potential to the rest of society. The conformist effectively sells his soul for a crust of bread, enjoying neither the freedom to pursue his goal, nor the riches that come with reaching it. Even as I write this, I find myself convicted, knowing that I have sacrificed many of my own dreams on the altar of survival. Harlock's philosophy can perhaps be summarized thus -
Don't just survive. LIVE.
Harlock is in Matsumoto´s rushed first manga adaptation of Yamato. The site Our Starblazers goes into which version did what in exhaustive detail.
Rintaro´s The Endless Odyssey OVAs might be my favorite version of this. I tried them all and failed to warm to any of them or even Leiji Matsumoto and his manga but what a trailblazer. His works are now highly dated relics of the past but he 100% pushed the industry forward.
Hard disagree on it being dated. I argue that anime's storytelling just became really nihilistic for a long time. You'll see a resurgence in the relevance of these more operatic works as time goes on. People are starved for an ounce of meaning.
@@Leijiverse I am more critical of his manga work than the anime adaptations. It's a chore to get though. The best Harlock manga is the Dimensional Voyage remake and he didn´t draw it.
RIP Leiji Matsumoto
I wonder if you’ll view any crossover works and see how the stories or symbolism and so on connect and meet.
The GE999 Movie would be a great talking point, because both in content and thematically, it's both that series's movie and a Harlock movie.
@@fhornmichaelmac are there anyomore like that?
no conformity leads to extinction by anarchic self-destruction. Too much conformity leads to extinction by stagnation.
Captain Harlock is an adaptation of the spanish "El Pirata" from Espronceda, wich es the ideal of a romantic pirate seeking for fredom
This is the video I have been waiting decades for. I have always loved Harlock so much, but found him baffling. Now everything I have seen him say, do , and sometimes more importantly *not* do makes sense! Thank you MercuryFalcon!
alright ... cool.. I wasn't crazy to regard Albator / cpt Harlock as my favorite anime.. role model.. some sort of ideal
I'd seen the character before, but I never knew what it was from.
I do think emphasizing either collectivism or individualism too much leads to problems. Stagnation and loss of self in the former, and narcissism and nihilism in the latter. Both can lead to burnout. Running yourself ragged for others, or wearing yourself out because you are too proud to ask for help.
captain harlock the anti japanese society anime,this is pretty cool there could be more like this
This was an excellent video. You pretty much nailed the appeal of the original Harlock and why so many adaptations after the TV series miss the mark of his so often. The Lupin comparison is fairly amped because they both Harlock and Lupin were popular back then despite them being against the norm of what was expected of anime back then.
Does anyone know a website to watch Captain Harlock?
You should review Irresponsible captain Tylor.
Sail the Sea of Stars, Captain Matsumoto. And thank you.
Any other losers and outcasts tearing up right now?
There's nothing really wrong with either viewpoint. One may just appeal to you more than the other.
Harlock is very much a product of Japan so it is harder for Americans to connect with the story. It is a great story if you can get into it, though.
So HARLOCK is where I got my belief in artists from. I don’t care if those who create share my vision or see things as I do. I want them to embrace their passion, add their touches to my work and visa versa. Passion drives growth and passion can only thrive when tested.
There's one dialog from harlock "you fight for own belifes, must fight for the sake of your heart" i love this anime
13:42 Anime Lois and Peter Griffon
You can see why Matsumoto had such regard for Raphael Sabatini and, more specifically Capt. Peter Blood when giving character to Harlock.
Both individuals who crafted crews out of ragged, liminal people. Individualism lending strength, not weakness.
Fun little side note.. both members of Daft Punk are huge Captain Harlock fans and in the Weeknd’s video for I Fell It a coming they are both dressed just like him.
Today, individuality is being attacked,.... at least in the US conformity is the thing of the day.
Rest in Peace Matsumoto san
Captain Harlock and Star Trek captains were sadly the source of most of my fatherly inspiration, ESPECIALLY Harlock's speech in Galaxy Express 999 about taking risks.
You forgot captain jellico
I would gladly be a cool free individual who, nevertheless, lives in a society, and sometimes has to serve it (without dying for the glory of the emperor).
Very interesting. I have been thinking about this, communitaire thought is VERY important, but to some degree. Same with the individuality. Too much of this and you have nazis talking about their "right" to hate and induce violence, or a society based on selfishness. On the other hand, althought communitary thought is just essencial for survival, too much of it and you could be used as a mindless tool by the people in power. What would be the right mesurement?
Very interested in whatching this anime, never heard of it before
He returned when we needed him most.
Welcome back, Falcon!
I find issue with the notion that Harlock is any different to its spocon counterparts in the portrayal of its protragonists. The sporty protagonists are all driven, passionate, etc. and so are Harlock and his crew. The "lazy" and dispassionate people portrayed in Harlock are what you would call in real life, losers, and this concept still falls in line with the same spocon core messaging. Harlock is not a hero for losers at all. Especially not a hero for lazy NEETs.
Captain harlock fighting matrix all this time !😭
I remember picking this up on dvd in what I would eventually find out to be the Discotek media booth a few years ago at Anime Expo. I had no idea what I was in for, but when I finished this with my sister it was one of my favorite animes I've watched.
I think that Harlock is still Kodai Mamoru. Something happened to make him change his morals. New Voyage. It destroyed him. Losing Tochiro probably made it even worse for him.
Great video. I’m familiar with ‘guts!’ As a driving force in anime but I don’t think I ever read how specific sports were to that. Or at the very least that term.
I think you may have missed something about Harlock, the crew and the…. Hm, ship’s contract? Yes, come on board if you will fight for what you believe in, but it seems unspoken that your personal beliefs still must be sidelined for the welfare of the ship and your comrades. How many times did Tadashi want to just kill every Mazone without hesitation and Harlock said “No. we need…”?
Do as you like but pull together in battle.
The thing is, to many of that sounds like contradiction but I don’t think it is.
Good that you brought Nishizaki into the mix. Yamato was clearly his idea and project. He just wasn’t getting any traction until he brought Matsumoto on board and I am convinced that Matsumoto’s designs along with the work of Studio Nue (in its earliest form) that sold the show. I liken it to when George Lucas had Ralph Mcquarrie (sp?) crank out some art that got everyone fired up.
And don’t forget the other key player in Yamato. Ishiguro. He tied it all together.
WOAH. We all love and respect MD Geist. Nobody knows all the memories he's left behind
The Getter Robo pilots in the manga was quite different from the ones in the anime. Ryoma (the leader) was a badass karate user and Hayato led a band of delinquent school revolutionaries. Musashi (and later, Benkei) were consistent between anime and manga, though - Musashi was a judo practitioner and Benkei was a baseball player, who even wore catcher's gear when he piloted.
I'm aware, I've read the manga.
"Badass karate" lmao. Karate is a joke.
@@algorithmgeneratedanimegir1286 i guess so, i see people use their service, a badge, or the practice of the usage of a form of combat or weapon as they glorify their ability to put others down usually through morals that change on aesthetic and based on a consensus that ever so often makes it seem like its a dog eat dog world regardless of over what the topic is and if the action verbal or physical be done to cause such pain is normalized or not.
In other words, Bocchi the Rock is the Space Captain Harlock of CGDCT.
Funny how history gets rewritten. The crew of the original Yamato most certainly did not think they were on a suicide mission, they had no idea they were partaking in an exercise of futility. Japans’s stubbornness to adapt had led them to create the biggest, baddest, and most obsolete destroyer the world had ever seen, but they didn’t know that last bit until it was too late. The Yamato was Japans pride, and it’s crew would have thought themselves all but invincible. Of course things didn’t work out that way, as aircraft and submarines had already arrived on the scene and taken over naval combat. The history of the real Yamato is more of a laughing stock. It was made to slug it out with other huge destroyers, and got blown up by a bunch of tiny airplanes. It spent most of its short career limping back and forth between the frontline it never got to and the repair docks.
It's amazing how many different forms nationalism can take when I started to hear about themes of individualism and got worried only for things to turn around pretty quickly when looking at collectivist propaganda in turn. This is a lovely little video that now has me considering seeing if I can read Captain Harlock.
Spokon describes the Japanese Team in the World Cup. Coming back and beating Germany then doing it again against Spain.
So what you're saying is that he's the savior of the broken, the beaten and the damned.
He's ready to give every human a chance if they just have conviction in their hearts and are ready to act (and maybe fight) for what they believe in
Given its time it did predict people being lazy through excessive use of screens.
Too much conformity, too much obedience, too much editing of the truth to make it look better leads to... well... what the Japanese did during WWII.
Since you did Captain Harlock do you think you can do Galaxy Express 999? Would like to hear your thoughts about that series.
*What Japanese need now is COMMUNICATION. Learning to interact versus conforming and Stoicism.*
(That was a GREAT review)
This was a wonderful analysis, among all UA-camrs who talk about anime I feel you're among those who really knows and understands the themes of each work and makes great retrospectives and analysis. It's amazing how Harlock is still being referenced to this day, I'd say even more than Yamato, at least outside of Japan
Reminds me of an analysis of My Hero Acadamia I watched tears back, pointing out how it glorified individuality as well. I can’t help but see it as a synthesis between Harlock’s themes and spokon. They improve themselves, and have incredibly different visual styles and techniques. They work individually and as a team. Both attitudes have their appropriate time and place.
I've been watching A series of videos about 'Captain Harlock' by Corn Pone Flicks, and how the many attempts at adapting him for the US market haven't been very good. They either fail to grasp who he is, or just flat out don't give A crap and just do it their way. Also, you illustrate how individualism is A response to conformity, and how that spirt has resinated with the fans outside of America so well.
America has somehow managed to conflate individually with conformism, so maybe that makes sense.
@@zarrg5611 more so, I'd say America went so full fucking hyper-individualistic that now people are atomized and desperate to form cliques and communities anyway they can, even if in false forms. As an American, Captain Harlock may have warned against suicidal Japanese collectivism and it wiping away your identity. But it's all too easy to go the opposite way and have everything be atomized and without unity. The entire prospect of his ship's crew not having any unifying goal or belief and all that came across as anarchy bullshit that probably wouldn't work well irl.
Unfortunately most anime don't do balance and go full ham to either one thing or the other
@@zarrg5611 america has a continent-wide monopoly of radio stations blasting out monotonous music glorifying the country lone wolf life etc etc.
So yeah. Very much glorifying the lone wolf as a myth but not in practice.
Given media which promotes actual differences they of course have to neuter it.
Not sure why I'm all of a sudden seeing more videos about the Lleijiverse and other older anime, but it warms my old heart to see these classics get some modern day love.
Also, the mouth of the barrel of The Wave Motion weapon formed The Imperial Crest... XD
as do many other natural and artificial objects. it is a very simple shape
It's not often that my views evolve while watching this kind of video... but having seen through to the end, I'm now interested in seeing the original Captain Harlock animes, that came before the movie, in their entirety.
I don't care who makes them, any story that promotes individualism (respect for the innate value of the individual) is worth my time.
Certainly one of my favorite anime shows when I was a kid during the 80's
Speaking of Yamato…my friend and I were watching the life action adaptation…they state “the original Yamato was launched as a ship of peace, on a mission of good will” and we nearly through our shoes through the TV..
That's wild. Not even the people who get to claim to be the good buys of WWII would say something like that.
I find the end of the series quite frustrating actually, taking nothing away from what it thematically meant up to that point. Maybe i'm misremembering, but I dont remember the Mazone really being defeated. Yes Harlock defeated the Empress and got them to agree to not colonize Earth with the fleet, but all the dormant Mazone on earth woke up and seemingly destroyed earth society. The rejection of societal conformity seems less potent when the species that is practically a hivemind succeeds.
I was literally just checking your channel last night because I was craving a new episode lol. Excellent work and timing dude!
I didn’t feel any nationalist messages while watching the updated Yamato series 2199 and the ones that follows. More than anything the primary message that I got from the series is making Choices for yourself and following your convictions.