{"id":13392,"date":"2016-04-02T11:42:06","date_gmt":"2016-04-02T15:42:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13392"},"modified":"2016-04-02T17:28:39","modified_gmt":"2016-04-02T21:28:39","slug":"br-harlock-space-pirate-3d-space-captain-harlock-kyaputen-harokku-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=13392","title":{"rendered":"BR: Harlock Space Pirate 3D \/ Space Captain Harlock \/ Kyaputen H\u00e2rokku (2013)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HarlockSpacePirate3D_BR\"Film<\/strong>:\u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>:\u00a0Very Good<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0January 19, 2016<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Anime<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0The Gaia Communion sends a fleet to stop Captain Harlock from launching a series of interlinked mines that may\u00a0reset time and restore Earth’s natural splendor, or end the universe.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Disc1 (Japanese 115 min. edit): Isolated Stereo Music Track \/ Discs 1 and 2: The Making of \u201cHarlock Space Pirate\u201d (26:05) \/ 4 Interviews: director Shinji Aramaki & co-screenwriter Harutoshi Fukui (6:18) + \u201cHarlock\u201d creator Leiji Matsumoto (14:00) + director Aramaki (4:18) + co-screenwriter Fukui (3:34) \/ 3 Venice Film Festival World Premiere Highlights: Press Conference Intro (4:09) + Red Carpet (4:36) + Standing Ovation (4:07) \/ 5 TV Spots \/ 4 Theatrical Trailers \/ 10 Storyboard Galleries \/ 24-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>\u00a0and www.twilighttimemovies.com<\/a>\u00a0\/ Limited to 3000 copies.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beginning as a serialized manga that ran from 1977 to 1979, Leiji Matsumoto\u2019s tale of an interstellar pirate ship helmed by Captain Harlock<\/a> became an anime TV series in 1978, and was followed by a variety of TV and feature film installments, each shifting aspects of the futuristic narrative involving colonized planets, aliens, and the fight against a restrictive regime.<\/p>\n

Toei\u2019s 2013 film offers another variant on Matsumoto\u2019s mythos, and to the filmmakers\u2019 credit, it\u2019s also an accessible space drama for newcomers to the popular and prolific franchise that originated in Japan and gained huge international popularity, especially in France.<\/p>\n

Director Shinji Aramaki (Appleseed<\/strong>) and screenwriters Harutoshi Fukui (Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean<\/strong>) and Kiyoto Takeuchi (Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina<\/strong>) reworked what they plainly describe as a \u2018reboot\u2019 into something much darker, transforming anti-hero Harlock into a gloomier leader akin to Batman\u2019s The Dark Knight, although Harlock\u2019s demons are tied directly to a reactive measure that contributed to the mess of Earth\u2019s current state.<\/p>\n

Guilt is ultimately at the root of everyone\u2019s barbed psyche, and there are few characters unaffected by betrayals, reckless actions, jealousies, and deliberate efforts to obfuscate the truth. The core story, without offering any spoilers, has Captain Harlock being hunted down by a government fleet as he tries to set and arm the last two explosive devices which will in theory reset time and fold humanity back to a period when all was good.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a massive oversimplification of the plot, as there are complex relationships between Harlock and the alien (Mimay) who helps power his dynamic and deadly ship, the newcomer (Yama \/ Logan) whose mission changes after a daring rescue, the fleet\u2019s leader (Ezra) and his peculiar spousal relationship, and the Gaia Communion, which seeks to prevent Earth\u2019s degeneration by restricting access to all but an elite social class to ensure it can maintain its pristine state.<\/p>\n

The Blu-ray\u2019s extras contain a multitude of English-subtitled interviews with the Japanese talent discussing the characters, the franchise\u2019s changes, and director Aramaki\u2019s own modifications which gave the story some classical pirate underpinnings.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most clever \u2013 if not\u00a0most visually dynamic \u2013 is what he terms the \u2018head-butting\u2019 capabilities of Harlock\u2019s ship, the Arcadia, although it\u2019s arguably more of a Romanesque battering ram: outfitted with a giant, indestructible skull head, the Arcadia repeatedly barrels its way through government armadas by literally smashing into its doomed obstacles, resulting in many spectacular moments of absolute carnage. The ship\u2019s head-butting is also a literal metaphor of Harlock\u2019s determination to see his highly specious plan to the end, aided by two valuable first mates and a loyal crew.<\/p>\n

The pirates\u2019 boarding of government ships is similarly rooted in pirate lore \u2013 a mass ejection of hooked cables and clamped tunnel-ramps enabling the pirates to secure and pillage a wrecked craft \u2013 as are the turret guns which fire salvos that immobilize and disable rather than incinerate through explosions.<\/p>\n

Aramaki\u2019s direction is never overly kinetic, and the action edits allow for elegant visuals which avoid the pitfalls of fast-swooping videogame renderings typical of Hollywood live-action equivalents. There\u2019s a lot of fine details in the design of ships, planets, armaments, and various transformations, and the 3D effects are less about flinging objects at audiences, and more enhancements to the spatial relationships of characters and crafts.<\/p>\n

Reportedly costing over $30 million, Toei\u2019s gamble certainly paid off in developing and executing a handsome production with neatly arranged characters and conflicts, making Harlock<\/strong> a classic pirate epic as well. Much is packed into its nearly 2 hour running time, but it never lags nor has moments where information feels compressed (although the lengthy text intro is actually unnecessary, as it doesn\u2019t take long for viewers to grasp the rival factions in Matsumoto\u2019s drama).<\/p>\n

Harlock<\/strong> may seem like an odd choice for Twilight Time, but the label has dipped into some classic and contemporary Japanese films, and buried way in the credits is company co-founder Brian Jamieson, listed as a member of the film\u2019s international sales and marketing team, so there\u2019s a pre-existing interest within TT to bring this epic to North America in a lovely Blu-ray special edition.<\/p>\n

TT\u2019s set features the original 115 min. Japanese 3D and 2D versions with Japanese dialogue, English subtitles, and an isolated stereo track featuring Tetsuya Takahashi\u2019s vibrant orchestral score. Disc 2 sports the 111 min. 3D and 2D international edit with an English dub track.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure what may have been edited out of the longer version, but because the dialogue is spoken in measured if not moody intonations, it doesn\u2019t take long to acclimatize to watching the film in 3D and<\/em> following the medium-sized English subtitles for the Japanese edit. If it\u2019s too trying for some viewers, the International Cut offers an easier alternative.<\/p>\n

Extras also include storyboards, EPK interviews with the two leading voice actors for Harlock and Yama, perfunctory red carpet and audience applause footage from Harlock\u2019s world premiere in Venice, TV spots and trailers. Julie Kirgo\u2019s liner notes are a bit more sparse for this release, but her overview is supported by a mass of artwork. The making-of featurette seems to be a series of web chapters that actually summarize characters, conflicts, and relationships rather than detail the film\u2019s animation and 3D effects.<\/p>\n

James Cameron\u2019s sleeve quotation is a little amusing, because director Aramaki and the animation team clearly patterned a specific near-death moment after Titanic<\/strong> (1997) in which two characters are similarly poised to \u2018ride\u2019 a doomed vessel into oblivion; and there are some battle shots that recall effects from Star Trek: The Motion Picture <\/strong>(1979), namely the \u2018in-skip\u2019 effect of the fleet\u2019s vessel\u2019s linearly disappearing and re-emerging in a new locale.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2016 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> —\u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toei\u2019s 2013 film offers another variant on Leiji Matsumoto\u2019s mythos, and to the filmmakers\u2019 credit, it\u2019s also an accessible space drama for newcomers to the popular and prolific franchise that originated in Japan and gained huge international popularity, especially in France…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[21,4371,4366,4368,4370,4369,4367,4372],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-3u0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13392"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13412,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13392\/revisions\/13412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}