I found your podcast from AWO and it's great. Keep up the great work.

As to Harlock, well I've only seen the first few episodes of the original series so Arcadia is really my only exposure to the character so maybe my thoughts are a bit flawed. I found Harlock to be a bit aloof at the beginning only becoming closer to how he usually is after the blinding incident and completing the circle after Maya's death. Also I didn't think the exposition between Tochiro and Harlock was slow in any way. As his origin story I'd have to expect a lot of exposition but then again I've haven't seen all of the first series. The story of their ancestors made their friendship in the present better to understand if a little implausible.

But then again I'm not watching Harlock, or any Matsumoto story for that matter, for unnecessary things like logic or plausibility.....

hello guys, first CDX post, and nice podcast!

i just had to comment being a big fan of this film, and Matsumoto's work in general. sorry for bad spelling.

Personally, i just can't let you guys broadcast this to newer fans interested in the series without some kind of comment about your analysis of this film. The review is pretty negative, which is a shame, as all the "bad" points you make out in your review seem either misinformed, or overly skewed to a certain point of view, and not the unusal objective commentary i've come to expect from COLLECTIONDX. I can understand and even agree with a negative review of this film, but not based on the criteria of this podcast (which seems very sophmoric: it's an old show, no continuity, they're Nazis, so its not that good).

First, it's very obvious you are coming from a more modern, 90's anime-fan point of view, as you reference the film to much more modern works like the newer Gundam shows, and not really in a more fair context of its peers from the early 1980's. You are really also missing a big point that it is a "fantasy" sci-fi, a la "star wars", rather than the "real" sci-fi of Gundam or Macross, where science and physics laws are taken into account and followed to the letter. Hense the flying trains, people in space without space suits, and strange continuity. You guys speak of this like it's a negative aspect of the series, as if the film is "broken" because of this! its just different than other shows & films that are created nowadays which seem to obsess over its back story, science, and/or continuity- all useless unless they advance a story (which they usually don't, they usuall replace weak story!)

A big point of Harlock and much of Matsumoto's work in general, all the characters in AOMY are -- analogies -- for different viewpoints/theories on the world, from those who are hated for their appearance (nerdy Tochiro), those who are idealists (Harlock/Maya), people who become unwilling tools of governments, etc. Harlock throughout Matsumoto's works is less a real human character, and more an ideal that is presented to the other characters and audience, equal parts warrior poet, philosopher, and Dracula(!)

Also, and probably most disapointingly, you guys obsess on the Harlock & Tochiro flashback. You seem to regard this scene with distain, and it seems to spoil the film for you (at least in your review, and to the listener). It's really just a visually interesting way to show these new friends have a deep, deep connection, that goes beyond friendship, without being overly sappy (this was a project aimed at 12yr old boys in Japan!) and nothing more, and i agree it does slow the pace of the film and is pretty confusing. It seems you guys think that this part is some type of an endorsement of the Nazis, and that is absolutely ridiculous. It's also disapointing that you didn't get that this film is completely, 100% written and told from a Japanese view, and obsessed on the fact that Harlock & Tochiro in flashback fought for the Axis powers in WWII. It's made very clear that the two characters don't share the idealogy of the Axis, and only fight out of a sense of honor or duty. Yet you seem very intent on pounding this home, as if the film should have taken into account the "american" point of view, even though it was made by Japanese who have no interest in this view! America did occupy Japan for years, and some Japanese felt the same way about the occupiers as the humans in ARCADIA OF MY YOUTH act to their alien oppressors. To deny this fact is to sugar-coat the past, and much of Leiji Matsumoto's work is exactly about this topic, and how dangerous it is to do so! If a movie is made in another country, for another culture, and another language, then why does it have to fall into and cater to an American viewpoint? SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO has these same themes, and you comment on this in the podcast as well, does that make the crew of the Yamato Nazis as well? No, the artists & writers were using the Yamato as a symbol of Japanese pride, very obviously. And i think the same is here as well, to show that regardless of time period, there are reluctant soliders in every army, and these two characters share a rebelious streak and friendship that is their past, present, and future lives- they can't escape their destiny.

To write off all of these details off and just call them Nazis as you do in this review is not only a severe disservice to the work, it's also a disservice to the art of objective review (which COLLECTIONDX excells at) and the listeners of the podcast unfamilar with this work, who might not try it because the 2 main characters are "nazis." it just feels like you guys didn't really watch the film, or stopped paying attention to it at some point due to this scene, or at least it seems like it in this podcast review, as you guys spend most of the middle of the 25+min broadcast on this point and don't really go anywhere afterward.

I hope you DAP! guys don't think of this as a slam comment, or take offense, as i like your podcasts a lot actually, it just feels like this time you completely dropped the ball on this film, and came at it from a mis-informed angle. C'mon guys, this is one of the most influential anime films of all time, featuring one of the most influential characters in anime of all time, and there's a lot of deep, great stuff to chew on, don't just eat the candy flower and icing, dive in and eat the whole cake too!

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