Here's how I think the pitch meeting went down. In 2002 Madhouse presumably thought that anime fans wouldn't be interested in going back to watch a series that was over 20 years old at the time, if such a thing was even available to find at the time that is. I'd say that was a correct assumption. Especially considering the negative attitude most current anime fans has against pre-2000's shows. Instead this series is squarely aimed at people who had seen the original 1978 Captain Harlock series. Not a bad idea I suppose. Make a bit of money of some nostalgia. I'm sure Leiji Matsumoto wouldn't mind some licencing money so he could buy a ship in a bottle or some hair extensions for his wife. So what could go wrong?
I can only presume that whoever wrote this had never actually seen the original series. But instead had a drunken friend describe the show for him. Everything is explained to him in a series of half remembered plot points, vague explanations of the majority of the cast, a need to stress that manliness is one of the core aspects of the show and an extremely enthusiastic need to emphasize that Captain Harlock is a pretty cool guy. When the writer presses him for more information about Harlock and what makes him such a cool guy he had already passed out.
Endless Odyssey would claim to be a sequel to the original show. The Mazone invasion and the ending is referenced. Despite this Tadashi is not a former crew member. His father Professor Daiba is still alive somehow too. So it's kind of a continuity snarl I guess. But that's not exactly a deal breaker. On the surface everything looks like it checks out. A darker take on the original to reflect the fact that whoever caught the show when it originally aired was around their mid to late 20's when this came out. A pinch of horror atmosphere to go with that nostalgia. It's just a shame the plot is really dumb. The Earth is stolen(?!) by Cthulhu-esque horrors. None of that can faze Captain Harlock of course. He can just stare them down or whatever since he's such a cool guy. You're kind of pushing it here guys. The supernatural twist isn't really working.
But hey. What would a captain be without his crew? Well. Unfortunately they get the short end of the stick. Because all of the lovably crew of the Arcadia are criminally mishandled and underused. They're used for cheap nostalgia moments or callbacks. When they show up for the first time you're supposed to go "yaaaay!" ( Ok maybe I did get a bit excited when Miime first showed up. ) and then? They do pretty much nothing. None of them have any impact on the plot at all. A great supporting cast just squandered. And before you ask. No, Captain Harlock isn't bringing his A-game to carry the show. At best he's on auto-pilot. At the very worst he's grossly mischaracterized perhaps to make him seem more "cool". You're not expected to follow orders? Yeah it's not like he's the captain of the ship or anything. Fuck off. Yeah he let the crew do what they want when they were off-duty in the original. But they were all expected to follow his orders when it was go-time. Get this personality-free body snatcher off my screen and bring back the real captain. Even the voice actor for him is totally wrong. Sorry. Makio Inoue is the definitive Harlock. Anyone else just sounds like a pale imitation.
I will give Madhouse some credit though. The art is just wonderful. It is very faithful to the original work and lovingly rendered although with that modern shininess of course. The cast has never looked better though! Quirks of the original show such as the tall, slender women with long hair and the cartoonishly deformed small people are all accounted for. The Arcadia also looks great which is obviously of huge importance. I have no doubt that whoever drew this was a big fan. So I can only hope he never actually watched this. To match the "darker" tone and horror posturing the art is suitably dark. But good art can only get you so far. And for being an OVA the animation is nothing special. Pretty much just TV quality. Still I would call this show a visual treat. So it has something going for it.
I will also give it credit for a kind of interesting ending. And a relatively understated sense of masculinity. A breath of fresh air in an era where manliness is relegated to a post-ironic and over the top sideshow in anime. Don't think I need to name any examples there. You know what I'm talking about.
If you want to get into Harlock I'd suggest starting with the lavishly produced Arcadia Of My Youth movie and go from there. Endless Odyssey is for completionists only.
