Like last time, I've once again chosen to cover an anime that had TONS of potential and then blew it. Harlock Saga is a loose retelling of Wagner's Ring Cycle using Captain Harlock and the other Leiji Matsumoto characters to try get young audiences into opera. Hell, if Princess Tutu could get anime fans into classical ballet, this should be easy. As Bubsy the Bobcat would say "What could possibly go wrong?".
Plot:
An evil being called Alberich has stolen the Rhinegold from a planet at the center of the universe and has forged a ring of power to try conquer the universe. Harlock and his crew end up meeting Alberich's sister Mime, who helps them on their quest to defeat Alberich and save the universe. Yeah...they made Mime a chick for some reason and decided to make Mime a hero. Why? Mime was written to be absolutely loathsome so the audience applauds when Siegfried stabs him to death! Oops...spoilers if you haven't seen the opera yet. Also the final villain of the Ring Cycle isn't Alberich, but rather his son Hagen. This anime doesn't even have Hagen in it...or Siegfried...or Brunhilde. When they say loose adaptation they mean VERY loose. Why even say its an adaptation if they are going to be this far from the source material? All this will do is piss off anyone who has seen the 4 operas or anyone who knows anything about opera. Oh, and the worst part is that this whole anime was made as a fun way to get people into opera, but it's actually WAY more boring than the operas it was based on. Seriously, this anime is a LONG 3 hours filled with scenes of nothing happening.
Art:
This does look a lot like the Harlock series from the 1970s in terms of art and animation quality so that's good. Unfortunately, this was made in 1999.
Music:
So this has an all Wagner soundtrack right? Nope! Each episode has maybe 2 minutes of Wagner and mostly consists of mediocre tracks from Kaoru Wada. Now look, I love the Inuyasha soundtrack and I'll always have a soft spot for Wada, but this is a fucking Wagner appreciation anime!!! An average episode of Galactic Heroes features more Wagner than Harlock Saga.
Overall:
This was an ambitious project that SHOULD have been great. Harlock is awesome. Wagner is awesome. The Ring Cycle is a great story that helped influence Tolkien to create Lord of the Rings. All the pieces were there, but some head scratching terrible decisions derailed this project. How can this anime be summed up in just one word? Boring. I'm really sad I have to say it, but this film for me and honestly for most people is incredibly dull.
