S'more Expressing the Galaxy

Like many I was really excited to hear that a new company would pick up some slack and start releasing anime, and rather niche anime at that too. S'more Entertainment, a small company established in 2005 whose main goal; at least according to their facebook page, is the "preservation of the sounds and images from your past and a dedication to making those memories easily available." Sounds well and good, their website seems to point out that they have been releasing some rather old school silly live action shows and some music compilations over these past years. They don't seem to be wet behind the ears and have plenty of releases behind their belt; so kudos, this will be interesting, a niche release company going into the anime market. Aaaaaaaaaand then their Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo release came out, and everyone freaked ...

Hanging out with the Captain

Space Pirate Captain Harlock has been one of Leiji Matsumoto's most famous and beloved icons from his career. A strong free hero; stoic yet loyal, an enviable man with everything, yet a sad lonely man who has lost his greatest friends. Captain Harlock has survived and stayed in popular culture for more then 30 years. I recently started to watch the OVA series Captain Herlock: Endless Odyssey (Herlock being what the romanization originally was planned to be but never caught on). I bought the first volume for only $4 and decided to just dive in and give it a go. After sitting through the first volume (the first four episodes) I was very impressed with what I saw.

The story is set after the events of the original Harlock anime in a time where space piracy seems to be at its end with a huge government crack down. Harlock has long since disappeared from the world, his crew disbanded, and is just the stuff of legends. The series has a sad and bitter feeling to it, as the world is run down and the government oppression is laid on thick. The days of sailing the stars freely are lost. But out of no where Harlock reappears and flies his flag of freedom again. And just in time as an ancient horror of demons called Noo have been unleashed.

The direction of the series is top notch and its no wonder why with Rintaro working storyboards and direction duty the series ends up with some pretty breath taking moments. The Leiji Matsumoto spirit of men being strong and free independent spirits lives on as well. The sound track is another strong point with a sad Blues Jazz score which farther cements the feeling of how run down and corrupt the world has become. I saw the show dubbed and it wasn't anything special but the dub was actually a lot better then I thought it would be.

In the first volume we watch the rise of Harlock again, the new enemy's plans begin to take shape, an attack on Earth that will surprise everyone, the corruption of the government, reintroduce the character Tadashi Daiba, and watch Harlock break his former crew out of jail. Overall a lot happens but the pace never feels rushed. In fact at times it feels slow, which is a big plus in my book. I've really enjoyed this first volume and I'm looking forward to watching the next 9 episodes.

Short and Sandy

I just recently finished watching the latest Leiji Matsumoto show Ozma and I realized a couple of things while watching it. First I have to say that for what its worth the show was pretty fun even if it was obvious that the end product really lacked originality; feeling like some odd mishmash of Matsumoto's previous works but lacking any of the emotional depth. And why did it lack the depth, well that is simple the show was rather short and that hurt it. Now don't get me wrong I have nothing against the short and sweet approach, and have seen some rather good short stories but the scope of which Ozma plays out and length which it was given; six episode, will undoubtedly be the key defining aspect of this series.

Before I continue blabbing on let me tell you a bit about the show itself. If you don't know Ozma was a supposed "lost story" of acclaimed Manga-ka Leiji Matsumoto that was just recently "discovered" and put into production to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Wowwow TV station. There really is no doubt that the budget of the show was pretty big with this being both an anniversary project and a new Matsumoto series. The CGI used in the show for the ships looked really great, you can tell a lot of time and effort went into rendering them. A short anniversary project with a good budget is pretty much what Ozma turned out to be.

Galaxy Expressing

Well today I got my Galaxy Express 999 movies from Eastern Star which is a line of a Company called Disotek. These guys are a pretty nifty bunch as they have recently acquired a lot of awesome old school animes like Casshan, Captian Harlock, and Saint Seiya. I'll end up writing about some of these releases once I get my hands on them. But back to the topic at hand, today I finally got these two films.

I've been on a Leiji Matasumoto fix as of late and I'm not even sure why. I always was aware of him and his work but was never really interested in any of it until recently. Now I've been checking out all kinds of his stuff, from the new and very short Ozma to the old and really cool Star Blazers, which I've been having a blast with just watching on youtube. I have to say though out of all of it I think the Galaxy Express stuff has drawn my eyes the most. Perhaps it's because of the difference in focus. Yeah that could be part of it. With Galaxy Express what really draws my eyes are not the fights but more of the potential for morals being taught. It seems like a series with a focus in journeying and not so much destinations. Or at least this is what I can say after reading the back of the box.

Well at any rate I plan to watch these movies soon and see if what I think about them is even remotely true. My girlfriend has taken a shine to all this Leijiverse stuff and even wants to watch these movies with me. I'm a lucky man, aren't I? After I finally see these bad boys I'll write up a little something about how I feel and if it was worth it; oh yeah I'll also write about if I was right about the potential it has. Okay well until then, take care.