Genres: action, adventure, drama, horror, science fiction Themes: aliens, pirates, space, war Objectionable content: Mild Plot Summary: The year is 2977. Mankind has become complacent and stagnant. All work is done by machines, while humans spend all their time on entertainment. But when a mysterious invader from the stars catches Earth unawares, only the legendary space pirate Captain Harlock and the crew of the Arcadia have the will to stand against them. Number of episodes: 42 Vintage: 1978-03-14 to 1979-02-13
Arcadia of My Youth: Endless Orbit SSX / Waga Seishun no Arcadia: Mugen Kidō SSX
Genres: adventure, drama, science fiction Themes: aliens, pirates, space Objectionable content: Mild Plot Summary: Set after the events in Arcadia of My Youth, Harlock and his friends, now declared outlaws by the Illumidas-occupied Earth government, search for a paradise where all humanity can be free. Along the voyage, they discover that the Illumidas has occupied other planets in addition to Earth and must battle to put an end to their tyranny, and avoid being captured by the various people trying to hunt them down for reward money offered by the Earth government. Number of episodes: 22 Vintage: 1982-10-13 to 1983-03-30
Genres: action, comedy, drama Themes: western Objectionable content: Significant Plot Summary: It is a harsh and barren wasteland, where the weak aren’t allowed to dream. It is also a sacred land for true men, for there is no place a man can feel more alive. This is the Gun Frontier. Sea Pirate Captain Harlock and the errant samurai, Tochiro arrive in the United States on the Western Frontier. Along with a mysterious woman they meet along the way, the two friends challenge sex rings, bandits, and corrupt sheriff. They are searching for a lost clan of Japanese immigrants, and they will tear Gun Frontier from end to end until they find it. Number of episodes: 13 Vintage: 2002-03-28 to 2002-06-20
Interesting show. Character design is right out of Galaxy Express or Space Captain Harlock. David Blum voices Harlock in this. Plot of the first episode makes you wonder if it shows a common stereotype of Americans… lol…
I found this show to be entertaining its one of the few of his works that is not a space opera. Like most Leiji Matsumoto shows this is either you like it or you don’t there really is no in-between for most shows of his works. It’s a damn shame all of the Anime and Manga of his works are not available on R1 DVD as he is one of the best story tellers around.
Someone at least needs to rescue The Cockpit and Galaxy Express 999 movies. Really want someone to license the OVA and Second Season of Galaxy Railways but seeing as most of the Anime based on his works don’t seem to do well here I don’t think it will ever happen. I am noticing a lot of the current generation of Anime fans not knowing a good story if it bit them in the ass.
Agreed with everything you said above in your full post.
Sadly, anime lately has become about trends, hype, bandwagon and about talking about shows with groups of people and finding commonalities, memes, etc, whatever, rather than the quality of work of the art.
I liked this show until the end. Won’t spoil it. I am actually a fan Matsumoto’s work. Galaxy Railways was great and under loved. Season two will never be brought over sadly it seems. I enjoyed harlock series geneon released here. Interesting fact one of the first Anime I saw and knew was anime was Galaxy Express 999 Movies on Sci-Fi Channel back in 90s. Sad that classic GE 999 and Herlock are only avaible here on internet.
It is kinda strange the way the characters from Gun Frontier, Cosmo Warrior Zero, are recycled. Same characters, same names. It’s strange, but I don’t mind. I’ve seen CWZ (loved it) and am enjoying Gun Frontier so far. I hope more comes along
Gun Frontier. I like this show a lot. Gun Frontier. Two dudes and a woman moving across the western landscape searching, always searching. Gun Frontier. It just recently started back up on the VOD again, so I could jump back into it, and I must say even though it’s old school, it’s captured my attention. Gun Frontier. Guns blazing, swords slashing and women back-stabbing. Gun Frontier.
The preview for the next episode of Cosmo Warrior Zero has them going to a world who’s name sounds like a run together of “Gun Frontier” to meet… yep, Toshiro I think it is, trying to find clues to track down Harlock. Are these two series basically set in the same universe, perhaps a few years apart or something?
But yeah, they’re set in the same universe.
Gun Frontier is more of an alternate prequel to the Harlock stories, while Cosmo Warrior just ustilizes the universe to make Captain Harlock the nemesis and really isn’t relevant to the Harlock stories.
Nice to get the answer to a question before you even ask…Now I just want to know why Tochiro sounds so different in them? I like the Gun Frontier voice for him better.
They have different VA casts, I would imagine you can google or search to find out if there’s any particular reason for it, be it different licensing, different studios, people not available, or whatever.
Sorry to bump back the thread but I saw the final episode one more time before it was taken down yesterday and I can’t help but feeling somewhat disappointed that the last episode was more a “season finale” rather than a true “series finale”. There were some many questions left unanswered.
I absolutely loved Gun Frontier since I’m a big Captain Harlock fan (and Leiji Matsumoto’s work in general) and it was the one-two combo of seeing Gun Frontier and Cosmo Warrior Zero on the free preview section that made me subscribe to the VOD service. But really, how come there never was any follow-up to this great series? It had the perfect balance of action, comedy and drama. The Old West setting and the main story (what you think will be a buddy comedy turns into a tragedy) were a welcome bit of fresh air instead of the usual anime mould of “school kids get super powers and save the world” or the panties shots/extreme boobage “comedies”.
Now, I know the anime dates back to 2002 and there won’t be any sequel made, and the fact there were only two volumes in the 1970-something manga means no follow-up of any kind was intended. Sometimes, it just sucks seeing a series you love not getting the ending you hoped for
I’ll probably buy the boxset one of these days but sadly, it seems really hard to find.
It was hard to find back in 2005 so I can imagine its even harder now. Probably Media Blasters has stopped printing new copies as they’ve done with other lower selling series.
Box sets and all 4 singles on eBay, not hard to find, prices vary from cheap to a lot. One cheap priced box set listing has no actual picture, so beware of bootlegs.
Singles are legit ,but all of the box sets I could find even with pictures are bootlegs. The company that bootlegged it actually used a scan of the Media Blasters set front.
