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Anime Review:: Harlock Saga
Reviewed by,
Ryuuza Megami
Harlock Saga is an innovative way of retelling the story of "Der Ring Das Nibelungen" roughly translated as The Ring of the Nibelung (originally written by Richard Wagner as an opera) in an anime action/adventure/drama. Following the basic structure of the original Opera, Leiji Matsumoto gives the story a futuristic look to an old story which is based off of Nordic/Teutonic legends and mythologies. If you have read or seen the Opera "Der Ring Das Nibelungen" then you pretty much know the basic story line, as well as the character base for Harlock Saga.
The story starts off with Tochiro and Emeraldas going to a seemingly abandoned asteroid to investigate the mystery behind the disappearances. As the story progresses though, they find that there is more than just a dead asteroid to this mystery when they meet up with an astral projection of Meeme. And at Meeme's beckoning, the pair then set off to go to the planet Rhein.
At the planet Rhein, Emeraldas and Tochiro meet up with Meeme and she further explains that a bandit has stolen the Universe's most precious treasure, the Rheingold, which is protected by three priestess'/maidens. After which, they then reunite Meeme with Harlock (the hero and star of our story).
Wotan, the god of gods, is not happy after awakening from his eternal slumber and finding that the Rheingold has been stolen and a ring has been forged by Meeme's brother, Alberich. For if the Rheingold is forged into a ring (according to this rehashing), the Universe is in big trouble, because that signals the awakening of the God's in Valhalla (the so-called center of the Universe) and time will begin to flow there again. The story that is Harlock Saga has many twists and turns that show how precious the Rheingold is to the Universe.
According to the legend (that is told by Harlock Saga), if Alberich of the Nibelung clan were to use the ring to destroy Valhalla, he could return the Universe to its primordial beginnings. It is explained to us by Meeme, later in the story, that there could be a reverse of the big bang and the start of a new chaos that would destroy everything and reign supreme forever.
So as to not give away any of the good parts, I suggest that you watch this retelling of a classic epic. As far as the story line goes, it is pretty simple to follow. Not only that, there are many resources on the World Wide Web that can help you understand this story a little better. Harlock Saga is rated 13 years and up and it is doubtful that you will be able to see this story on international television (except for maybe on a Showtime channel called Action). As always, this anime is best viewed in its original Japanese version with subtitles, so as to not miss out on some of the important parts that may have been cut out by the Americanized version. You can purchase it on DVD at any of your Entertainment retailers which provide Anime in your country or at Suncoast or FYE in the U.S.
