ARCADIA OF MY YOUTH - DVD review

"Arcadia of My Youth" is a full length movie that was originally released in 1982. The film is an essential piece in the body of work conceived by Leiji Matsumoto, a man whose impact on manga (Japanese graphic novels) and anime cannot be overstated. Because the characters in Matsumoto's diverse series occupy the same universe and even occasionally interact with each other, his work is unofficially called the Matsumoto-verse.

This particular film reveals the origins of two of Matsumoto's most beloved characters, the space pirate Captain Harlock, and his sidekick, Tochiro. The movie starts by showing one of Harlock's ancestors, Phantom F. Harlock, trying to fly over a mountain range that no other plane has made it over. It's not directly related to the main plot of "Arcadia of My Youth", but it does establish the slow, thoughtful pace of the film. Transitioning jarringly to the current Harlock, he stands on the bridge of a space ship that's being forced to land on Earth. This Harlock is different than the Harlock that we're familiar with, as he isn't dressed in his traditional black, nor is he wearing an eye patch.

Earth has been occupied by an alien race, the Illumidus, who are similar to the Roman Empire—they come not to destroy but to conquer. There is another race of aliens living on Earth who are, in fact, vassals of the Illumidus. Besides a small human resistance, Harlock refuses to live under the rule of the aliens. No matter how they try to subdue Harlock, either by force or coercion, the aliens cannot make Harlock give up his demand for freedom.

More globally, and like a great deal of other pieces of the Matsumoto-verse, this movie is, in part, about what it takes to be a man. For Matsumoto, it takes integrity, more than anything else. A man should stick to his principles, stand by his friends, and never, ever shrink from the good fight. Harlock exhibits these traits in spades, no matter what rises against him. Not that Harlock alone has these traits in the movie. Tochiro also has been standing in the face of the same struggle, and the crew of the Arcadia, Harlock's battle ship, are the only real men that Earth has left to offer.

For long time fans of the Matsumoto-verse, there are plenty of treats. There's a flashback to World War II that shows a little bit about the Harlock clan's background. Emeraldas crash lands on Earth, and is missing her characteristic facial scar. Tochiro and Emeraldas meet for the first time, and sew the seeds for their future love affair. By the end of the film, everyone has gained their familiar outfits and features. Also, the origin of Tochiro's masterpiece creation, the battle ship Arcadia, is revealed. There's even a scene near the end that shows how the Arcadia gets its first crew. This movie is absolutely essential to understanding what motivated Harlock to start on his long voyage across the Sea of Stars, to end only where the Loops of Time meet again.

Video:
The video aspect ratio is 1.33:1 (full-screen on 4:3 monitors). According to AnimEigo, this is the original, uncut, and unedited form. I didn't notice any artifacts or other video problems, and considering the age of this film, that's amazing. Either AnimEigo found a print that had been put in a time capsule, or they went all out on the transfer. In either case, I salute them on a job well done.

The animation quality is good for its time. Because there was no such thing as computer animation or effects back then, several backgrounds are sort of static looking, and not every effect looks as good as it could. However, many effects, like the exchange of broadsides between Harlock's Arcadia and the Illumidus flagship, would look good when held up to any animated feature today.

Audio:
You can watch the show only in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Japanese. There is an option for complete or partial English subtitles. I watched it in Japanese with complete English subtitles. The audio on this disc was much quieter than other discs, and I had to turn the volume up by about 15 dB over what I normally set the volume to. The voice actor for Harlock, Makio Inoue, has actually been the same for the last few decades, up until the very latest additions to the Matsumoto-verse. In fact, the voice actor himself is almost as popular as his character, as he's able to emote both the steel and compassion in Harlock.

While the background music is nice and orchestral, the songs are kind of cheesy sounding to my ears. Oh well, it's not like American 80s music is burning up the charts anymore either.

Extras:
Along with trailers for various other AnimEigo productions, they included two original theatrical trailers for this film in the same menu. Clever.

The "Filmography and Unusual Facts" section is the real gold of the extras. It contains four subsections- "Harlock Filmography", "Matsumoto Filmography", "Actor Filmography", and "Unusual Facts". All four subsections are pretty exhaustive, so if you enjoyed this film and would like to see more of the Matsumoto-verse, take notes.

Finally, there is a small image gallery. There aren't that many pictures, and some are a little on the small side, but it's a decent effort.

--Miscellaneous--
The DVD comes with a three page fold out that consists entirely of text. Sadly, the trademark AnimEigo exhaustive liner notes take up less than one side of one page, the rest of the pages having gone to translations of the songs from the film. It's still more than what most companies do.

Film Value:
I've never made any pretenses about not being a blind fool for anything and everything in the Matsumoto-verse. Matsumoto's art design is unique, beautiful, unforgettable, just like the characters he brings to life and the stories he weaves. This isn't a throw away, popcorn flick. "Arcadia of My Youth" is a somewhat sentimental, lyrical film about one man's refusal to compromise his convictions, and just how powerful a force that can be. See this film. Then do everything in your power to see or read everything else connected to Leiji Matsumoto.