Talk:Captain Harlock

Harlock vs. Herlock

Could someone familair with the series make some comment o nthe variant spellings (Harlock vs Herlock)? Is it a matter of where it was translated, or what? -FZ 16:46, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Both are correct, and English translation companies have chose one or the other. I updated the article to include what I know of it, hopefully if someone else knows more than me they can add it. DenisMoskowitz 20:43, 2004 Dec 3 (UTC)

Dennis is right, though I've changed 'transliteration' to 'translation' and added the direct romanization of the name to end of the article. As well, I am not 100% sure the English-language distributors deserve the blame. Japanese themselves tend to be quite playful with Roman script, though most know very well the difference between 'a' and 'e'. I'm not very familiar with this series or the company that produces it, but it is possible that the 'native' pronunciation of Harlock's name (as conceived by his writers) lies somewhere between the two letters, thus making it seem more exotic. There is no way, for example, to transliterate the English short-i sound (such as 'bit', 'hid' or 'rim') in any of the Japanese spelling systems, so a writer wanting to 'use' that sound in his characters' names might be tempted to go nuts and use Roman vowels any which way. At present, English speakers use umlauts in much the same way, without knowing their real effect on pronunciation.Stutterbug 01:26, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, Stutterbug (though it's Denis with one n). I've corrected your romanization - it uses the long/repeated "a". A long "a" is often used for any "er", "ar", or "or" sound, such as "setaa" for sweater, "seeraa" for "sailor" in sailor fuku, or "reidaa" for Radar. DenisMoskowitz 19:49, 2005 Feb 7 (UTC)

The official site shows "CAPTAIN HERLOCK" as the name of the new DVD/TV series.
If I remember correctly, the 'har'/'her' part of the name was once explained in association with "hard" and "heart". Not perfectly sure since it was many many years ago. --LittleTree 21:42, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Origin of "Harlock"

Anime Interviews: The First Five Years of Animerica Anime & Manga Monthly (1992-1997) contains an interview with Leiji Matsumoto done in 1996. Here's what he said about the origin of Harlock/Herlock's name.

ANIMERICA: Speaking of Germany, Captain Harlock seems like a Germanic character himself...

MATSUMOTO: Actually, he isn't German. I used to pace my walks saying "hārokku" when I was in junior high. I'd be walking home from school marching to the chant "hārokku, hārokku." It wasn't a person's name. So, "Harlock" does both and doesn't have a meaning -- it was a marching call. I eventually started using it to draw a buccaneer story... I drew the character who was to become Harlock for the very first time when I was in my first year of junior high. Back then, his name wasn't Harlock; he called himself "Captain Kingston." He was an English pirate. Strangely enough, he receives secret orders from the Queen of Spain to search for Napoleon's treasure. And he roams the Pacific and not the Atlantic. But he already wears a skull mark on his chest. This was the first pirate story I came up with. His name was Captain Kingston, so however you think about it, he has to be English. It's funny he receives orders from the Queen of Spain in search of Napoleon's treasure in the Pacific. So this pirate did wear a skull mark, but his face was still Errol Flynn's.

ANIMERICA: An English Errol Flynn.

MATSUMOTO: Yes, an Errol Flynn-like pirate. Back then, there were many English buccaneer stories around.

ANIMERICA: I see, so "hārokku" was, at first, more like "here we go, hup, two, three, four"...?

MATSUMOTO: Yes, I was pacing my walks chanting "hārokku, hārokku." I didn't have in mind what language that was from or anything like that.

Use this as you see fit.

(Nothing on if he's got a first name or not, for what it's worth.) -- Monzo

er ...

IMDB says Captain Harlock was a 1978 show.

• Previous was by User:67.40.252.243

Thanks, Mr. anonymous. The Japanese wikipedia seems to agree with the IMDB, so I'll change it. DenisMoskowitz 15:35, 2005 Jun 10 (UTC)

Arcadia of My Youth as a separate article?

It was suggested that it be discussed here. I am for keeping Arcadia of my Youth as it's own article as that movie is a milestone and a major hub of the Harlock universe and L. Matumoto's career. I will actually be providing a summary of the movie soon as I get the notes together.Mr. ATOZ 20:04, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

As long as the article can stand on its own, I'm fine with it being separate. --nihon 01:45, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

AOMY should be a seperate article - Harlock has many different incarnations, each of which you could write volumes about.--Rhandhali 04:12, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

I have removed the merge templates from these articles. As soon as you get the summary, Mr. ATOZ, please go over to the Arcadia of My Youth and expand it. Thanks! --nihon 19:42, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Captain Harlock's full name

Having been asked to provide a citation for my prior edits of Captain Harlock's real name, here are a few sources that indicate outright, or point to, his name as being Captain Phantom F. (which I labelled as 'Frederick' due to his German heritage) Harlock.

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/9639/myfaq.htm http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/rei/MANGA/Harlock.html http://dougram.battletechnology.org/Harlock/Characters.htm http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084881/

I shall contact a Captain Harlock group I am apart from to get a reference for him being the 99th Harlock to bear the name.

I remember hearing, in one of the Harlock shows I have, his full name (Phantom F. Harlock). I have several of them, though, so I'm not sure which it is. It may be Arcadia of My Youth as he's listed that way in the liner notes [1]. --nihon 17:44, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

None of these links prove Space Pirate Captain Harlock's name is Phantom F. Harlock. Yes, two 20th century ancestors of his were named that. But watch Gun Frontier and see another "ancestor", who is named W. Franklin Harlock Jr. I've never seen or heard a first name given to the Space Pirate.Evan1975 08:28, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

I beg to differ. The AnimEigo link absolutely proves it in the first sentence on the page: The voice of Phantom F. Harlock... --日本穣 17:26, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Nope. It does not say that at all. All it says is the same actor played Phantom II and Captain Harlock. Learn to read English.Evan1975 06:13, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

In addition, the Japanese page for the Arcadia movie indicates that is his name as well. --日本穣 17:31, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

No, neither does this page. All it says is the same actor played Phantom II and Captain Harlock. Learn to read Japanese.Evan1975 06:13, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

This page also indicated that all of the Captain Harlocks have the same name. --日本穣 17:35, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Where, exactly? I find only one mention of "Phantom" and it says that both Phantoms I & 2 appear in the War Manga Series. Evan1975 06:13, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Final evidence that Captain Harlock has no first name I posted to [The Yahoo Leiji Matsumoto Group] about this and got what I expected: confirmation that Captain Harlock has no first name. See messages [2371] and [2372]. I've alerted the Yahoo Matsumoto group to Nihonjoe (& co.?)'s bizarre agenda, so hopefully others besides me will be there to fix his vandalism. Evan1975 18:17, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

What "bizarre agenda"? I've heard him called that in multiple Harlock shows, both here in the States, and when I watched them on TV in Japan when I lived there. I don't have any agenda other than to make sure he's called by his full name. There are multiple people here who seem to think that the correct name is "Phantom F. Harlock" (especially since it's highly unlikely he's named "Captain" as a given name), and you're the only one constantly reverting our edits just because you "know" that's not his name. I did find one English-language site that indicated that was likely his name (see question E).--日本穣 22:49, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

That site is not much of a source: "E) Does Harlock have a first name? Here's more guesswork: Since his ancestors' names were Phantom F. Harlock and Phantom F. Harlock II, we assume that his full name is...Phantom F. Harlock!!" DenisMoskowitz 20:31, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

That's why I wrote that the site indicate that "was likely his name". --日本穣 21:08, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

That appears to be a members-only group - I'm unable to view these messages, even after digging up my old yahoo ID. DenisMoskowitz 18:55, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Could both of you please calm down? There's no need to accuse anyone of a "bizarre agenda" or anything of the sort - we're all trying to make this article better. That said, most of the references I've seen so far can be read to indicate that the Harlocks of the past had the name Phantom, and don't convincingly indicate that "Captain Harlock" has that name. Nihonjoe, do you have a verifiable, unambiguous source for this? If we can't verify it either way, the best thing may be to make no claim about his full name in the article.DenisMoskowitz 20:50, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm doing my best to remain calm, though it's difficult when accused of having a "bizarre agenda" and being told to "learn to read" when all I'm doing is trying to make the article more accurate. I'm still waiting for a reply from another inquiry I've made about this. --日本穣 21:08, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

A suggestion: Perhaps we ought to add a section devoted to his name into the article? Present there the speculation and issues regarding it? Either that or we could contact Leiji Matsumoto himself. ;) - Anonymous User from Before.

• I remember reading an article from Animag (1989) in which Matsumoto was interviewed. He was asked if that Harlock had a first name. Matsumoto's response (I'll try to find the issue to get the exact words) was vague in that he said he experimented with different names but "Harlock is Harlock". Mr. ATOZ 19:22, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

I understand that this discussion is a bit old, but I wanted to offer two pieces of evidence that suggest Captain Harlock's full name is indeed Phantom F. Harlock XCIX. The first[2] is a link to "Absolute Anime" and the second[3] is a screen capture that I took from the end credits of the english language version of the original Harlock television series. --Darkwren 13:47, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

• That screen capture comes from the Village Video fan-edit of the Harmony Gold Captain Harlock series, and the fan-editors went to the trouble of generating their own opening and ending credits, so the name as shown on screen is simply their take on the good Captain's name and (as far as is known) has no official bearing.86.135.113.163 10:42, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

None of the films or series episodes ever give Harlock a first name (and yes, by that statement I do mean that I have seen all of them.) The My Youth in Arcadia Roman Album and the Cosmic Corsair Roman Album (covering the 1978 series) also list him as simply "Captain Harlock," as do Matsumoto's original Harlock manga. The only places I've ever seen claims of his first name being Phantom F. are fanzines and websites, none official or giving references.

• This is a really lame argument. Harlock is Harlock, and I'm sure that true fans are content leaving it at that. I do have to mention however, after recently watching my tapes of Space Pirate, I was surprised to find that the English credits do in fact dub him "Captain Phantom F. Harlock XCIX." My tapes are the original broadcast releases, prior to Village Video's remastering. Regardless, the post above mine is correct, the character has never been called by that name in the actual body of the shows/films/mangas. Zargabaath 16:34, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Neo fascists

I like some verification of this fact.

In recent years, Captain Harlock has begun to be promoted by neo-fascist paramilitary groups[2] who seek to exploit its' background story for recruitment of young members and co-opt it as popular art vindicating their violent, nationalist objectives.

Cleanup

The article has been cleansed. There are still some issues with they way it is written, but that's a task for another day... or preferably another editor. I'll be tagging the article in the meantime.--Nohansen 04:57, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

• I've added bullets to the "Adaptations" and "Other appearances" sections so they don't read like a jumble of unrelated paragraphs. I also added Michael McConnohie (who portrayed Harlock in Queen of a Thousand Years) to the vocal portrayals in the main infobox. I thought he was included there at one time, and I see no discussion as to if/why he was removed. I know there have been squabbles over the fact that QOATY features a plot that is unrelated to Matsumoto's original story; but nevertheless, the character is the same. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zargabaath (talk • contribs) 16:50, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

New article

I reworked this article to focus on the character of Harlock (which was this article intended purpose in the first place). The info on the original manga and TV series can now be found at Space Pirate Captain Harlock.--Nohansen (talk) 03:36, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Pop culture references

Since cleaning up the article, I've been trying to keep the pop culture references to a minimum. So, unless the factoid is sourced and not trivial, I think it's best to avoid adding them. In the meantime, feel free to list them here until sources are found and an actual paragraph can be written.--Nohansen (talk) 16:48, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

• Studio Nue's take on the Arcadia makes a brief cameo at the end of the original The Super Dimension Century Orguss television series during middle of the show's climatic battle sequence (episode 34); and also in a couple of shots during the battle in episode 27 of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross. The cameos were an homage to Matsumoto, who was then in the heyday of his "movie" period (the 1980s).
• In Kia Asamiya's Space Battleship Nadesico manga, there is a comic one of the main characters reads called Space Vagrant, in which a character called Captain Government features (who pilots the Death Skull mech). The Captain and his ship (The Space Vagrant) resemble Harlock and the Arcadia closely, which is most likely intended as a homage by Asamiya.
• In the episode "Space Booty" in the cartoon series Megas XLR, Captain Harlock was parodied as a villain named Captain Warlock who bore a great resemblance to Harlock himself. The legendary establishing shot of Harlock's ship, the Arcadia, is directly ripped in every detail in the Megas episode. Although the Harlock rip-off and the parody of the Arcadia are named differently, and the Harlock parody is considerably different in personality to the real Harlock.
• In a storyline in Marvel Comics Star Wars series, the character Lando Calrissian adopted the alias of "Captain Drebble" for a mission, with his disguised appearance strongly resembling that of Harlock, prompting many surprised letters from anime-loving readers.
• In the anime Lost Universe, Kain Blueriver makes several references to Captain Harlock.
• In the parody anime Excel Saga, some members of the Puuchuu race parody Harlock and Yuuki in the later episodes.
• In the anime Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the opening sequence of the first episode pays homage to the intro sequence of Arcadia of My Youth.
• In the early days of horrorpunk band the Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig often wore a costumized shirt with Captain Harlock's version of the Jolly Roger logo.