Thoughts on Endless Orbit SSX?The antagonists, save for Mr. Zone and one-offs like the merchant girl, are kinda bland and unthreatening compared to the Mazone from the 1978 series (or the Gamilus in Yamato), but there's still a lot to like about it.>Tochiro gets to show his relaxed attitude and dry humor, instead of dying as soon as possible (honestly reminds me of my grandmother)>Gunfights are more elaborate, with Harlock dual-wielding his pistol and sabre or throwing his jacket as a distraction >Designs and atmosphere are distinctly '70s, while the artwork is very '80s (thin and sharp linework, increased emphasis on shading and shiny metal surfaces, lively explosions and lasers) - the best of two worlds>Space battles feel like kind of an afterthought, though scenes like the chase between Harlock and Zone's glowing ship give me hope for the remaining 8 episodesI don't mind the faster pacing compared to the Arcadia of my Youth movie or the '70s series, though I generally prefer the serialized stories over the one-and-done capers this time around.All things considered I can see why some might prefer this incarnation over the previous entries, just as I enjoyed Yamato III and Final more than Yamato II (the original Yamato is the most "complete" installment so far, but the sequels still have their moments).While I'm at it, is there any record of the elements that got cut for time/budget, like with Yamato III? (see https://ourstarblazers.com/vault/373/ - this site is amazing)
>>22582779I'm just happy Tochiro got to shine :( I love all things Harlock except the 2013 movie, and I enjoy more episodic shows, so I thought this was great.
>>22582779I've watched most Leiji stuff up through Gun Frontier, taking a break since I heard it's lame. Only ones I haven't seen (before Gun Frontier) are Starzinger and Danguard. Of all of them, the original Harlock show and the first Season of Yamato are by far the best. I also love Galaxy Express, but there's so much repetition that for most people, I'd just recommend they watch the movie. >Endless Orbit The animation is really good but the writing leaves a lot to be desired, and it's not as stylistic as the original Rintaro directed show. Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the show about the gold ring more, so if you're not feeling endless Orbit, just put it down and go watch that.
>>22582789Danguard has a lot of cool things going for it (the dad shit, some of the animation, etc.), but most of the enemy robots go down in one/two hits like total suckers and the show kinda loses it's steam after the protagonist's mentor/father dies.Starzinger is fun from what little I've seen, though it's clearly aimed at a younger audience than Leiji's other works (don't worry, you still get your melodrama).Both are worth a shot, but I can see why they didn't get prioritized by English-speaking fansubbers (the former is stuck with ARR sludge, the latter is almost finished courtesy of Scorpius Subs: both have ancient US dubs on Internet Archive if you're into that kinda thing).
>>22582779
One of the pirate ships.
>>22583291So bad ass >>22582829Good looking out, I'll make sure to keep all that in mind when I get back to those shows. For now I'm focused on watching everything up to the present. Gonna save those older, stand alone shows for when I'm feeling nostalgic. Have you seen Interstella 5555 yet?
The best part about SSX (and I guess by extension Arcadia of My Youth) is that it gives Tochiro something to do other than die. I know he's supposed to be the dearly departed friend Harlock still grieves over, but it's nice to see more of why he's so important to Harlock beyond being Arcadia's designer/builder.
Yamato is NOT a Leiji creation, but the first series is good. As for the rest, only the stuff directed by Rintaro is worth a watch, the rest is garbage and a waste of time. At least it has better artwork than his manga.
Someone post the SSX pilot film its hints at a much better series then the one that was presented to us.
It's funny how the climax of SSX episode 16 plays the main theme at double speed, when the Arcadia warps to the wormhole. I guess the sound engineer didn't have any suitable music on hand and had to make do.>>22583799>Have you seen Interstella 5555 yet?I haven't watched anything Leiji-related that was produced after the '80s, but it and 2199 seem to be the only ones that most people care about.As for the "classic" era, the only stuff I haven't watched are:>Galaxy Express TV and specials>Adieu, Galaxy Express>vast majority of Starzinger>Queen Milennia (not even the movie adaptation)>Saint ElmoIf you wonder why I prefer Yamato III over II, I just found that it did more for the adventure aspect and didn't take half the season to get going. I also prefer the new characters, even if most of them faded away after the episode count got halved.>>22583825>Yamato is NOT a Leiji creationI don't know if he deserved to get all the copyrights back in the day, but it still has a fair chunk of his DNA (so to speak).>As for the rest, only the stuff directed by Rintaro is worth a watch, the rest is garbage and a waste of timeHarlock '78 and the Galaxy Express movie are two of the better works, but it's not like the rest is worthless.Be Forever, Yamato is my least favorite when it comes to the story overall, but I still liked the fake earth segment, as a fan of the Gamilus's brief attempts at psychological warfare.While I'm at it, what's your verdict on Blue Noah/ThunderSub and Odin, the works Nishizaki made without any Leiji involvment? I've never watched these but I'll probably check them out, if nothing else to get a wider sense of where his and Leiji's visions diverge.
What's the general consensus on Dimensional Voyage? I read it a while back and thought it was decent. I appreciated how it actually had a definitive ending unlike the classic manga, which just kind of stops.
>>22583825Like the other guy said, it's not pure Leiji but if you watch his other stuff, it's impossible not to see his "DNA" in Yamato. >>22583867You gotta watch Galaxy Express and Queen Millennia, they're slow but they're very good. If you like the Leiji ethos then you will enjoy those shows, just don't try to binge them too fast. >Prefer Yamato 3 over 2That's wild, but I get it. I prefer the movie version of 2 where everyone dies at the end, the season doesn't make up for it's longer runtime with unique ideas, instead it's mostly filler. I don't know how I feel about 3, as the only version I was able to find had atrocious subtitles. It was watchable, but it felt kind of like an afterthought. If you somehow found a version with decent subtitles, please let me know.
>>22583905One difference I've noticed is that Yamato focuses more on the ship and war/disaster than the individual crew members, especially in the sequel movies, while the other Leiji stuff (Harlock, GE999, Danguard) leans more on the young protagonist.As for Yamato III, I went with the US dub and never tried the Hong Kong bootleg subs. Supposedly it's less censored than the dub of the previous seasons, though they ditched the established voice cast in favor of the Speed Racer crew because it was easier than tracking down the originals.I haven't read the source manga, and I rarely watch more than two episodes per day and/or sitting (no matter the show).
WTF Mime, put some damn clothes on!Who do you think you are, some kinda Teresa?
