Search - Galaxy Railways - Box Set Vol. 1-6 on DVD

Not TRUE MATSUMOTO

S D'Anconia | Tokyo | 01/14/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"In the past 10 years, many new series have been released either by Matsumoto or through those associated with him, using his creations (i.e., Taro Rin, etc.). While I love to see a new generation of people getting exposed to his concepts, these muddled, watered-down, highly westernized versions just miss the mark. Gone is the truly majestic vision and scope, humanism and beauty, individualism and romantic code - almost "bushido in space" or if you're into Yakuza - the Ninkyo Eiga genre. All I needed to see was Harlock blowing a mans brains out in a brash, arrogant style to know that this was not "true matsumoto". Matsumoto in fact distanced himself from that "Harlock" work soon after it was finished.



It's likely a sign of the times as those romantic, idealistic sort of animated programs are no longer made in Japan. The net of it is that Americans got cool anime. Japan got a lot of bad ideas that could never match the subtle, poetic spirit of timeless works like Captain Harlock or the original Galaxy Express 999.



Watch the original and if starved, have a look at these. Crunchyroll has licensed them and live-evil did a superior job of fan-subbing a whole slew of episodes in the last 4 years.



Specifically to this series, I had to force myself to watch every episode, waiting for something to happen. Nothing ever did. Then I watched the sequel. I wish I could have that day or so of my life back. Good opening though..."