Okay, so Japan’s CG isn’t quite on Hollywood’s level. But this trailer for Space Pirate Captain Harlock looks pretty awesome, possibly because of its $30 million budget, the highest ever for Toei Animation. I’ve never seen the original anime of the same name, but I have always loved the look of the titular character (designed by Leiji Matsumoto). So for me, this trailer hits all the important bits — namely, Harlock looking bad-ass and piloting his giant, bad-ass ship the Arcadia. The movie opens in Japan on September 7, and while a US release hasn’t been announced, GFM Films (located in London) is working on a dub. Read more…
Here’s the net’s first good look at Toei’s Space Pirate Captain Harlock remake, a3D film pilot produced by Toei animation back in 2010. Apparently they finished this pilot some time ago and have been moving forward production on a proposed full-scale film due out sometime in 2012. The footage was shown at last year’s Tokyo International Anime Fair, Hawaii’s Kawaii-Kon this past April and again at France’s Annecy film festival a few weeks back. The above clip was subsequently aired on a French news network and looks to be the most complete footage to have been uploaded to net thus far. When I first heard about the project late last year, I freaked out a bit. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of animating Harlock in 3D. His costume alone, not to mention his hair would make it difficult. However, so far this is looking great. We’ll just have to see if Toei plans on sharing any more of the film in the coming months.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 31, 2010 in Animation
I was filled with horror looking at the above sneak peak poster from the Captain Harlock computer graphics film that Toei has planned for 2012. Clearly Toei has learned little from the horrible AstroBoy film that came out last year. I’ve some some amazing anime that’s been done in 3D, but very rarely have I seen a studio be able to pull off translating a 2D character into 3D. The first problem I noticed with this harlock poster is that while the clothing is just right, there’s something not quite working about the face and the hair. The result is that Harlock starts to look like Howard Stern with too much makeup on: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 25, 2010 in Animation
Leiji Matsumoto was born on this day in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1938 — and he went on to dominate anime in the 70s much to the delight of a generation of fanboys including yours truly. He got his start in 1953 drawing romantic shōjo manga for girls and although he disliked this genre you can see the influence it would play in the many strong (but rail thin) female characters which would be featured in his work for years to come. Read more…
For us old time anime fanboys PBM Express USA had a great collection of retro goodies at the Toy Fair! Shown above are action figures for Mazinger Z and Grendizer, and below is a highly detailed Captain Harlock Statue:
