New Captain Harlock movie trailer

[usamimi]

So a while back, I heard Toei was making a new Captain Harlock movie that was entirely 3D/CG-animated. I was a little worried, because, well...I LOVE Captain Harlock, and I wasn't sure how well something like that translated into the realm of 3D animation.

Well, they finally released a trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw6yApBM ... e=youtu.be

I was surprised to see that it actually looks...good? Like it has potential? XD The atmosphere looks a little darker than the old Captain Harlock I remember, but that's not necessarily a BAD thing.

What do you guys think?

[davemerrill]

So far, this video game cutscene - I mean trailer - is failing to sell me on the concept. I'd need to see more character animation before I can get any sort of feel for the movie, and this movie only gives us three characters, two of which we saw in the previous teaser from 2010. I don't know if I like the Arcadia redesign, we have no idea what the plot is going to be or who the other characters are, there's a lot about this film that remains unknown.

I know people who are flipping out about this trailer, but there doesn't seem to be a lot here that feels like Captain Harlock to me. Of course, I could be wrong and this movie could be great. Hasn't happened yet with any of these CG remakes of cartoons, but there's always a first time.

[usamimi]

I'm always hesitant about CG remakes of "flat" cartoons, so I feel you on that. It looks like it has a lot of potential, but I agree that it probably won't capture the same feeling as the old series/movies.

Someone found a longer, cam-captured trailer that looks like it was shown somewhere live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ajE792BYg picture quality isn't so great, but it seems to give a previews of character animation, as well as some of the fighting sequences. The audio's kinda poor, but with my limited Japanese I still probably couldn't have made out much. ^^; It looks very similar to Vexile or the Appleseed movie, animation-wise.

It could be total crap, but since I love Harlock, I'm probably going to watch it no matter what. XD

[davemerrill]

That new trailer makes me feel a lot better about the film. At least Tadashi Daiba and Yattaran are in there, that's what's important. I'm not a Shirow fan, at all, so I haven't seen the CG Appleseed film, except to walk in and out of video rooms showing it. It looked like... like any other CG animated movie, the characters look like weird reanimated corpses and move like robots. Uncanny valley territory.

Anyways, like you said, I'm going to watch it no matter what, so my opinions at this stage are irrelevant.

[davemerrill]

The CG film I am REALLY looking forward to seeing is 009 RE: CYBORG. It looks fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPQ1ZlGpWlA

[usamimi]

I think the problem I have with most CG movies like that is that by the time the movie comes out, sometimes the CG already looks outdated. Vexile and Appleseed had those kinds of issues for me, character-animation-wise. The settings and props all looked great, but the characters themselves looked off half the time. :/ This one looks like they've taken a lot more care with in that respect, so hopefully they can maintain that throughout, at least.

I actually never got into the Cyborg 009 series, but that trailer looks pretty neat.

[greg]

we have no idea what the plot is going to be or who the other characters are, there's a lot about this film that remains unknown.

Yeah, like the new Star Trek movie's trailer. They barely managed to show any space ships in it, even.

[davemerrill]

Well, the thing with the Star Trek movie is that JJ Abrams is notorious about being amazingly secretive when it comes to his films. I don't know that anybody's being that quiet about the Harlock project - there may be a giant article in Japanese (or French, even) detailing the story and who does what to whom. I mean, it's Harlock. If the plot makes more sense than "My Youth In Arcadia" I'll be OK with it.

With a CG film based on anime characters, there is going to be speculation on character design, movement, animation quality, etc. Certainly those were the questions I had (and have with any CG re-imagining of an anime series) and the first Harlock trailer didn't really address them. The French clip did, at least, give us a glimpse of more characters.

[usamimi]

*nodnod* Exactly. I heard that an extended, exclusive trailer was shown at a Hawaiian anime con, I wonder if that cam footage was the trailer they got to see? I'm trying to keep my eyes open for more info, so if I find anything, I'll post more in this thread.

[_D_]

Hopefully with the involvement of the Japanese gov't they can get some properties done over here live. We know things like Cobra (Buichi Terasawa) are in the works and things like Gaiking, Cowboy Bebop and others have been bandied about for years. I just don't ever want to see Japanese productions where they try to fake Western characters by wearing wigs, etc. (like the live action Sailor Moon). In the words of the great Teddy Long "I'm not feeling it player!" And that is a problem with much of old manga and anime with characters who in mannerism are Japanese but are set in America, Europe, etc. and are characters from those places. Might work in animation and CGI animation but that's it...