Captain Harlock (宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック Uchū Kaizoku Kyaputen Hārokku, lit. Space Pirate Captain Harlock) is a fictional character created by manga artist Leiji Matsumoto.
Harlock is the archetypical romantic hero, a space pirate with an individualist philosophy of life. He is as noble as he is taciturn, rebellious, stoically fighting against totalitarian regimes, whether they be earthborn or alien. In his own words, he "fight[s] for no one's sake... only [...] for something deep in [his] heart".
The character first appears in Adventures of a Honeybee. (1953) The first series featuring Harlock in the lead role is 1978's Space Pirate Captain Harlock. As with most of Matsumoto's works, continuity is not a crucial issue. An appearance of any particular version of the character does not necessarily connect to any previous or following versions, and the interconnectedness of the various series is a common subject of speculation among fans.
- International releases
In France and Quebec, "Captain Harlock" is known as ' Albator, le corsaire de l'espace ', to avoid confusion with the completely different character Captain Haddock, and is very popular there. The name "Albator" was first proposed by Eric Charden, who designed the French version of the 1978 series introductory song, in memory of one of his friends, whose family name was Balator, sometimes nick-named The Albatross and having a psychological profile close to Harlock's.
Albator debuted in Canada on Radio-Canada Télévision (where the show recently played once again) in 1979, and in France on Antenne 2 in 1980. Since that massive airplay on French and Canadian TV, Captain Harlock/Albator has become a cult hero for an entire generation of French-speaking people, so that French people often use the expression "Génération Albator". The whole soundtrack has been re-recorded for the French version. The Tokyo Orchestra was replaced by intimist but futurist synthesisers performed by the French musician Eric Charden. And, last but not least, the French main theme of Albator 78 - Les Sylvidres was anthemic and a big hit on French radio. Both complete series Space Pirate (1978) and Endless Orbit SSX (1982) have been dubbed into French (respectively known in French as Albator 78 - Les Sylvidres [Sylvidres being the French name for the Mazone] and Albator 84 - L'Atlantis de ma jeunesse) as has the My Youth in Arcadia Movie.
In Latin America, a dubbed version was widely shown in the early 1980s. In this version, Harlock was renamed as "Capitán Raymar". The series shown there were the complete uncensored original series. Another complete version dubbed in Spain also exists, and retains the original character names.
(Compilado con todo el tema en Japones de la presentacion)
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