Space Pirate Captain Herlock

Avast, there be spoilers ahead, though they be small!

I just finished watching Space Pirate Captain Herlock: The Endless Odyssey again. It's a great series, with a great story. It tends use handwaving technobabble on occasion, and the art is different enough to be initially jarring, but the intricate clarity of the story really makes up for all of it. It's a romantic swashbuckling story that makes a strong showing tackling a few basic, important issues.

Setting aside, for the moment, the concepts of good and evil, there are three major concepts woven through the story: Order vs freedom, responsibility and integrity and science vs humanity.

For order vs freedom, there are two key players. In one corner, Chief Illita, the head of the galactic military/police organization. His organization has one recurring motto, "Bring Order to Space." The motto is plastered everywhere, reminiscent of "Big Brother is Watching You" posters. They even take advantage of two-way video screens throughout the civilized portions of the galaxy; When the crew of the ship is about to be executed, hundreds of screens within the execution environment (called the "Panopticon" at one point in that episode.) show the faces of people throughout civilization whose screens have been coopted for a no-opt-out display of public execution.

In the other corner, you have Captain Herlock. He's a pirate, though you see very little actual piracy in the series. The Captain runs a ship called the Arcadia which is crewed by volunteers. He has two standing rules, stated explicitly: "Nobody who comes to the Arcadia will be turned away," and "Every person may do as they see fit. From time to time, I will give orders. You may choose not to follow them." Despite this, the crew of the Arcadia functions well, partially out of comradarie, and very much out of respect, love and appreciation for the Captain.

Both of these men are extremely strong-willed. Chief Illita harbors a very, very deep resentment of Captain Herlock. Herlock, on the other hand, holds no resentment for any individual, including those who might be his enemies; As one character put it, "The Captain is a very forgiving man, and for those men he can't forgive, he kills." A scary-sounding statement, but it belies hies bias towards forgiveness, and his active awareness and consideration of his actions. Contrast, again, against Chief Illita, who lays traps using the lives of prisoners as bait, and who is willing to ruin the the careers of hundreds of subordinates rather than admit his own error and lose face. (Rather than accept that his plan may have been incomplete, or even that his opponents might have outsmarted him, he declares the failure as the result of a leak, and has all subordinates dismissed under suspicion of being part of a leak.)

The second major theme is integrity and responsibility and its scope. As I just mentioned, Chief Illita ruined the careers of his subordinates rather than admit that anything could have been wrong with his plans or instructions. Captain Herlock, on the other hand, is the series' greatest example of integrity and responsibility. Faced with the prospect that the entiriety of the universe would be enslaved to what amounts to a demon, Herlock stated, "It's not my problem." However, if he makes an oath, keeping it takes priority over all else, including his own life, if necessary, though he'll take on risk himself rather than involving those around him, who he doesn't believe bear his own responsibilities. Prior to the beginning of the anime, he made an oath with a character, an oath that would paradoxically require him to save the universe in order to fulfill it. Near the beginning of the anime, he makes an even more important oath. One which represents the actual cliffhanger of the series.

To recap, for the moment, the actual character of these two primary characters, look at it this way. Chief Illita advocates, persues and enforces authoritarian lawfulness, while not holding himself to the same senses of ethics and behavior that the civilization he enforces are required to adhere to. Captain Herlock, on the other hand, recognizes no law but his own, that of integrity, and he's prefectly willing to enforce it upon those around him—but he enforces it even moreso on himself. These are both characters of law, but they differ on whether they hold themselves to the same standards as they demand from others.

The third major theme of the series is a warning that science can and will touch what it's not supposed to, that there are things that are simply too dangerous and too destructive to know. In the series, this is manifest as several scientists' inability to resist learning and researching an area of the Hourglass Nebula and things found in it. The result of their research, and the demons they unleash, set in motion the entire series.

Now, I have to digress, again, for a moment. While this is certainly a major theme of the series, it's also the least-well-executed. The scientists focused on in the series are almost all shallow obssessive archetypes depicted as people who entirely lack common sense. Ok, sure, geeks and scientists have had that reputation for ages, but anyone with half a brain would know better than to do something a cosmic-sized obelisk tells them to do in a deep, rumbling voice, or to agree to decipher the secrets behind the imprisonment of undead who'd killed your colleages for no other reason than to have access to the secrets. This series falls deeply into the Science is Bad trope.

There's still that piece we set aside...good vs evil. I'll just say this much...there is redemption, in several characters, on large and small scales. Unfortunately, only one of those characters on the large scale really pulls it off convincingly. While several others also have a "tell everyone I was wrong" moment, only one of them really gets enough screen time to allow us to watch the character grow into the moment.

Throughout the anime, there are several character-character relationships and implied histories which look like they could be explored a great deal further, though it wouldn't be possible within this anime without detracting from the overall plot. Many of the characters surrounding Herlock are very richly detailed, and many characters whose roles in the overall plot are minor still get just enough screen time and story to really tell you something about them. This is a 13-episode series that sees more character development than many multi-year television shows.

Easily one of my favorites.