Жасөспірім шағымның Аркадиясы

1982 film by Tomoharu Katsumata
the 1982 feature film

Arcadia of My Youth (わが青春のアルカディア) is an anime film depicting the origin of Leiji Matsumoto's seminal character Captain Harlock. At one time, it was considered to be the central hub of the so called Leijiverse with the events depicted in other works such as Galaxy Express 999 and 1978's Space Pirate Captain Harlock television series occurring sometime after. It is directed by Tomoharu Katsumata, with Kazuo Komatsubara as animation director. Arcadia of My Youth draws many parallels to the German occupation of France during World War II as well as the post World War II American occupation of Japan. Maya's nickname as "The Rose" and the "Voice of Free Arcadia" mirrors the romantic image of the secret French Resistance radio broadcasters and of the Japanese propaganda machine featuring radio broadcasts by English speaking female announcers collectively known as "Tokyo Rose". These announcers relayed bad news from the home front. They also revealed Japanese intelligence about U. S. and Allied military activity by welcoming U. S. Navy submarines and ships by name and ID number to the theatre of operations. Allied crews listened intently during the broadcasts for mention of their units. The prologue of this film does not make it clear whether or not Phantom F. Harlock survived his mission. He is assumed to have survived as his voiceover monologue indicates that he is reading from his autobiography which is titled "Arcadia of My Youth". This film is controversial in that Phantom F. Harlock II was portrayed as a German fighter pilot during World War II. The Tochiro of that era, who had read Harlock I's book, at least found it unusual in that he asked Harlock II why he was flying an Iron Cross plane. The liner notes for the Animeigo DVD state that Harlock's response, "Just paying rent", hid a deeper meaning. It refers to the ancient feudal obligations a noble had to his lords for better or worse, even if he didn't believe in their cause. The liner notes also mention that Harlock technically was no longer bound by these obligations since the feudal customs no longer existed at that time. There is much confusion as to where Arcadia, Harlock's birthplace is. It was always assumed to be somewhere in northern Europe, despite its naming after the rustic Greek paradise in the Peloponnesus. Harlock gives the proper name of his ancestral birthplace as Hellingstadt meaning that Arcadia is most likely a nickname. During the World War II segment of the film, Harlock II, while flying to Switzerland muses about Arcadia, leading viewers to assume that Arcadia was located there, but Harlock's cryptic comments about "paying rent" aside, this would still make little sense in the context of the film as Switzerland was neutral during World War II. Matsumoto never gave a concrete definitive statement on Harlock's ethnicity or heritage, but Harlock is an actual name of Prussian origin. Many elements of Arcadia of My Youth were borrowed from his other stories such as the Deathshadow which appeared in a 1970 manga and in his later adaptation of the original Space Battleship Yamato where the Deathshadow appears along with Susumu Kodai's brother whose alias is Captain Harlock. These elements did not make it into the anime version but they were the source of American fan rumors that the Leijiverse Harlock was actually Mamoru Kodai in disguise or possibly a descendant. The origin story in the 1978 television series (episodes 30 and 31) depicts Harlock and Tochiro as childhood friends and Emeraldas meeting them both later. In Arcadia of My Youth, Emeraldas and Harlock are old friends while he is just meeting Tochiro. Furthermore, the 1978 TV series also shows the Arcadia (this time blue) being constructed on planet Heavy Meldar, not Earth. Also, Zoll of Tokarga, who made a guest appearance in episode 21 of that series, is totally reimagined for Arcadia of My Youth. The fact that both of Captain Harlock's ancestors have the trademark Heidelberg duelling scar gives rise to the widespread fan assumption that the scar must be hereditary, though this is medically implausible. So far, no story has ever depicted how Harlock got his scars, though Arcadia of My Youth does depict Emeraldas receiving her scar from a glancing shot from the gun of Illumidas officer Muriguson. The four episode Queen Emeraldas OVA series would re invent her scar as a wound received during a sword duel with a different opponent. The proper translation of the Japanese title is a source of dispute. Although Animeigo's "Arcadia of My Youth" has been widely accepted, the original "My Youth in Arcadia" was used in Japan and better reflects the inspiration from the Goethe quote. Reportedly, character and concept creator Leiji Matsumoto owned an actual Revi C 12D gunsight that was used by the animators as visual reference when creating the one shown in the film.

Arcadia of My Youth was originally released on North American home video by Celebrity Home Entertainment under the "Just For Kids" banner. It was initially retitled Vengeance of the Space Pirate, and was, for many, the first introduction to Captain Harlock. This release suffered from having about forty minutes cut out of it, most notably the lengthy pre title prologue concerning one of Harlock's ancestor's attempt to fly over the tallest peak (known as the Stanley Witch) of the Owen Stanley Mountain Range in New Guinea (as "read" for inspiration by Harlock from said ancestor's autobiography, Arcadia of My Youth, moments before the Illumidas attack on the Deathshadow). The film was later released by Best Film and Video along with many of the other anime released under the Just For Kids label. It was given the alternately translated title of "My Youth in Arcadia", and features all the cut footage restored. Another, more likely, possibility is that My Youth in Arcadia is the original version (on Best Film & Video's first issue, it was billed as "The original Vengeance of the Space Pirate"), probably an international dub, à la Toho's Super Spacefortress Macross version of the 1984 Macross film, Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? (released here by Best Films & Video; their first issue was billed, "The original Clash of the Bionoids", referring to the edited Celebrity Just For Kids version). A subtitled Laserdisc was released in North America by Animeigo on April 12, 1995. Arcadia of My Youth was also released by Animeigo in 2003. It is the only Harlock story which shows how Harlock actually lost an eye (it also reveals how Emeraldas got her facial scar, making her a virtual distaff doppelganger of Harlock). One of the trailers for Arcadia of My Youth (one of two included as extras in Animeigo's DVD release) has one of the most confusing and misleading scenes, a clip of the Tokargan Zoll shooting out Harlock's eye. Zoll, in the film, is actually an enemy turned staunch ally, and Harlock's injury is caused by Illumidas gunfire. This trailer scene was recreated for the boxes on the American VHS releases of Vengeance of the Space Pirate and My Youth in Arcadia. Discotek Media released Arcadia of My Youth uncut on high definition Blu ray and DVD in North America on May 30, 2017.

The fight against the Illumidas is continued in the 1982–1983 TV series Endless Road SSX. This series suffered low viewer ratings, as it aired during the waning years of the Matsumoto boom that started in the 1970s with Space Battleship Yamato. By this time, Japanese audiences' interest had moved on to the trend in mecha shows that began after Macross and Mobile Suit Gundam. The Matsumoto boom would completely die off by 1983 with the release of the theatrical film Final Yamato, and aside from a few isolated one off projects, no new regularly produced anime based on Matsumoto works would be released until 1998. Discotek Media licensed Endless Road SSX for North American territories, and was officially released in English in 2017.

The American comic book company Eternity Comics published an original comic series based on Captain Harlock. It theoretically picked up where Arcadia of My Youth left off, and was also written in an attempt to bridge the storylines of Galaxy Express 999 and 1978's Space Pirate Captain Harlock TV series. The comic also featured several significant story arcs titled "Deathshadow Rising", "Fall of the Empire", and "The Machine Men", which would theoretically lead into the Galaxy Express 999 stories. The comic series ran from 1989 to 1992, and was scripted by Robert W. Gibson, and drawn by Ben Dunn and Tim Eldred.