My Youth In ARCADIA : compendiumMy Youth In ARCADIA : compendiumMy favourite Arcadia image, although scruffy. AFS screen capture, .gif 50k
" At the end of the journey, all men think that their youth was Arcadia... "
Arcadie, Arcadia n. (poet.). Ideal rustic paradise [f. Gk Arkadia mountain district in Peloponnese] - Concise Oxford Dictionary
A rose by any other name ...
The movie was called waga seishun no ARUKADIA in Japanese, and the creators chose to translate it as My Youth In ARCADIA, and that is how it was known in the West until ANIMEIGO released the English subtitled version entitled Arcadia of my Youth, which is, in fairness, a more accurate translation.
Some of you may have been introduced to Captain Harlock though the video Vengeance of the Space Pirate, a slash-and-burn edit by Celebrity/Just for Kids Video which cuts 40 min from the original movie, including the entire 10 minute opening sequence.
Before the Animeigo release of Arcadia of my Youth, and with the exception of a little known early fansub effort, Harlock has fared badly at the hands of American translators. The two tapes of the TV series I've seen must be the worst translating effort in the history of anime. [and I'm not the only one who thinks so either: watch Corn Pone's Bad American Dubbing]. These are the ones where Captain Harlock sings nursery rhymes, yells "Hang a left!" to which his ship sharply banks right, and in response to the startled "How did you get here!?" of a distraught baddie, replies smugly, "I jumped.". As if that wasn't enough, in his appearance towards the end of the dubbed version of Galaxy Express 999, released simply as Galaxy Express, he is Captain Warlock, with an accent hot from the Ponderosa...
On a brighter note, under French direction he became Albator, and the entire TV series was translated and aired on Canada's CBC French television in the 70's. To this day he is a recognised cultural icon in the French speaking province of Quebec.
And even my copy of the manga, bought in Japan, is proudly labeled as Space Pirate Captain HERLOCK ... even when in Japanese it quite clearly reads 'kyaputen HA-ROKKU'.
The Captain himself, of course, would no doubt put it all down to destiny, and not dwell on it overmuch - except perhaps on a quiet evening deep in the Sea of Stars, pondering the ignorance of men between sips of his favourite aperitif.
The A-ko thing, however, must still jar the nerves from time to time...
