Space Pirate Captain Harlock as a Live Action

No, I don’t have news of an upcoming Space Pirate Captain Harlock film but now that I’ve shamelessly grabbed your attention just watch the following (it’s best if you click on the video to view it in a bigger size):

This fan-made trailer is by Miguel Mesas who as far as I can tell from his website is an independent filmmaker from Spain. Apparently he released this in March of 07 but I only just stumbled across it while browsing Youtube.

Now if this were a real movie there’d be things to nitpick about: Daiba is too old, El Capitán isn’t sexy enough and I can barely see his scar, Mime looks like she stepped out of The Ring, and so on, but because it’s from a fan I can easily forgive all that and see that it perfectly captures just how grandly dramatic the anime is. Not to mention that the CG is amazing. The Arcadia is simply beautiful, especially when it sails off around the Earth at the end – a shot lifted straight from the anime.

In fact this trailer is so good that it actually makes me want to see a Harlock live action even though news of anime adaptions or at least those done by Hollywood usually fill me with dread. Just look no further than the possibility of Keanu Reeves starring in Cowboy Bebop (please no! There’s a difference between being laid back and being as emotionless as a plank of wood) to see why.