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With a production cost totaling 30 million dollars and with the appointment of actor Shun Oguri as the voice of the character Harlock, the movie Captain Harlock, which will be shown throughout Japan starting on Sept. 7, is still generating a lot of buzz. Adding to the buzz, another big announcement was made on May 21. The theme song for the movie will be the song “Be the Light” by the popular rock band, One Ok Rock. It is fitting that this song by a major band has been chosen for a big movie that is aiming for worldwide acclaim.
The band One Ok Rock was formed in 2005, and its aggressive live performances are very popular. It has the overwhelming support of the youth, with its concerts at the Budokan in 2010 and the Yokohama Arena for two days in 2012 selling out. This year, they released their sixth album, titled Jinsei x Boku, and they are having their biggest concert tour ever, with 10 concerts in six arenas, mobilizing 100,000 fans. Due to these efforts, they were able to realize the tie-up with the aforementioned major movie to be screened this fall.
One Ok Rock has this to say regarding the tie-up: “In response to sorrowful events happening around the world that can’t be solved through people’s efforts, our feelings as a band, as individuals, are expressed in this song. Through our involvement with this movie, we are hoping with all our hearts that through this different medium, our band’s unique worldview will transform all kinds of people’s darkness into light.”
Captain Harlock is an animated movie completely using CG techniques and is produced by Toei Animation, making it a major movie production within Japan. It is a 30 million dollar theatrical adaptation of the manga Space Pirate Captain Harlock by manga legend Leiji Matsumoto of Galaxy Express 999 fame. Captain Harlock is an ambitious movie that, from the very start, was made with an overseas release in mind.
The director is Shinji Aramaki of Appleseed fame, and the script was written by author Harutoshi Fukui, whose bestselling works include Aegis and Lorelei: das Lied Zum Ende des Krieges. It was also announced recently that voice actors for the movie include Shun Ogura, Haruma Miura, Yu Aoi, Arata Furuta, and Ayano Fukuda. With the additional announcement about the theme song, music-wise as well, the revival of Captain Harlock this year has become a movie not to be missed.
Captain Harlock Movie Official Site:
http://harlock-movie.com (Japanese)
Distributed by Toei
Source:
http://animeanime.jp/article/2013/05/21/14108.html (Japanese)
© Leiji Matsumoto / Captain Harlock Film Partners
