Product Details

• Actors: Reiko Tajima, Megumi Hayashibara, Kenichi Ogata, Yôko Asagami, L.B. Bartholomee
• Directors: Yuji Asada
• Writers: Leiji Matsumoto, Mugi Kamio
• Format: Animated, Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Section 23
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 60 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305511918
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,436 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Based on manga drawn by Leiji Matsumoto in 1978, this OAV series continues the Space Pirate Captain Harlock cycle. Emeraldas, who once loved Harlock, plies the sea of space in the Queen Emeraldas, a starship that resembles a blimp attached to a 17th-century sailing vessel. Sepulchrally thin, with a mane of blond hair and a prominent facial scar, Emeraldas fights injustice--and anyone who dares to fly Harlock's skull-and-cross-bones emblem. In "Departure," the first installment, spunky street urchin Tochiro stows away to the planet Daibaran, hoping to start a new life--and build a starship of his own. Daibaran is a mined-out wasteland with an Old West-style town, complete with a saloon. Tochiro comes into conflict with Eldomain, the captain of the Afressian space pirates, who makes the mistake of defying Emeraldas--with predictable results. The conflict escalates in "Eternal Emblem," as Eldomain kidnaps Tochiro and the other inhabitants of Daibaran in an attempt to trap Emeraldas. She defeats Eldomain, the entire Afressian fleet, and their queen before sailing off. Queen Emeraldas will delight Captain Harlock fans; critical viewers will find the poor integration of the three-dimensional, computer-animated spaceship with the two-dimensional cel animation visually jarring. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun series with a lot of flaws, March 12, 2002

By 

Zack Davisson "japanreviewed" (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queen Emeraldas (DVD)

"Queen Emereldas" is fun. The OVA is peppered with flaws, preventing it from being more than fun, but it is still a good DVD and a nice addition to the Matsumoto stable.

As with most Matsumoto, "Queen Emereldas" is heavy on melodrama. "I am.....Emereldas (accompanied by a fierce wind that blows cape in a dramatic fashion.)" His work is pretty firmly Science Fantasy rather than Science Fiction. Spaceships are re-conditioned pirate ships with flags blowing in a non-existant wind as they sail the silent seas. Weapons are based on archaic swords and heavy dragoons. "Queen Emereldas" has all of these Matsumoto touches in spades. Honor and strength matter more than plot, and every scrappy kid has the right to be a man. The orchestral music is sweeping drama.

On the flaw side, as with "Harlock Saga," "Queen Emereldas" has a hard time with computer animation and cel animation. The two styles mix together jaringly. For some bizarre reason, the DVD switches to French about 2/3 of the way through. With a remote control it is easy enough to switch it back, but it is strange that this error got through on a professional DVD.

Storywise, "Queen Emereldas" assumes you are up on your Matsumoto. There are no introductions made for characters like Tochiro or the mechanoids. Backstory is never filled in. Someone not familiar with Matsumoto's previous work would be very confused and disappointed by "Queen Emereldas."

Still, with so little of Matsumoto's work available on DVD, each crumb dropped from the table feels like a feast. It's a fun series and I enjoy it in spite of it's flaws.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very good, but..., May 24, 2000

By 

S. Collier "spcolli" (Millersville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Queen Emeraldas (DVD)

Queen Emeraldas is an excellent OVA for those who already are familiar with Matsumoto's works. However, if you aren't familiar with the 'Lejiverse' then you probably won't like it very much.

There are 2 things that are keeping me from rating this thing 5 stars. The first is the fact that the DVD encoding is horribly messed up! In episode 2, if you have the Japanese audio track on, it switches to French! The only way to correct this is to switch the audio over to French where it becomes Japanese. Then, halfway through episode 2, the French channel becomes French and you then have to switch the audio back over to Japanese. As you can see, it's sort of confusing, and annoying. I just pray that you all have DVD remote controls with Audio buttons on them, so you won't have to go to the menu every time.

The second is the actual OVA itself. I believe in giving an unbiased review, and to me, unbiased in this case means a review of someone who is not a Matsumoto fan. If I had no knowledge of the Matsumoto universe, I would wish I hadn't bought the DVD. I guess the OVA is sort of like a gift to the long-time Matsumoto fans. Also...with the exception of the very first CG shot, I can't stand the computer graphics.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Life is good, January 19, 2000

By 

usagibrian (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Queen Emeraldas (DVD)

DVD & anime is a match made in heaven and QE OVA is a perfect example why. Scene access, dub or sub, all at your fingertips. I've loved Emeraldus for years and this video shows her off as she was meant to be (woe to the unwary [and unworthy] who fly the crimson skull and crossbones). If you don't know the Leijiverse, I don't know if you'll be as enthusiastic as I am, but if you know the characters at all, you'll fall in love all over again (how can you not love a woman who wields one of the 4 existing Cosmo Dragoons?). I can't wait for the next four eps.