It seems that every time they put together a series or movie based on the characters from Star Blazers or Galaxy Express, anime fan receive an awesome adventure filled with deep themes and a rich story. Cosmo Warrior Zero is no different; Leiji Matsumoto continues his legendary career with this intriguing and impressive series that features two of anime's most famous characters Harlock and Emeraldas.

     Like Maetel Legend, this series focuses on the struggle between humans and machines. The hero of our tale is Zero (who strives to become a hero-get it?), the captain of a ship that employs machines. Zero is on a search for Space Pirate Harlock and wants to bring him to justice. Zero's search leads him to the Wild West town of Gun Frontier where his crew meets the gun-slinging bounty hunter, Sylvia, who is also after Harlock. This leads to wild action in with a tense and solemn confrontation between Zero and Harlock himself.

     The tale continues aboard the ship with First Mate, Marina, who hides a secrect that could forever change her relationship with her crew. We get another emotional scene where Zero must fight his own conflicts and do what he feels is right, including letting Marina know exactly how he feels about her. This is a poignant turning point in the series that really sets the pace, even for someone like me who did not see the beginning of the series. The story in classic Matsumoto style, and digs deep into the characters psyche's allowing viewers to gain an omnipotent view that impedes judgment. Viewers learn why Harlock hates the robots, the government; and how these feelings fuel his vigilante ambitions. While, Zero, a perfect foil, subdues his prejudiced emotions despite his own tragedies with the growing robot populations, and seeks justice rather than destruction.

     In addition to that, CosmoWarrior Zero was meticulously animated, featured superb voice acting and fans will be happy to see appearances from Emeraldas from Maetel Legend and Harlock's good friend Tochiro with all his wacky goodness. The series is far from predictable, the plot points that constantly challenge the opinion of the viewer. Can Zero make the leap to hero? Is Harlock the true enemy, or merely the scapegoat of the political machine? The series director Kasuyoshi Yokota, who also directed, Maetel Legend and Kimera does such a wonderful job recounting Matsumoto's tale that I can honestly say, I didn't feel lost at all. However, I was sad to learn that CosmoWarrior Zero was a short series running in Japan for a mere thirteen episodes. I only hope that this series could one day be continued, until I will just seek out the remaining episodes.

     Send comments and questions about this article to Blackhart@ybfree.com.

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