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Wow. That was a fantastic episode, if a bit predictable. The way the story was presented was just so good. And the use of the Shamisen was so haunting.
Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
The Shamisen really set the tone that whole episode, and as judojon said, the presentation was great. Easily my favorite episode so far. 9+/10 status. Really impressive.
Vengeance of everyone's grudge.
"I didn't add it to my list so I forgot I was watching that." - lpf
That was such a great episode, the ending shot of Kei and Harlock looking over the sunset after Kei shot her lover was beautiful. I'm really impressed with this series so far.
This was one of THOSE episodes.
Rintaro's team went for it with all they had, and I have to say, it's not just a "tragic love story". Harlock have an incredible patience not hurting humans like Kazuya.
If anyone is interested, I did this:
Maybe I could do more from this episode but it already took too long.
The plot wasn't that special, but the direction was superb, so many artistic shots and the shamisen music creating an interesting mood. Even if it didn't contribute much to the main story, I'd like to see more of this.
The shots and visuals this episode were just brilliant wow. Kei looked absolutely gorgeous in her kimono and the shamisen playing as you see the Arcadia approaching while the sun sets in the background just beautiful. Got to know about Kei’s past and how she met Harlock. She really did shine in this episode. My favorite episode so far.
Brilliant episode, easily the best so far, in spite of its relative lack of action and its focus on a very limited number of characters (and no real Daiba here). There's so much about this series that feels ahead of its time, considering this is pre-Mobile Suit Gundam.
The brilliant use of music, and the stunning picture of the Arcadia rising on the horizon at sunset gave it almost arthouse film vibes. This was a great bit of storytelling mixed with fantastic direction.
Also quite rare in this era to see female characters get spotlight episodes that are quite this well done. This was an absolute highlight of what's so far shaping up to be a great series. The Leiji-verse really is the sweet spot of 70s anime.