History Anime / ArcadiaOfMyYouth

''Waga seishun no Arcadia'', released in America as ''Arcadia of My Youth'', is a 1982 Anime feature giving an origin story [[note]]One of many, as the ''Anime/{{Leijiverse}}'' runs on MultipleChoicePast [[/note]] for Space Pirate ''Anime/CaptainHarlock'' and his DistaffCounterpart, Emeraldas.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: The Tokargans are no longer of use to the Illumidas now that they've conquered Earth. Harlock tries to warn the Earth that they will suffer the same fate, eventually, but most don't heed his warnings.

* NaziProtagonist: The Phantom F. Harlock from the World War II sequence is a Luftwaffe pilot in the death throes of Nazi Germany. He expresses that he has no real love for Nazi ideology (in his own words, he's "paying rent"), and winds up helping Tochiro (a Japanese scientist studying German gunsights) defect to Sweden before walking back over the border to face pursuing Allied soldiers and the consequences of his own actions.

* MeaningfulName: Every Harlocks' ship is named ''Arcadia''. Arcadia represents the idyllic and carefree land of one's childhood, and is what Captain Harlock fights to restore.

* TheQuisling: Prime Minister Triter, the leader of the VichyEarth government under the Illumidas. He serves as the Illumidas lapdog and is looked down on for it, even by Zeda. During the botched execution of Emeraldas and Maya, he shoots Zoll InTheBack.
* WorthyOpponent: How Harlock and Zeda see one another. After his defeat, Zeda and Harlock promise to one day toast each other in Hell.

He also meets Zoll, a soldier of Tokarga, another race under the thumb of the Illumidas.


Then Tochiro shows Harlock his masterpiece, a powerful ship that puts anything in the Illumidas fleet to shame, the ''Arcadia'', which would become Harlock's signature ship.

As they put to space, it is revealed that Maya has been captured, as well as Emeraldas, and they are threatened with execution if Harlock does not return. However, they are saved when Zoll leads an insurrection and frees the pair, though Maya is gravely wounded by Murugison, Zeda's SmugSnake of a second in command, who also gives Emeraldas her signature scar, grazing her face with a bullet. When Zoll starts to hunt Murugison down for revenge, the human [[TheQuisling Quisling]] leader Triter shoots Zoll in the back.

His friends freed, Harlock ventures to Tokarga to try and save their people, whom the Illumidas have decided have [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived their usefulness to the empire and are wiping them out]]. Unfortunately, they arrive too late, and the last Tokargan female dies, dooming the race to extinction. As a result, the remaining Tokargans aboard the ''Arcadia'' perform a HeroicSacrifice, allowing the ship to pass the "Stanley Witch of Space", a series of plasma streams between two stars.

Knowing this same fate eventually awaits the Earth, Harlock returns to collect anyone willing to leave with him under his flag.

Harlock returns to Earth to collect Maya, and he gives Maya and Zoll a burial in the "sea of stars", then confronts the Illumidas commander Zeda. Zeda is defeated, and subsequently the Illumidas fleet that challenges them. Harlock and company set out to sail the sea of stars under their own moral code.

* ChekhovsGun: Well, in this case, Chekhov's gunsight, a Revi C-12D given to Tochiro's distant ancestor by Harlock's, still exists and becomes the gunsight of the Arcadia when her original unit is damaged.

* NaziProtagonist: The Phantom F. Harlock from the World War II sequence is a Luftwaffe pilot, He expresses that he has no real love for Nazi ideology (in his own words, "paying rent") and winds up helping Tochiro defect to Sweden before walking back over the border to face pursuing Allied soldiers and the consequences of his own actions.

As they put to space, it is revealed that Maya has been captured, as well as Emeraldas, and they are threatened with execution if Harlock does not return. However, they are saved when Zoll leads an insurrection and frees the pair, though Maya is gravely wounded, and Triter, a complicit Earth official, gives Emeraldas her signature scar, grazing her face with a bullet.

* NaziProtagonist: The Phantom F. Harlock from the World War II sequence is a Luftwaffe pilot, He expresses that he has no real love for Nazi ideology and winds up helping Tochiro defect to Sweden

* VichyEarth: Earth has surrendered and its government officials are compliant and complicit with the Illumidas.

* TheQuisling: Prime Minister Triter. He serves as the Illumidas lapdog and is looked down on for it, even by Zeda. During the botched execution of Emeraldas and Maya he shoots Zoll InTheBack.

Harlock is also looking for Maya, a woman he knows from his past who has become the "voice of Free Arcadia", an illegal radio program that is encouraging underground resistance to the Illumidas. In an effort to keep Maya safe, Harlcok [[EyeScream loses his right eye to a gunshot]].

* DespairEventHorizon: The death of Mayu, Zoll's sister and the last known Tokargan female, drives the remaining Tokargan soldiers to sacrifice themselves to save ''Arcadia''.

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Maya. Emeraldas calls her out as such after she dies.

* MeaningfulName: Every Harlock's ship is named ''Arcadia''. Arcadia represents the idyllic and carefree land of one's childhood, and is what Captain Harlock fights to restore.

* SpaceIsAnOcean: ''Arcadia'' is a spaceship based on a World War II battlship, and Emeraldas' ship is a [[CoolAirship space-worthy dirigible]] with an Galleon as the gondola.

His friends freed, Harlock ventures to Tokarga to try and save their people, whom the Illumidas have decided have [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefullness outlived their usefullness to the empire and are wiping them out]]. Unfortunately, they arrive too late, and the last Tokargan female dies, dooming the race to extinction. As a result, the remaining Tokargans aboard the ''Arcadia'' perform a HeroicSacrifice, allowing the ship to pass the "Stanley Witch of Space", a series of plasma streams between two stars.

Then Harlock meets Tochiro Ooyama, a short, unattractive little man who is, nontheless a brilliant inventor. Harlock is impressed with Tochiro's [[TheDeterminator
determination to live]] when Tochiro wrests a drumstick from an Illumidas thug and Harlock comes to his defense. Both are arrested and learn that they have a connection via being the {{Identical Grandson}}s of Phantom F. Harlock, a fighter plane pilot, and an earlier Tochiro Ooyama who met during World War II.

Then Harlock meets Tochiro Ooyama, a short, unattractive little man who is, nontheless a brilliant inventor. Harlock is impressed with Tochiro's [[{{Determinator
}} determination to live]] when Tochiro wrests a drumstick from an Illumidas thug and Harlock comes to his defense. Both are arrested and learn that they have a connection via being the {{Identical Grandson}}s of Phantom F. Harlock, a fighter plane pilot, and an earlier Tochiro Ooyama who met during World War II.

Then Harlock meets Tochiro Ooyama, a short, unattractive little man who is, nontheless a brilliant inventor. Harlock is impressed with Tochiro's {{TheDeterminator determination to live}} when Tochiro wrests a drumstick from an Illumidas thug and Harlock comes to his defense. Both are arrested and learn that they have a connection via being the {{Identical Grandson}}s of Phantom F. Harlock, a fighter plane pilot, and an earlier Tochiro Ooyama who met during World War II.