How Captain Harlock changed anime

Devin Nealy 4:18 am Mon Dec 5, 2022

Every medium is subject to its tropes. In American comics, the superhero has become so trope-heavy that the genre tends to alienate new fans. Instead of opting for their homegrown heroes, millions of American fans are choosing to flock toward manga and anime as their preferred source of battle-centric fiction. However, manga and anime are replete with a series of tropes all their own. One of the more common tropes that have found their way into countless manga and series is the subtle infusion of the spokon elements.

Spokon, which basically translates for sports manga/anime, is such a wildly popular genre that its fundamental tropes have interwoven themselves into other series. In the '70s and '80s, several shows were influenced by the Spokon wave, but one show went in a different direction. In the video linked above, the YouTube channel Mercury Falcon explains why Captain Harlock is the best example of an anti-sports anime.

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