Captain Harlock (1978) 1.34

A Galactic Lullaby 

The Arcadia arrives at the Twin Planets to search for Mayu. They are the last planets that the Arcadia has yet to visit in the Ulysses Nebula. The Mazone have a trap set up for the Arcadia. It is sprung when the Arcadia passes inbetween the two planets. The Mazone use a gravity beam to immobilize the Arcadia.

The Mazone launch missiles and send ships up to attack the Arcadia. Captain Harlock and his crew break out of the trap by destroying the source of the gravity beam. Captain Harlock goes down to one of the planets in a small ship. He finds the Mazone base and Mayu. The Mazone try to stop him but he shoots his way in and then back out of the Mazone base.

Captain Harlock returns to the Arcadia with Mayu. The Mazone make one last effort to destroy Captain Harlock and the Arcadia. They set the Twin Planets on a collision course with each other as the Arcadia is getting ready to leave. The planets are destroyed but the Arcadia escapes.

Mayu has trouble sleeping, once they have escaped. She stays awake playing her ocarina. The crew of the Arcadia are driven a bit batty by the music which won't stop. Captain Harlock doesn't know what to do about Mayu. He tries taking the musical instrument away from her but he gives it back when she asks for it. He finally takes her to see the ship's computer which holds her father's spirit. It plays her a lullaby which finally makes her sleepy.

Thoughts

This episode was mostly Harlock versus the Mazone. The other crew members were in it but they did not play very significant parts.

The part where Harlock goes down to one of the planets seemed a bit odd. One moment he was arriving on the planet and attacked by the Mazone. The next moment he was finding Mayu. There wasn't much in the way of a search. He got there, he found her, they left. There was some gun play but there wasn't much of a struggle to find Mayu or the Mazone base.

I'm glad to see that they finally found Mayu. She was captured in episode 1.27 (The Will of the Arcadia) which wasn't that far back although it has been about 4 months since I watched that episode. The Arcadia will now presumably return to Earth to finish the fight with the Mazone.