Queen Emeraldas Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 1999-12-20
• 3.5 stars out of 5

Part of the vast canvas of Leiji Matsumoto's universe, Queen Emeraldas is archetypal and straightforward enough to stand completely on its own, but also features a number of tie-ins, both explicit and not, for existing fans. Either way, it takes old-school Matsumoto flavor--a story that is sweeping in scale but centered on personal development and character-building, an orphaned boy striking out on his own, and a way-too-cool hero--and updates it with a slick modern visual polish. Its biggest strength is how good it looks; despite some slightly-too-classic moments, it is a retro-future tale loaded with style and quality action. Its biggest weakness is that it is what it is: The story is unashamedly old-fashioned, and Emeraldas is so cool she'll give you an ice-cream headache--she's so cool she doesn't even need to dodge.

If you're a fan of Matsumoto's related stories, I'm guessing you'll like this one, but familiarity with the world isn't a prerequisite and anyone who enjoys a good space pirate tale or heroes so cool they're almost frozen will probably have a blast.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 1999-12-20
• 3.5 stars out of 5

Queen Emeraldas fits into the broad canvas painted by Leiji Matsumoto, including famed series like Galaxy Express 999 and Captain Harlock. As with many of the OAVs tied into this universe, Queen Emeraldas is archetypal and straightforward enough to stand completely on its own, but also features a number of tie-ins, both explicit and not, for existing fans.

Not being a particular Matsumoto-verse aficionado, I'm approaching the series as a stand-alone work. From that perspective, it's an interesting combination of old-school Matsumoto style and slick modern visuals. For all the polish, it has everything you'd expect from a classic Matsumoto yarn: A story that is sweeping in scale but centered on personal development and character-building, an orphaned boy striking out on his own, and a way-too-cool hero.

That said, the coolness is my main gripe with the series. I've never cared for uber-cool protagonists (Golgo 13 for example), and Emeraldas is so cold she's liable to give you an ice cream headache. She's so cool, in fact, that she doesn't even have to dodge. Now, I'm used to bad guys who can't hit the broad side of a barn if the good guys are hiding in it, but twice in the series Emeraldas comes under fire and just stands there in the open, looking slick and warding off the oncoming laser fire with her steely glare. Then there's the Queen Emeraldas, which doesn't get into space battles--it gets into space massacres. At one point an entire fleet sits there blasting away for all it's worth and when the time comes, she more or less obliterates it in all of 30 seconds.

I'm sorry, but that kind of thing just annoys me--even the most remote pretense of realism is thrown out the window in favor of style. I'll admit, there's a certain appeal to majorly badass heroes, and some people go for that kind of thing, but Queen Emeraldas takes it way too far for me.

Otherwise, the story captures the "individuals embodying a greater struggle" theme relatively well. Of course, true to the old-school anime feel, it's also heavy-handed with the moral. In this case, it is "no man is an island"--make trustworthy friends, and you'll go places. Well, that and "If you're really, really cool, you can take out just about anybody without even trying very hard."

The characters are archetypal, but there is some development. Emeraldas, in particular, has that air of deep, suppressed emotion that the best supercool heroes often do. She wasn't always this cold, and there's still something of her old self hidden deep down.

Although the character designs are Matsumoto classics, Queen Emeraldas is a visual spectacle--to my knowledge the best looking of the Matsumoto-verse stories. The visuals are steeped in retro-future style with a distinct modern finish. You've got pirate captains and a backwater town straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie, complete with an "updated" shootout between Emeraldas... and a shuttlecraft.

Loaded with flashy polish, spiffy locales, and overdramatic posturing, the art is detailed and attractive and the animation fluid. The only classic anime standby that bothered me is one I'm glad has fallen out of fashion: Frequently, during moments of extreme action, a single freeze frame is substituted for expensive animation. This series obviously had the budget to do without, even if it did add to the flavor. There's still plenty of worthwhile action: Look for quality space battles, a few gunfights, a neat duel, and a surprisingly brutal fistfight.

The Queen Emeraldas is computer rendered, and while the technology used is a little antiquated, it fits in well enough. That said, for those unfamiliar with this series' kin, she's a funny looking spaceship: Sort of like a giant blimp with an old fashioned sailing ship for the gondola. Whether that's unusual in a good or a bad way depends on your taste in spacefaring vessels, but it's certainly distinctive. The other ships are more conventional and nicely designed, as are the costumes and other hardware. A few of the guns, including nifty energized rapier/laser pistol combo deals, have an old-fashioned look that adds to the setting without getting too silly (that is to say they're effective weapons with a vintage look). On that note, the gunfights (with the exception of Emeraldas' inability to be shot) are good stuff. I particularly liked the solid feel of the laser blasts--energy weapons are rarely done this well.

The music of Queen Emeraldas is an orchestral mix of sweeping themes and Old Western flavor; both styles fit well and sound good. The opening and end themes are also quite nice; the former in particular sets the tone and is a proper theme for Emeraldas herself.

The Japanese voice acting is mostly quite good; Hiroshi sounds about right, and most of the supporting cast are distinctive. Emeraldas is cast perfectly, and gives a standout performance--cold, hard, and withering.

The English acting is passable but less impressive. Hiroshi and the crew are cast and acted quite well, and Emeraldas is acted well, although she sounds too old and growls a bit much for the role (Emeraldas is more icy than angry). The military fellows, unfortunately, are both cast and acted rather poorly. For those intending to watch the French dub, all I can say is that at least Emeraldas sounds good.

Summing up, Queen Emeraldas is old school anime with all the trimmings and a modern polish, but still old school anime. The character designs, the broad story, and the blatant message are a little too old-fashioned for my taste, and Emeraldas' way-too-coolness got on my nerves. On the other hand, it looks great, is generally an interesting story, and the characters have a bit of depth. If you're a fan of Matsumoto's related stories, I'm guessing you'll like this one, but familiarity with the world isn't a prerequisite--anyone who enjoys a good space pirate tale or heroes so cool they're almost frozen will probably have a blast.

Related Recommendations

If you liked this, you should of course check out the rest of Leiji Matsumoto's many related series. You might also have a look at Sol Bianca for spunky kid on an overpowered pirate ship and Space Adventure Cobra for seriously old-school (and incredibly campy) space opera with a bit of modern polish.