Ryon's Harlock:

Ryosuke Miura's Harlock is definitely the my favorite rendition I've ever seen of the character musical-wise. While I still absolutely adore the past Harlock's we've seen in musicals, but there is something I cannot put into words that makes Miura's my personal favorite of the bunch I've seen online.

Miura also makes for an absolutely gorgeous Harlock. The man himself is just beautiful too, some real eye candy.

I also love the more androgynous look he gives Harlock in this musical. It is rather fitting given how Leiji Matsumoto cut his teeth in the manga industry by doing shoujo manga before he went on to create his future works. From seinen, war stories, gag manga, and especially his space operas which he is most well known for.

The shoujo aspects of his work and the genre as a whole bled into Harlock’s design (And his design archetype) as well as his art style as a whole. The flowing hair, the long and skinnier limbs… Once you learn that aspect of Matsumoto’s career you can really see those aspects in Harlock’s design. And Miura captures that vibe as the character perfectly in this musical.

I wish I could gush and go more in-depth about his acting but not only can I not understand enough Japanese to get a real grasp in the clips I've seen, those are only clips and not the full musical. Hopefully this changes one day and I can update this page with an in-depth look. Either it be from being able to see the full musical or know enough Japanese to understand the clips.

Hoewver, I can say that the body language he does, and his dramatic cape swishes are spot on! In the clips which I have seen, Miura captures the dramatic tendencies of Harlock in his body language and actions. The cape swishes as previously mentioned, but also dramatic movements and gestures, he’s got the walk down pat, and more.

Even if you can’t understand a word of Japanese, or don’t know enough of the language like me, if you know the character of Harlock you can still see how he captures him perfectly in his performance via his body language and actions.

Which is good, you must bump up the levels of theatrics if you're going to play as Harlock. Musical or otherwise. Harlock has always been a dramatic character across all the various iterations with his actions and words.

Even if I only understand bits of his lines here and there, I can still see that he just absolutely oozes Harlock in his body language and actions in his performance of the character.

Also he's got a really good singing voice! Doing a killer job with the singing I've seen him do in the clips I've been able to watch. I don’t know any of the lyrics at this moment in time, but his voice sounds fantastic. I should actually check out Miura's music sometime...

I'm so enamored with this Harlock that I imported some of the merch that was made for the musical, mainly a pamphlet and clear posters that came with it. There is of course the Harlock one, and then the rest of the cast as well. You can find photos them in the Multimedia section. (One day I would like to get scans done if possible!)

Overall Miura was just a perfect casting choice for Harlock and if he ever got to reprise the role I'd love that. Hopefully I can actually see his whole performance in action some day!

Seeing his Harlock makes me want to check out the rest of his work, from his music to his other acting roles. Especially Kamen Rider OOO.