Though low budget, “Arcadia of My Youth” is an unintentionally fun movie that will be enjoyed by retro anime fans.

Directed by Tomoharu Katsumata, the plot consists of Captain Phantom F. Harlock (played by Makio Inoue) and his origins as a space pirate. In the late 30th century, the alien Illumidias Empire have conquered Earth and enslaved humanity. Harlock, decides that he will not be enslaved and becomes a fugitive on his own home planet. Along the way, he meets engineer, Tochiro Oyama (played by Kei Tomiyama) and space pirate Queen Emeraldas (played by Reiko Tajima) as they create their own battleship, The Arcadia and lead a rebellion against the Illumidias Empire.

To begin, this movie is long clocking in at little more than 2 hours. The story drags on, and at some point, it goes from fun bad to boring bad.

The animation is nothing close to Ghibli quality, but is charming in its own right. It’s stilted and rarely do the mouths ever match with the dialogue, but it’s good for a late night watch with friends. (Kind of like a Mystery Science Theater 3K night, but with anime). Though the backgrounds are pretty, and the character designs stand out among other anime movies.

The acting is this movie’s saving grace, as the actors convey emotions clearly and bring personality to the animation. They match the characters’ personalities, though they are kind of cookie cutter personalities and they don’t have great character arcs.

I would say the audience of this movie is limited to retro anime fans, and people looking to watch a movie in the wee hours of the night looking for something to laugh at. It’s certainly not Ghibli, but it’s obvious care went into it. But I would limit the audience from older teen and up. Kids and younger teens would just be bored.

Also, depending on the distributor, they play the theme song to the TV series, and it’s actually really catchy, so I’ll give it a point for that, but it’s a shame not every version has it.

Despite its faults, it’s an entertaining movie, it just overstays its welcome.

I give it 5 catchy theme songs out of 10.