Sometimes I just search for "Moby Dick." I search through multiple search engines. I even search through Netflix to see what movie versions I come up with.
I found an anime version of Moby Dick:
Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick from 2005
I was really pleased with this.
With Crunchyroll and Netflix through my Roku, the device that streams internet video into my TV, I have been watching a ton of anime. So it is only natural that I also watch the anime version of Moby Dick.
Taking place in the year 4699, the whale hunters are actually space wreckage salvagers. Since the wreckage, coined as "whales," moves pretty fast, they go after it like the harpooners in their little boats. That is a pretty neat update idea. And anime can show it really well.
Moby Dick is a giant robot in space, in actuality, a Federation cannon capable of destroying a planet. So now it is Death Star Moby Dick. Pretty cool.
It is very Blade Runner-esque. It's not the prettiest of space worlds and that is cool.
There is the Nantucket Nebula; the Ishmael character says "Call me Lucky" in the beginning, even soliloquizing like the Ishmael of the book; Ahab has quite a cool lead-up and entrance; Queequeg is a nice yet powerful giant already on the crew.
In Episode 3, the crew remarks that Ahab has had obsessions before: "'Another obsession begins...Oh, no, not another one.'"
It is really interesting when Ahab and Lucky are talking about the Moby Dick cannon threatening the world of Moab and Ahab going berzerk, shouting, "'Twas whiter than snow, wasn't it." He also shouts, "Just as I thought: The Great White is alive!" Then the tale of Ahab losing his left eye and leg is related.
The only thing I don't understand so far is the android character of "Dew." He had a run-in with the Moby Dick in the opening of the first episode, with the whale implanting some device into his chest. Moby Dick tells him, "You will become me and I will become you. We are now joined by a strong bond." It's okay if Dew has nothing to do with the original book but it is another intriguing aspect.
I have just watched the first disc but I really liked it. Great animation and the story is well done. Maybe this is also the power of a tale like Moby Dick. If you can bring it out of its original setting and begin again, then it is a powerful tale that truly cuts across borders. Like updating Shakespeare into different settings, this works.
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