Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick (白鯨伝説, Hakugei Densetsu, lit. 'White Whale Legend') is a Japanese animated television series, based on Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. However, this adaptation used futuristic outer space as the setting, with "whales" being large abandoned spaceships instead. It aired from 1997 to 1999, albeit with a suspension of new episodes from November 1997 to October 1998. The series ran for 26 episodes, which have been released on DVD in the US by ADV Films, spread across six discs.
Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick | |
白鯨伝説 (Hakugei Densetsu) | |
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Anime television series | |
Directed by | Osamu Dezaki |
Music by | Masahiro Andoh |
Studio | Studio Junio (Ep. 1-18) Tezuka Productions(Ep. 19-26) |
Original run | 1997-04-02 – 1999-05-12 |
Episodes | 26 |
In space, the only source of income to space pirates, are hunting "whales", which are giant robotic spaceships drifting in space that are rich in resources when successfully captured. Ahab, a pirate captain was obsessed on a particular white whale, Moby Dick. But things change when Lucky joined his motley crew of pirates and refugees.
Ahab has a deep hatred for Moby Dick because it took his left eye and left leg from him, following an attack Ahab led on an unregistered ship (which turned out to be carrying civilians).