Cobra is Harlock giving up space piracy and choosing the ordinary life before a Total Recall trip brings him back as Jean-Paul Belmondo with some Buck Rogers' sex-appeal and gorgeous women around, living as a James Bond (with whom pretty girls ain't got much luck) who'd prefer playing the Arsène Lupin part (more fun). The whole thing running into a space opera Star Wars inspired, but with somehow less ambition for the galaxy, and the evil empire replaced with a powerful space pirate's guild. Oh! and he has a delta raygun in his left arm, a pretty and reliable cybernetic sidekick, and a cool spaceship. Andhe drinks and smokes cigars.

It pretty sums it up.

34 years after its original broadcast, the art and animation can't hide their weaknesses, but the show didn't lose any of its charms or interests. What my intro speech didn't cover, you'll find it at its best in the first arc (episodes 3-12); the mature approach, the humor, the sexiness, the drama, the action, the lines, the atmosphere(s), the characters, the music: everything is up to a brilliant story that drags you into a colorful universe. And luckily, what follows after that is worth watching up to the last episode. Even the few fillers are, at worst, entertaining.

If you never watched Cobra and liked what I've just described you, do not hesitate: first arc. Now!