This is a "way back when" for me. I didn't know how special it
   really was. A HUGE space opera of I don't know how many episodes
   played in a single summer on an off channel around 1981/2 (I
   don't remember the year offhand). Epic, dark tale, heavy stuff.
   Thrown into the kiddie time-slot because they didn't know what
   to do with it. (read up on it more a few years ago) Well, I was
   like 8-10 years old. TOTALLY hooked on the thing. It was years
   before I saw anything close to the quality of it and kinda gave
   up on finding anything like it again. Anyway, in the 90s I heard
   about "Japanimation" - it was becoming a thing. By then I was an
   adult and didn't really care much but I remembered fondly. Then
   in the 2000s I noticed again, Anime - and the subcultures around
   it. Now, it's everyplace. And it's kind of exciting that this
   ship saving a scorched earth was one of the earliest American
   introductions to this nameless style.