Galaxy Express 999Childhood ends when you begin to understand your place in the universe. Galaxy Express 999 is a science fiction anime film where space travel by way of the eponymous Galaxy Express 999 train, space pirates, cyborgs, and sprawling cities with skyscrapers that stretch toward the stars make up the framework of the future. A young orphan named Tetsuro Hoshino aims to travel the galactic railways and trade his frail human form for a machine body, seeking revenge against the sinister Count Mecha, who killed his mother just for sport. He is aided by the ethereal Maetel, who bears a strong resemblance to Tetsuro's mother, and their journey through the stars is punctuated with mysterious waypoints, danger, and colorful characters.
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Galaxy Express 999 is adapted from the manga and animated television series of the same name by Leiji Matsumoto, and takes place within the shared universe of its creator, referred to as the "Leijiverse" by fans. This leads to cameos by characters from Matsumoto's other works, including Robin Hood-esque space pirate, Captain Harlock, and Maetel's sister, "Queen" Emeraldas, a fellow space pirate who helps Tetsuro locate Count Mecha's travelling fortress, the Time Castle. Since Galaxy Express 999 is principally from Tetsuro's point of view, the film does not alienate viewers unfamiliar with these characters, introducing them as legendary heroes and notorious rebels who Tetsuro meets for the first time. The feeling that the film belongs to a greater canon adds an extra dimension to the message in the opening titles, about how the stars have always shone before humanity existed and will long after we're gone, since Tetsuro's journey is but one of many in this universe. Time and impermanence are dominant themes in Galaxy Express 999. Mechanized cyborgs occupy positions of authority and wealth on Earth; the cops that pursue Tetsuro after he and his fellow street urchins make off with a ticket to ride the Galaxy Express are all robots, as is the arrogant patron who purchased the ticket in the first place. With few exceptions--like Claire, a lovely hostess aboard the train whose body has been turned entirely into a glass-crystal compound--the androids of Galaxy Express 999 are generally depicted as the villains, who have discarded more of their humanity than just their flesh after their transformation. Maetel watches Tetsuro's dreams through a compact device after she saves him from being arrested, observing his final moments with his mother before she was cruelly gunned down. He dreams of how he wanted them both to get machine bodies so that he and his mother could live forever--a dream that twists into a nightmare in the blink of an eye. Despite his painful past, Tetsuro generally maintains a positive attitude, and has a strong sense of morality. Maetel offers to give him a ticket aboard the Galaxy Express if he promises that he accompany her; he replies that it would be wrong to let a lady travel alone. Their first stop on the galactic railroad is Titan--since terraformed into a verdant and habitable world--where Maetel is abruptly kidnapped by bandits while a bystander is shot dead. The young Tetsuro is knocked unconscious, but is nursed back to health by kindly woman who informs him that Titan operates under "paradise law", explaining that Titan was designed to be a world free from laws so that people could do anything they want, like in "paradise". Tetsuro's innocent reply is to question why anyone would want to kill someone, thinking more about his overall respect for life than his own self-prescribed mission to slay the evil Count Mecha.
Tetsuro's journey through the stars signifies his transformation from child to adult, underscored by Maetel's uncanny resemblance to his mother. As the pair travel, Tetsuro's near obsession with their similarities begins to diminish, either through moments where she conducts her business without him, or what he learns about her after they finally arrive in Andromeda. Tetsuro's greatest challenge becomes more than simply killing Count Mecha, but coping with his deeply rooted grief, and Maetel becomes the manifestation of all of those conflicting feelings. Each planet they stop on gives Tetsuro something more to consider about his mission of revenge. Despite the prevalence of cyborgs in this futuristic setting, the dream of transforming into an immortal cyborg still carries fantastic--even childish--connotations; Tetsuro slowly comprehends this through his interactions with the largely amoral androids. On Pluto, he bears witness to the "graves of ice" where the bodies of those who sacrificed their humanity are stored, and where its caretaker--a faceless robotic woman named Shadow--expresses regret at her transformation, having realized that it was motivated exclusively by vanity. And when he and Maetel arrive on the frontier planet of Heavy Melder, he bears witness to how the virulent influence of mechanization has left countless wayfarers with broken dreams and shattered lives. One of the most surprising interactions Tetsuro has is when he encounters Maetel's kidnappers on Titan, led by the burly Antares. They turn out not to be cold-blooded murderers; instead, they come across as guerrilla freedom fighters, raising a multitude of children like Tetsuro, who have also been made into orphans because of Count Mecha's galactic reign of terror. In another context, Antares and his merry band's nigh-xenophobic hatred of cyborgs might paint them as villains; but in Galaxy Express 999, they stand as one of the last bastions of resistance against an almost unquenchable frenzy for mechanization--one that threatens to rob the universe of what makes life really worth living, even if that means dying. Although Tetsuro already has strong convictions about right and wrong, it isn't until the end of his journey that he is able to put all of his experiences into context. By understanding the motivations of the various people he has met--either in bodies of flesh or machine--he gains a more comprehensive understanding of why his humanity is so irreplaceable.
Recommended for: Fans of a lovely animated science fiction film that melds futuristic imagery with antiquated technology, not least of which is a train that travels through the stars. Galaxy Express 999 explores themes relevant to all ages, but it is especially appropriate for younger audiences, due to the messages it teaches about valuing life and the challenges that come with growing up.
Tetsuro's journey through the stars signifies his transformation from child to adult, underscored by Maetel's uncanny resemblance to his mother. As the pair travel, Tetsuro's near obsession with their similarities begins to diminish, either through moments where she conducts her business without him, or what he learns about her after they finally arrive in Andromeda. Tetsuro's greatest challenge becomes more than simply killing Count Mecha, but coping with his deeply rooted grief, and Maetel becomes the manifestation of all of those conflicting feelings. Each planet they stop on gives Tetsuro something more to consider about his mission of revenge. Despite the prevalence of cyborgs in this futuristic setting, the dream of transforming into an immortal cyborg still carries fantastic--even childish--connotations; Tetsuro slowly comprehends this through his interactions with the largely amoral androids. On Pluto, he bears witness to the "graves of ice" where the bodies of those who sacrificed their humanity are stored, and where its caretaker--a faceless robotic woman named Shadow--expresses regret at her transformation, having realized that it was motivated exclusively by vanity. And when he and Maetel arrive on the frontier planet of Heavy Melder, he bears witness to how the virulent influence of mechanization has left countless wayfarers with broken dreams and shattered lives. One of the most surprising interactions Tetsuro has is when he encounters Maetel's kidnappers on Titan, led by the burly Antares. They turn out not to be cold-blooded murderers; instead, they come across as guerrilla freedom fighters, raising a multitude of children like Tetsuro, who have also been made into orphans because of Count Mecha's galactic reign of terror. In another context, Antares and his merry band's nigh-xenophobic hatred of cyborgs might paint them as villains; but in Galaxy Express 999, they stand as one of the last bastions of resistance against an almost unquenchable frenzy for mechanization--one that threatens to rob the universe of what makes life really worth living, even if that means dying. Although Tetsuro already has strong convictions about right and wrong, it isn't until the end of his journey that he is able to put all of his experiences into context. By understanding the motivations of the various people he has met--either in bodies of flesh or machine--he gains a more comprehensive understanding of why his humanity is so irreplaceable.
Recommended for: Fans of a lovely animated science fiction film that melds futuristic imagery with antiquated technology, not least of which is a train that travels through the stars. Galaxy Express 999 explores themes relevant to all ages, but it is especially appropriate for younger audiences, due to the messages it teaches about valuing life and the challenges that come with growing up.