Ah yes. Do you have your pass? I sure hope you have your pass. I sure hope you have your pass on your person and also your name is written on it. Were like twenty planets removed from Earth and the current planet were on is ruled by tyrannical cyborgs who hunt humans for sport and then display their hollowed husks as trophies. And yes Im aware that happens on Earth as well. Theres a lot of planets like that in this galaxy. I really hope you havent misplaced your pass. https://share.wildbook.me/WwhrVaSnxOqmjuuu. Galaxy Express 999: An Introduction 440https://i.ur.com/1Woarim.png A 1978 anime adaptation of the mangahttps://anilist.co/manga/39705/GingaTetsudou999/ by Leiji Matsumotohttps://anilist.co/staff/97597/LeijiMatsumoto Galaxy Express 999 very quickly became one of my absolute favorite anime series Ive ever watched. But it took me quite a while to actually muster up the nerve to finally dive in. After all 113 episodes is quite a lot. Plus for some reason I was concerned about if this was the right series to start with in the Leijiverse. The first thing I want to tell you is if you are also worried about such a thing dont be. I know it looks a bit daunting but just jump in with Galaxy Express 999. Characters from other series by Leiji Matsumoto do occasionally show up from time to time but I would consider their appearances in Galaxy Express 999 to be more like fanservice. Like sure these characters do exist in the Galaxy Express 999 universe but I wouldnt assume theyre the same versions from their original series. Or the various continuities to match up??? Especially Captain Harlockhttps://anilist.co/anime/1000/SpacePirateCaptainHarlock/... 440https://i.ur.com/35VfQik.png Though to be fair my knowledge of the full Leijiverse is still very far from complete. Just step aboard and get settled. As its going to be a long ride. I personally would definitely recommend only watching one or a couple of episodes per day. Because as much as I love this series there generally is a basic flowchart for a lot of the episodes. But Ill get to that later... Tetsuro Hoshino 440https://i.ur.com/8nGbLpo.png 440https://i.ur.com/pi5nkDm.png This series is centered around a young boy named Tetsuro and his journey from Earth to Andromeda which lies pretty much at the end of the galaxy. In the universe of Galaxy Express 999 Earth isnt exactly the kindest place to live if youre a natural human. Forced to live in dark slums underneath the bright lit cities belonging to the cyborgs humans struggle to survive and are often even hunted for sport by the cyborgs. 440https://i.ur.com/S3h5Qw8.png This is how Tetsuros story begins. Five minutes into the series and he is forced to watch as his mother dies in the snow after being shot down by Count Mecha. Upon being saved from freezing to death alone in the snow by a woman named Maetel and being offered a ride on the Galaxy Express 999 to Andromeda where he can get a mechanical body Tetsuro first goes out and claims revenge on his mothers murderer. 440https://i.ur.com/nl7ld9d.png 440https://i.ur.com/LIOBtYL.png 440https://i.ur.com/9Omh34X.png After having his body critically damaged a shambling Count Mecha begs Tetsuro to not destroy his brain. After all his body can always be repaired. His brain cant be. Tetsuro ignores this plea and bashes Count Mechas brain. Fleeing from the cyborg authorities Tetsuro and Maetel successfully board the Galaxy Express 999. And Tetsuro assures to Maetel and himself that once he obtains his mechanical body he will return to Earth. I very very quickly found myself liking Tetsuro. I would probably guess that a lot of people that like this series probably like Maetel more but to me Tetsuro is obviously the heart of this series. 440https://i.ur.com/AkNZf65.png If you want to nitpick you could argue that Tetsuro should have seen the folly of getting a mechanical body from the very start. After all Earth isnt exactly the nicest place to be. Which is directly caused by the cyborgs. But Tetsuro is stubborn or rather determined that once he would get his mechanical body he would remain the same on the inside. He would not become like Count Mecha or the other cyborgs that rule Earth. But as they continue along the galaxy railways Tetsuro undergoes tragic experiences one after another upon his adventures on the planets the Galaxy Express stops at. Quite often cyborgs are involved and very rarely in a positive light. He comes across so many who are in possession of the eternal life he so covets and yet 440https://i.ur.com/bCPNYX3.png 440https://i.ur.com/PgpMyo4.png 440https://i.ur.com/UCirgc9.png So many of them are unhappy. Yet Tetsuro still tries to hold firm onto his original goal no matter how many moral of the story discussions he and Maetel have as the Galaxy Express departs from the episodes planet. He begins to realize that while he may have left Earth behind there wasnt going to be finding a greener grass A Galaxy of Sadness 440https://i.ur.com/UIV1W2K.png 440https://i.ur.com/EsO3WqI.png To be quite honest looking back on it I had absolutely no idea what I was signing up for when I boarded this train. Or rather I didnt know that two out of every three episodes the series was going to swing an emotional sledgehammer straight at my face with absolutely no regard for my safety. They go for the kill almost every single time. This would actually be a complaint. 440https://i.ur.com/09Ohl41.png 440https://i.ur.com/NUBM60b.png 440https://i.ur.com/lXcAhYD.png If it hadnt worked on me so often. I watched Captain Harlock after this and that turned out to at least have some hope in it. Or rather the Captain Harlock character himself was fighting to create that hope. But in Galaxy Express 999 440https://i.ur.com/AcSxY1Y.png 440https://i.ur.com/K6Wm4Rs.png Death and tragedy is around every single corner. Even outside of the planets under the influence of the cyborgs there are just so many dystopian planets ruled by dictators or oppressive governments and/or societies or just planets that have already been ruined or are just wild wastelands. 440https://i.ur.com/icL5wPb.png 440https://i.ur.com/5uTUrdW.png 440https://i.ur.com/e7wsiG4.png Ive not actually bothered to look back and tally the number of planets that end up just straight up getting fucking destroyed or ruined by the time Tetsuro and Maetel depart on the Galaxy Express but I have no doubt that the number would probably be troublingly high. 440https://i.ur.com/5oEYau7.png 440https://i.ur.com/Jo5GCDa.png 440https://i.ur.com/YlSekTV.png This brings me to perhaps one of the most important things to keep in mind if you decide to embark upon this series. Suspension of Disbelief is Required Even with as much as this series had me hook line and sinker I still definitely found myself wondering why the fuck Tetsuro just doesnt stay on the train. Hypothetically speaking theres really nothing preventing him from just sleeping in his seat the whole way to Andromeda. 440https://i.ur.com/5p6GPDF.png 440https://i.ur.com/6lgOK08.png 440https://i.ur.com/5tyRUYW.png And of course theres the immediate counterargument well yeah he could just stay on the train but then you dont have a series. But to be fair Tetsuro and Maetels expeditions onto the planets they stop at along the way to Andromeda usually end in a limited number of ways: As previously mentioned the planet gets fucking destroyed with them barely escaping. Tetsuro and/or Maetels train passes are stolen. Tetsuro or Maetel are kidnapped. If Tetsuro is kidnapped its probably a maternal figure that resembles his mother who seeks to adopt him. Or Tetsuro was nice to someone on an awful planet and that person immediately tries to keep him. 440https://i.ur.com/mShVf4k.png 440https://i.ur.com/gdb7X06.png Very very rarely does one of the planetary stops end without Tetsuro having to have at least one gunfight. You would think after the fifth or tenth time this happens Tetsuro would realize that getting off of the train is a bad idea. Especially after the stop at the fossil planet ends up with Tetsuro gaining a pretty bad scar on his back which he actually keeps for the rest of the series. 440https://i.ur.com/qLzCCDy.png 440https://i.ur.com/pYp9yoU.png 440https://i.ur.com/ww5a4sV.png It surprised the hell out of me because while it does make sense hed be scarred from this event he did get hit with a fucking sword after all any other series I would have probably just expected it to have healed by the next episode. Additionally putting aside the general danger of just getting off the train in the first place theres the fact that the passes for the Galaxy Express 999 that Tetsuro and Maetel carry are incredibly coveted. Hence over and over again Tetsuro finds that someone has stolen his Maetels or both of their passes. Eventually after this happening a decent amount of times theres one incident where a thief actually makes it to the Galaxy Express 999 with Tetsuros pass... ...and the Conductor actually points out that Tetsuros name is on the pass. I dont think itd even be an exaggeration to say that their passes probably get stolen at least ten times before this episode. So what was everybody elses plan? Hope that the Conductor was actually incompetent and just didnt check??? 440https://i.ur.com/5P8U8Sl.png 440https://i.ur.com/TzPPzYA.png Yet even while the steal Tetsuro and Maetels passes idea is often doomed to failure theres true danger there for Tetsuro. Because you know even if the Conductors obviously gonna know in most cases the impostor holding Tetsuros pass really isnt Tetsuro what if they end up just dropping or losing his pass somewhere outside of the train? 440https://i.ur.com/4hRqRNy.png 440https://i.ur.com/3jFxUic.png Then hes completely stranded on whichever planet he happens to be on when he loses his pass. And most of the planets if not dystopian hellholes arent exactly I want to stay here for the rest of my life and not because I lost my only pass for galactic travel material. Which really just begs the question why Tetsuro doesnt defend that pass with his dear goddamned life after the EIGHTIETH time its stolen. This boy gradually becomes essentially a skilled battle hardened gunslinger over the course of this series and he just cannot keep his hands on this pass. 440https://i.ur.com/j0Cj0CI.png Whoops second to last planet and some kid who wants to get a cyborg body to make anime stole my Galaxy Express 999 pass 440https://i.ur.com/UYh5Ai9.png FOR FUCK SAKE TET An Episodic Yet Unforgettable Journey Anyways those sorts of details really dont matter. It really doesnt matter how many times Maetel is kidnapped or they lose their passes. As I was watching this series I wasnt repeatedly thinking oh wow Tetsuro had his pass stolen yet again. Or at least it wasnt what I was primarily thinking about. I was usually thinking wow this is a pretty fucking cool planet. 440https://i.ur.com/s2HIIN8.png 440https://i.ur.com/TV2f33Z.png The reason why this series never got old to me throughout all 113 episodes was that I was always interested in seeing where Tetsuro and Maetel ended up next. Which is of course the absolute best reaction you could hope for from a viewer when your entire series is about two characters just traveling the entire galaxy. 440https://i.ur.com/odDDE3s.png 440https://i.ur.com/36Zoshe.png 440https://i.ur.com/zSUVZWW.png And sure they have a planned destination and you know in one way or another the journeys eventually going to come to an end but not once did I ever think over the course of all 113 episodes that it should be a shorter series. Even though you could make the argument it definitely could have been. I think personally I would have maybe rethought the value of eternal life after the mere tenth encounter with evil cyborgs reveling in or cursing their immortality. But still this series is nothing more than just one big journey. 440https://i.ur.com/Xqzvq2k.png We watch as Tetsuro goes from some poor kid who was forced to watch his mother die in front of him at the hands of cyborgs to a battle hardened traveler of the stars. He seeks to get a mechanical body and thus eternal life because that is what his parents wished for him. And to be fair eternal life is quite the dream when youre lowly humans struggling to survive as cyborgs cavort in neverending luxury in cities that literally tower over the pitiful slums youre trapped in. 440https://i.ur.com/karlI2h.png 440https://i.ur.com/taFddHa.png Even as he finds himself having to overcome obstacle after obstacle as the Galaxy Express 999 continues along its charted route hes still grappling with the grief of losing his mother and the fact at the end of this journey hes going to discard everything that makes him a breathing and living organic human. Dont get me wrong its not like Galaxy Express 999 is completely dark and sad or that Tetsuro just mopes 100 of the time... 440https://i.ur.com/WxAHOOs.png 440https://i.ur.com/89JhQiR.png But thats still some heavy shit for a character to carry on their shoulders. Let alone a newly orphaned kid setting off on a journey to the ends of the galaxy with a strange woman he literally just met. The best thing about it is while Tetsuro overcomes over a hundred episodes worth of life threatening trials its not as if Tetsuro is a flawless character. I mean not to continue to dwell on it but he starts the series by completely buckling in to his desire for revenge. Maetel offers Tetsuro a way off of Earth and an actual opportunity to obtain eternal life. But Tetsuro being the incredibly stubborn kid were to follow for over a hundred episodes refuses to leave without claiming revenge. 440https://i.ur.com/37fa5xV.png 440https://i.ur.com/uutasYc.png And while Count Mecha completely deserves whats coming to him this action costs Tetsuro the ability to freely return to Earth. Count Mecha begging Tetsuro not to damage his brain underlines it. I mean theres a reason why Maetel tried to stop Tetsuro. 440https://i.ur.com/mYa1KHj.png 440https://i.ur.com/sN8KrCU.png Maybe you shouldnt stoop to their level and resort to murder. But I mean just imagine being in Tetsuros shoes. His mother is gone. Theres no returning her. And the cyborg bastard responsible for it is begging him to not destroy his brain as he doesnt want to die. 440https://i.ur.com/F042wKr.png ...I know Im beating a dead horse with going on about how much I like Tetsuro as a character but I just truly cannot recall the last series I was so utterly invested in a character from the very start. The Galaxy Express 999 Continues On To be honest Im kind of at a loss of how to actually end this review. If you can even really call this a review. This whole thing is just a rambling mess of how much I love this show. 440https://i.ur.com/tjEotVs.png I even bring up its genuine flaws its repetitive nature with many episodes being Tetsuro simply just trying to get his pass back but I basically dismiss them in the very same breath. And... I dont even care. I just love this series that much. Hell Id bet money Id be here saying the same exact thing even if Tetsuros journey had stretched onto 200 episodes. Its not even fair. This series is essentially everything I like just thrown together in one big pot. 440https://i.ur.com/m7j973p.png 440https://i.ur.com/kvZY8Ej.png 440https://i.ur.com/B5p01H6.png I like episodic series. As a kid I was super into trains and even as an adult the idea of a fucking magical its not magical at all its scifi train blasting through space is awesome to me. I like world building a lot and while obviously all the planets mostly contained to one episode I just liked thinking about how living in this galaxy would be like with all of these fucked up planets. Speaking of Im especially a fan of darker series and while Galaxy Express 999 doesnt go into an outrageous territory with it... 440https://i.ur.com/sJ1OqVV.png 440https://i.ur.com/juA4Z62.png ...What was I saying? Oh right. Ahem. While Galaxy Express 999 doesnt go into an outrageous territory with the darker stuff... 440https://i.ur.com/qc29B3b.png 440https://i.ur.com/3NUVpRW.png 440https://i.ur.com/KBZP0aw.png ...You know what? Nevermind. Anyways I think a part of why Im so overwhelmed by my positivity towards this show is that I truly did not think it would capture and retain my attention the whole way through. I just immediately assumed from the episode count that there would be periodic lulls. That every once in a while there would be I dont know filler I guess? I just didnt think this series wouldnt run out of interesting/entertaining planets by the end. 440https://i.ur.com/4drCD7l.png But yet every single episode I wanted to see where the Galaxy Express 999 would go next. I wanted to see what sort of moral quandary or mortal peril Tetsuro would be facing. I dont think any other episodic series Ive done or watched pulled me in to the extent that Galaxy Express 999 did. Galaxy Express 999 for me without a doubt is a 10 out of 10. 500https://i.ur.com/YzOfrBx.png