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Watching the 999 TV series then the movies back to back was a pretty bad case of whiplash. The first movie missing all the important parts of the TV series, the sense of a long journey and the character growth Tetsuro went through. The second movie felt like just a remix of the same plot points of the first. And then this movie, that just feels like a total disconnect from everything.

Starts off bad right off the bat, you see the 999 flying and its rendered in hideous CGI. This is perhaps a bit of a contentious topic as CG becomes more commonplace or generally ... accepted but for me it always looks worse than hand drawn. It can still look good as an end result, though I think hand drawn would always look better. Some shows use it better than others, Last Exile is a good (and fairly early) example of good CG. But here its just disappointing to see.
ok CGI rant over

Then we get to the Tetsuro redesign, they had aged him up in the previous 2 movies and sorta looked like a young Harlock. But here hes back to being more of a young kid like in the TV series except hes so ugly looking now. I mean dont get me wrong, he was pretty dopey looking in the TV series and I always got a chuckle out of him and some of the side characters how ridiculously high their eyes were, but he was goofy looking in a sort of cartoon endearing way. Here hes just ugly looking though. The rest of the art is ok, some background arts are nice, some extra detail on characters here and there but not nearly as nice looking as the previous films or as charming as the TV series.

Story-wise, it sets up a new evil menace for Tetsuro and Maetel to contend with, but its just sort of random feeling and lacking in any of the personal growth side of story that the original series had. It could maybe blossom into something, but the main issue is this is only 50 something minutes long and is basically just an intro OVA to the real story.... that we never got. The ending is a cliffhanger before getting to anything real interesting. Maybe this is continued in one of the manga releases, I'm not sure. But as it is I really dont feel like you are getting much from this. I guess if you, like me, are also on a 999 binge you may feel compelled to complete the set but honestly you're time is best served elsewhere like watching one of the gazillion spin-off stories from this story's universe.

I came into this series with warped expectations, perhaps due in part to the dated artstyle, thinking it was gonna be a sort of saturday morning cartoon styled lighthearted adventure show. That is somewhat true for some of the elements, but I was not prepared for how dark and contemplative it ended up being. Whether it was intentional or my wild interpretation, there were 2 stories being told here. The literal one about familial bonds and reluctant duty. And the more metaphysical story, undeniably religious in its presentation, about traveling through a sort of purgatory to find ones humanity.

Its that second more interpretive side ... of the story that really pulled me in. For most episodes the surface level presentation is just setting up some hijinks for the main characters to encounter while on some creatively themed planet. There are many episodes that could be considered "filler" due to the simple nature of them, and reused plot devices like the characters getting their train pass stolen. But in that this is very much a story about the journey I think it helps to spend more time with it. Which is why the movie of the same name that recaps this series feels so drastically different in its tone, for the worse.

This show has a certain dreamlike quality to it, or you could interpret that none of this is actually happening in the physical world. Riding through space in an old style train is one thing, but there are many cases of creative but unrealistic circumstances or features of many of the planets that are visited. Or just that the characters can open the window of the train out in space without issue. This makes for a fun and at times whimsical viewing though, you never quite know what the next planet in the journey will have in store. Other striking and mysterious elements are presented and left as matter-of-fact which makes them even more interesting. Such as the train conductor having an invisible body, or when Maetel shows her "true form" or the inside of her suitcase to someone and they react as if they had seen a biblically accurate angel, or inside the Ark of the Covenant respectively.

So what I got out of the story was more akin to The Divine Comedy than it was just a straightforward roadtrip story. Maetel acting as a sort of guiding angel in the image of Tetsuro's dead mother. The promise of getting a mechanical body and eternal life at the end of the 999's journey almost seems like a fairy tale told to Tetsuro so he can maintain hope in the dire environment he was in, a white lie like Santa Claus to put a bit of magic into a childs life. And when Tetsuro's mother died its as if she went straight to acting as a guiding force through Maetel to help Tetsuro make peace with the world and find his humanity after coming to grips with the sham that was eternal life.

Tetsuro through this journey embodies the most endearing of the human spirit. He is kind and empathetic and acts a shining light that sets forth change in almost ever planet he visits, though not often lasting change, but a change of heart or perspective of the inhabitants. Many planets get destroyed in one way or another, or the side characters interacted with end up dying. Their fates were sealed or destined, but they may learn kindness yet in the last moments through Tetsuro.
He is also fallible in human ways, Tetsuro can be rash and act upon emotions rather than considering the big picture. Symptoms of his age but also humanity as a whole.

This is balanced by Maetel acting as a wise guide and guardian, but only so far as to keep Tetsuro alive and along his journey. He is ultimately the one making the driving action and at the end of the story he has to make the choice between his human soul and the forbidden fruit of eternal life. Maetel reluctantly guides him along and becomes more pained as the journey closes in on its end. I saw this as Tetsuro's mother shining through, wavering in her duty to continue carrying him along this difficult path. Multiple times wanting to give up and live a peaceful life on one of the planets they pass through. But the journey must go on, and this is Tetsuro's story. Maetel is at times prodded along by a sort of godlike entity, that we later find out is her father. She is ultimately duty-bound and must continue her work as both guardian and observer to Tetsuro.

The train as well must move ever onward, frequently showing that if our hero doesn't reach it in time it will leave without him. A reminder perhaps of the dangers of idleness, or that the universe will not wait for you to make difficult decisions. That train whistle that becomes familiar acting as a sort of call to destiny and a reminder of Tetsuro's goal that awaits him at the end.

It was likely due to budget constraints but we rarely see any other passenger on the 999, which reinforces the feeling that this is a personal journey for Tetsuro's soul rather than the 999 acting as simply a literally interpreted public transit line.

How do I interpret the ending? Well, I could see it as Tetsuro having gained wisdom and saw what mechanization truly did to people, and honored his mother by choosing finite humanity over callous eternity. The destruction of god (Maetel's father) and the devil (Queen Promethium), who would still live on in smaller parts in the universe and in peoples hearts. Tetsuro's mother gets closure and can say goodbye to Tetsuro and pass on, releasing Maetel to act as shepherd to another young boy through his journey of life. Maetel is seen boarded on a much more futuristic train at the end, I'm not sure if this is to mean shes going to a much different galaxy or if she is jumping on another spot of the timeline altogether, but either way it accomplishes to distance herself far away from Tetsuro and his new life.

So there it is, my completely schizo take on Galaxy Express. It was a beautiful, tragic, hopeful, melancholic, and introspective show that I won't forget. I think there is plenty to enjoy even taking the show at face value and literally. The only thing that is holding it back a bit is the seemingly low budget. There is a lot of same-face happening with side characters and same expressions with the main characters themselves. The other bits like lack of background characters as I mentioned above actually sort of enhance the experience. But for people who aren't already fans of older anime might be a bit jarred by the older style and animation. There are some really nice scenes and background art however that I feel got stronger as the series went on.

You certainly have to be in the right mindset for this, as with any long series really, and the movie is absolutely NOT a replacement for it. If you just want a fun adventure story or well animated action or such I would say look elsewhere. But if you have ever undergone a sort of contemplative melancholy while on a long journey, where you seem to exist between the layers of reality and can judge them from renewed perspective. This show is as if you slipped into a coma during one of those moments and had to travel through purgatory to escape.

libera te tutemet ex inferis

Farewell 999