Monday, November 23, 2015

Galaxy Express 999


Tetsuro Hoshino is an orphan living in the slums of planet Earth.  For a long time, he has dreamed of boarding the space fairing train, the Galaxy Express 999, an expensive and almost impossible dream.  When Testuro runs into a beautiful woman named Maetel, his life changes forever when she grants him permission to travel alongside her onboard the 999.  Amidst a sea of stars, adventure awaits Tetsuro and Maetel on route to the machine world of Andromeda.  Vast dangers and ghosts from their separate tragic pasts also await as does romance and the wonders of time on the greatest journey through the galaxy you’ll ever find on the Galaxy Express 999.

In the wide world of Anime, it makes me almost sad that you don’t see much of Leiji Matsumoto’s work given it’s due praise these days.  Galaxy Express 999 is a film and story I feel Anime today owes a lot.  It’s universe spanning story, endless feels of wonder and excitement and memorable characters all still strike a chord with me, and this is from a film that came out in the late 70’s. 

Galaxy Express 999 feels like a very traditional heroes journey, almost like a fairy tale with a space age twist.  This feeling is no doubt helped by the fact that the 999 (Pronounced Three Nine for anyone curious) is a literal train ridding across the cosmos.  Save for a very futuristic main car, the rest of their traveling vehicle looks like something youd see in a 1930’s setting.  It’s comfy and inviting and like the movie itself, it will draw you in and make sure you feel like you don’t want the journey to end.  Even though young Tetsuro has his own agenda, he cant help but get swept up in the side quests and other characters he meets along the way.  It could go on forever and youd be hard pressed to say youre bored.

Joining Testuro on his journey is the beautiful Maetel, a true vision of a beautiful Anime woman.  Dressed in a winter coat and possessing an inviting yet haunting face, Maetel could almost be the siren of the sea who lures Tetsuro in.  To his demise or enlightenment?  That is one of the big mysteries of the film as Maetel’s own past is never fleshed out as early as Tetsuro’s is.  Also along for the ride are some of Leiji Matsumoto’s other heroes and heroines of his universe.  Bad ass pirates Captain Harlock and Emereldas bring the flair and aweseomness, mostly showing up for the films full of boom action sequences.  Watching this classic duo reign hell from their pirate space ships is nothing short of awe inspiring.  But they also share a short but memorable tale that will hopefully encourage viewers to look into their separate stories.

For a film that came out in 1979, Galaxy Express 999 looks like a film of it’s time.  Characters have over exaggerated reactions at all times, especially Tetsuro.  Every scene looks filled with blood, sweat and tear hand drawn dedication, there’s hardly a frame of this film that looks bad.  And the music is very 70’s with two pop songs accompanying a symphonic opera that rivals 2001: A Space Odyssey’s magnificent soundtrack.  The film looks and sounds great.

The end of the film does seem to be the part where I’d have to throw out some sort of negative thoughts.  A lot of what happens in the last half hour feels a little forced and even bears a bit of Deus Ex Machina to its finale.  If one or two things had been a bit more developed before this point, the revelations and even the start of the outcome could have had a bigger impact.  Now, this isn’t nearly as bad as some things in the forthcoming sequel, we’ll get to that next week.  But for those who take their stories more serious than others, one or two big spoilers I wont talk about in this review, may derail things, which would be a shame.  I’ll also wont say Galaxy Express 999 is a full on childrens fairy tale in space.  It does have some dark moments and can get a little too violent at times.  It’s aimed at a younger audience for sure.  Just keep an eye on how young they are when watching this one.

Galaxy Express 999 is a film I can still pop into the DVD player and watch with a wonderous smile on my face.  It makes me think about when I first glimpsed it at Otakon 2012.  The ten or fifteen minutes I sat there watching a raw Japanese dub of the film made me want to get a copy of the film and it’s sequel, Adieu Galaxy Express 999, that same weekend.  It’s just as flashy, sprawling and attention grabbing as most Anime features today.  There is, however, a sense of importance to this film.  Without it in Anime history, we wouldn’t have many stories today be it Macross, or Spirited Away or Outlaw Star.  It’s not a perfect film but it’s close.  It’s also one I would recommend to anyone who wishes to see at least one good example of Anime from back in the day and a title that should continue to be talked about even today.  Take a trip, you’ll never regret it.

9/10

Is the second trip as good as the first?  Find out next week with Part 2 of our Galaxy Express Double Feature: Adieu Galaxy Express 999.

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