One year after his fateful journey to Andromeda, Tetsuro
is slave to a new oppressive ruling force on Earth. On the day of his execution, he is saved by
the arrival of the Three-Nine and reunited with the beautiful Maetel. The universe has called for the two of them
to come together for a new mission, with the fate of both Earth and the whole
universe at stake. With an ever
expanding darkness reaching out to claim their train and a deadly beautiful
bounty hunter after their heads, can Tetsuro and Maetel make it to their final
destination: The planet Eternal?
The original Galaxy Express 999 movie holds a special
place in my heart. It was a true fairy
tale Anime with a scifi edge: a story seeped in dreams, adventure, excitement
and even a little romance. It was the
stuff Anime of legend are made of. I
didn’t want the journey of the Three-Nine to end but I also didn’t want it to
be potentially ruined with a sequel.
Naturally, Adieu Galaxy Express 999 started off great but devolved into
a beat for beat reskin of the first film, and I was left a little saddened by
that. So when I heard there was a third
film in the franchise, my expectations had to be dialed back a bit, maybe a
lot.
Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy is a cluster cuss of
a film. It bears many things I might’ve
wanted to see in a sequel to one of my all time favorite Anime films. But there’s so much else going on that its
baffling this movie is less than half the length of the other films. The rush begins right out of the gate with
very little time dedicated to why Earth is still such an oppressed planet. Tetsuro is introduced, captured, and
sentenced to death within two minutes.
Problems here: no context, no explanation, no reason why Tetsuro looks a
lot like his TV counterpart than his movie character designs. But then we get to one of the best parts of
the movie. The Three-Nine busts right
into Tetsuro’s execution and rescues him in grand fashion. Tetsuro is literally roped aboard and tugged
to safety and the bad guys are left wondering WTF happened with all the
chaos. All of a sudden, the lack of
clarity as to why things are the way they are vanished for a second and I was
highly entertained.
This is pretty much the template of this 54 minute
feature: jumping from one set piece to the next without filling the audience in
properly before arriving at a cool action scene or wondrous stay on a planet
(of which they only visit on but it looks great). In a way, Eternal Fantasy almost feels like a
pilot for a new series, or the unfinished first half of a larger films (a la
the Rebirth portion of Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth). By the time the movie reaches what it just
decides to be it’s climax, I couldn’t help but feel a bit cheated. It felt like we had gotten a solid-ish first
half and were now ready for the rest of the adventure. But the film cuts to black and just ends
without promise of continuation or anything.
Why make this film if it was going to be incomplete and not as long as
its predecessors?
That said, is it still better than Adieu Galaxy Express
999? Well it did seem a bit more original
and never dropped into a beat for beat retread of the first time (though there
would still be time for that if Eternal Fantasy had a second half). The action scenes were creative and I loved
that the Three-Nine actually seemed like it was in danger for once. The battle on the train between Tetsuro and
the beautiful bounty hunter Helmazaria is pretty intense and we actually see
the Three-Nine get pretty messed up as a result. Still, it is a bit brief and Helmazaria is
never explored as fully as she could be, not surprising given the shortness of
the film. Clearly she has some
connection to Maetel (who doesn’t in this universe) but we’ll never know how
deep it runs. I also liked that, for
the most part, the animation stays in step with the late 70’s/early 80’s style
exhibited in the first two films.
Tetsuro’s character model change aside, it’s like no time has passed on
this train and it feels like coming home to an old stomping ground where all of
your old friends are waiting for you. This
even goes for Captain Harlock who, even though I think he’s still an ex
machina, blasts his way back onto the screen with the Arcadia coming to the
Three-Nine’s defense once again, looking bad ass as ever.
But again, the short length presents a ton of problems. Something big happens towards the end of the
film, potentially setting up another feature, and it happens off screen, told
to Tetsuro only after he defeats Helmazaria.
While I wont spoil what happens, this event is pretty freaking big and a
game changer for the young Three-Nine traveler.
The dramatic effect would have been grander if Tetsuro had been able to
witness it. Of course there’s also
Helmazaria’s lack of motivation as to her mission, I just assumed she was a
very dedicated bounty hunter, no real clarification on the generic darkness
spreading across the universe and rather rushed background on Tetsuro’s new
Earth placed oppressors. What was the
plan going into writing this story? I
really want to know. Also, since this
movie came out in the 90’s, the added CG is very disjointing. I like my Three-Nine to look like a hand
drawn piece of fantasy machinery, not a computer generated wannabe.
So yeah, kind of confusing at the end. I liked it but also didn’t. I guess that’s more than what I could say for
Adieu, which was a total letdown. It
stings a bit knowing, for me anyway, there is no continuation or conclusion to
the story began here. How do you grade a
movie like this? I should give it a fail
for only being a half finished product.
But it was an entertaining half finished product. I guess this is a guilty pleasure then. It looks like Three-Nine, feels like a good
sequel in the making, and I LOVED the end theme by The Alfee, very “go get em”
inspiring. But you know what holds it
back, ive said them a few times already.
In the end I’ll say, I wish I can one day see the second half of this
story…but the first half had promise and, flaws and all, was better than the
heartbreakingly disappointing second film.
6/10
OH and one more thing.
I get Emeraldas’s ship flying behind the Three-Nine along with the
Arcadia at the end. Emeraldas is a
character in this series and even though just her ship appears, it makes a
little sense…but why the frak is Leiji Matsumoto’s other legendary ship, The
Space Battleship Yamato, flying along side them as well? Connective tissue to a larger universe? The world may never know.
