All Aboard!

Despite trying my best to watch as many “auteur” works of anime as as I can, there are some creators I've really never grown to love. Rintaro is one of these; I've seen a good number of his films over the years, but none made much of an impression on me. On that note, I'd always respected Leiji Matsumoto, but felt his body of work was a bit of a relic. If I met the guy, would he start ranting about “kids these days” and how things were “in the old days”? I like to think so. So when I popped in Rintaro's two Galaxy Express 999 films, I was unsure what to expect. Didn't expect pure love.

Galaxy Express 999 is a hero's quest in its purest form: young Tetsuro gets whisked away on a journey by some mysterious figure, and changes along the way. It's been done many a time before, but mixing that formula with classic science fiction just hits a sweet spot for me; think the original Star Wars, and you have a pretty good idea of the film's vibe. Locations such as Pluto and Heavy Melder are every bit as imaginative and memorable as Tatooine and the Death Star. Ditto for the side characters. Most everyone Tetsuro meets seems to carry the weight of a well-developed personality and backstory. No, I don't just mean the Captain Harlock carry-overs. Everyone from Count Mecha to Claire to the Conductor was engaging to some degree.

It's these things aspects that keep the film's relatively slow pace from feeling oppressive. I also found myself focusing on said characters and locations rather than Matsumoto's super-conservative and somewhat destructive viewpoints, which until now had kept me an arm's length away from his work. You kinda have to accept that the heroes should never compromise on their beliefs no matter how much it may benefit the universe, and that all the lives and planets they destroy had it coming, somehow. Arguments could easily be made concerning how Tetsuro's and Harlock's actions are incredibly wrong, but I'm happy to push those out of my head and enjoy the show.

How, then, would Adieu Galaxy Express 999 follow up on such a fun, engaging adventure? By blowing the first film out of the water, right from the first scene. Now there's how you animate a brutal, uncompromising ground war against an implacable enemy. Although the plot may appear similar to the first movie in that Tetsuro must board the 999 on an adventure, the feel is quite different. It's shown early on that anyone can die, the 999 itself seems to be constantly in danger, and even the train's route remains a mystery. The strange world of adulthood Tetsuro discovered before is now re-examined, questioned. There aren't easy answers given to us like in the first movie; if Galaxy Express 999 was about finding your place in the universe, Adieu is about what we leave behind, never to be found again.

Generous . . . borrowing of certain elements from The Empire Strikes Back does little to diminish this movie in my eyes, nor do the opening measures of John Williams' Superman theme. Like its predecessor, Adieu Galaxy Express 999 may drag at times and wax melodramatic at others. I for one think these movies earn the emotional weight they go for. They take their characters seriously, do a good job with tried-and-true stories, and there's eye candy of every kind. Galaxy Express 999 is one ride that's definitely worth the ticket price.