Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am impatient to continue our journey aboard the Galaxy Express, and see what wonders await us as the edge of the solar system. Our last adventure featured an impromptu trainjacking by the Great Space Pirate Antares, who actually turned out to be a perfectly reasonable sort of guy. All he really wanted was to steal luxury items from the rich and catch a ride home, which Tetsuro and Maetel were ultimately happy to assist in. In this harshly stratified universe, the have-nots must band together if they are to survive; and as that last episode made clear, the Galaxy Express itself is not just an impartial observer of the cosmos.
The loneliness of space, the impersonal bloodlessness of a metal body, and the desperation for, if not a good life, at least a proper death – Galaxy Express 999 is as melancholy as it is marvelous, offering a vision of the future whose substance is as grim as its surface fantastical. It’s an intoxicating mixture that quite understandably stoked both the imagination and social consciousness of a generation of viewers, and I feel fortunate to explore it with all of you. Let’s hop aboard!
Episode 5
The further we journey into this show, the more its starry-eyed opening song feels like a grim joke. It actually reminds me of the original Gundam, whose optimistic martial anthem and array of proud salutes from the cast felt more like insincere war propaganda with every episode
We open with an ambitious swooping cut of the Galaxy Express crossing in front of the viewer and soaring onwards towards Pluto, its plume of smoke wafting gently behind. Countless anime productions have taken advantage of the inherent groundlessness of space to facilitate camera swings or shots into depth – with a background composed of stars arrayed at an infinite distance, you face none of the terrestrial issues of perpetually redrawing a background when perspective is changed
“That’s a pretty small planet.” Enjoy your status while you can, Pluto
“An eternally frozen little planet at the edge of the universe. People call it the Planet of Indecision.”
“It’s the edge of the solar system. So all the travelers who go there have to wonder if they can leave the solar system and come back alive.” The quiet comfort of stability, even if that means stagnation, versus the allure of the unknown future. Anime has a tendency to frame such conflicts in optimistic terms, with the medium’s overarching preoccupation with adolescence positioning the “great beyond” as maturity and adulthood. But in Galaxy Express 999, the expanse beyond our solar system is a true mystery, a prayer of justice or freedom that we’ve repeatedly seen challenged by those with greater life experience. The great beyond isn’t adulthood itself, it’s the lie children are told of the path towards a happy life
Matsumoto’s fantastical approach to the cosmos also lends his works a distinctive splash of horror. Our scientific expertise cannot protect Tetsuro; there are creatures out there beyond our imagination, and even the Galaxy Express itself runs according to sorcery we cannot fully understand
“Shadow of the Planet of Indecision”
“It’s getting rather cold.” An extremely Matsumoto flourish to have Pluto’s periphery be defined by extreme cold as the “most distant planet” of the solar system, even though space in general would be at least as cold at this distance from the sun. Planets are more like One Piece islands here, with their own parameters independent of the surrounding region – in fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if this show was one of the influences for One Piece itself. It’s certainly inspiring me to cook up some Galaxy Express-style drama for my tabletop players!
In characteristic fashion, Maetel offers only “the frozen souls of travelers past” as an explanation for this cold front. Each planet is defined by its lost souls and unfulfilled dreams – the poverty of Earth, the red sands of Mars, the brutal violence of Titan, and now this Planet of Indecision
“Wow, I guess superstitions are in space, too.” Tetsuro is too young and too confident to believe in such stories
Ooh, I love this shot of the Galaxy Express bearing down on the frozen tracks of Pluto
You can actually briefly see some damage on the bottom of the cel as Tetsuro and Maetel admire the scenery. Classic anime is such a goddamn tactile experience
Pluto’s scenery is essentially Moscow made out of ice, a fine contrast from our venues so far
Actually looks like there was a fair amount of cel damage to this episode
Maetel has personal business to attend, and leaves Tetsuro with a cryptic warning to not leave the city proper
So of course, Tetsuro immediately leaves the city, and spies Maetel out on the translucent ice. A former love trapped beneath the glass, perhaps?
As ever, the production pays particular attention to Maetel’s beautifully flowing hair as she weeps upon the ice
Looking down, Tetsuro realizes this is actually an ice graveyard, with corpses arrayed beneath the surface. He is greeted by its caretaker, a blue-haired woman called Shadow
The graveyard’s residents are a mixture of travelers who came here and died, or people who claimed metal bodies and discarded their old ones here
“Do you want me to show you my old self? The body I cast off is lying near here as well.” And yet, in spite of receiving a metal body, she chose to travel no further than the graveyard housing her old form. Her new form was a prison sentence, not a new lease on life
She believed her old form was the most beautiful in the universe, and so she chose to preserve it in ice rather than allow it to age and decay. But try as she might, she could not find a replacement face that would measure up to her original. Another soul utterly preoccupied and ultimately consumed by their desire for eternity, giving up on the vitality of an actual life well-lived in pursuit of eternal stasis
And so she decided on no face at all. Horror indeed
“If I take a living human’s soul and place it back inside my body, I can be revived!” Another form of coveting the red blood or vitality of humanity
Oh shit, Maetel’s a badass! She rushes to Tetsuro’s rescue just before he’s frozen solid, brandishing a whip to hold back Shadow
“She may return. No matter how tempting, don’t go. Understand?” Shadow’s threat is much like that of a vampire or revenant, luring the unwary Tetsuro to the land of the dead
Maetel states that she was crying because her dearest friend died here, and is buried beneath the ice
“My, how embarrassing. Let’s get some sleep.” Maetel is always quick to hide her emotions, but is nonetheless consumed with sorrow. What joy she can find seems to come secondhand, through her appreciation for Tetsuro’s starry-eyed wonder at the cosmos
And just like a vampire, Shadow returns in the night, calling to Tetsuro while bearing the form of his mother. Love this eerie composition of her waiting out in the snow, an ominous silhouette next to a forlorn street light
Tetsuro is almost tempted, but then remembers Maetel’s warning
Still, Shadow’s allure is powerful. He ultimately gives in, and agrees to take Maetel’s whip with him
“Rest with me, won’t you, Tetsuro?”
I love how indistinct the scenery is as Tetsuro follows this wraith, the form of these ice stairs only partially discernable as a contrast against the floating shadows surrounding them. From its narrative content to its aesthetic form, this episode is reminding me strongly of the “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” books that, accompanied by their horrific illustrations, served as one of my formative introductions to horror
The two embrace next to Shadow’s body, but the brooch left by Tetsuro’s mother protects him, and then Maetel arrives. Apparently she can shoot lasers out of her hands!
Some of the most fluid animation so far as Maetel faces off with Shadow, her grace and explosives unable to outdo Shadow’s brandishing of her whip
But Tetsuro shoots the whip out of her hand! Great shot, Tetsuro!
“Shooting a cyborg like you would be a waste of bullets. Instead I’ll shoot your old body, so you can’t try this again!” A fate potentially worse than death – shooting her source of hope, so that she must live forever within a metal cage
Unsurprisingly, Shadow is willing to sacrifice her current, empty life in order to protect the hope that sustains her
And Maetel takes pity on her
“Why did I get a mechanical body? I want to go back to my old, warm body. I want to live again and go back to earth.” To worship youth is to sacrifice your chance at living a fulfilling life. With this faceless mechanical body, Shadow cannot even weep for the choices she has made
Gorgeous composition of the aurora borealis as Tetsuro and Maetel emerge from the cave. I adore the color design in this show
As ever, Maetel is cheered by Tetsuro’s certainty. In spite of Shadow’s sorry tale, he still bears no indecision regarding his choice to gain a mechanical body
And Done
Whew, what an episode! In spite of Pluto truly being the saddest place in the universe, it proved a fantastic venue for more exploration of Galaxy Express 999’s ambiguous thoughts on eternity, regret, and the true nature of a life well-lived. The show’s preoccupation with mechanical bodies is proving a robust metaphor, capable of reflecting on both the economic injustices of society and the ambiguous pursuit of eternal life, a goal that has clearly lost its luster for many of these lonely cyborgs. This was also Galaxy Express at its most atmospheric, offering a beautifully realized horror vignette lent solemnity through the mutual isolation of Shadow and Tetsuro. Journey on, Tetsuro!
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