 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH DD 5.1 AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 600 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | TV 14 | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 02/26/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 05/08//2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
The Galaxy Railways comes from the original creators of the anime cult-classic Star Blazers, and Galaxy Express 999. The animation style for any of Leiji Matsumoto’s works is very easily recognizable to most well-versed anime fans as it is quite unique. In a way his animated works, whether from many years ago or of more recent times, always have this nostalgic feel like they were all made in the seventies or eighties. Anime as an art style has had many changes and updates as the times have also changed, but anime like The Galaxy Railways stays true to a “feel” that tells us it has roots in a time before it came to light. Some people may not be into that, and just want the most flashy, new thing going – but a lot of people will really enjoy this series for the nostalgic style, and it’s many other positive points that make it so entertaining as a whole.
Before trying to understand the story of this anime, it makes sense to take a quick look back at the original that it derives from. The story of Galaxy Express 999 is set in a space-faring, high-tech future, where mechanized people with "machine bodies" are pushing humanity towards irrelevance and extinction. A street urchin named Tetsuro Hoshino desperately wants an indestructible machine body, giving him the ability to live forever and have the freedom that the poor humans on Earth don't have. While machine bodies are impossibly expensive, they are supposedly given away for free on the planet Andromeda, the end of the line for the space train Galaxy Express 999 (Technology has advanced to the point where space-faring vehicles can assume any shape, such as the classical locomotive in both stories). Tetsuro meets up with a beautiful woman, Maetel (sometimes translated "Maeter", from the Greek meter and/or Latin mater, meaning "mother"), who is the spitting image of his dead mother. Maetel offers him passage on 999 if he will be her traveling companion, and Tetsuro agrees. Another notable character in both the manga and the anime series is the seemingly strict, mysterious alien conductor that sometimes gets involved in Tetsuro's and Maetel's adventures. This is where the Galaxy Railways concept comes from, and so it contains many similar story elements and conflicts.
The newer, updated Galaxy Railways that is being reviewed here is comparable in many ways to the original, but certainly has its own complete story. In the future, mankind will venture to the far reaches of the cosmos using technologically advanced trains, perhaps the least likely method of intergalactic travel. The fleet of the Galaxy Railways transports countless galactic citizens from one exotic planet to the next, protected by an elite fighting force called the SDF. The elite force protecting the Railways Fleet against terrorists, meteor storms and malicious alien life. Manabu Yuuki dreamed of joining the SDF like his father and brother before him. His mother, desperate not to lose her whole family to the infinite void of space does what she can to derail his dreams, but Manabu is too much like his father, too stubborn to go back on his word. He boards the train to Destiny Station, where his own destiny has already begun. The main thing that makes this title work is the way it is set up and how it puts the various characters to work in the story. Galaxy Railways features a rich cast with a lot of emotion and realistic human-nature (as well as chunks of melodrama, and all that good stuff). Even the main characters are a rather interesting couple. Yuuki, for being a typical brash and inexperienced youngster, does go through a lot of growth sessions as the series progresses. And Louis, for also being the typically tomboyish girl and main love interest for the generally clueless Yuuki, does the same. There's also Bruce, who starts out outright hating Yuuki and his attitude towards the SDF. There's also Yuki, the Big One's medical android woman (you’ve got to get some robots in there somewhere – this IS science fiction after all). And let's not forget Bulge, Yuuki's officer in charge – always a good time. Outside of the first couple of episodes, which mainly deals with Yuuki losing his father and brother and later joining the SDF, the series is mainly episodic of nature, only tied together by the character Layla Destiny Shura, who is the main leader of the entire Galaxy Railways system and has the ability to see into the fate of everyone traveling the Galaxy Railways. And since the railway itself has been upgraded to an all-purpose interstellar transportation system, it means we get taken on many different rides to all corners of the universe, and on a lot of different trains at that. The episodic build of the show doesn't really detract from the viewing pleasure. In fact, it just makes it easier to go into detail on each of the various characters. This spans from "What would it take for you to go against your own principles" to "are memories worth keeping if they bring you nothing but pain?" The series is very much centered around the human drama and who these characters are as people. It’s interesting to see how it affects these characters to be a tiny blip on the radar of the universe – they are all so small in such a big scheme, and a concept like that begs a lot of questions from the characters, and from us as the viewers also. The art style will be very familiar to Matsumoto fans, and the animation is mostly top notch. Some of the trains, mainly the modernized ones, are easily identifiable as three dimensional computer graphics, though there's no question about them looking great. The computer graphics really work in this relation – they are usually pretty good for mecha and mechanical things like the trains in question. Everything from the action sequences, to the character designs are well thought-out and won’t leave you with anything to complain about – the series looks great. The box set contains the complete 6-disc series and an interview with Leiji Matsumoto, as well as a number of other extras. Being a Viridian Collection from Funimation, the set is well-priced and comes in an economy, fold-out set with a slip cover to keep it all together. The art and colours used on the physical product itself are very nice – it’s a handsome little set for sure.
EXTRAS:
The disc extras include an interview with creator Leiji Matsumoto, episode 2 recording session filmed in Japan, title announcement press conference,
IN SUMMARY:
The Galaxy Railways serves as another look into the universe created by Matsumoto, but contains an almost completely original story that works as a stand alone series. It’s space opera and science fiction at its best – this series is both intelligent and dynamic in its course.
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