Ginga Tetsudou 999

銀河鉄道999
Ginga Tetsudou 999 Andromeda Chapter
Galaxy Express Three-Nine
GE 999

Manga7.9944 votes18 volumesFinished

AdventureAward WinningDramaFantasySci-FiSpaceShounen

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About this title

Synopsis

Tetsurou Hoshino is a young street urchin who desperately wants to replace his human body with an android body, which would grant him immortality and the social freedom the androids have. Normally this is incredibly expensive but it has long been rumored that if you board the Galaxy Express headed for the Andromeda Galaxy, at the end of the line is a planet where they are given out for free. After seeing his mother murdered by an Android Count, he has no reason to remain on his home planet and nothing to hold him back. Now, not only seeking the android body of his dreams but also a way to avenge his loss, he begins to search for a way to board the train alone. Then he meets Maetel, a mysterious woman who offers him a ticket aboard the train if he will be her companion for the journey. Their journey will take them to planet after planet, each strange and new, and each stop along the way being an opportunity for Tetsurou to reflect on being human, human actions, and the prospect of immortality. During their travels Tetsurou and Maetel meet, amongst others, Emeraldas and Harlock.

Publication notes

Ginga Tetsudou 999 initially ended in 1981, however after fifteen years Leiji Matsumoto returned to his series in 1996, moving the internal timeline on one year from where the story had previously drawn to a close.

Published

Jan 1977 to Oct 1981

Authors

Matsumoto, Leiji

External links

MyAnimeList page Wikipedia

MAL rank: #1017
Members (MAL): 3,958
Favorites (MAL): 47

Related titles

Sequel

Ginga Tetsudou 999 (1996)

Adaptation

Main characters

Maetel450 fan favorites
External profile
The enigmatic woman who gives the young boy Tetsurou his ticket on the Galaxy Express 999. As beautiful as she is wise, Maetel provides constant support and guidance for Tetsurou throughout his travels. Maetel is known for her calm and caring nature while also contrasting her mysterious motives and unhesitating towards anyone who would do her or anyone under her care harm. Maetel admires people of true courage and passion and dislikes the related emotions of bravado, arrogance, and anger seeing them as self-destructive means to an end. As such, Maetel is highly against anyone who would do any action merely on the act of self-preservation and implores people who have not fallen such as her escortee Tetsuro Hoshino to look at people's perspective from an insightful point of view. When she was younger, Maetel still had her view on true strength, rejecting her mother's plan to convert every person on La Metal into androids. Yet she was rather naive and wanted to take any chance to reconnect with her mother in spite of Emeraldas' protests. Her numerous battles and encounters with Emeraldas, Captain Harlock, and Tochiro Oyama leads Maetel to become a hardened yet compassionate person who seeks to find the very best of people who can find an enlightenment beyond what has become established. In Leiji Matsumoto's own words: "[Maetel] is the woman who travels with an adolescent boy's dreams. She's traveled with millions, tens of millions of boys, so far. In fact, there are as many Maetels as there are boys. That's also how she can show up in any story. All boys have met Maetel in different forms of encounter. That goes for Antares or Emeraldas or Harlock, as well. They are all crossed over, and they can all be separate stories on their own. So if you change perspectives, you can make as many stories as you like. The characters of Shadow and Emeraldas, who were girls in their adolescence, have met someone called Maetel, in the heart, from their childhood, or during the time when they were full of dreams. It's a train ride through one's mind, or the train that travels along with one. And each person has a different journey...." (Sources: Anime Interviews: The First Five Years of Animerica, Anime & Manga Monthly, First Printing in 1997. Toki No Wa Wiki)
Tetsurou Hoshino46 fan favorites
External profile
Tetsuro Hoshino is a young boy who was born on Earth into poverty, and who wants nothing more than a machine body. He also wants revenge on Count Mecha, an evil man who was given a machine body and now hunts humans for sport, for killing his mother. As a street urchin, Tetsuro has no means to buy a machine body. However, he has heard that at the end of the Andromeda Galaxy, there exists a planet where such robot bodies are given away for free. All Tetsuro needs to do is get a pass on the Galaxy Express 999, the cosmic railway. And one day, Tetsuro meets the mysterious Maetel, who promises to give him her unlimited use pass for the Express on the condition that she be his travelling companion. Tetsuro happily agrees, and embarks with Maetel on an adventure across the stars. When Tetsuro starts out, he is every bit the whiny, immature, selfish child. However, the adventures he goes with Maetel on, the people he meets, and the sights he witnesses cause Tetsuro to slowly but truly grow into a strong, young man. Tetsuro also grows closer and closer to Maetel, and although the nature of their relationship might not be called romantic, they form a very strong bond of love. (Source: Wikipedia)