Ginga Tetsudou 999: Eternal Fantasy

"Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy" was actually one of the first anime movies I had ever seen back in the 90’s, and while it hasn’t aged that well, it still remains an entertaining movie. Basically our hero Tetsuro wants to get revenge for the murder of his mother by the hands of machine people. (Humans that gave up their bodies in order to become immortal robots) His only means to do this by riding the Galaxy Express 999 (a space train of sorts) in order to get a machine body himself and kill his mom’s murder. The only way he can do this is by ... way of a young women named Maetel, who offers him a ticket if he takes her with him.


Story: 8/10
It is basically a movie that summarizes everything that took place during the TV series, only it whittles it down to about an hours worth. The story is quite well written as you can see from above, it really gives you a feeling that you are riding with Tetsuro on the express ways, as they tend to introduce different planets that have also been under oppression by the machine people, along with love, sadness and surprising plots twists, which are especially nice considering this is only an hour long movie. The action scenes themselves are fair enough, but lack a really visual appeal and flare. I know some may feel that it was appropriate for its time, but there still were much more fluent titles out there around this era. (such as Robotech or Captain Tsubasa) Still, it gets the job done well enough! It contains a bit of blood shed (doesn’t ever spurt or flow though) and some of the scenes show women in a more erotic manner, so it might not be appropriate for all viewers. These scenes are few and far between, but I still feel they are worth mentioning.

Soundtrack: 8/10
Really has a great one! The live "symphony" style of music really sets the mood for the movie, and even holds up well by today’s standards. And the closing theme "journey to the stars" was so darn catchy I immediately downloaded it to my ipod! It does seem a bit dated looking back on it, but it still has a lasting affect! My only complaint with the music, is that there isn’t much to it as far as variety goes. Its pretty sparse through out, but the parts that it does show up in are well timed and moving. Most people may view the background tracks as "sad, " but heck they did kill his mom, so its what the designers were trying to make you feel with it! Sadly, there is no opening theme to this title. The character voices were some hit and misses, I felt that the two main ones were well placed and appropriate, but others (like the conductor) just came out plain funny! Which I guess is ok, especially considering this is a sad movie, and some viewers might find the funnier voices stimulating.

Art: 6/10
Without a doubt it is very dated, this sort of style was very popular in the 80’s era, so to some younger viewers out there it will most likely be a turn off. As far as the character design goes, I just wasn’t a fan of it myself. With the exception of Tetsuro on most parts, the other characters just look weird and not proportioned right, and kinda come off as more silly than actually threatening or mature. (which is what the movie is shooting for) Still, whether you love it or hate it, its well detailed and does contain a character design all its own.

Characters: 9/10
Which is really what this movie is all about! The great chemistry between them, whether it be loss of a loved one, happy times meeting new friends, to touching moments between them! You feel a deep satisfaction of feeling what the characters feel themselves. And even though it wasn’t able to pull off the most touching story for a movie, it still leaves you with a happy yet sad feeling when it finishes. The characters themselves are also interesting in their design. They range from humans, to alien conductors, to people made out of pure crystal, so there is a good variety to them as well!

Bottom Line: 8/10
If your not into the whole classic anime tag, then "Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy" probably won’t make you change your mind. But if you are interested in what was going on back in older anime titles, its a great find. This movie may be a bit too dark and depressing for some though, so if your the type of viewer who prefers happy movies then I would avoid it, as it does have its tear jerking moments. I recommend it for fans of old school, or people who like more mature drama in their anime diet.

One Final note I feel I should mention: if you do decide to get into this franchise, be prepared for some very confusing detective work. As there are so many spin-offs, sequels and prequels that it can sometimes get quite frustrating!

Watching the 999 TV series then the movies back to back was a pretty bad case of whiplash. The first movie missing all the important parts of the TV series, the sense of a long journey and the character growth Tetsuro went through. The second movie felt like just a remix of the same plot points of the first. And then this movie, that just feels like a total disconnect from everything.

Starts off bad right off the bat, you see the 999 flying and its rendered in hideous CGI. This is perhaps a bit of a contentious topic as CG becomes more commonplace or generally ... accepted but for me it always looks worse than hand drawn. It can still look good as an end result, though I think hand drawn would always look better. Some shows use it better than others, Last Exile is a good (and fairly early) example of good CG. But here its just disappointing to see.
ok CGI rant over

Then we get to the Tetsuro redesign, they had aged him up in the previous 2 movies and sorta looked like a young Harlock. But here hes back to being more of a young kid like in the TV series except hes so ugly looking now. I mean dont get me wrong, he was pretty dopey looking in the TV series and I always got a chuckle out of him and some of the side characters how ridiculously high their eyes were, but he was goofy looking in a sort of cartoon endearing way. Here hes just ugly looking though. The rest of the art is ok, some background arts are nice, some extra detail on characters here and there but not nearly as nice looking as the previous films or as charming as the TV series.

Story-wise, it sets up a new evil menace for Tetsuro and Maetel to contend with, but its just sort of random feeling and lacking in any of the personal growth side of story that the original series had. It could maybe blossom into something, but the main issue is this is only 50 something minutes long and is basically just an intro OVA to the real story.... that we never got. The ending is a cliffhanger before getting to anything real interesting. Maybe this is continued in one of the manga releases, I'm not sure. But as it is I really dont feel like you are getting much from this. I guess if you, like me, are also on a 999 binge you may feel compelled to complete the set but honestly you're time is best served elsewhere like watching one of the gazillion spin-off stories from this story's universe.

Man... I hate this movie.

Galaxy Express 999 is a wonderful series and Sayonara Galaxy Express is a must watch movie in my books. The beauty of the animations is in the theme which as Leiji Matsumoto says is, a celebration of mortality. This theme is expressed in how characters live thier lives, how they die and their dreams, which leads to the ultimate decision on if pursuing immortality is the right choice for Tetsurou. Eternal Fantasy (as the name implies) seems to upend that notion. But that's neither here nor there, lets instead talk about what this is.

Eternal Fantasy is an adaptation to the newer ... Galaxy Express comic, eternal edition, which means it ignores some parts of Sayonara Galaxy Express which served as a conclusion of sorts. Which isn't a big deal because continuity is something that's always loose in this series, the question is does this do a good job as a prologue in its 54 minute run time... wait a minute, 54 minutes?! That's right and with that said, let me say that the answer to if this is a good prologue is, no and the runtime is a part of it. I don't think this version of Galaxy of Express is destined for greatness but the lack of desire to look into Eternal Edition after watching Eternal Fantasy lies solely on this film.

The problem with this, is that the prologue isn't interested in the setup, the start is just to get the ball rolling and the adventure on the train happening again which makes this movie which consists of the prologue and only the prologue, frankly, bad. This movie is like eating the discarded, unwanted parts of food. The thing that no one wanted or cared about, all rolled up in a nice package and handed off to you, solely for the purpose of getting you excited of actually eating the meal and you want me to rate the trash parts? Well they're not good. The story is rushed and all the important parts are told through flashes of exposition outside of the action.

Without spoiling things, Eternal Fantasy story goes like this: "The plot starts out fast and hard with flashy action and we learn through a quick exposition that the enemy is comfort and high quality of life apparently. Lets escape! Oh hey btw the most tragic thing that could happened just randomly happened offscreen with no warning, setup or reason given. Ok, the end. Nope, no, do not recommend. This came out in theaters in Japan by the way and no they weren't happy about it either as it underperformed.

I enjoy Leiji Matsumoto works but I can't recommend this. The only saving grace is that the animation is enduring and that the little time you spend with it, the movie never insults your intelligence, or subjects you to stupid or offensive themes preventing it from ever falling into the apalling or terrible category.