I’ve watched all 29 episodes Live-Evil fansubbed of the 113 episode series of Galaxy Express 999. I am eager for more. Like, NAO. I love the music from the TV show too. Isao Saski sings the opening and ending theme of the TV show and let me tell you it’s great to hear a voice that’s not another girlie girl j-popstar.
I’ve watched all three movies: Galaxy Express 999, which retells the story of the manga and anime in a super-abridged format, Adieu Galaxy Express, and Galaxy Express: Eternal Fantasy.
I watched all of Space Symphony Maetel and Maetel Legend.
I’ve gone to Youtube and scoured it looking for any bits and pieces of Galaxy Express I could find like the weird video of Maetel pimping some bizarre Japanese sodapop or the video a guy took while sitting through the 3D Galaxy Express amusement park ride. There’s more disturbing and bizarre shit, and let’s just say my fandom has not gotten that far. I’ve watched the Godeigo performances of the Galaxy Express 999 movie theme — not just the original 1980s version but the reunion version too. I don’t know why, but that song "Salad Girl" just amuses the hell out of me.
I’ve read the Wikipedia entry…a couple of times. I’ve actually noted when new images were added to it.
I’d love to go to Japan and see the Maetel robot, she supposedly dispenses travel information. Maetel, Tetsuro, and the Conductor also host a boat tour of Leiji Matsumoto’s hometown, in a tour boat he designed.
This is my collection of Galaxy Express 999 comics. I went and found the five graphic novels Viz translated back in 2001-02 and bought all of them used. I believe I bought the hard to find volume 2 for about 30 bucks. Those two GE999 books in front are from my friend Genevieve who bought them for me when she went to Japan (I’m indebted to her). She also got me the Maetel/Tetsuro statue I was eyeing online for the longest time. What an incredibly pleasant surprise it was to receive that! Now, see those 17 books stacked on top of one another and the 18th one that’s standing by the lamp? Those are all of the original Galaxy Express 999 manga. In Japanese. Which I can’t read, but that doesn’t matter, because I own them. I’m one step closer to being completely immersed in that universe and having physical property that is Galaxy Express.
I got the comics from the Japanese Yahoo auction site using a 3rd party bidding company called Celga, my co-worker’s wife works for them, so I figured should be really, really dependable and it is. Actually, I got two sets of the original Galaxy Express manga through Celga, which totaled to 30 books in all. It cost me 113 bucks to buy them all and $109 to ship them to the States. Crazy you say? It’s one of the few things in my life I’ve actually gone out of my way to drop money on like that. I rarely buy into the fandom of things.
Why, though? Why am I a fan? It’s sci-fi. It’s something that’s entirely new and different to me. It carries a different sensibility than today’s animes. Thirty years really shows a difference, and I like it. But, I think the biggest reason is that I found Galaxy Express on my own. It’s my own little discovery. I feel like I have partial ownership of it. I love the quirky stories, the tragic characters, and Tetsuro’s heart of gold. I love the whole space train thing, of course, one of my other favorite animes, despite falling asleep through it, was Night on the Galactic Railroad, which partially inspired GE999. I like the Romanticism; it’s the whole idea of the journey into the unknown and the journey being more important than the destination. Maetel’s much more elegant and beautiful than any of these modern anime chicks, and she sure as hell could whip them into submission too (she’s actually got a light saber whip like the one Zero-Suit Samus uses in Smash Brothers). Her parting scene with Tetsuro in the movie is fantastic. She says to him, "From now on, I will be a woman who lives on only in your memories. I will be nothing more than the illusion of a young boy’s heart, a phantom of your youth (from the fansub)." She’s every boys’ first crush, a woman that makes a boy want to become a better man, and ultimately, she’s the one you can’t have. It’s bittersweet. I eat that shit up. It’s awesome.
On that table (in the picture), you don’t see the other 12 books comprising the second set of Galaxy Express 999 because I’ve boxed them. I originally thought that the books were actually from the two different series of Galaxy Express. The new GE999 is from 1996 and those are the ones Viz translated. I was hoping that the 12 volume set was actually the continuation and finale of those 1996 comics, but it wasn’t.
I don’t feel bummed about accidentally purchasing two sets either. One of them will make a great graduation present for my brother. Plus he can translate them since he’s got an undergraduate degree in Japanese, and now that he’s got a lot of spare time, maybe he should get crackin’ on that for me.
Tags: Galaxy Express 999
