# Galaxy Express 999 (1978)

> A young boy and a mysterious woman ride a cosmic space train across a far future galaxy in search of the Immortal Planet and a robotic body.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/29200

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 113
- Episode runtime: 25 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, science fiction, adventure
- Network: Fuji TV, Tokai Television Broadcasting, Kansai TV, Fuji News Network, Fukui TV, Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting, Sendai Television, SAGA TV, Ishikawa TV, TNC, Television Shin Hiroshima System, TV Shizuoka, NBS, TSK, AKT, Toyama Television, Okinawa Television Broadcasting, KTN
- Cast: Masako Nozawa, Masako Ikeda, Kaneta Kimotsuki, Hitoshi Takagi
- TMDB rating: 7.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185066/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: melancholic, wistful, philosophical, cosmic, adventurous

## Synopsis

Galaxy Express 999 (1978-1981) is a Japanese anime space opera series produced by Toei Animation for Fuji Television and its affiliated regional network. Tetsuro Hoshino, voiced by Masako Nozawa, is a human boy who wants his body replaced with a robotic one, a transformation possible only at the Immortal Planet. To get there he boards the space train Galaxy Express 999 with Maetel, a beautiful and mysterious blonde woman in Russian style dress, voiced by Masako Ikeda. The engine of the series is the long journey itself. Every episode brings the pair to a new planet's train station, where they meet strangers, dangers and the hard costs of mechanized life, while the Conductor and the narrator frame each stop. The series runs for one season of 113 episodes, a self-contained episodic format with a slowly advancing overarching quest. Set in a distant future across a sprawling galaxy, it carries a melancholic, philosophical and wistful register, with cosmic imagery and a coming of age heart. Fans of Space Battleship Yamato, Captain Harlock and Ghost in the Shell will find resonance in its blend of space opera, cyborg identity and quiet longing.

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