Antares, the Great Bandit

Antares, the Great Bandit

Manga Chapter 1-5

TV Episode 4

Manga Chapter Summary:

The narrator explains that while invisible to the naked eye, the 999 rides on a semi-permanent course throughout the galaxy which it can’t veer off of. Until now, no derailment has ever occurred. As Tetsuro sleeps, Maetel talks to herself about how he won’t have to sleep when he gets his mechanical body, but he won’t be able to dream either. Maetel tries to ask the Conductor about the sleeping car, but he rushes in and then out again, without responding. Suddenly the train shakes and a passenger from the first class section of the train wanders in, collapsing of a gunshot wound. A bearded bandit steps into the train car, claiming he is going to rob the train. Despite the train’s ultra-energy barrier he was able to break in and is now demanding Maetel and Tetsuro’s money and valuables. 

The bandit looks closely at the warrior’s gun Tetsuro was just provided on Titan. Fiddling around with the gun’s hammer, the bandit accidentally cuts himself, causing Tetsuro to realize that he’s a human being. The Conductor steps in the car with a gun, but the bandit takes Maetel hostage and demands the Conductor lead him to the engine. Calling himself Antares, the bandit demands the 999’s engine, C-62, alter its course trajectory. Although initially refusing, the engine relents after Antares threatens to kill Tetsuro. Maetel realizes that Antares is having the 999 head right for his home.

When Tetsuro shivers, Antares realizes he is a flesh and blood human, and confirms it by forcing Tetsuro to step into an x-ray machine. Antares demands Maetel step into it as well, which she does, confirming her as a human as well. To make it up to the two of them, Antares steps under the x-ray machine himself, revealing a bunch of unexploded bullets in his abdomen. The day they explode will be the end of him. The train stops; it has arrived at Antares’ home, which is built within an asteroid. When Tetsuro sees the numerous children inside, calling Antares daddy, he stops the Conductor from shooting him.

Antares invites Tetsuro and Maetel into his home, where the numerous children waiting give him a hug. Antares cleans and fixes up Tetsuro’s warrior weapon. He tells Tetsuro to shoot before getting shot at and that the only way to survive in space is to shot without hesitation. Antares thanks Tetsuro for saving him and invites him to come back someday. Even if he is no longer around, his children will welcome him. As they head back inside, Maetel heads to the engine room and deletes the recording that identifies the position of Antares’ home. Maetel tells Tetsuro that Antares must have been like him once, brave and kind hearted, but such a person won’t survive long in the universe. The 999 approaches Pluto, which the Conductor says they will stop at for the equivalent of 6.39 days.

TV Episode Summary:

This TV episode doesn’t cut anything notable from the manga chapter and is the first episode to add a fair amount of new content, although none of said additions are major plot changes. Early in the episode as Tetsuro sleeps we see him dreaming of a fun time when he was playing with his mother and father. Similar to last episode, Tetsuro’s mother has blonde hair in this flashback, providing continuity with the manga version rather than the first episode (making it likely her dark hair in episode one was a stylistic choice or due to how dark things were). We also see Antares climbing into the train and robbing passengers in the first class train (resulting in the first time in the TV series we see other passengers, as the passenger in the first chapter was cut from the TV show). While this happens the 999 engine detects him entering and tries waking up a sleeping Conductor to take care of it. 

An added line not in the manga confirms that Antares got on board while the 999 was stationed at Titan. There is an added scene where the Conductor tries to stop Antares by burying him under coal, but Antares quickly makes his way out of it. We also have an added scene at Galaxy Railways Administration where the computers detect that the 999 is off course. Once our heroes arrive at Antares’ home we have some additional dialogue from him. This includes Antares talking about his wife, who was a fellow bandit with him but was killed by machine men (as seen in a flashback scene). As they depart, Antares requests Maetel to stay there with him, but she declines, saying she has to remain with Tetsuro.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Antares – Masao Imanishi

Gentleman – Kouji Totani

Tetsuro’s Father – Shunji Yamada (Keaton Yamada)

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

For the second time in 3 chapters, we have a chapter that takes place within the 999 between stops. The space bandit Antares takes center stage in this chapter, Despite the super advanced technology that Maetel tells Tetsuro about in earlier chapters, Antares somehow is able to come on board and take over the train. When I first read the manga chapter I assumed he boarded while the 999 was at Titan; although this is never definitively stated in the manga, it is stated in the TV episode. For the first time since the opening chapter we see another passenger onboard the 999, a man from the first class portion of the train. This is the first time a first class portion of the train is mentioned and you’d wonder why Maetel and Tetsuro are not stationed on that part of the train considering the power and wealth Maetel appears to have. In the TV episode we see many passengers in that part of the train. 

Antares soon softens towards Tetsuro and Maetel upon discovering that they are human. By now it’s become quite a theme in the storyline that having a human body is something to be valued, even though they can’t boast the extended lifetime that a machine body can. Despite his role, Antares becomes a rather sympathetic character by chapter’s end, especially as we see the numerous children he has. Given their large number and close apparent ages, you’d assume that they aren’t all necessarily his children, but we don’t get any further explanation of that. The TV episode provides further sympathy for Antares as we see his wife killed by machine men, perhaps something which factored in him being kinder to Tetsuro and Maetel upon discovering they are human. Antares’ request for Maetel to stay behind with him in the TV episode is quite the awkward moment! Antares’ advice to Tetsuro is sound; by this point Tetsuro has faced life threatening situations several times and has killed a number of machine people so he is hopefully learning through his own experience anyway.

Tetsuro has a line about never considering the possibility that Maetel could be a robot, but this had come up in the first chapter, where she showed her naked body to him (and he later saw her naked in the shower too). It makes a bit more sense in the TV episode as that initial scene from the manga had been cut.

Spoiler Analysis:

Antares also makes an appearance in the movie version, as a resident of Titan and part of the group of bandits that kidnapped Maetel. The sequence with the x-rays and revealing that they are each human beings is also used there. Antares’s home is on Titan rather than an asteroid, and he takes care of a number of orphans whose parents were killed by Count Mecha. To my knowledge this is Antares’ only appearance in the manga (having seen the entire TV series I know he doesn’t show up again there), although in the movie version he shows up again later to help Tetsuro take on Count Mecha at the Time Castle and those unexploded bullets end up being his end.

The manga chapter references both a first class section of the train as well as a sleeping car, but these features seem forgotten by Matsumoto as they don’t tend to come up in future chapters/TV episodes.