El Alamein's Singing Voice

El Alamein’s Singing Voice

Manga Chapter 2-3

TV Episode 46

Manga Chapter Summary:

Tetsuro reads a newspaper from the library car discussing the discovery of the 5 rings of Uranus. He’s so engrossed in it that he just now realizes that the 999 has stopped at another station! The Conductor explains that they are at El Alamein, but only for 10 minutes, and they are asked to not stray far from the train. Maetel tells Tetsuro this is so he doesn’t get shot by the frightful archaic weapons that are there. Tetsuro thinks of how he has heard the name El Alamein before and Maetel claims it was a battlefield in North Africa where tanks once fought. The two of them head to the desert-like area outside, finding abandoned tanks all over the place. Tetsuro and Maetel wonder what types of lifeforms operated these weapons. 

 

Tetsuro notices that a tank turret behind them has started aiming at them! Maetel jumps at Tetsuro, pulling them both down just as the tank starts firing. Tetsuro realizes that the tanks aren’t completely abandoned as they are automated. Maetel says the on-board computer of one of them must have noticed them and they’re now all being activated. A fleet of tanks soon surrounds the two of them. The tanks start firing, nearly hitting them. Maetel pulls out a pistol, and asking Tetsuro to forgive her, shoots him. She points the pistol at herself and fires as well. Tetsuro wakes up later, back on the 999 with Maetel, brought back by the Conductor. Maetel apologizes to Tetsuro, saying she had to make it look like they were dead for a few moments. Once the machines no longer detected signs of life, they de-activated and descended back into slumber. Tetsuro says as long as there were humans here the battle would never end. The 999 soon takes off.

TV Episode Summary:

The TV adaption of this chapter adds a considerable amount to the story, chiefly through a new character, Nanmi. Nanmi looks at maps in the library room on the 999 and plans to make El Alamein his new home. The Conductor tells him they don’t stop at that planet anymore, but Nanmi requests it then pulls out a bomb and threatens to blow up the train when the Conductor refuses. Tetsuro heads to the library car while the Conductor speaks to the 999’s engine, which declines to give in to the threat. 

 

Nanmi tells Tetsuro his planet has been at war for a long time. We see a flashback sequence where he explains the war has gone on so long that people don’t know the cause, and any attempts to get it to end is stopped by gunfire. He was sent as an emissary to find a new planet for his people to live and hopes to make El Alemein that place. The Conductor returns and tells them about the engine’s decision. Tetsuro now wants to stop there too. Nanmi takes Tetsuro hostage although we see he doesn’t really mean it after the Conductor leaves. The engine this time relents and permits a stop for 20 minutes only. 

 

Maetel comes in to confront Nanmi. The Conductor also comes in and tells him the train will now head for El Alamein, but Nanmi claims he will bring Tetsuro with him. Maetel says she is going to come along as well. The 999 arrives on El Alamein and they head out. Out in the desert, Nanmi tosses the bomb, which he admits was a fake anyway. The Conductor waits by the 999 for them to come back. Nanmi likes how quiet El Alamein is, with only ruins around them. As everything must be started over here, he has hope for this planet. Maetel tells Tetsuro to stay close by her. Nanmi decides that he will call his colleagues here and they will establish a planet of peace. He returns to Tetsuro and Maetel, telling them his decision.

Maetel wants to go back to the train, but Nanmi wants to take some photographs. At this point the episode returns primarily to the original manga chapter storyline, with the tanks around them coming alive. Nanmi is struck by a tank blast and Maetel and Tetsuro bring him with them. After returning to the 999, Tetsuro and Maetel visit Nanmi in the medical room where he asks Tetsuro to tell his colleagues that he found a peaceful place for them to live. Maetel stops Tetsuro from telling the truth about how dangerous the planet is. Nanmi dies shortly afterwards. 

 

A few other minor changes Include the scene with Tetsuro reading about Uranus’ rings at the beginning being cut, we see a flashback to the battle on El Alamein and Maetel claims the gun she used to shoot Tetsuro and herself was just a stun gun.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Nanmi – Shuichi Ikeda

Directive Voice – Shunji Yamada

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

I’m assuming the Directive Voice is the voice of the 999 engine. Nanmi’s voice actor, Shuichi Ikeda, would soon go on to a lot of fame for voicing Char Aznable, the famous Gundam franchise character, who he was doing the voice for at the same time he did his role in this episode.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

It is a rather simple premise with this chapter, as Tetsuro and Maetel travel to a world with no apparent life, but the ruins of what appeared to be a grand battle. The Conductor warns them not to stray too far from the train, and the layover is a mere 10 minutes, but in that short time Tetsuro and Maetel find themselves in danger. The seemingly silent tanks quickly come back to life at the sense of human presence and it is only through faking death that Tetsuro and Maetel are able to make it out alive. This brief chapter leaves several questions. Who created these tanks in the first place? Is there a reason why they are set up to destroy any life they sensed? Did the civilization that create them destroy itself because of it? Or perhaps the tanks were left here by some enemy force intentionally, to wipe out the enemy, while they were safely away? Perhaps scariest of all, is that these tanks became sentient on their own. I’d say this is kid of taking a cue from Terminator but this chapter was written several years before that movie came out. There are lots of possibilities to think about.

 

The television adaption adds in a new element with the character of Nanmi. Nanmi represents a group of people on his home planet who hope to escape the war that rages there. Nanmi hopes to have them settle on El Alamein, but it is a poor decision and ends in his demise. You would think that there would be an explanation for why the 999 doesn’t stop there and this could be explained to him, but such logic is left out. I didn’t mind his addition to the episode (the original chapter didn’t have enough content to support a full episode) although that particular aspect did bug me. Similar to the prior 2 chapters, despite this chapter appearing relatively early in the manga, its adaption is held off for quite a while.

 

As briefly mentioned in the chapter, El Alamein is a reference to a real life location, a town in the country of Egypt. The town was the location of two battles during World War II. The first occurred in July 1942 where the Axis forces marched towards Alexandria but were stopped by the Allied forces. The second battle took place a few months later, in late October to early November of that year, and had the Allied forces breaking through the Axis line and forcing them to retreat to Tunisia.