The Comet Library

The Comet Library

Manga Chapter 1-7

TV Episode 6

Manga Chapter Summary:

The 999 approaches its next destination, Comet Station. Maetel tells Tetsuro this is the point where Halley’s Comet and Comet Morehouse depart and approach Earth from. It is essentially a birth place of comets. Upon arriving, for a short layover of only 1.5 hours, Tetsuro is surprised to see no physical ground beneath the 999. Maetel tells him this is a place where there is neither up nor down. At the heart of Comet Station, they start spinning and Tetsuro feels dizzy so Maetel tells Tetsuro they should head to one of the nearby shops. 

 

Tetsuro and Maetel head into Kings Books, and Tetsuro is amazed by all the classic books they have gathered. Tetsuro notices a man wearing a hat staring at him. As Tetsuro walks away the man confronts him, claiming he has torn a page out of one of the books and needs to be brought to the police station. When Tetsuro objects, the man shoots him. Tetsuro is buried by a pile of books and the man flees as Maetel rushes over.

Maetel brings Tetsuro over to the nearby hospital, where the doctor says he has to amputate Tetsuro’s hand and leg and replace them with robot parts! Tetsuro claims he doesn’t have the money to pay for them, and besides, he just has a scratch, not a major injury. The doctor dismisses this, saying Tetsuro will need to work here for the next 10 years in order to pay it off. When the hat-wearing man walks into the waiting area, Maetel realizes he is in league with the doctor. The hat-wearing man runs off, but Maetel rushes into the surgical room, demanding the doctor let go of Tetsuro or he and his accomplice will be sent to jail. As they leave, the doctor pulls a gun and Maetel shoots him. As they leave, the hat-wearing man approaches and Tetsuro shoots him too. 

 

When Tetsuro and Maetel get back onboard the train, they find themselves sitting in one of the seats! The ‘duplicate’ Tetsuro and Maetel claim they are the real ones, but the Conductor sees through it and throws them off the train. The mother begs for at least her son to be let on the train and that they will work to pay it off, but this is ignored and the train departs Comet Station. Maetel tells Tetsuro that as they leave their solar system, space law will only exist within the train and the stations. It will be survival of the fittest throughout space.

TV Episode Summary:

The primary addition to the television episode is providing more scenes with the mother and child that try to sneak onboard the 999 in Tetsuro and Maetel’s place. We see them watch as Tetsuro and Maetel leave the train. Later they briefly talk to the hat-wearing man (credited as Handsome Man in the credits) about the fact that Tetsuro is hurt, probably giving them the idea to take this opportunity to get on the 999. When Tetsuro and Maetel find them on the 999, rather than the Conductor immediately notice they are fakes, he asks for their passes first and throws them out when they can’t provide them (although he doesn’t ask this of the real Tetsuro and Maetel). While in the manga we only see them appearing as Tetsuro and Maetel, we see their real appearance here. Tetsuro feels bad for them, but Maetel stops him from doing anything further. 

Other additions to the episode are less significant in nature. We see a little more of the Handsome Man, in particular him scoping out Tetsuro before he even enters the bookstore, and Maetel sees him literally get a pay out at the doctor’s office which makes it easier to figure out what he is up to. Tetsuro goofs around a bit more outside before going to the bookstore. While inside, he name drops Leiji Matsumoto and we also see references to Star Wars in a book he briefly looks at. At the end of the episode we see additional blue-colored train cars attach to the 999 to help it as it departs the Solar System. Finally, the episode includes a brief flashback to Antares, which was likely included to pad the running time.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Medical Doctor – Sanji Hase

Handsome Man – Toshio Furukawa

Mother – Nana Yamaguchi

Child – Seiko Nakano

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

For the first time we have a chapter that I don’t have much to say about. This is primarily a filler chapter and episode, arguably the first such one. Unlike earlier chapters there isn’t much to analyze here and it is a fairly standard plot. Tetsuro desires to obtain a mechanical body, but lacks the funds to pay for it and is nearly scammed into going in debt by the 2 villains of this chapter. While Maetel shoots the doctor in self-defense, Tetsuro shooting the hat-wearing man comes off in rather casual fashion, which is rather troubling considering how young Tetsuro is. Maetel tells Tetsuro that it is survival of the fittest outside of the solar system and Tetsuro has had to experience that several times now.

 

This is the final chapter where the television series directly follows the order of the manga. From here on out, the adaption order fluctuates wildly. For what reason they did this, I’m not sure, perhaps a desire to skip ahead to more exciting chapters.

The additions in the television version, beyond the fun little Leiji Matsumoto and Star Wars nods aren’t that effective. Seeing another Tetsuro and Maetel onboard the train was a surprise in the manga, but you can see the fact that the mother and child were going to sneak onboard a mile away. Also the bad deeds of the Handsome Man are more obvious and in your face in the television episode, especially when we literally see him getting paid off.

 

Spoiler Analysis:

This is the first chapter since the second one that does not feature at all in the movie adaption. From here on out, most episodes no longer factor into the movie, with the occasional exception. This is the first time we see Tetsuro and Maetel “imposters” but this plot device will be used again in the future. Likewise, the plot point of forcing a mechanical body upon Tetsuro will also appear again. The addition of more material in the TV episode that essentially spoils a later surprise unfortunately isn’t unique to this episode and we’ll see similar deficiencies with episode 11.