The Planet of Darkness, Mephisto's Dark Knight

The Planet of Darkness, Mephisto’s Dark Knight

Manga Chapter 1-8

TV Episode 15 (First Half)

Manga Chapter Summary:

A mysterious cloaked figure, holding a large spear doesn’t plan on letting the 999 do as it pleases as it heads through its land. The 999 heads through a dark gas cloud which doesn’t permit any light to pass through. The Conductor runs through the train car chasing a small bit of black gas floating through. When the Conductor mentions this is the Dark Knight’s planet, Maetel mentions that it is a rare “private planet”. It is a planet belonged by a single individual, the Dark Knight. Maetel tells Tetsuro that even though the train will make a stop, Tetsuro shouldn’t go outside as the Dark Knight won’t be easy on him. The narrator explains that the planet’s real name is Mephisto. 

 

As the train stops, Tetsuro realizes he can’t see anything outside. Maetel says they’ll only be here 10 minutes and heads to the dining car to get something to eat. Shortly after she leaves Tetsuro spots a pair of eyes outside his window. Bits of dark gas start seeping into the train car. When Tetsuro tries to ensure the train car door is fully shut, it breaks off and he falls outside the train.

Tetsuro is immediately confronted by the Dark Knight who says he won’t let anyone who dare step on his land live. The Dark Knight throws his spear at Tetsuro, who realizes he doesn’t have his rifle with him. Suddenly Maetel appears and steps in the way, with the spear going right through her abdomen. Maetel tells Tetsuro to hurry and return to the train, and collapses. Tetsuro runs back into the train car and grabs his rifle. The Dark Knight now carries a ball and chain with him, but hesitates in attacking when Tetsuro claims he has no money and is traveling to the planet where he can get a mechanical body for free. 

 

Tetsuro fires at the Dark Knight, knocking off his cape, and revealing a patchwork, barely held mechanical body underneath. The Dark Knight says he had no money either, so he bought himself a cheap, low quality body and through stealing some parts assembled the form he has now. This made him unpleasant to look upon. He bought this planet from the black market, but no official corporation or government entity would accept it. As the planet is his, he won’t let anyone set foot on it.

Maetel is revealed to be still breathing, as a voice tells her she has an important mission and can’t die. The Dark Knight rushes towards Tetsuro who fires at him. When the Dark Knight notices Maetel standing, it gives Tetsuro the opportunity to blast him from behind. As he dies, he claims he always knew it would end this way. He tells Tetsuro there are many different mechanical bodies and to look at his remains and think carefully. Maetel tells Tetsuro that her injury earlier was a false projection created by the dark gas and a projection device used by the Dark Knight. We are told the Dark Knight didn’t want his appearance to be seen which is why he was on this planet, and if he can sleep here he’ll be at ease since no one can see his unsightly appearance anymore. When the Conductor says they are leaving planet Mephisto, Tetsuro tells him this isn’t that, it’s the Dark Knight’s planet. The 999 departs, continuing on its journey.

 

TV Episode Summary:

This manga chapter is adapted as the first half of episode 15, with chapter 1-9 making up the second half.

 

The television adaption makes some major changes to the mentality and motivation of the Dark Knight. Rather than desiring to kill anyone who steps on his planet, the Dark Knight is lonely. When Tetsuro falls out of the train he asks Tetsuro to live here on the planet with him. He tells Tetsuro his story, how he bought this planet and wanted to live on it with his friends. But the realtor took advantage of him, knowing about the black gas that would engulf the planet. We see a flashback of the Dark Knight begging for a train to stop but it completely ignores him.

The Dark Knight only takes the attitude that Tetsuro should die after he rejects his offer. Tetsuro doesn’t make the line about not having any money which causes the Dark Knight to hesitate as had happened in the manga, rather Tetsuro shoots at the Dark Knight in a rage after Maetel is struck and at that point the Dark Knight’s body is revealed and collapses shortly after. Rather than claiming he bought a cheap body because that’s all he could afford, the Dark Knight claims he sold his body parts to help him afford the planet, which is why he appears in this state.

 

There are a few other changes to the storyline. Any reference to the planet being called Mephisto is cut. The short scene with the Dark Knight watching as the 999 approaches is also cut. Maetel doesn’t get involved in the fight again after the voice speaks to her; rather she just appears back on the train again.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Dark Knight – Jouji Yanami

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This chapter is quite dark, both literally and figuratively. It is arguably the first chapter to have more of a horror-based theme to it (Pluto was also this in the TV version at least). The mysterious Dark Knight is an ominous presence at the start, and shockingly deals what appears to be a deadly blow to Maetel. Yet the mysterious voice which we heard in the first chapter tells Maetel that she is on an important mission and can’t die, and brings her back to life (or at the very least prevents her from dying). One could sense there was something mysterious about Maetel from early on, but this is the most we have gone in that direction thus far. She literally has the ability to avoid death, through the power of this voice that is speaking to her. Maetel tells Tetsuro it was simply an illusion and I suppose the fact that he is on this journey throughout space and seeing mysterious things is enough for him to accept that answer and not question things any further.

 

I think the attempt is there to feel sympathetic for the Dark Knight. Like Tetsuro, he was poor, and bought a mechanical body, but one that looks rather ugly and quite poorly assembled. To a certain extent one can understand one lashing out over the fact that they are unpleasant to look at. But the Dark Knight takes it way too far, trying to kill anyone who dares set foot on his planet. He is living a solitary existence and shutting everyone else out. Someone like Tetsuro could have been a friend for him (at least briefly, given the short layover at this station) but the Dark Knight attacks immediately. One wonders why the Dark Knight didn’t try to do the same thing Tetsuro is doing, travel to the planet with free mechanical bodies. Perhaps his becoming mechanized happened so long ago that it was before that was offered? Or perhaps he never even heard of the opportunity? We don’t know where the Black Knight came from or what his original form was. So it is certainly possible he wasn’t originally human.

I found the television adaption of the chapter far better considering the changes to the Dark Knight’s motivations. We find out that he bought the planet hoping to live there with friends, but was unable to attract any to come due to the dark gas. The scene with him begging a train to stop and it simply ignoring him helped provide some sympathy for him. While I can’t have complete sympathy for him due to him wanting to kill Tetsuro after he declined the offer, I did like him a lot more in this episode. I can say that thinking back to previous viewings of the television episode I always liked the Dark Knight storyline a lot and was disappointed to find the manga chapter wasn’t as good.

 

Starting with this episode the TV episode adaptions jump around wildly; this would have been episode 7 if they faithfully followed the manga order but it instead isn’t used until episode 15. This is the second of 3 instances over the course of the show where 2 manga chapters of different storylines will be used in a single episode. It is a wise choice as I think neither this, nor the following chapter have enough material to them to warrant a full episode.

Spoiler Analysis:

The concept of other characters being hidden under a black cape which will eventually be removed comes up again in the future, such as in chapter 4-3/episode 22 (Pirate Ship Queen Emeraldes) as well as Chapter 11-4/episode 70 (The Capital of Kind Flowers)