Professional Spirit

Professional Spirit

Manga Chapters 3-2 and 3-3

TV Episode 20

Manga Chapter Summary:

As the 999 approaches another planet, Tetsuro says it looks like an orange paper lantern with a candle inside. The Conductor calls it the Planet of Remembrance, where they will have a one week layover. Maetel claims it may be the saddest planet in all of space and tells Tetsuro to ensure his gun is working properly. She explains that it is an isolated planet, heated by its ground and doesn’t have a sun nearby. The settlers who discovered it found it an ideal place to live due to the light from a nearby galaxy and the heat coming from the ground. 

 

Maetel instructs Tetsuro to never look someone in the eyes on this planet and that he’ll have to shoot if he breaks the rule and feels threatened. Stepping out of the train, they find it to be a ghost town, similar to that found on the planet Mars. As a figure approaches from the shadows Maetel reminds Tetsuro to not look at him in the eyes. The two of them enter the nearby hotel, where a man is working on manga in the lobby. Maetel calls him a professional and says he’s been drawing for 200 years. As they head to their hotel room they pass another professional, a gunsmith, who has made over 7 million guns. 

 

Maetel steps away to ask if their food can be served in their room and Tetsuro looks outside, seeing a man digging a hole nearby. Suddenly a noose is thrown at Tetsuro, grabbing him by the neck. It is held by a man calling himself a professional hangman. Tetsuro is dragged throughout the streets, but the hangman is shot by the shadowy man Tetsuro had seen earlier. As the man approaches, Tetsuro makes eye contact, not realizing it until it’s too late.

The man, a professional gunman, orders Tetsuro to draw his weapon. They draw and the gunman is faster, shooting Tetsuro’s gun out of his hand. The gunman tells him to get up and do it again. The gunman starts giving Tetsuro directions, such as telling him to relax and that his holster is too high. They draw and the gunman again shoots Tetsuro in the hand. The gunman orders Tetusro to grab his gun yet again, telling him only professionals can survive in a universe without law. For a third time the two draw and the gunman shoots Tetsuro’s gun out of his hand. 

 

Maetel decides to step in front of the gunman and they draw; this time its Maetel who is successful, having shot the man in the face. She tells Tetsuro he had no intention of killing her. He was trying to train Tetsuro to become an elite shooter. She thinks he wanted to pass along his memory through the lessons he taught. She says those who have come here have devoted their lives to their dreams and are only an assembly of lifeless metal pieces now. 

 

The two of them return to the 999, which eventually takes off. An explosion suddenly rings out from another train car. The Conductor tells Tetsuro that a machine man, now laying dead on the ground, was a professional bomber and must have laid a bomb somewhere in the train car. Tetsuro suggests they just disconnect the train car, which they do and it soon blows up. Tetsuro realizes that no one can let their guard down on the planet they just left. Maetel says that’s why those here are respected. They put all of their heart into what they do because they believe in it, even if they are only remembered by the memories of the times when they were still healthy.

TV Episode Summary:

This episode is fairly faithful to the original manga chapter with only some minor changes. We get a short scene at the start of the episode as another train passes by. As often occurs, the layover time is different; although usually in the TV episode it is longer than in the manga, here it is shorter, a mere 24 hours. 

 

In the TV episode Tetsuro stares directly at the hangman which is what causes him to throw the noose at him. In the manga, Tetsuro didn’t directly look at him but was staring at the hole digger instead. The hangman also gets further along with Tetsuro before being stopped, actually having him hanging on a tree before a blast from the gunman severs the rope. 

 

Tetsuro is shot only 2 times in the TV episode rather than 3 before Maetel becomes involved. Maetel claims Tetsuro would have been forced to train as a gunman for eternity if she hadn’t intervened and that the Gunman would even dig up his corpse and force him to continue! Before they go, we do have a short scene showing that they buried him.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Gunman – Mikio Terashima

Silkhat Man – Keaton Yamada (Hangman)

Manga Artist – Kenichi Ogata

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This chapter brings us to the Planet of Remembrance, which Maetel calls the saddest place in all of space (something she had also called Pluto back in chapter 1-6). It is a planet filled with professionals. Obsessive professionals in fact. Here are people who are so dedicated to their task that is all they do. Such as the manga artist who has been working for 200 years or the gun maker who by his count has made over 7 million guns. I feel that Yoi, the writer we met back on the mirage planet (chapters 2-7 and 2-8) may have fit well here, given how long he had been writing his novel. Such an obsessive compulsion to their work for such a long time leads me to believe most if not all of those here are mechanized. The human body’s got to give out at some point and those here really seem to have a one track mind that is easier to believe on someone mechanized.

 

The planet is a dangerous one; Tetsuro is warned not to look anyone in the eyes and the mere fact that he looks out the window nearly gets him killed as a hangman tosses a noose around his neck. Tetsuro finds an unlikely savior in a quick draw specialist who guns down the hangman, then demands Tetsuro draw. Tetsuro has shown himself to be a good draw in previous chapters and he’s gained a fair amount of experience drawing his gun. Yet he’s no match for this professional. It is fortunate that the professional decides to pass on his memory by impressing his skill upon others. He forces Tetsuro to draw over and over again; who knows how long they would have been there had Maetel not intervened! Maetel shows that she is a pretty good draw herself and kills the man with a single draw. 

 

This was a rather interesting concept for a planet; to be honest I’m a little surprised Matsumoto didn’t draw more out of it before having Tetsuro and Maetel head off for another destination.