The Fury Planet

The Fury Planet

Manga Chapter 6-5

TV Episode 31

Manga Chapter Summary:

The narrator explains to us that throughout the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies there are many planets with disturbing cultures of various kinds. Tetsuro asks Maetel if Andromeda has its own government like the Milky Way and if they get along with each other. He wonders why machine bodies are only given for free in Andromeda, whether due to technology, relations, or something else.

The Conductor announces their next stop as the Fury Planet, with a layover of 24 hours. He says to Tetsuro to expect to get a few lumps if leaving the train, although his life is unlikely to be in danger. Tetsuro considers the planet to look as if it’s raging in anger, and Maetel says that is because of the rapidly escaping atmospheric flow. Tetsuro starts feeling hot and takes his shirt off, but Maetel stays in her coat. Tetsuro wonders if people here will be similar to Sakezan’s Continent. Maetel steps away to get changed. The Conductor says he is going to change as well, although it won’t be just down to boxer shorts like Tetsuro. The Conductor soon reveals his new set of clothes to Tetsuro, which look just like the old ones, but are for a lighter climate.

The 999 stops in mid-air and the Conductor tells Tetsuro that a lift will come to get the passengers. Once Tetsuro and Maetel make their way down to the surface, Tetsuro finds himself immediately punched in the face by a man walking by, just for looking at him. Maetel tells Tetsuro to remain calm, but he is quite angry. He heads to a shop to get something to drink only to have a couple of men who are fighting each other make their way out of the place and into him. One of the men grabs the cloak off of Tetsuro and runs off.

Tetsuro and Maetel eventually make their way to a restaurant and Maetel offers Tetsuro her coat but he claims he’d be ashamed if he wore woman’s clothes. They order some pudding but just as it gets served another fight breaks out nearby and there’s an explosion in the restaurant. Tetsuro and Maetel walk down the street and a woman demands Maetel remove all of her clothes and give them to her. She comes at Maetel with a knife, but Maetel knocks her over. She offers Maetel her coat back but Maetel lets her keep it and they leave on friendly terms.

Tetsuro reads a newspaper expecting to read about murders, but doesn’t see any. A man approaches them in an alley with a gun, claiming he wants to shoot them. Maetel shoots back immediately, killing him. Tetsuro is surprised to see he’s a machine man, with green fuel, that Maetel claims is a new brand of mechanized humans. She claims he is an assassin, although not a local one, and thinks they should go back to the 999.

As they go on the lift and return to the 999, Tetsuro mentions the people here are as bright as angels, as if they don’t know sorrow. Maetel claims people lash out at each other without hesitation here and can freely vent their anger. Their joy and quarrels are as natural as breaths of air, and maybe people on the Earth wouldn’t need mechanical bodies if they were like this. Someone fires at them from the ground and nearly kills them, but they make it inside to the 999. Tetsuro wonders why they tried to kill them and Maetel says presumably to prevent their goal.

TV Episode Summary:

With this chapter not having the most in depth plot, the episode adds several elements, in particular there are four assassins who have been sent by the unseen Duke Mech, a friend of Count Mecha, to take out Tetsuro. Tetsuro also spends a decent amount of time with an old man, his wife and their sons.

One of the assassins tries to kill Tetsuro just after they try to enter the restaurant, but Maetel shoots him. Maetel removes something from his brain, causing her to determine he was an assassin sent after them. Shortly afterwards another of the assassins drives by on a flying car and throws a noose around Tetsuro’s neck, dragging him down the street. Tetsuro pulls out his gun and shoots down the vehicle. Tetsuro goes flying and falls into a bath being prepared by an old man, an old man who was fighting with his wife at the restaurant. He and his wife let Tetsuro sleep in their home and introduce him to their kids when he gets up. Maetel searches around for Tetsuro after finding the body of the assassin he killed and runs across a pair of men by a bridge who tell her someone else, the third assassin, has been asking about Tetsuro. Maetel finds the man, then pulls away his gun with her whip. He tells her about Duke Mech being responsible for things. The fourth assassin, and leader of the operation shoots him before he can finish revealing everything.

The assassin finds out from a girl where Tetsuro is. He enters the old couple’s house and forces Tetsuro to disarm by taking the wife hostage. The husband throws ice into his face just as he’s about to shoot Tetsuro, and the assassin flees. Tetsuro decides he’ll cause them trouble and leaves. The assassin again comes upon Tetsuro when he’s walking down the street, but Maetel shows up and shoots him. They decide to stay on a hotel that night instead of immediately returning to the 999, and head back up on the lift the next day.

The episode cuts a few things from the manga chapter, in particular much of the dialogue at the beginning between Tetsuro and Maetel about Andromeda and the Milky Way, the woman who tries to take all of Maetel’s clothes, and the shots being fired at Tetsuro and Maetel as they are on the lift back up to the 999. Finally, from a visual design standpoint, while they are down on the planet, Maetel leaves her coat open the entire time instead of having it closed as it is in the manga until the woman takes it from her.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Assassin A – Osamu Katou

Assassin B – Kouji Totani

Assassin C – Banjou Ginga

Mother – Shima Sakai

Father – Jouji Yanami

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

In this chapter the 999 heads to the Fury Planet, a planet filled with people who are often angry. Tetsuro experiences this anger immediately as a man punches him as soon as he gets to the planet! Although people are angry with each other and often get in fights here, both the Conductor and Maetel try to get across to Tetsuro that people aren’t doing it with deadly intentions. In fact it is Tetsuro who has to be calmed down by Maetel into not doing something he’d regret after he gets punched. This is later supported by a woman who tries to seize Maetel’s clothes and brandishes a knife, but suddenly becomes quite friendly once Maetel punches her out. Speaking of Maetel’s clothes, things are a bit odd this chapter; she mentions changing them on the train, and we see her bare legs as the 999 arrives at the planet, but in the next panel she has her coat on as usual. Maetel gives her coat away to the aforementioned woman, but then suddenly has another one once back on the 999. This is at least the third version of Maetel’s coat as we saw one taken by a beggar/thief back in chapter 2-4, “The Planet of 1,765,000,000 Beggars”.

There are a few on this planet though that actually want to take Tetsuro and Maetel’s life. First we have a man who corners them in an alley, and then as they are departing the planet on a lift, several shots are fired at them. Why this is the case isn’t explained at all. This is quite the oddity for this manga, as we typically get answers for any plot-related matters by the end of the chapter/story. The TV episode adds more backstory (and 3 more assassins), explaining that Duke Mech, a friend of Count Mecha hired them to kill Tetsuro. The leader of the assassins comes off as a low rent Captain Harlock, with the eyepatch and facial scar. I felt that the assassins were taken out too easily in the episode, and it was rather annoying that one of them grabs Tetsuro with a noose and drags him along the street given that the same thing happened back in chapter 3-2/3-3, “Professional’s Spirit”. Beyond that though, it was a fun chapter to read/episode to watch and rather fun with how much people argue with each other on this planet.

In Japanese, the title of the chapter is a bit of a play at words; the kanji for it means “Furious” planet, but Matsumoto uses the kanji for “Furious” and “Hair” so it could also be considered the “Furry” planet.

Bitten Planet Suspended in Time

Bitten Planet Suspended in Time

Manga Chapter 6-4

TV Episode 32

Manga Chapter Summary:

Tetsuro and Maetel stare out into space from the 999. Maetel says they are between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. It is as if they are in the middle of two archipelagos. The Conductor says their next stop is the Fur(r)y Planet. As they head through this portion of space the train starts shaking. Tetsuro notices that the space between planets outside is odd. The Conductor claims the locomotive has lost its way and the space rails have vanished. It’s as if they’ve derailed, even though they are moving forward.

Without rails the locomotive itself doesn’t know their destination. Eventually the 999 makes its way towards a planet with a lot of missing chunks out of it, as if it was a partially eaten apple. One of the passengers in the train car claims they are looking at his home planet and asks them to forgive him for causing the train to take this detour. The narrator says this planet, the Bitten Planet Suspended in Time, is a planet similar to Cipango, the land of gold. Tetsuro comments on the nice aroma as they depart the station and Maetel says since this was an unscheduled stop, they shouldn’t stray too far.

Tetsuro points to the nearby ramen cart and happily starts consuming some with Maetel, happy that it is authentic ramen. Suddenly the ground around them shakes greatly. The ramen cart owner says there’s no need to panic, as this type of thing happens regularly. We then see a giant spaceship taking off from the planet. The cart owner says the ship was carrying soil from this planet to other planets. They excavate it then sell it on other planets. Maetel realizes this is why the planet looks like it does. The soil here is tasty and edible. No other planet can produce such delicious food.

Tetsuro is skeptical, but sticks his finger in the ground and tastes it, finding it a good taste. Tetsuro wonders why they are permitting this; at this rate the planet will disappear. The Conductor rushes over to them saying the train is working properly and they need to board now, as the train is about to take off. The one who tampered with the train finally left it alone.

The 999 takes off and we hear the passenger from earlier angrily start yelling. He says he hijacked the train to return to his homeland. It was a beautiful place he was proud of and gave him peace of mind during his travels. But now he’s seeing that it is gradually disappearing and being gnawed at by others. He says the next time he’ll return to his homeland will be the day he dies. His true homeland is shining within his heart and isn’t these disfigured landscapes.

Tetsuro, who just sees the man’s muscular arms, not his face, says he’s never seen a tough warrior crying like that. Maetel says it is hard to accept when your homeland has changed a great deal. The Conductor says with the detour over they’ll be going to their next stop, Fur(r)y. We see one final shot of the planet, with barely any of it left. The narrator says if the Bitten Planet doesn’t exist anymore, it’s not the fault of the excavators, but rather its inhabitants. Despite that there is no trace of documentation that recorded the moment it vanished.

TV Episode Summary:

The episode adds quite a bit of content to the storyline. The episode starts with the 999 passing another train, heading for the planet Lute. With some time until their next stop, Tetsuro and Maetel head to the dining car, where they run into the warrior, who is eating. The warrior asks Tetsuro and Maetel if he can join them and says his name is Edmond. He tells them he is heading to his home planet for the first time in 50 years, at the planet Sweet Sweet. While Tetsuro laughs as the planet’s name, Maetel has a rather sad look on her face. Edmond asks Tetsuro about his home and we see a flashback of footage of the slums on Earth from the first episode as well as Tetsuro crying over his dead mother. Tetsuro gets angry about this.

Edmond fondly reminisces about his home, the green hill there and how he played as a kid. We see a flashback to him running around as a kid and fishing. Tetsuro and Maetel return to their seats, with Edmond sitting near them, anxiously awaiting the return home. Tetsuro asks Maetel why she is so quiet and she says he’ll know soon enough.

The Conductor comes in, announcing their next stop as the Bitten Planet. Edmond thinks he got the planet’s name wrong, but the Conductor says its name changed 30 years ago. We then see the partially bitten looking planet and Edmond gets quite distressed. He rushes out with anger and fear after they depart the station. Maetel tells Tetsuro it’d be better to leave him alone. Edmond enters a robotic taxi and is told Green Hill no longer exists, although there’s a place that used to be called that. The taxi brings him there and he is distressed to find the green and forests gone, instead the landscape is a wasteland. Edmond falls to his knees and cries.

We then cut to the ramen cart sequence seen in the manga. When the rocket takes off from the planet, Edmond also sees it. The rocket returns to the planet, and Tetsuro and Maetel head there. Vacuum-like devices come out of the rocket and start extracting soil from a nearby hill, eventually consuming it entirely. Bags of gold are then sent out of the rocket ship to some government officials from the planet and the rocket takes off again. Edmond shows up, angry at them selling their land. The officials say doing so has made them rich.

Edmond shoots at the device used to gather the coins then starts firing at the officials. Eventually the gun is shot out of his hands and he is seized. Maetel and Tetsuro come out and Maetel tells them to let him go. Maetel blows up some of the gold, then avoids shots from the officials. Tetsuro also starts firing at them. The head official begs her to stop due to the money being destroyed and releases Edmond. The head official tells his men to simply lie about them being robbed. The chapter ends similar to the manga, with the 999 departing and Edmond crying in his chair about how he no longer has a homeland to return to. He tells Tetsuro he will find a second homeland. There will be some homeland out there that will accept him.

The segment at the beginning about the 999 being between the Milky Way and Andromeda is cut, as is the entire aspect of the plot of the warrior/Edmond forcing the train to head to the planet against its will. Also cut are any references to the Fur(r)y Planet, most likely because the order of the storylines were swapped, with the episode featuring that planet moved up from directly after this story to directly before it.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Edmond – Takeshi Aono

Ramen Seller – Kenichi Ogata

Government Official A – Yonehiko Kitagawa (Kunihiko Kitagawa)

Government Official B – Seiji Satou

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

It’s quite a depressing chapter this time! Once again Matsumoto comes up with a rather out there concept, a planet that is edible. And yet the real life message that this is a metaphor for is quite clear. This chapter’s all about the relentless pursuit to use up natural resources in the interest of making money. In real life this would be something like forests, clean water and the like, while in Galaxy Express 999 it is literally the planet itself! Oftentimes natural resources are finite, or at the very least can’t be reproduced at a speed in order to keep up with demand. If society or those both excavating and consuming those natural resources don’t control themselves, we can find ourselves in a position where those resources no longer exist at all. I’m not an expert on the subject, but I’m sure there are types of wildlife or other things that humanity consumed at too much a level and is now gone forever. I think of the restraints that cities or governments put on things like fishing or hunting, to avoid wiping out entire species. I am quite a bit more optimistic these days on this subject than how things likely were 40+ years ago when this chapter was originally made. I do think people are a lot more aware of things these days and while that doesn’t mean it’s not a problem, I think we have more to combat it, and have more of a mentality about what a wrong thing it is and how careful we should be.

Another theme of the chapter is returning to one’s homeland, which is the goal of the fellow passenger on the train who somehow causes it to detour here. We don’t know too much about this character; in an oddity we don’t even see his face in the manga chapter. It’s also rather surprising that he isn’t thrown off the train for what he did (although he never appears again after this chapter). The unnamed warrior was looking forward to returning to his homeland, only to find the devastating state it is now in. This is another theme that comes up often in real life. People return to their hometown and find it isn’t the same as it was before. Maybe there have been major changes there. Maybe they remembered things too fondly and it was never as good as they thought it was. In any case it can be quite a disappointment or sad thing for that person and that’s what the warrior faces in this chapter. His homeland doesn’t really exist anymore, both figuratively and literally. The only home for him is what is in his heart.

This is one of those episodes that I felt was stronger than the original manga chapter. In particular, we focus a lot more on the warrior, who is named Edmond. In fact Edmond gets so much screen time it kind of comes off as if Tetsuro and Maetel are the guest characters this episode! We see Edmond fondly remembering his time on his planet and watch as he discovers what his home has become. One aspect I really liked that wasn’t in the manga chapter was the parallels between Edmond and Tetsuro. Tetsuro only has sadness when he thinks of his home, the Earth, and wants to forget it. By the end of the episode, Edmond finds that he now has the same mentality that Tetsuro has. Edmond is also a really likable and sympathetic character, helped by the additional attention he gets and the fact that he doesn’t purposely derail the 999 to get here. Beyond the sequence where the rocket delivers large bags of gold coins to the government officials coming off as a bit silly, I really liked what they did and it is one of the more memorable episodes for me.

 

Angel of Steel

 Angel of Steel

Manga Chapter 6-3

TV Episode 25

Manga Chapter Summary:

The chapter begins with the 999 being traced on a circular screen. The 999 heads through an area with a lot of spiral shapes around it. Suddenly shots start firing at the 999, which Maetel claims are anti-aircraft gunshots. The 999’s windows crack from the shots, meaning the shots have gotten through the 999’s barrier. Maetel claims the shots are coming from the planet they are approaching next. The Conductor stops by, apologizing for the hassle and saying he’s going to inform the station so they can take necessary actions against the assailant.

The 999 descends onto the planet, the air of which is filled with pollution clouds from the smoke of factories, machines and vehicles. Maetel claims the entire planet is a factory making a variety of products. The Conductor announces the planet’s name as Maspron, with a layover of just over 2 days. The planet is dedicated to mass production. Tetsuro comments on the fog being weird as no machine they have come across yet produces smoke, but he likes being at a manufacturing site as they’re always full of life. As they head down the station stairs, a man bumps into Tetsuro, staining his cloak with oil.

As they exit the station, Tetsuro finds a man tied to a pole who has been executed. Another man passes by, claiming he was put to death for assaulting the Galaxy Express. Tetsuro finds the dead man to be roughly the same age as him. The man passing by claims even children on this planet can become mechanically adept very quickly as they grow up with machinery from early childhood. Tetsuro says the punishment was too harsh, but Maetel says there’s good reason for it.

Tetsuro and Maetel make it to the hotel, which, similar to the station, looks like a factory. Shortly after entering their hotel room, the hotel is rocked by an explosion at its base and the entire building collapses. A woman approaches, claiming they are scum who can only use, and know nothing of the agony of those who create things here. Tetsuro and Maetel pass out. Tetsuro wakes up on the 999 and is told by some men that the perpetrators were captured and will be killed by firing squad in front of the station. Tetsuro asks if it is another child this time and is told no, it was a girl.

The bomber stands tied to a pole and tells the men in front to kill her. She’d rather leave this world that bears useless items for ungrateful masses who treat those creating their things like dirty objects than continue living. Tetsuro asks if they can stop the execution, and is granted his request as he was the victim of her crime. Tetsuro is told she will be thrown for jail for 4 years instead. Maetel tells Tetsuro that some components of the 999 are build here.

Tetsuro and Maetel get back on the 999, which takes off. Tetsuro wonders how many millions are making things under this pollution covered sky and which parts of the 999 actually came from this planet. Tetsuro says he prefers those who labor with all their might, even if they smell of oil afterwards. Maetel claims to not like the smell of oil and Tetsuro asks if this means she doesn’t like mechanical bodies. Suddenly, an alarm goes off. Tetsuro rushes to the next train car where we find that the bomber, along with a number of her colleagues have hijacked the train. She tells Tetsuro she’ll never forget that he saved her life and she doesn’t intend to harm any passengers. She wants to take residence on a new world where they can create products without causing pollution or causing the landscape to be covered with steel. 

The bomber tells Tetsuro that her name is Chromeria and ponders if Tetsuro may someday use a product she manufactured. The Conductor rushes to the next car and tells Tetsuro he’s going to contact headquarters so they can take the necessary measures. Tetsuro wants him to leave them be, saying they won’t cause any trouble. Maetel tells Tetsuro to bring a suitcase to Chromeria for her. Chromeria opens the suitcase and finds it full of 999 passes! With these she and her colleagues can ride the 999 and go wherever they want. Tetsuro has gotten oil on his hands from shaking Chromeria’s hands, but Maetel says he doesn’t have to wash it; she doesn’t mind the smell since it came from her. Tetsuro wonders if he’ll get a machine body someday manufactured by Chromeria.

TV Episode Summary:

The early episode is fairly faithful to the manga chapter with the first change being on Masspron as we get a brief shot of Chromeria spotting Tetsuro and Maetel as they head into the hotel. Chromeria throws a rock through the window of the hotel room and yells at Tetsuro, revealing she had overheard him praising the planet earlier. Chromeria is able to briefly talk to Tetsuro and Maetel after blowing up the hotel, whereas in the manga both Tetsuro and Maetel had passed out. We get a flashback from Chromeria and more of her motivation initially. We see her captured shortly afterwards. A pair of men approach Tetsuro and Maetel after this, giving them some fruit and thanking them for coming to their planet.

Maetel is very insistent to Tetsuro that they save Chromeria and takes part in the pleading for her life when she is about to be executed. Chromeria first reveals her name to Tetsuro as she’s being led away to jail rather than on the train car. The episode shows Chromeria’s allies shooting down the car she’s in and rescuing her. In this shot we see some actual plant life on Masspron, which we saw none of in the manga chapter.

We get a brief new scene on the 999 where the locomotive tells the Conductor they can’t permit these new passengers on the 999 and have to consider decoupling the entire train car. At the end of the episode we see Chromeria making a scarf, presumably for Tetsuro as we see an imaginary shot of him with it with the ending narration.

Design-wise, Chromeria’s hair is considerably longer in the TV episode than in the manga chapter, although the animation is also wildly inconsistent with this throughout the episode.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Chromeria – Chiyoko Kawashima

Captain – Kouji Yada

Man A – Keaton Yamada

Man B – Seiji Satou

Man C – Osamu Katou

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This chapter takes us a to a pollution filled world that is made up of seemingly nothing but factories. There isn’t any greenery to be seen (at least in the manga chapter) and the sky is filled with dark clouds of pollution. We discover that it’s because this planet is responsible for manufacturing a variety of things throughout the universe, including the 999. Even the hotel doesn’t really have a hotel-room like feel and seems like just another factory room. The mentality on this planet is that the consumers of their products come above all else. A young boy who fired upon the 999 is executed because of it, and Chromeria nearly faces the same fate for blowing up the hotel Tetsuro and Maetel are in.

The focus of the chapter appears to be a combination of the plight of workers as well as how ugly the world can be when it is under such an industrial focus. People like Chromeria rebel against this, being willing to risk their lives to do so. The chapter is a helpful reminder that a lot of the things we take for granted are produced by people of very small means, who likely don’t earn much money or are treated with the best working conditions. The question that arises is whether the ends justify the means. Chromeria wants her and her fellow workers to be more valued and to be able to create things on a world without causing pollution or making it over industrialized. And it is a good ideal to have. At the same time, let’s not forget the fact that she is for all intents and purposes a terrorist. She blew up an entire hotel and gets off because Tetsuro is overwhelmingly forgiving of other people. We never determine if there were other guests in the hotel, or employees, who very well may have died based on her actions. As such I simply can’t feel as forgiving towards Chromeria as Tetsuro.

The manga chapter and episode conclude with a sequence that is quite ridiculous and would have been best to exclude, when Maetel suddenly comes up with a suitcase full of 999 passes to give to Chromeria and her colleagues. Beyond simply rewarding someone who is behaving like a terrorist, it is a totally deus ex machine scenario. Yes, Maetel has been established to be one of means, but if she can simply have 999 passes out of nowhere you question why this hasn’t been used in the past for situations where she or Tetsuro may have needed them. Such as the countless times that Tetsuro’s pass is stolen. That is so often a major plot point and fear, that Tetsuro will be refused entry. But the entire time Maetel has had a briefcase full of extra passes? It’s absurd and something that I don’t recall ever happening again.