The Empire of the Cowardly Emperor

The Empire of the Cowardly Emperor

Manga Chapter 7-6

TV Episode 38

Manga Chapter Summary:

On the 999, Tetsuro asks Maetel why animals aren’t roboticized like humans are and she says it isn’t necessary, but doesn’t add any further details about that. The Conductor says their next stop is Podleyshina, with a layover time of 12 hours. Suddenly the train starts shaking. The locomotive’s computer claims the 999 has detected tremors from an unknown source. The 999 becomes disjointed, then all the train cars separate from each other! The cars drift towards a nearby planet and start circling around the planet.

The Conductor claims this is the first time the railways have experienced an accident like this. The local branch of the Galaxy Express says it is a dangerous area and to not travel any further. The train cars start descending further towards the planet, towards a part that is currently night. Tetsuro is surprised to see lights on throughout the city, having thought the planet was uninhabited. Maetel claims the planet had a colony with a large population. It is quiet here now and the Conductor thinks because someone is manipulating gravity, that they’ll have a soft landing.

The Galaxy Express sends out an armored train car towards the planet. Some beams start firing from the planet and the armored train car is completely destroyed. The 999’s train car also gets fired at and is hit. Another armored train car soon heads out. The train car has not landed on the planet and Maetel gets out, not worrying as she says they’d have been killed before now if the shooter wanted them dead. Maetel claims someone has come out to greet them although Tetsuro and the Conductor can’t see anything. A voice rings out, saying they mean them no harm and to come with them to the palace.

The three of them head to the subway, noticing there is no one around. They get on an empty subway car and it brings them to a stop where they are left off; the entrance to a palace. They are told to enter. Inside they seat at a table, in front of a large and lengthy staircase. Atop it sits a man in a throne, President Delmukade. He says he is ruler of the planet and they must be polite to him. Maetel asks why the train cars were attacked and he says it is so the universe will know of his great and terrible power and bow to him.

Delmukade says he wants to speak with Tetsuro and requests Tetsuro sell his body to him! Maetel says if he wishes to be rejuvenated he should simply buy a robotic body. Delmukade then says he can buy a mechanical body for Tetsuro so he can then sell him his own body. Tetsuro doesn’t like this, saying he’ll get a mechanical body with his own efforts, not using charity. Tetsuro continues to refuse so Delmukade says he’ll kill him. He adjusts the gravity causing Tetsuro to float to the ceiling, and threatens to cause him to fall. Maetel tells him to try it and says she is sure they can leave the planet. Delmukade suddenly backs down and says she wins.

Maetel claims Tetsuro would have shot Delmukade before he dropped him. Delmukade says his advisors are to blame. Tetsuro demands to see the advisors, but there are none. Maetel claims Delmukade had everyone on this planet executed! He couldn’t trust anyone due to his cowardice. He can’t pass his accountability on to anyone as a result. He wants the body of a young boy instead of a mechanical body because he doesn’t have the courage to do so. Delmukade claims she’s lying, but Maetel says they are leaving and his transparent escort is no longer needed. Delmukade breathes a sigh of relief as they exit.

Shortly after the 999 departs it, the entire planet explodes! Maetel claims the Galaxy Express deployed a second strike to the planet after what happened earlier. The Conductor claims Delmukade got off easy; if he didn’t just die he’d be repairing wagons and couplings.

TV Episode Summary:

The TV adaption includes a few cuts as well as a number of additions. To start, the dialogue at the beginning of the chapter about animals not getting mechanical bodies has been cut. The planet is called “The Planet of the Cowardly Emperor” instead of Podleyshina. The armored car is destroyed a bit earlier in the episode, while the 999’s train car is still out in space, instead of being near the surface of the planet.

Maetel claims this planet has a high population and mentions Delmukade by name to Tetsuro while they are still descending to the planet. Delmukade’s voice rings out and welcomes them after they land rather than it being an invisible mechanical escort. In the manga chapter there is a table for Tetsuro and the others to sit at in the throne room; this is missing from the episode.

When Delmukade has Tetsuro float to the ceiling, Tetsuro pulls out his gun but Delmukade has it shot away. Suddenly Delmukade’s son, Pascal, comes in. He claims he came just to take a keepsake of his mother. Delmukade is sad his son has been away for three years. Pascal calls him a coward and criticizes him for causing Tetsuro to float like this. Delmukade lets Tetsuro back down to the ground. Pascal claims there is no one left on this planet, his father had them all executed because he is of weak will and can’t trust anyone. He blames everything on underlings and makes excuses. He even did it to Pascal’s mother! Delmukade claims she committed suicide.

Tetsuro runs up the stairs and starts attacking Delmukade, although Pascal comes to his defense. Delmukade detects a message; it is an armored train car from the Galaxy Express demanding he release the hostages. If he doesn’t release them, they’ll assume the hostages are dead and destroy the planet. Delmukade’s forces fire back so the armored car starts firing at parts of the planet. Pascal offers Tetsuro, Maetel and the Conductor ability for them to escape via a space glider. Tetsuro is hesitant to receive help from him, but Maetel insists they go along with it.

The five of them ride on the subway. Pascal tells Delmukade they typically only fit 2 on the glider, but he should be able to fit in all 5 of them, even though it slows them down. The Conductor trips after they head out and Delmukade lowers a fence trapping Tetsuro, Maetel and the Conductor, wanting to leave them behind. Pascal wants to release them and the two struggle. Pascal pulls out a gun and shoots Pascal in the shoulder. Pascal realizes his father killed his mother after all. Delmukade admits it, because she opposed his actions. Delmukade claims he doesn’t need a wife or son as long as he survives.

Maetel throws out an earring, temporarily blinding Delmukade, and grabs Pascal’s gun with a whip. Tetsuro is able to blast the cage bars away and rushes to Pascal. Pascal wants to stay here with his father. Tetsuro and the others depart and get into Pascal’s glider, taking off and getting back to the remains of the 999 in space. Because Delmukade refused to surrender, the armored car continues to fire at the planet. Delmukade cries out as the tunnel he and Pascal are in starts collapsing while Pascal simply laughs. An explosion soon kills the both of them. Back in the 999 in space, Tetsuro proclaims Delmukade the most cowardly father there is, but praises Pascal.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Delmukade – Isamu Tanonaka

Pascal – Makio Inoue

Mechanical Car Voice – Keaton Yamada

Computer Voice – Seiji Satou

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Of special note; Makio Inoue is the voice of the famed Captain Harlock! This is the first of several minor roles he’ll voice in Galaxy Express 999.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This chapter features the 999 approaching a planet that appears almost entirely empty. We see that civilization used to live here as there is quite a large city, lights at night and a lot of technology, but no one to be seen! The planet is in fact occupied by only a single man, Delmukade. Despite being President and ruler of this planet, he is an extremely cowardly man who had everyone else on the planet killed! One wonders if he was always the planet’s ruler and had everyone killed or if he largely ended up becoming this planet’s ruler by default after being somewhere in middle management, due to the fact that he was able to get everyone else killed.

Delmukade is yet another character that desires the body of Tetsuro, this time because he is too cowardly to obtain a mechanical body himself. Already an old man, it seems that becoming a boy again and living another full life is desired. Tetsuro is strongly against this, even when Delmukade offers to buy him his own mechanical body! As explored in earlier chapters, Tetsuro doesn’t want to receive charity. He wants to earn his mechanical body. This does ring hollow a bit though considering how much charity he has received from Maetel, getting on the 999 because of her, and that his end goal is a planet that will give him the mechanical body for free.

This chapter features some action as the 999 is flung a part into many different train cars (at least thus far, the only time this has happened in the storyline), and we also see the Galaxy Express send several armored cars to rescue it, the first of which is completely destroyed by the planet’s defenses. This doesn’t last forever though and by chapter’s end we see yet another planet destroyed.

I found the conversation about why animals don’t get mechanized at the start of the chapter interesting, but disappointed that we never actually got an answer out of it, and it seemed of no consequence to the rest of the chapter. The TV episodes makes some improvements and additions to an overall simple chapter. I particularly liked the addition of Pascal and the family dynamic with Delmukade. It helps show even further why he is such a coward and a horrible person. He even killed his own wife and was willing to kill his own son due to his cowardice! He has got to be one of the unlikable characters we’ve met thus far.