City Without Night

City Without Night

Manga Chapters 10-6 and 11-1

TV Episode 62

Manga Chapter Summary:

The 999 makes its way towards a planet that has a great shine to it, although only in one place. Maetel tells Tetsuro that the planet has a lake that reflects light very well. The Conductor announces their stop as “City Without Night” with a stop time of approximately 29 hours. Tetsuro thinks this means the sun doesn’t set, but the Conductor quickly corrects him. The 999 reaches the station and Tetsuro and Maetel quickly head to the hotel, with it being night outside. 

Tetsuro stares into the sky from their hotel room, a sky that has 2 moons in it. He spots the lake from afar. As Maetel takes a bath, Tetsuro wonders if a machine body needs a bath and if a cheaply made one will rust. Tetsuro goes to sleep and wakes up later with a hungry stomach. He looks around the halls for a vending machine but is unable to find one. He goes to the hotel lobby and is shocked to find no one there, even though its only 7:00 PM. He heads outside to find a place to eat but struggles finding any restaurant or store open. Dejected, Tetsuro decides to head back to the hotel, but suddenly blast strikes him; it is the local police who have shot at him for going outside at night. 
 

Maetel is found by the police walking the streets at night shortly afterwards. Maetel is told that even as a 999 passenger she has to be brought to a detention center, but Maetel shows something in her hands that causes the police to back down. Tetsuro on the other hand has been locked in a cell. He is tossed some bread, but it is stale and hard. Eventually he is given a hot cooked meal though and the policewoman comes in, apologizing. Maetel is with her and Tetsuro is permitted to eat. Maetel decides to bring them out to the lake, even though the police warn them against it.

The lake is peaceful and Tetsuro wonders why she brought him here. Maetel says if he stays here he can understand various things about this planet. She says it is an area not touched by humans. Suddenly the lake ripples and a giant flying dinosaur-like creature flies out of it! Maetel tells Tetsuro to not shout, and the dinosaur, tears in its eyes, quickly dives back into the water. Maetel tells Tetsuro this is Heron; he likes to come out of the lake and fly in the middle of the night. He is a kind creature and very shy; he is careful to not show up when there are humans around. Only at midnight once all are asleep does he come out of the water and fly around. Only a few people in the planet’s history have seen him.

Tetsuro and Maetel make their way back to the city and rush towards the station so they don’t miss the 999. The police arrive in flying vehicles and start shooting at them for going out at night. Suddenly Heron arrives and scares them off. Aboard the 999, Tetsuro wonders why Heron helped them since he is so shy and Maetel mentions that Heron and humans once had shared the day and night with each other. The Conductor says Heron was originally part of a species of flying dinosaurs but is harmless to humans. He is similar to Nessie (the Lochness Monster) on Earth.

TV Episode Summary

One of the biggest changes in the episode is that while in the manga, Maetel proactively brought Tetsuro to the lake to meet Heron, in the TV episode she warns him against going to the lake, right at the start while they are on the 999. She tells him there are terrible stories about it and warns him again when they reach the hotel room. While it was Tetsuro’s hunger that caused him to go outside in the manga chapter, it’s his curiosity about the lake that causes it in the episode.

Tetsuro’s time in the cell is accelerated; he doesn’t receive either meal he receives in the manga and is brought up to a hotel room to see Maetel rather than her coming down to see him. The police woman again warns him about going to the lake and reveals that is because a dinosaur, Heron lives there.

The time at the lake is changed somewhat in the episode with the addition of four men in a couple of boats who claim they want to take a photo of Heron. They also have an electric net with them. The men start laughing at Heron when they see its funny looking face and the flash of their camera scares it. They are able to get a hold of it with their electric net and it flies around wildly, eventually heading to the shore. Tetsuro tries to take off the electric net and does so after initially getting himself electrocuted. Heron is able to understand Tetsuro and licks his face before heading back to the lake. Maetel realizes that Heron is afraid its ugliness will scare humans which is why it only appears at night. In the manga chapter she came off as if she already knew this.

When they arrive back at the city the police immediately claim Tetsuro and Maetel are responsible for the deaths of the four men and are under arrest. Maetel tosses a weapon that causes a blinding light to appear so they can escape. Tetsuro reveals he left the pass at the hotel, forcing the two of them to split up. Tetsuro is shot at by the police after leaving his hotel room, but Maetel knocks them out. They head to the roof of the hotel, and the 999 ends up taking off without them. Suddenly Heron arrives, flying towards them. Tetsuro and Maetel are able to ride on Heron’s back to the 999. Back on the 999, there is some added dialogue. Tetsuro and Maetel talk more about how selfish the people on this planet are. Tetsuro also asks Maetel about her special privileges and she begs him to not ask about it.

One final change, as occurs often is that the layover time is changed; reduced here to 12 hours.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Police Chief – Toshiko Fujita

Police – Akiko Tsuboi

Man A – Kouji Totani

Man B – Banjou Ginga

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Toshiko Fujita also played Bee in episodes 54 and 55. Akiko Tsuboi plays Tetsuro’s mother in her various appearances as well as Artemis’ mother/the planet in episode 52. Kouji Totani and Banjou Ginga voice the 999 Locomotive and Mysterious Voice respectively, as well as a variety of minor characters.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

I’d say the big lesson of this chapter/episode is to not go solely based on reputation. The 999 arrives at a planet where it is literally forbidden to go outside at nighttime. The reason behind this is the fact that there’s a giant dinosaur living in the nearby lake named Heron that only comes out at night. Either Maetel (in the manga) or Tetsuro (in the episode) decide to buck the trend and actually visit the lake at nighttime. When Heron is finally revealed, while it is massive in size, it is actually a shy and goofy looking creature. The people in the city didn’t really have to fear it. If anything, it had more reason to fear them, as we see in the episode that a group of men try to take photos of and capture it.

Heron is revealed to actually have quite a goofy looking face and Tetsuro feels sorry for him in the episode, removing the electric net from its tail. This pays off big time as Tetsuro and Maetel get in big trouble when they head back to the city. In the manga chapter it didn’t really make sense to me why they were suddenly in trouble; the episode improves upon this by having them blamed for the death of the men that tried to take Heron’s picture. Tetsuro’s kindness pays off big time as Heron is what enables them to both escape from the local police and get to the 999 in time.

The concept of it being forbidden to go out at night initially seems like a ridiculous one, although in this post-COVID age of lockdowns, curfews and the like perhaps it is not so much anymore. Maetel is able to help herself refrain from being arrested by flashing something at the policewomen; what it is we don’t find out. Tetsuro also asks about her “special privileges” at the end of the episode, but she’s very hesitant to say anything. The mysteries surrounding Maetel just continue. I do feel at times that Matsumoto is making them too much of a crutch. That certainly was the case here. Yes, Maetel has some mysterious purposes behind her and has some privileges in her role. But it is practically a deus ex machine at times and I hope for Matsumoto to use more refrain with it.

Heron is based in part on the Loch Ness monster, a rumored dinosaur-like creature that people believe lives in a body of water in Scotland.