Tetsuro on the Planet of Mirrors

Tetsuro on the Planet of Mirrors

Manga Chapter 10-2

TV Episode 53

Manga Chapter Summary:

Two brothers make their way across a desolate landscape as the 999 descends towards the planet. The older of the two brothers appears on death’s door. He provides his remaining food to his younger brother, revealing that he has eaten little on their journey and kept quiet about it. He urges his brother to make his way on the train. They are brothers, and as long as one of them survives he’ll be happy about their blood remaining out in space. He then dies. The surviving brother, who is revealed to look just like Tetsuro other than having lighter hair, cries over his brother’s death.

The boy looks at his compass, trying to see how long it is until he makes the station and starts eating some of the remaining food when a frying pan hits him in the face! It was thrown by an angry restaurant owner, who claims the strange smell from his food is stinking things up around his restaurant. Maetel spots the conversation and thinks the boy is Tetsuro. Maetel notices that “Tetsuro” is acting oddly and smells weird, but thinks it is the real Tetsuro and takes him with her. Maetel brings “Tetsuro” to the hotel, insisting he take a bath due to the stench on him. The 999 won’t even let him board if he smells too much. “Tetsuro” relents to this, but is insistent Maetel not touch his pass.

“Tetsuro” asks Maetel when they are leaving and she says in 12 hours. Maetel is surprised at how violent Tetsuro sounds all of a sudden. “Tetsuro” thinks to himself about how he will finally get to go on the journey he and his brother hoped for. Suddenly the real Tetsuro comes in! Maetel asks for his pass, which he hands over, proving it is really him. Tetsuro is surprised to see an extra copy of his hat and cloak in the room and the other “Tetsuro” comes out of the bathroom. The other “Tetsuro’ tells them his name is Manabu Sunayama and he is going to ride on the 999, showing them his pass. He tells them how he and his brother worked hard and saved enough money to buy this pass, and how his brother died on the way. Tetsuro thinks of the journey with his mother and how she died.

The next day the three of them head to the station. Tetsuro tells Maetel how similar Manabu is to him with their back stories about losing a loved one. Manabu excitingly looks around the station and approaches the 999. When he tries to get on however, the door won’t open. Maetel and Tetsuro call for the Conductor, who looks at Manabu’s pass and reveals it is counterfeit! Not only will Manabu be refused entry, but those who use counterfeit passes are sentenced to death! The Conductor is going to contact security, but Maetel asks him to forget he ever saw this.

Manabu angrily rushes out of the station and Tetsuro follows. Manabu swears he is going to kill the broker who sold them the fake pass. Since he is a town away, and there’s little time, Tetsuro convinces him to call him instead and ask him to come here. Manabu calls up Gizorl, the broker. Manabu tells him the pass he gave him is a fake and demands he come with a real one. Gizorl says Manabu has no proof that he sold him the fake pass, and that perhaps he made it himself. Tetsuro angrily shouts over the phone that he’s a witness and if he doesn’t come immediately he’ll call the railroad security offices. He demands he come within the next 20 minutes due to the approaching departure time.

Tetsuro and Manabu wait as the time ticks down. Suddenly Tetsuro is shot through the shoulder. It is Gizorl, who has arrived brandishing a gun. He tells Manabu there never was a real pass and shoots the gun out of his hand. Maetel tries to head outside the station to help, but is refused by the station agent. Gizorl is about to kill Manabu when Tetsuro shoots him and passes out. Manabu looks over Tetsuro and his pass, thinking to himself how he can take his pass and pretend to be him. He decides against it and tears up his fake pass.

Manabu watches as the 999 takes off. He tells Tetsuro and Maetel to not worry about him. He’ll do his best to ride the train someday. On the 999, Maetel tells Tetsuro that Manabu seems to have a similar heart to him.

TV Episode Summary:

Rather than start with the brothers, the TV episode begins with the 999 still in space, and we hear from the Conductor that their next arrival is the Planet of Mirrors. In the manga we only have one panel where we can see the face of Manabu’s brother, and he doesn’t look like Tetsuro. In the TV episode both Manabu and his brother look just like Tetsuro. This includes the hair color as well, which was lighter in the manga chapter.

We find out early on that the brothers have purchased a 999 pass and have a flashback scene where Manabu’s brother buys a 999 pass from Gizorl. He had hoped to buy two, but Gizorl tells him the price has gone up. The TV episode also shows Tetsuro and Maetel getting off at the station in a new scene. Tetsuro asks to look around the town and meet Maetel at the hotel later. Maetel initially sees Manabu from in her hotel room instead of already being outside.

While he takes a bath, Manabu has another flashback to him and his brother taking a bath together. When Tetsuro first shows up, Manabu declares him an imposter and the two get in a fist fight. Maetel gets shoved aside when she tries to interfere. Tetsuro doesn’t stop until Manabu’s pass falls to the ground. Tetsuro and Manabu talk about how weird it is to see a mirror image of themselves and almost get in a fight again. Manabu claims to also have a goal of obtaining a free mechanical body. Tetsuro tells Manabu that his mother died and they realize their situations are identical while in the hotel room. While Tetsuro and Maetel are asleep, Manabu flashes back to his brother from earlier in the episode. We see Manabu excitingly get up in the hotel room in the morning.

 

The dialogue about Gizorl being in another town is cut in the TV episode and Manabu calls him right away rather than needing convincing from Tetsuro. Finally, in the episode there is a more of a pause before we know whether it was actually Tetsuro or Manabu who boarded the 999.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Masabu Sunayama – Keiko Yamamoto

Takeshi Sunayama – Kaneto Shiozawa

Gizorl – Kazuya Tatakabe

Cook – Isamu Tanonaka

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Keiko Yamamoto played a few minor characters in previous episodes. Kaneto Shiozawa played Sirius in episode 47. Isamu Tanonaka played Hanako’s father in episode 10, Subari in episode 17 and Delmukade in episode 38.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

A rather interesting story here as we meet in Manabu someone who looks just like Tetsuro! This is in fact the 4^th time it has happened, after “The Comet Library”, “Nuruba, Planet Without Form” and “The Great Chieftan of the Spherical Housing Complex”, although only in the final one was that the person’s permanent appearance. Manabu is the closest to Tetsuro in appearance and story (especially in the TV episode). Like Tetsuro, Manabu’s story is a sad one, and he loses a family member just before his attempt to board the 999, this time his brother rather than his mother (although in the TV episode we later find out that his parents are long dead too, due to being poor and unable to buy medicine).

As Manabu approaches the town with the station we have some comedic occurrences, first as the smell from Manabu is so bad it causes a restaurant owner to angrily confront him! Maetel sees him shortly afterwards and believes it to be Tetsuro, although she questions the strange oddities of him, such as him being foul mouthed, and strangest of all, actually being happy to take a bath! The real Tetsuro shows up soon after and the truth is revealed. In the TV episode things have a little more room to breathe and we get a hilarious fight between Tetsuro and Manabu. Poor Maetel tries to break them up multiple times, only to get injured herself from trying to do it!

Unfortunately Manabu’s story doesn’t have a happy ending, as the pass he and his brother worked so hard to buy is a counterfeit. While the 999 isn’t real, I’m sure there are sad stories like this in real life of people going through a lot of turmoil to buy something that ends up being falsified. I was rather surprised to see the criminal seller, Gizorl, actually show up at the station to confront Manabu and Tetsuro when due to the impending 999 departure he could have just waited and there’d be little in the short term they could do. Gizorl’s arrival provides a conundrum for Manabu. Does he take Tetsuro’s pass and essentially steal his identity? He will get the thing he has wanted so much, the ability to board the 999, but will doom Tetsuro, who, beyond that initial fight, has been kind to him, to remain stranded on this planet. Like Tetsuro, Manabu is ultimately a good hearted individual and refrains from doing so.

I must say, it would have been interesting to have another Tetsuro on board the 999, even if just for a few chapters, and it could have brought some interesting storylines! Although getting out of it may have been tough (and may force Manabu to die) so I can see why Matsumoto ended it here.