The Pirates of the Time Castle

The Pirates of the Time Castle

Manga Chapters 12-4 and 13-1

TV Episodes 79 - 81

Manga Chapter Summary:

Tetsuro notices that it’s getting brighter outside and Maetel tells him to look towards the front of the train. Before them is the Andromeda galaxy, a large nebula about 2 million light years from Earth. Tetsuro, Maetel and the Conductor talk about the distance as seen in a book and the Galaxy Express’s records. Tetsuro realizes this is the galaxy where he can get a mechanical body for free and Maetel says before that, they have to head to the planet Heavy Melder. The Conductor claims it is a major turning point in the universe where many orbits gather at one point. The stop time is just over a week. Maetel explains that once they pass there, the government control of the Galaxy Express passes over from that of Earth to that of Andromeda. At the management station of Andromeda is the place where Tetsuro can get his free mechanical body.

Maetel says Heavy Melder is a place of energy and he should eat something. Suddenly a bag strikes Tetsuro right in the face! It is from a pair of passenger fighting each other. A third passenger, who is completely covered up by a cloak tells them to stop and hands them a container that they drink from. The cloaked man asks Tetsuro if it is too soon for him to drink and he says no and starts gulping from it. Tetsuro quickly starts feeling a fire in his body from the alcohol. The cloaked man tells him it is a rum from the planet Siren, which is the strongest liquor in the universe. It is like water to him. The cloaked man offers Maetel some and she drinks as well. She feels okay and tells Tetsuro he doesn’t have to panic. One of the other men trips Tetsuro and he pulls out his gun. The cloaked man tells them they won’t live long if they get angry. Tetsuro wonders who the cloaked man is and Maetel tells him he’ll understand soon.

Tetsuro and Maetel head to the dining car where Tetsuro happily eats some steak. Maetel says to be prepared here. Even if she doesn’t return, she is confident he’ll be able to continue on his journey alone. Maetel claims she has something she must do while on Heavy Melder and must do it by herself. The cloaked man walks by and tells Tetsuro to keep an eye on his back or he won’t be able to survive on Heavy Melder. He says he hopes he makes it out alive. Tetsuro spots that the man is armed with a cosmo gun, just like his. Tetsuro thinks to himself of how there are only 4 of these guns in space. Captain Harlock and Emeraldas each have one, with him having another, so this may be the fourth. Suddenly the 999 shakes. Maetel says it is a rough welcome from Heavy Melder as there are several explosions in the sky. The narrator explains that this area is known as Trader’s Fork, a major turning point in the universe where all spatial orbits meet at one point. It’s a large frontier of freedom and lawlessness that many travelers pass by.

Maetel’s emotions seem to be affected as they approach Heavy Melder. With her black clothes, it is as if she’s going to a funeral. As the 999 descends down to the planet, the narrator explains that many men who come here with dreams will become soil for the planet, while others leave with their dream to the end of the universe. Tetsuro and Maetel depart the station. Tetsuro says it is dusty around here and an old man says here on the Great Frontier it’s dusty everywhere. The old man recognizes Maetel but says her companion was someone else last time. He hands her over some corn. Tetsuro asks her if she’s been here with someone before and she says yes. This isn’t the first time she’s rode the 999. An alien creature nearby tells Tetsuro to not ask a lady about the old days and he says he’s sorry. Tetsuro thinks of how Maetel has lived this way before he met her. Maetel points out the hotel nearby but says it is still early and it’s a good idea to take a look around. She says she has something to do and she’ll meet him in the lobby at 12:00. She tells Tetsuro to be careful, not quarrel and to shoot his opponent if he gets in a fight here.

Tetsuro thinks back to what Maetel told him back on the 999 about how she may not come back from this planet. He thinks of how she must be doing something important here; something life threatening. Tetsuro shouts out Maetel and tries to run after her. He runs through an alley after her and runs into her, but then realizes he was mistaken and it’s another woman. The woman, who is carrying a guitar heads into a saloon. A couple of patrons there grab Tetsuro and tell him to listen to her song. The woman plays a song before a large group of people in the saloon all of whom look sad; tears coming from many of their faces. Tetsuro asks why they are crying and the bartender says they were fine when they passed here before when they were young and were told not to cry. This used to be a good place but it is no longer with the Time Castle sitting just over Mt. Gun Frontier. A couple of the men in the bar tell Tetsuro it is a mechanical person’s castle and since it arrived here on Heavy Melder, pirates have dominated. There is no longer freedom here.

The singer goes to the bar and sits down next to Tetsuro, telling him her name is Leryuzu. She asks Tetsuro where he is going and he says the planet where he can get mechanical bodies for free. Her name sounds familiar to Tetsuro and he thinks to Ryuzu whom he met in the graveyard at the bottom of gravity. Leryuzu tells Tetsuro she is her sister and he says the world is both wide and small. Leryuzu tells Tetsuro that Maetel went to the time castle. There it will be a life threatening battle. Tetsuro runs out into the desert, calling for Maetel. At that time we see Maetel walking through the desert at night, the Time Castle nearby. Tetsuro having said he’ll go to the Time Castle while in the bar is told by those there that he is an idiot and he is asked if he even knows how to shoot a gun.

One of the men grabs Tetsuro telling him he should go home and sleep on his mother’s lap. The cloaked man from before tells him to let Tetsuro go. The man who was grabbing Tetsuro grabs at his gun. The cloaked man says sometimes you have to go even if you know you will lose or die. He tells the man to let Tetsuro go. The man backs off. One of the other bar patrons tells Tetsuro he can borrow his automatic bike which is held in the back. He warns Tetsuro to watch out as the pirates of the Time Castle are horrifying. He mentions they are headed by a mechanized person who calls himself Captain Harlock. Tetsuro is shocked to hear it is the Captain Harlock. He steps outside and Leryuzu tells Tetsuro that his companion went to fight him. She asks Tetsuro if he is scared. Tetsuro says he is, Harlock is scary enough for him to die. But if he doesn’t look for Maetel he’ll regret it the rest of his life. He’ll fight, even if it is against Harlock.

Tetsuro makes his way across the desert landscape on the bike, following footsteps which he believes to be Maetel’s. Tetsuro thinks how it’s odd that Maetel will be dueling Harlock, who is not supposed to be a bad guy. Eventually Maetel’s footsteps vanish and Tetsuro crashes the bike. Tetsuro notices a number of men around him, and Leryuzu with them! Leryuzu tells him to throw away his gun and claims she’s bringing him to the Time Castle, which is where she lives. She says it will be the graveyard of both him and Maetel. Tetsuro sees Maetel’s trunk sticking out of the ground as they near the Time Castle. At that moment, Maetel is walking through the Time Castle and a voice welcomes her. She says Tetsuro will come. She make her way to a dark room where we see Harlock standing in the shadows, only his eye and skull and cross bones insignia visible. Maetel cames she came here to fight him.

Leryuzu steps up behind Maetel and asks if she may bring in Tetsuro. Tetsuro is led through the Time Castle by android subordinates, complaining about the Time Castle. They tell him this is a castle that enables one to walk through various parts of time, the past and future, and he shouldn’t complain. They make their way to the room where Maetel and the others are. Maetel who is holding a sword threatens to kill Harlock and he pulls out his own sword. The two start battling. Maetel makes a tear in Harlock’s clothing, revealing a mechanical body underneath. Suddenly a trap door opens below Tetsuro, pulling him in. Tetsuro hangs from a wire under the bottom of the Time Castle and Harlock warns Maetel to stop going further or Tetsuro will not live. Tetsuro holds on by his cloak but it starts tearing and he falls.

Harlock says the castle is flying through time now and Tetsuro has fallen into the flow of time; he doesn’t know what era. It is impossible to find him. Harlock asks Maetel what she is thinking. Maetel says she may be known throughout history as a witch as a result, but she will kill him for the sake of Tetsuro and many other young dead people. Tetsuro continues to fall further into a whirlwind type area, losing his pants along the way temporarily. Tetsuro starts feeling really cold and wonders if he’s at the end of time. He realizes he is buried under some snow and digs his way up to the surface, finding a snowstorm coming down. Tetsuro doesn’t recognize where he is, but it somehow seems familiar to him.

Tetsuro realizes he’ll have to put some dead grass on his feet to keep them from getting frostbite. He sees some footsteps leading away which he follows, soon finding a past version of himself with his mother! They are working in the snow, outside of a small cabin. Past Tetsuro is finding sprouts in the ground which she says will enable them to eat for a couple of days. Seeing his mother, present Tetsuro starts crying. He recalls that this is the night before his mother was killed by Count Mecha. He pinches himself to see if it’s a dream, and realizes it isn’t. Suddenly Leryuzu appears behind Tetsuro and stops him from getting up to go to the cabin, as Tetsuro wants to warn his mother. She tells him he can’t tell them about it or do anything. Humans can’t touch the past, even if they are able to see it. They won’t be able to hear his voice or see him. Tetsuro asks if that is the case why he is able to feel the snow. She claims that doesn’t matter, it is the past lives happening here he won’t be able to effect.

Tetsuro bangs on the cabin door anyway, but his mother doesn’t respond. Past Tetsuro complains about the wind and his mother says if his father was alive he could tighten the door bolts so there wouldn’t be noise. She says goodnight to Tetsuro. Tetsuro says to himself how he remembers only being able to hear the wind. He looks in the window, upset over this being the last night his mother was alive. We return to the Time Castle. Harlock tells Leryuzu to go to the control room and advance time by 500 years so Maetel will age and become a skeleton while they, with their machine bodies, will remain unchanged. Leryuzu stands there and doesn’t do anything. Maetel tells Harlock he doesn’t understand the meaning of her black clothes or the feelings of the many young people she’s been with.

Leryuzu tells Harlock it is wrong to call him by his name. “Harlock” claims Captain Harlock is just a mythological pirate and he’s using the name of a dream. Leryuzu says a youth’s dreams aren’t the kind of dreams he can give. His dream is a filthy delusion, and cowardice. The Time Castle starts glowing and “Harlock” panics, wondering why she moved the lever she did. Leryuzu says when she met Tetsuro she understood the foolishness of becoming a machine. There are things they can’t do even if they have eternal life. The heart of the warm blooded person that Tetsuro is, a boy who clenches his teeth and fights, touched her heart and she can’t do it. “Harlock” cries out as his body rusts away, as does Leryuzu and the entire Time Castle.

Maetel sheds a tear, standing in the wreckage, Tetsuro’s calls for her ringing out. Tetsuro appears, holding the mechanical brain of “Harlock”, all that remains of him, which is calling out Maetel’s name over and over. The two hug and Tetsuro tells her of how Leryuzu came to see him. Maetel claims the brain is what is left of a poor man who sold his soul to a machine. He was someone she knew well, and who knew her well. In the olden days he was full of dreams and hopes as a young man. She knew many young people, some of whom traveled with her, who were killed by him after he became a machine. Tetsuro wonders if Maetel is crying for this man, or because she thought he was dead. Suddenly a noise rings out and Captain Harlock’s spaceship, the Arcadia, takes off in the distance. Tetsuro realizes the cloaked man in the bar was the real Captain Harlock. Maetel tells Tetsuro that Harlock is a person who never betrays his friends and they’ll meet again someday.

TV Episode Summary:

For the first and only time in the TV show, we have a three party storyline, which as with most multiple part episodes retains the core storyline but adds additional content. In the first episode, Tetsuro senses that something is odd with Maetel from the start, before they notice the Andromeda galaxy in front of them. Tetsuro complains about the length of their stay on the planet and calls the Conductor a pea brain. Tetsuro wants to rush off to the Locomotive, but Maetel claims there is a reason they are staying there so long, due to it being a critical junction. After they eat, Maetel steps out after mentioning to Tetsuro that he may have to travel alone if something happens to her. Tetsuro getting tripped happens in the dining car and the cloaked man shoots away the man’s gun. 

Once on Heavy Melder, the old man doesn’t give Maetel corn as he does in the manga. It is a bird rather than an alien that tells Tetsuro to not ask Maetel about her past. Tetsuro spots Leryuzu walking in an alleyway, thinking its Maetel, as he does in the manga, but he doesn’t run into her outside first. He heads into the saloon and goes up to her at the bar, thinking she’s Maetel (which is rather odd as she’s clearly got blue hair). Tetsuro promptly gets beaten up by some men there for mistaking “Madonna Leryuzu” for someone else. They stop once Leryuzu starts singing. The bartender pours some water on Tetsuro’s head to wake him up.  The bartender provides more explanation to Tetsuro, claiming the pirate in the Time Castle rules the planet and kills anyone in his way. Tetsuro suggest they kill him and the bartender says they wouldn’t stand a chance even if they all gathered up. Tetsuro notices two men in black who aren’t crying.

Tetsuro has some alcohol to drink and passes out, imagining Maetel being killed. He wakes up in a bed with Leryuzu nearby, brushing her hair. Tetsuro tells her he is traveling on the 999 and she tells him her name. Tetsuro briefly flashes back to Ryuzu when he mentions coming across her before. Leryuzu tears up upon hearing of her and reveals they are sisters as in the manga. Leryuzu says she knew her sister would be betrayed by a man someday and she should have been more assertive and stopped her. Leryuzu asks Tetsuro if he’d like to stay here with her and he declines saying he has to find Maetel, who she claims he talked of in his sleep. Leryuzu tells Tetsuro he should forget about her and Tetsuro says he values Maetel more than his life and threatens to hit her if she says it again.

We see the two men in black hiding behind a corner as Tetsuro leaves. Tetsuro runs into the old man who recognized Tetsuro before. The old man is about to say something but sees the men in black and declines, then runs off.  The two men soon walk by and purposely bump into Tetsuro. Thinking of Maetel’s warning, he apologizes and they throw food at him and taunt him. Tetsuro thinks of Maetel’s warning to not hold back. He is able to shoot one of the men and we see the cloaked man from the 999 shoot the other. Tetsuro realizes they were cyborgs and wonders if they serve the pirate in the Time Castle, and why they were after him. Tetsuro looks over the edge of the bridge and tears up over the prospect of having to continue his journey without Maetel. Leryuzu walks up and asks Tetsuro if Maetel means that much to him. She reveals that Maetel went to the Time Castle. Tetsuro calls out to Maetel and the episode ends with her walking there.

Tetsuro returns to the saloon at the start of the second episode asking for the Time Castle’s whereabouts causing a man to confront him as happens in the manga. The cloaked man shoots away the man’s gun. He also calls out the men in the saloon in a sense, saying none of them have had the courage to go to the Time Castle. A man who made fun of Tetsuro earlier lets him use his bike instead of the pirate we see in the manga. Several missiles get shot at Tetsuro as he bikes through the desert, which eventually causes him to crash. The fake Captain Harlock in the Time Castle wears a cloak rather than being completely covered by shadows. He demands Leyuzu close the door once it is opened as its letting light in. Leryuzu immediately comes in with Tetsuro rather than coming in on her own first.

Some of fake Harlock’s subordinates join in on the fight between him and Maetel, shooting at her after she slashes him. Tetsuro helps fight them off and fake Harlock activates the trap door as he does in the manga. As Maetel starts getting angry at the fake Harlock, he demands Leryuzu kill her, which she refrains from, then his subordinates start attacking her. Fake Harlock and Leryuzu jump onto a transporter which takes them away. When Tetsuro first sees his past self and mother, some dialogue from her about getting sprouts from the ground is cut. We see more dialogue between past Tetsuro and his mother, with them talking about going to Megalopolis the next day and Tetsuro helping them buy tickets to the 999. Tetsuro bangs on the door before Leryuzu appears. Some more time passes and Tetsuro’s mother and his past self leaves the cabin. Leryuzu gives Tetsuro his gun back and he follows her. We see Count Mecha and his men on horseback. Tetsuro rushes towards them and fires at them but his shots just go through them. Counte Mecha fires and kills Tetsuro’s mother. Leryuzu tells Tetsuro it is impossible to change the past. The second episode ends here.

In the third episode, Tetsuro watches his past self pass out in the snow and past Maetel come to get him. Tetsuro despairs over not being able to make it out of the flow of time, and Leryuzu says to leave it to her. She will return him to his time. A glowing light appears, transporting them away. Maetel continues fighting the fake Harlock’s henchmen in the Time Castle and makes her way into a new room where she is shot at by lasers on the wall that she promptly destroys. Fake Harlock is sitting in there. He asks her to have mercy on him and spare him. She asks why he wouldn’t fight her to the end and says he is a coward who doesn’t even exist in this world. She claims they fought as comrades to restore justice in this universe, but he shot his comrades in an attempt to become ruler of the universe. When she tried to recruit new comrades he killed them too. For Tetsuro’s sake she will send him to hell.

Leryuzu and Tetsuro suddenly come in and Tetsuro and Maetel are reunited. Leryuzu asks in exchange for saving Tetsuro that Maetel spares “Harlock”. Maetel says she can’t, there are some things that can’t be forgiven. Leryuzu shoots her with a beam blast from her guitar. Fake Harlock slaps her, mad at her bringing Tetsuro back with her. Tetsuro pulls out his gun and Leryuzu tells him to not shoot “Harlock”. Tetsuro says to kill him instead and “Harlock” starts hitting him with his sword. He tells Leryuzu to keep an eye on Tetsuro and Maetel, and he’ll decide what to do with them later. We cut back to the saloon where some of the patrons are wondering how things are going for Tetsuro. The cloaked man claims Tetsuro won’t die; he’s a real man.

In the Time Castle, Leryuzu provides water to Tetsuro, who is tied up along with Maetel. Tetsuro asks why Leryuzu is in love with “Harlock” given the way she is. Maetel says he’s too young to understand relationships. Leryuzu claims she was all alone once her sister left this planet. She played her guitar and sang to kill the sadness. We flashback to a cloaked “Harlock” coming into the bar where she played, scaring many off, but she kept playing her guitar and singing.  From that day she lived with “Harlock” in this castle. Maetel tells Leryuzu she’s being deceived; he’s not Harlock, but a fraud. Tetsuro says he knew it, as this Harlock doesn’t carry a cosmo gun. Leryuzu finds it hard to believe, but Maetel asks her if she thinks what he is doing is manly and the act of a hero. We see Leryuzu flashback to killing many people. Maetel says Harlock wouldn’t go after the elderly or children, nor settle down in a castle. He freely sails the galaxy, following his dreams. This man is a cowardly cyborg pretending to be Harlock.

Tetsuro asks LeRyuzu to let them go so they can defeat “Harlock” together. LeRyuzu leaves the room, but Tetsuro notices she left his cosmo gun behind. Tetsuro moves his chair over to it such that he can grab it. Tetsuro blasts the ropes off of Maetel. LeRyuzu watches from the doorway as “Harlock” drinks some wine. She comes in and he asks why she is looking at him in this way. He pushes a button realizing Maetel and Tetsuro have escaped their binding. He flees with Leryuzu down some stairs, which Tetsuro and Maetel follow. They are able to cut them off and “Harlock” puts Leryuzu in front of him to act as a shield for him. He then seals him and her up behind a glass barrier. He says they will go into time on a time capsule and never be able to catch him. “Harlock” asks her to do it but she just stands there and as in the manga pulls a different switch which causes the Time Castle to self-destruct and for their bodies to start rusting.

Leryuzu tells Tetsuro and Maetel to hurry and flee. She wants to make up for her sins and has the will to die like a human being. Tetsuro realizes she has a mechanical body. Her motivation is the same as in the manga, beyond also claiming that her mechanical body gave her the ability to affect time. We see Leryuzu rusting. We hear her singing as Tetsuro and Maetel flee from the Time Castle. After the Time Castle is destroyed, Tetsuro finds Leryuzu’s guitar in the wreckage rather than the brain of the fake Harlock. Tetsuro returns to the saloon where the bar patrons are pleased to see him there. He gives Leryuzu’s guitar to the bartender, saying she won’t be playing here anymore. The bartender says the cloaked man just left. Tetsuro runs out into the street to try and find him. Tetsuro sees the Arcadia taking off as in the manga. Tetsuro asks Maetel why she fought the fake Harlock and she says it doesn’t concern him.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

LeRyuzu – Kumiko Kaori

Old Man – Yonehiko Kitagawa (Episode 79 only)

Tavern Owner – Motomu Kiyokawa

Cloaked Man – Makio Inoue

Tetsuro’s Mother – Akiko Tsuboi (Episode 80 only)

Shadowed Man – Yoshito Yasuhara (Episodes 80 – 81 only)

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Yonehiko Kitagawa previously played minor characters in episodes 32, 39, 47, 48 and 60. Makio Inoue previously appeared as Pascal in episode 38. Akiko Tsuboi, beyond several previous appearances as Tetsuro’s mother also played Artemis’ Mother in episode 52 and a Policewoman in episode 62. Yoshito Yasuhara played a young man in episode 16.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

It is an extra length storyline this time; this is both the longest storyline in the entire manga at 96 pages as well as the only 3 part episode in the TV series. This storyline is primarily based on one that occurs in the Galaxy Express 999 movie. It is a rather odd inversion; rather than the movie being based on an original manga storyline this time it is actually the other way around since the movie came first. The planet Heavy Melder, the saloon Tetsuro spends time at, Leryuzu and the Time Castle are the primary things taken from the movie, although there are also some notable changes. The most significant of which is that in the movie, the Time Castle is the realm of Count Mecha rather than a mechanical man claiming to be Captain Harlock. In the movie version Tetsuro’s quest for revenge for his mother’s killer goes across much of the movie rather than being resolved immediately as it was in the manga and TV series. With Count Mecha already dead in the manga/TV show, the fake Harlock was used as the villain instead. The real Harlock also appears, although he covers himself up in a cloak throughout the chapter/episodes and we don’t realize it is him until the end (unless you recognize his voice actor).

Also in the movie, but dropped in the manga and TV show is Tetsuro running across Tochiro Oyama, the original owner of the cosmo gun he possesses. Tochiro is greatly ill and Tetsuro helps him in transferring his soul to the Arcadia, Captain Harlock’s ship. Emeraldas also makes an appearance on Heavy Melder in the movie which is not included here. Another cameo included in the manga chapter (and a hint of the reveal at the end of the chapter) is Yattaran, Harlock’s first mate appearing in the bar and lending Tetsuro his bike. For whatever reason his appearance was removed from the episode.

Captain Harlock is probably the most famous creation of Leiji Matsumoto. He originally appeared in his own manga series in 1977, which similar to Galaxy Express 999 was adapted into a television series the next year. Beyond appearing in the two Galaxy Express 999 movies, Harlock has been the subject of multiple movies of his own, and additional OVAs and TV series. He won favorite character in Animage’s Anime Grand Prix Award in 1979 and has received various other accolades as well. Although his appearance here in the Galaxy Express 999 manga/TV series is heavily toned down compared to how he usually appears (and we never see him without the cloak), it is quite the delight to see him.

The character of Leryuzu who features heavily across the manga chapters and episodes was called Ryuzu in the movie. The original Ryuzu character (seen back in chapters 3-8/3-9 and episodes 7/8) was used as inspiration for the movie character, as both were blue haired women who traded in their humanity for a mechanical body in order to please their lover and found as a side effect that they could control time. In the movie version she was the lover of Count Mecha instead of the fake Captain Harlock. Since Ryuzu as a name was already used, Leryuzu was used instead and she was explained to be Ryuzu’s sister. The character is featured a lot more here in the manga chapter and the TV episodes than the movie (where she doesn’t even have dialogue until after Harlock’s death, although she also gets a lengthy song sequence as she does here). Overall her fate ends up being the same; Tetsuro reminds her of what it was like when she was human and she turns on her lover and destroys the Time Castle, killing herself along with it.

The manga chapter and episodes also flesh out Maetel’s history a bit more. Although one could already get the sense this has happened before, here we get formal confirmation that Maetel has traveled the 999 many times previously with other boys. The old man out in the street recognizes Maetel so she’s been here on Heavy Melder before. Maetel references past colleagues of hers as having been killed by the fake Harlock and that is why she is here, to take revenge for them. We find that even the fake Harlock himself was a former friend of Maetel’s, but he traded in his humanity and became the evil man we see here instead.

Also of interest is the sequence where Tetsuro is sent back in time, just before his mother’s death. It is a sad sight to see as Tetsuro tries to change the past and prevent his mother’s death but is unable to do so. As Leryuzu explains it, by traveling through time like this they can see the past but can’t directly interact with it. Tetsuro is doomed to watching his mother die once again. Although the manga chapters and episodes are looking at similar territory to what we see in the Galaxy Express 999 movie, this was quite enjoyable to both read and watch. These chapters/episodes are up there among my favorites from all of Galaxy Express 999.

Spoiler Analysis:

The sequence where Tetsuro is sent back in time to just before his mother dies is used in the Adieu Galaxy Express 999 movie, one of very few things that the movie takes directly from the original manga rather than being an original creation. In that version, it is the character Faust who sends Tetsuro back in time. Events in the past largely play out as they do in the TV episode, except that Leryuzu, who died in the first movie does not appear.