The Monster of Loose Zone

 The Monster of Loose Zone

Manga Chapter 14-3

TV Episode 100

Manga Chapter Summary:

The narrator explains how the space track of the Galaxy Express is accurately laid and the train won’t derail unless there is a serious accident. Train derailments can be repaired, but derailments in the human mind are irreversible. The Conductor steps into the train car to announce their next stop as “The Loose Zone”. Just Maetel is there, and she tells him Tetsuro was going to the Library car. The Conductor doesn’t recall seeing him there and heads back looking for him.

The Conductor heads through the dining car and finds it empty, although there are footprints on the floor! They look like Tetsuro’s, and even go up the wall! The Conductor heads to the Locomotive, who tells him there is no sign of the current whereabouts of Tetsuro. The Locomotive computer says that as it approaches Loose Zone, for some reason the device becomes affected, as if it is looser, and it can’t judge things accurately. At that moment we see the 999 from outside in space, and hear the calling of Tetsuro, towards the back! He is handing from the bottom of the train car, as the bottom had suddenly fallen out of it.

Tetsuro’s grip loosens and he falls into space. Tetsuro luckily still within the space shield of the 999, and on the pathway towards Loose Zone instead of the absolute vacuum of space. The Conductor reports back to Maetel and tells her Tetsuro has fallen out of the train. Tetsuro tries swimming around within the space shield as he descends towards Loose Zone. The 999 makes its way to the planet, which is filled with junk, enough so that the Conductor can’t find the station. The Locomotive says it entered the planetary airspace according to its orbit, and it knows a station exists, but there is no way to know where to stop at. The 999 passes over a residential area which is also filled with junk; it is said people simply throw away their trash at random. The Locomotive is able to detect the station after all and heads there. It arrives at a place with even more junk around.

Tetsuro meanwhile continues to descend towards the planet, eventually making it into the planet’s atmosphere. He lands in a large landfill area full of trash. Maetel spots him from nearby and asks if he’s injured. He wonders why he fell here and Maetel says since he was in the space shield he fell where the station would be. The Conductor says they should go back to the train and take a rest. It seems that due to the garbage here, the station was moved without permission.

They head back onboard and Tetsuro looks out with binoculars at the residential area nearby. He sees house, but no moving figures. Maetel tells him all the houses are empty; there are no inhabitants here. The Conductor says they abandoned it and moved someplace else because of all the garbage. Tetsuro thinks of how it became this way due to the trash they were throwing out and that it would become a mountain eventually. But for Tetsuro, the ability to make a pile of garbage puts him in a happy place. The narrator explains how there are poor places in the universe where they can’t collect garbage or build a mountain of it. The people who used to live here on Loose Zone are now living someplace else in the universe, building another pile of garbage.

TV Episode Summary:

The episode begins with Tetsuro waking up from a nap next to Maetel, and telling her he feels out of it and is tired. Maetel tells him something he can do is go to the library car and get her a specific book. She thinks to herself how he is showing symptoms of the Loose Zone. Tetsuro heads there and finds the book, but the train shakes causing him to fall outside the train as he does in the manga. The Conductor also mentions Tetsuro having the symptoms of the Loose Zone and that he doesn’t feel as up on his responsibilities right now himself. The Conductor doesn’t find Tetsuro’s footprints all over the floor, but he does see the broken window he fell out of.

The Conductor starts reading the book Tetsuro got and Maetel eventually comes to see him. The Conductor claims the life of those on Loose Zone is sloth and obesity. When Maetel says Tetsuro may be in trouble and hanging outside the train, the Conductor doesn’t want to bother with it. The Locomotive also doesn’t want to bother with it.  The Conductor shows some unwillingness to bother until Maetel criticizes him. Maetel and him search around the train, including a scene where the Conductor sees the bathroom is dirty but doesn’t bother cleaning it up. Tetsuro soon falls off the train as he does in the manga. We then see the Conductor relaxing in the dining car, drinking wine. Maetel tells him to put the train in reverse so they can go back to get Tetsuro.

Tetsuro lands in a garbage filled area immediately. We see emissions come out of the garbage which eventually forms itself into a large monster! The Locomotive refuses to go back to find Tetsuro, saying it needs to focus its efforts on finding the station. Tetsuro makes his way back through the tunnel, but the monster follows him! The 999 makes its way to the planet as it does in the manga, and the Conductor continues to be lazy, relaxing on the seat by Maetel. Maetel tells the Conductor they must search for Tetsuro after they got off the 999. Maetel spots Tetsuro as he’s falling from the sky; the Conductor is able to carry a bed at the spot where he lands.

Tetsuro tells Maetel how he was chased by a garbage monster. Maetel comments on how the station here was in good shape the last time they were here. The Conductor is able to find binoculars in the garbage rather than them merely appearing as they do in the manga. As Maetel talks about the way the planet used to be, we see flashbacks to when it was cleaner. Maetel says the loose environment of this planet made this happen. Tetsuro flashes back to him complaining to his mother about his shoes, which she repairs for him. Tetsuro thinks the monster that attacked him was the garbage that was tossed away before its time. Lightning starts hitting the garbage piles, and we even see the Conductor temporarily shut in within a refrigerator before it blows open. The monster forms again so they rush to the 999, which takes off. The monster takes a swing at the 999, hitting the final train car. It tries another attack but its fist breaks up as it hits the train. The monster collapses soon after. The Conductor seems back to normal after they leave and he tells them due to their extra short stay at Loose Zone, the train will be slowing down.

The planet is designed quite a bit differently in the episode than the manga, in particular with rings around it.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Tetsuro’s Mother – Akiko Tsuboi

Mechanical Car Voice – Kouji Totani

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Beyond Tetsuro’s mother, Akiko Tsuboi also voiced Artemis’ Mother in episode 52 and a Policewoman in episode 62. Kouji Totani has played a variety of minor characters beyond the Locomotive.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

This chapter/episode has a couple of focuses to it. From one standpoint we have a bit more action than usual. There is an accident while the 999 is heading to its next planet and Tetsuro falls out of the train car! For a bit he hangs on, but he soon falls off. This results in him floating around in space for a while in the space tunnel that the 999 travels in. It’s a good thing that is there or this would have been the end for our protagonist! In the episode we also see a giant monster form, made out of garbage and chase him to the planet.

Another big aspect of the chapter/episode is garbage. An aspect that we touch upon a little bit in the manga chapter, but is much expanded upon in the TV episode is that people are affected by being in this area, the Loose Zone. It as if they become lazy and unable to focus. We see this impact Tetsuro, the Conductor and even the Locomotive! Oddly enough Maetel is not affected at all by it and we frequently see her chewing the Conductor out as he acts quite lazily and fails to do his job properly.

This mentality ties in a bit for those on the planet Loose Zone, although I think the manga chapter handled that aspect a little better and it isn’t necessary. Essentially the message is that the people who lived on this planet were wealthy enough that they simply tossed out their garbage for no regard for where it went, or the environment around them. Eventually the planet became so trashed because of this that they headed to another planet, where they are likely to cause the same thing to happen. This is a mentality very similar to what we see in the “Cheyenne, the Nation of Water” chapter/episodes where we saw another civilization that trashed where they lived and simply moved on without doing anything to fix it. An interesting point brought up that you don’t really think about is that it’s really the more well to do who have the luxury of having a lot of garbage. When you are poor you don’t have the luxury to waste things or to throw things out. A flashback for Tetsuro having some junky old shoes is added in the episode to add to this point.

This is a rare chapter/episode that has no new side characters. I think back to the “C-6248’s Rebellion” as a rare manga chapter that was similar, although the episode adaption added new characters.

Four Dimensional Elevator

Four Dimensional Elevator

Manga Chapter 14-2

TV Episode 99

Manga Chapter Summary:

The Conductor is about to announce the next stop but finds Tetsuro and Maetel aren’t in their usual spot. They are actually in the dining car where they’ve just finished a meal. Maetel asks Tetsuro if he ever thinks about the cow that the steaks he ate came from and he says he’ll think about it someday. The Conductor steps into the dining car and announces their next stop as the “Bottomless City”, with a stop time of 66 hours, 66 minutes and 66 seconds. The 999 descends towards the city, which is filled with various skyscrapers. The station is in one of the skyscrapers. Maetel tells Tetsuro it has this name because they don’t know where the bottom is. Tetsuro and Maetel make it to the hotel and the bell boy tells Tetsuro to never use the elevator, only the stairs. Their elevator here is famous and you don’t know where it will take you. Tetsuro spends some time reading a giant tour book, then sleeps for a while. He wakes up hungry but finds Maetel isn’t in the room.

Tetsuro heads out to the hallway and realizes he has to go from the 66^th floor down to the 12^th floor. He starts going down the stairs, but decides to head into the elevator and use it. Once in the elevator it starts going down, but soon starts going in a whole bunch of different directions. It eventually brings Tetsuro to a transparent tunnel between buildings. Meanwhile, Maetel realizes that Tetsuro is no longer in their hotel room and that he got on the elevator. A man approaches her, saying Tetsuro got on it. He claims it is really rare for someone to get on it. Suddenly the elevator returns to their floor. The door opens up and Maetel finds Tetsuro’s cloak and hat inside. The man tells Maetel his name is Kizaluna and he knows where Tetsuro went. He encourages Maetel to get on the elevator with him, which she does. The elevator starts moving.

Maetel tells Kizaluna it would be easy for her to kill him. She is also confident she will remember her way and be able to make it back. The elevator stops and opens, and they find themselves in an area with various stores and restaurants. Kizaluna points out an apple he claims Tetsuro ate, but Maetel says it doesn’t have any human teeth marks. Maetel turns down an offer from Kizaluna to kiss him. He also shows Maetel an empty plate of steak he claims Tetsuro ate. They eventually make their way to a green field, where Kizaluna comments on the animals and smells the flowers. He points out a big city nearby where only live human beings are. He also shows Maetel a desert wasteland with bodies on the ground of gunmen he claims Tetsuro defeated. Maetel worries that Tetsuro got hurt. They head to a saloon and Maetel and Kizaluna have a beer. Maetel asks again where Tetsuro is and Kizaluna points out a grave marker nearby with Tetsuro’s name on it.

The two of them make their way over there and Tetsuro crawls out of the grave! Maetel says it’s time to go, but Kizaluna doesn’t want them to leave. He says he wants them to wander this world endlessly and pulls out a gun. He claims eventually Maetel will have to become his wife. Maetel stoops over and Kizaluna reveals he poisoned the alcohol she recently had. Tetsuro pulls out his gun and kills Kizaluna. He realizes Kizaluna was a mechanical human. Maetel tells Tetsuro they can make it back if he thinks of the home in the middle of his heart. They get on the elevator, which brings them back to the 66^th floor. Back on the 999, Maetel tells Tetsuro the 4 dimensional elevator went to the world that Tetsuro desired in his heart. Kizaluna was a mechanical person whose hobby was to drag humans into the dreams of others and play with them. The Conductor wonders what kind of desires Tetsuro has.

TV Episode Summary:

The TV episode cuts some minor things while also adding more scenes to flesh the episode out. At the start of the episode, the dialogue from Maetel and Tetsuro about the cow used to make the steaks is cut. The layover time is cut to 16 hours.

We see Tetsuro and Maetel check in their hotel via the lobby. Kizaluna spots them and calls out to Maetel from the bottom of the stairs, asking her if she’s forgotten him and she’ll remember him soon. Tetsuro asks why they are taking the stairs and the bellboy tells them about the elevator as he does in the manga. They are forced to climb up all 66 flights!

Once in their room Tetsuro brings up Kizaluna and thinks he’s making up knowing Maetel. Kizaluna calls Maetel in the hotel room and says they should reminisce over dinner. Maetel heads down to the lobby. Tetsuro then wakes up, leading to the sequence we see in the hallway of him getting on the elevator. We eventually see Tetsuro thrown out of the elevator. Maetel realizes when she meets Kizaluna outside the elevator that Kizaluna called her to draw her away so Tetsuro would get on the elevator.

We see Tetsuro wake up with restaurants around him. He goes into a restaurant and eats a massive amount of food, and is allowed to put it on his tab. Tetsuro sees Megalopolis off in the distance (the same city we saw in the manga, although it wasn’t named there). He is then confronted by a gunman whom he shoots. He sees some farmers nearby and they tell him Maetel and Kizaluna are being wed at a nearby church. Tetsuro heads inside where he sees the two of them being wed by a priest! Tetsuro rushes towards them but they disappear. The entire church then collapses around him!

The apple Kizaluna shows Maetel is cut, and they also see a restaurant that says Tetsuro has reservations. We see Kizaluna dropping a tablet into the beer he gives Maetel. Kizaluna points out Tetsuro as being under a pile of rubble nearby instead of a grave marker. When confronted by Tetsuro, Kizaluna tells him many women have fallen into this trap and that he eventually got tired of them, showing Tetsuro numerous graves. Maetel wakes up and uses a whip to knock the gun out of Kizaluna’s hands, which enables Tetsuro to shoot him.

We have an additional scene of the Conductor worrying about if Tetsuro and Maetel will make it in time. Maetel is no longer able to remember the floor they got into 4 dimensional space via due to the drug Kizaluna gave her. Maetel says if they remember in their hearts they’ll be able to make it back, which they do. Maetel and Tetsuro make it back to the 999 just in time as it takes off. At the end of the episode Tetsuro tells Maetel not to get married!

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Kizaluna – Makio Inoue

Boy – Hideyuki Tanaka

Pastor- Yasuo Tanaka

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Makio Inoue previously played Pascal in episode 38, the Cloaked Man (Captain Harlock) in episodes 79 – 81 and Tennoji in episode 92. Hideyuki Tanaka previously played Yaku in episode 88. Yasuo Tanaka played the mayor in episode 89 and Captain in episode 96.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

We have a rather interesting setup for this chapter/episode. The 999 makes its way to Bottomless City, a planet where we just see tall skyscrapers, without seeing the bottom. Tetsuro and Maetel are warned not to use the elevator in the hotel, as they don’t know where it may bring them! Of course Tetsuro often does things he is told not to do and that ends up being what happens here. Hungry, he wanders into the hall, and wanting to save himself walking down 50 flights of stairs takes the elevator and disappears! Maetel journeys to rescue him and is accompanied by a rather odd man, Kizaluna.

By traveling through the elevator we are brought to a world that is essentially constructed out of Tetsuro’s subconscious. We see a row of shops, including restaurants and Tetsuro’s favorites like ramen and steak. We also see a beautiful field, and an old-west like setting similar to those we’ve seen other times. In the TV episode we have the added element of Tetsuro seeing Maetel and Kizaluna get married! It is questioned in the episode whether this is a desire or fear within Tetsuro. Is it that Tetsuro wants to get married to Maetel someday? Or does he fear her getting married and not acting in that motherly role for him any longer?

Either way, Kizaluna fully desires to marry Maetel and we find in the episode he has gone through numerous other women (reminding me of the Spherical Housing Complex chapter/episode). Thankfully Tetsuro is able to defeat him and he and Maetel are able to escape back to the normal world.

The concept of a 4 dimensional elevator is quite interesting. Beyond the fact that it can take one to their subconscious I also liked the concept of an elevator that could go not only vertical, but horizontal. It was also a fun sight to see Maetel drinking a beer! Overall result is we have a fairly interesting chapter and episode that is unlike most of the others.

The One Book Left in the Universe

The One Book Left in the Universe

TV Episode 98

TV Episode Summary:

Tetsuro complains about the noise of the 999 as he eats with Maetel in the dining hall. The Conductor comes in to announce their next stop as the “Planet of the Forgotten Ones”, with a 21 hour layover. The Conductor rushes through, not responding to Tetsuro when he tries to stop him. Tetsuro thinks something odd is going on and says the Conductor talked about a “scheduled” stop, something he usually doesn’t do.  The Conductor issues a report in the locomotive to the Railway Administration, claiming there is some oddity about this planet. The Railway Administration says since something odd is going on, it won’t let them bypass the planet without stopping on it.

As the 999 arrives on the planet we see the remains of some large ships, as well as a volcano and a desolate wasteland. The 999 eventually makes its way to a city and stops at the station. Tetsuro and Maetel, noticing how hot it is, strip down to some lighter clothing. They walk through the city, finding it to be like a ghost town. The ground starts shaking and Maetel says it is just an earthquake. The setting changes to a tree which has been hollowed out to make it a home! Inside a young man named Mori is writing. A woman named Zoya approaches saying they need to apply for evacuation. Mori doesn’t seem willing to leave, he wants to record what happens to this planet despite her pleas. Zoya leaves. Tetsuro sees her running off, but Maetel tells him not to bother her.

Zoya heads to a space station to submit an application for Mori. She is told he has to come himself. The soldier there thinks he is of no use to their society. Tetsuro struggles with him and is also thrown down. Zoya claims it is all Mori’s fault and Tetsuro and Maetel introduce themselves to Zoya, who says she is Mori’s girlfriend. Tetsuro wants to hear the details from her and they head to the hotel. Tetsuro finds the hotel abandoned too, and Zoya claims people are off to apply for evacuation. Zoya points out the odd color of the sun to them. Their sun will be exploding soon, which will destroy their planet. The changes to the sun have caused climate changes, the death of crops and animals and even the sea has dried up. As such, the citizens are planning for an evacuation, but there is a limit to how many can get on the spaceship.

Zoya wanted Mori to apply for evacuation, but he wants to log everything about this planet. There’s only 30 minutes until the qualification test is held. Tetsuro wants to meet Mori, but Maetel warns him with the planet in this condition the 999 may need an emergency departure. Tetsuro isn’t that concerned. Another earthquake hits and the hotel starts falling apart. Tetsuro notices a volcano nearby, and it soon erupts! Tetsuro rushes off. At the 999, the Conductor worries and the 999’s departure whistle goes off. The Conductor heads to the locomotive, asking for it to wait to take off.

Tetsuro makes his way to the tree house and goes in to confront Mori. Mori is insistent that he stay here and work on what he is writing. He feels that something 99% complete is the same as 0% and doesn’t want to throw away what he’s working on. Tetsuro tells him of his journey to get a mechanical body and Mori insists he escape. Tetsuro tries to drag Mori with him. Zoya comes in and Mori tells her not to cause trouble. She tells him his evacuation application was accepted because of Maetel and Tetsuro. Maetel says they should return to the 999. There is another volcano eruption.

Tetsuro and Maetel find a vehicle approaching, it is Hanza, the soldier who accepted the evacuation application. Tetsuro is worried about Mori but Maetel insists he has things he desires to do. In their home, Mori tells Zoya there is only one page left to write. Zoya says she can make it into a book and submits it into a computer they have in their home. Mori thinks of how nice Tetsuro was. Hanza arrives and says that Zoya has been accepted, but Mori has not. Someone like Mori, a writer, is not considered necessary for their new civilization. Zoya says she is going to stay with Mori, although Hanza says they need women like her to bear children. Zoya doesn’t care and tells him to leave. Mori also insists Zoya depart, but she refuses. Hanza leaves. Tetsuro has arrived and asks if they are going to die. He doesn’t want people like them to die and suggests they get on the 999. He’ll beg for them to get on, even though they don’t have a pass.

Mori insists on staying, as does Zoya, although she hands Tetsuro the book, “1,600,000 Light Years of Silence”, telling him it’s just missing the last page. Tetsuro says farewell and goes with Maetel. Mori is dedicated to writing until the very end. Volcanic eruptions continue and the debris from them cause the forest around Maetel and Tetsuro to catch fire while they flee. The ground also starts cracking open. As they reach the city they see the evacuation spaceship taking off. An explosion occurs shortly after takeoff and it ends up crashing into the volcano. At the station the Conductor continues to beg the locomotive to stay. Tetsuro and Maetel arrive just in time to get on.

The lava starts rises close to Mori and Zoya’s home Mori completes the final page; his book is now complete. He puts it in a machine and a rocket blasts the book out into space. The tree house starts catching fire around them. Zoya wonders if Tetsuro and Maetel made it safely to the 999. Mori and Zoya want to meet again reborn and kiss as the lava rises and the entire tree house bursts aflame. On the 999 Tetsuro looks out the window sadly, wondering if Mori finished his book and what became of them. On their way back Tetsuro wants to stop by here and read the last page of the book. He wonders why Mori was so persistent on writing his manuscript. Maetel says it’s because the planet was going to perish and he didn’t know if he was going to survive. Tetsuro wonders if one wouldn’t try as hard if things didn’t perish. We see debris from the sun make its way towards the planet, further destroying it. Eventually the sun explodes and the planet is destroyed along with it. We see a shot of Mori’s book floating in a capsule throughout space while Tetsuro reads his copy on the 999.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Zoya – Keiko Yokozawa

Mori – Yoku Shioya

Hanza – Toshio Furukawa

Mechanical Car Voice – Kouji Totani

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Keiko Yokozawa previously appeared as Hanako in episodes 60 – 61 and Naya in episode 85. Yoku Shioya previously appeared as Leaf in episode 82, Nasuka in episode 87 and a boy in episodes 60 – 61. Toshio Furukawa appeared previously as the Handsome Man in episode 6, Ikari in episode 74, Lestel in episode 85 and Wester in episode 89.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

The theme of planets coming to an end has been a common theme recently in these episodes that are not based on the original Galaxy Express 999 manga. This is the third such story, with the other two being Lifeform Number Three (episode 83) and Planet Crossroads of Destiny (episode 88). Here we come across a planet that is about to die due to its sun being about to explode. We meet Mori, a writer, and his girlfriend, Zoya. The planet’s authorities have come up with a plan to evacuate important people off the planet, but Mori has no desire to leave. He wants to stay here to the very end and finish is book about this planet. Mori’s mentality seems a bit foolhardy in this day and age; there surely could have been some way he could make it off the planet and still finish his book, if he had been willing to go. While he wouldn’t have directly been there when the planet died, he pretty much would have known what was happening since he had already lived through much of the planet coming to an end, just not the last second destruction.

A planet evacuating its citizens, but only certain people is an interesting concept, and one that surely would be the case if some cataclysm occurred in our life with short notice. Unlike the earlier episode Lifeform Number Three where only two characters are able to make it away, specially chosen by a military leader, here people have to apply, and may or may not get accepted based on their value. It’s a harsh reality to not be chosen, but ultimately that is what would have to occur if this were to take place. People like doctors, scientists, etc… are more apt to be important to their new world than a writer would be. I just hope that corruption wouldn’t come into play, and unfortunately in the world we live in that probably would be the case. Politicians, and people who can pay for it, even if they are not really deserving to be evacuate would likely get the seat over normal folk. The episode has a cruel twist in that those evacuating don’t make it off the planet anyway; the rocket malfunctions (or perhaps got hit by debris) and immediately crashes killing them all. Ultimately Mori’s book, the two copies he created (one shot into space and the other given to Tetsuro) are going to be all that’s left of this planet’s memory.

This episode is based on the chapter “1.4 Million Light Years of Silence from Matumoto’s “Four Dimensional World” manga.

Flying Kuro

Flying Kuro

Manga Chapter 13-4 and 14-1

TV Episodes 96-97

Manga Chapter Summary:

The Conductor announces the next stop as “Quima”, a planet with a lot of good food shops and a stop time of 22 hours. It is especially helpful now as the dining car is closed and Tetsuro is starving. Tetsuro is ecstatic to see all the different food options as the 999 approaches its landing. We cut to the hotel where Tetsuro has a stuffed belly having eaten, as Maetel puts it, “3 months worth of railroad payments”. Maetel puts some of the remaining takoyaki by the open window sill. Tetsuro snoozes for a bit while Maetel heads to the bath. Suddenly the arm of a cat appears and the takoyaki is gone, with cat prints all around. Tetsuro decides to wait for the cat to return; putting a sausage on the window sill and waiting with a mallet. Tetsuro wonders how the cat made it up here to a high floor. Suddenly Tetsuro sees a black cat, with 4 kittens walking behind it, walking in the air a distance away. Maetel claims it is Flying Kuro, a famous flying black cat.

Flying Kuro comes into their hotel room and walks around a bit. Maetel realizes it likely wasn’t Flying Kuro who took the takoyaki as there is just one set of cat prints. Flying Kuro heads back out the window. The military police see this from the ground and quickly run up to the hotel room, blowing it open when Tetsuro and Maetel don’t immediately open the door. We cut to the police station. The police go through Tetsuro’s suitcase and don’t see anything of note. The commander, Silverlock Handa, demands to look inside Maetel’s suitcase. She says there is no point in doing so, but gives him the passcode to unlock it. Tetsuro thinks of how he’s never looked inside her suitcase. Handa is shocked into silence when he opens the suitcase and looks inside. He is totally silent, and Tetsuro and Maetel are let free. Suddenly there is a shot heard from the building behind them and Maetel says he committed suicide.

Maetel asks Tetsuro if he wants to see what’s in her suitcase. Tetsuro says he’s traveling with her to get a machine body, that’s all. Maetel tells Tetsuro that she’ll show him someday, when they part ways. Maetel spots the shadow of a new cat coming. The cat, a mechanical one, swiftly jumps down and scratches Tetsuro in the face. Maetel tells Tetsuro not to touch it and says they need to catch its owner. The cat flees from them and they make their way through some alleys. Maetel thinks the cat is happy for them to follow it. Some shots blast out and strike the two of them. We see the legs of a woman appear, who tells the cat, Meow, to stop it. Tetsuro wakes up in the home of Nekoa, a blonde haired mechanical woman who claims she’s the owner of Meow. Nekoa claims she sent Maetel to the police with her message. She claims she and Meow don’t view Tetsuro or Maetel as their enemies. She sent Maetel with the message of there being a Catroid rebellion.

At that moment we see numerous cats flying over the city. Maetel is reporting the Catroid rebellion to the police. We see Flying Kuro in the sky with its kittens at the cats approach. The cats decide to go in the other direction, away from it. The police soon blast their way into Nekoa’s home and reveal that all the cats are now dead or dying, laying on the ground after having been seized with a radiation net. Nekoa runs outside to where the dead or dying cats are and hugs Meow. Even Meow was a Catroid, made using the brain of the kind hearted cat she owned. Maetel claims this happened due to Flying Kuro. The Catroids had copies of Meow’s brain and felt the same way as Meow about not wanting to endanger Flying Kuro. The head police man says they are going to replace Nekoa’s brain with one that is completely mechanical, removing any remaining humanity she has.

The head police man taunts Tetsuro, telling him only those with beautiful faces and bodies and excellent intelligence get eternal life here and he isn’t qualified for it. Suddenly there is an explosion by the police’s cars. Nekoa has a gun and claims she doesn’t want to be fully mechanized. The head policeman shoots her dead. He is happy as Flying Kuro enabled him to annihilate the cat rebellion. Maetel asks who owns Flying Kuro and he says no one; she’s a stray cat, who has a habit of going to those humans who like clever and friendly cats. She enables them to find the right people to execute. Suddenly Flying Kuro appears, angry! Tetsuro angrily shouts out that Flying Kuro is just protecting her kids and doesn’t want them to become mechanized. The head police man doesn’t care and shoots her anyway. Maetel shoots off his hat and says she won’t’ let him go any further with this. Maetel says Flying Kuro needs to protect her kittens and she will head somewhere else, not trusting humans here anymore. Flying Kuro heads further up into the air; Tetsuro wonders if she will be leaving the planet.

TV Episode Summary:

These chapters are adapted across two episodes. In the first episode we see Flying Kuro and its kittens immediately after the 999 makes it to the planet rather than waiting until Tetsuro and Maetel are in the hotel. We also see a military police car driving underneath them. Tetsuro happily seeing all the restaurants is moved from happening right on the 999 to when he and Maetel exit the station. Maetel tells Tetsuro to not eat at the restaurants here; they can eat at the hotel. We see a woman exit a ramen restaurant and head into the alley, expressing happiness over the food she ate. Suddenly Flying Kuro appears with its kittens. She kneels down to pet them and the military police surround her. They declare they are bringing her to a factory to make her a mechanized human. Suddenly Meow the Catroid arrives and scratches the commander, enabling the woman to escape.

We are able to see the variety of indoor restaurants within the hotel, as well as Tetsuro and Maetel eating within one. In the hotel room Tetsuro comments on how odd it is that they were the only people in the restaurant. Afterwards we see Meow lead the military police car into crashing into a pile of boxes. Meow flies to the windowsill and knocks the Takoyaki off. Once they are seized by the police, Handa provides more of an explanation to Tetsuro and Maetel than in the manga on why they’ve been captured, because Flying Kuro and Meow have been connected to rebels in the area and they spotted them with them.

It is explained that the cats tend to flock to people with different hearts than they, those with mechanical bodies have. After Maetel tells Tetsuro that he can see inside her suitcase when they part ways we see a brief imaginary sequence where Maetel says goodbye to Tetsuro and walks off into some fog. Tetsuro chases after her but she’s gone. Shortly after this scene Flying Kuro and its kittens appear again, with Meow attacking them just after this. We see Meow and one of Flying Kuro’s kittens growling at each other and Meow tosses it aside. Meow grabs Tetsuro’s 999 pass and flees, which is what spurs them on to chase it. The first episode ends at this point.

In the second episode, Meow leads Tetsuro and Maetel to an underground shopping center where all the lights are out. They are shot here instead of an alley as in the manga. When Tetsuro first talks with Nekoa in her home we see a flashback sequence showing a marching band play as all the restaurants in the city are opened. Nekoa along with many other people happily go in them, but the police quickly come in and force everyone to obtain mechanical bodies. We see the police and catroids fighting each other directly, before Flying Kuro appears. Meow helps it depart. We also see the police trying to seize Flying Kuro. 

The police take Flying Kuro and its kittens hostage and demand the catroids stop their rebellion. Nekoa watches the rebellion from her home and tells Meow to continue the rebellion, even if Flying Kuro has to die. Tetsuro pulls his gun on her and she agrees to stop the rebellion. We see the police spraying out radioactive gas, killing the Catroids. Flying Kuro heads towards Nekoa’s home which is what enables the police to find their way there. Tetsuro gets upset upon seeing the dead Catroids, thinking it’s his fault. Maetel throws one of her earrings into the air, which temporarily blinds everyone, as a result Flying Kuro doesn’t get shot as she does in the manga.

TV Episode Cast:

Tetsuro Hoshino – Masako Nozawa

Maetel – Masako Ikeda

Conductor – Kaneta Kimotsuki

Captain – Yasuo Tanaka (episode 96 only)

Police (A) – Kouji Yada (credited as just Police in episode 97)

Police B – Seiji Sato (episode 96 only)

Girl – Michiko Nomura (episode 96 only)

Handa – Sanji Hase (episode 96 only)

Commander – Takeshi Aono (episode 97 only)

Nekoa – Eiko Masuyama (episode 97 only)

Narrator – Hitoshi Takagi

Yasuo Tanaka previously played the mayor in episode 89. Kouji Yada and Seiji Sato have played a variety of minor characters throughout the show. Michiko Nomura played Lady in episodes 56 – 57, Mia in episode 87 and Naminami in episode 87. Sanji Hase played a doctor back in episode 6. Takeshi Aono played Edmond in episode 32. Eiko Masayama played Sylvia in episode 64 and the Snow Woman in episodes 90 – 91.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

These chapters/episodes are a combination of both cuteness and tragedy. The chapter starts off in a rather funny way as Tetsuro, plagued by the fact that the 999’s dining car is shut down, arrives at a planet with numerous restaurants! We soon meet Flying Kuro, a black cat with 4 kittens that is able to fly. The episode also quickly introduces us to Meow, who gets more of a proper introduction later. The cats in these chapters/episodes are quite cute, especially Flying Kuro and its kittens, and it is pretty fun to see a cat rebellion with so many of them. Unfortunately the rebellion ends in a total failure. This is a planet where people and even their cats are forced to become mechanized. This is expanded on a bit in the episode where we find that the various restaurants are actually traps and people, including Nekoa, get seized from them and forced to become mechanized. Nekoa fighting back against this, using an army of mechanized cats, is a pretty fun concept and it was sad to see it fail so quickly!

The latter part of the chapter is filled with tragedy; the catroid rebellion fails, Meow dies, Nekoa is captured then dies, and even Flying Kuro gets shot, although it appears to survive (in the episode it doesn’t get shot at all). While Flying Kuro had been a friendly cat that went to humans with kind hearts, the experience causes it to forget about humans entirely and leave the area. The naming for Flying Kuro comes from the Japanese word for black, Kuro(i), surely named that way as it is a black cat.

The concept of animals and mechanization is something that came up all the way back in chapter 7-6, “The Empire of the Cowardly Emperor” although more as some throw away dialogue; here we see that at least on this planet they actually can mechanize cats, which I thought was an interesting concept. Although it seems like similar to humans, it is against their wills. While Tetsuro wants to attain a mechanical body, it is a goal that not everyone wants, but on this planet people are forced into becoming mechanized against their will, although we don’t get an explanation for why. Perhaps to be able to control them better.

This is another storyline where the mystery of what is in Maetel’s suitcase comes up. This time we have the local authorities looking into it, and when Handa looks inside, he is so shocked he can’t say anything then kills himself! Just what in the world could be in that suitcase? Tetsuro references never having looked closely inside of it, but let us not forget the chapter “Witch of Plated City” where it was at least partially open and the mysterious voice we have so often heard came out of it. So whatever that voice is, it surely has some sort of connection with this.

Another notable thing about the episode (it is kind of glossed over in the manga) is Maetel referencing that they will have to part ways at some point. We’re now around 90 chapters into the manga and are at nearly episode 100 of the TV show; we’re a very good amount of the way there and it is time to start realizing that this journey won’t last forever. Tetsuro seems to hope that Maetel and him will not part, but it will happen someday from what she says. I hope he savors the time he has left with her!