Clan of Magnet Station

Clan of Magnet Station

Manga Chapters 16-5 and 17-1

Manga Chapter Summary:

The 999 approaches an artificial sun. Maetel claims it is there to watch a troublesome planet nearby. The Conductor announces the next stop as “Magnet”, with a stop time of 64 hours. He tells Tetsuro he doesn’t have to worry; there are no people with mechanical bodies at this station. The 999 approaches the planet, but stops while still in space and the Conductor claims this is the station! Maetel claims a limousine is coming and a small craft made of wood approaches. Maetel tells Tetsuro to leave everything made of metal on the 999, to avoid them being stuck to the magnetized planet. Tetsuro feels odd leaving their gun and trunk behind, but obeys and they get on the wooden craft. Tetsuro starts worrying about them being in a craft made solely out of wood as it starts descending towards the planet.

Meanwhile some people watch from the planet as the craft descends, Tetsuro sees that the surface of the planet is a giant jungle, similar to Sakezan’s planet, or as Maetel puts it, the Congo. The craft makes its way to a station on the surface that Maetel claims is made of wood, stone and plastic. They depart the craft and find the place empty. Maetel claims it is because of the small population. Tetsuro is shocked to find the hotel looks like Tarzan’s home. Tetsuro is soon pleased at the gigantic fruit and other food they are able to eat here. The sun starts setting and Tetsuro says he didn’t get to see the sun set much on Earth as it was covered by skyscrapers. That night Tetsuro looks outside in the darkness with a candle. Maetel says this is like the way the Earth used to be. Humans would sleep at nighttime and there would be beasts about so humans were afraid of the night until they could use fire. It can still be terrifying with fire!

Tetsuro starts acting strangely and is yanked out of the hotel; some sort of spear device has struck him in the back and is pulling him out. Tetsuro wakes up with a young woman there. She claims boiled herbs will be good to heal his wound. Had the spear went a little deeper, he’d have died! The woman claims her name is Manamume and it was her brother who harmed him. She warns him to not move so the wound on his back will heal. Manamume claims Maetel was the real target and she was able to take Tetsuro by accident. She says they hope to use Maetel as food! At that moment we see Maetel out in the woods, tied up, with those around saying something will be coming soon. We soon see a large, ape like creature, covered in shadows, approach. Meanwhile, on the 999, Maetel’s voice comes out of her suitcase and is heard by the Conductor. She says to contact Tetsuro and tell him to go back to the train.

The Conductor heads to the Locomotive, which claims the Railway Administration and Andromeda Command Center are ordering the 999 immediately evacuate as there will be an explosion. The planet has been judged harmful and useless and is going to be destroyed. The Conductor worries as Tetsuro and Maetel are still down on the planet, and Maetel asked him to get in touch with Tetsuro. The Locomotive claims the blast has already been fired by the Andromeda observatory. Meanwhile, Tetsuro wakes up on the surface of the planet and realizes he can hear the 999’s whistle. At that moment the 999 flies away and the Conductor says he’s sorry. Told the planet will be destroyed in 15 minutes, the Conductor greatly worries about the two of them. The blast approaches the planet, but goes right around it. On the surface, Tetsuro simply feels a breeze. Manamume tells Tetsuro that Maetel has been seized by King Dong, who lives on a nearby hillside. Tetsuro wonders if it is connected to King Kong. She tells Tetsuro he is ferocious, but Tetsuro is dedicated to saving Maetel.

As Tetsuro makes his way there, he wishes he could be with Sakezan. On the 999, the Locomotive says something is changing on the planet. The Conductor hopes nothing will happen until Tetsuro and Maetel escape. Tetsuro climbs his way up the mountain and we soon see King Dong there, holding Maetel in its arms. The Locomotive claims the magnetic force of the planet is greatly increasing. The Locomotive worries about the great magnetic power and that the 999 will be harmed if they don’t do something about it. The 999 tries to accelerate, but still gets sucked in by the planet. Tetsuro spots the 999 approaching. On board, the Conductor says farewell to Tetsuro and Maetel. The 999 crashes into the jungle. The Conductor has survived, but feels sick. The Locomotive says it is unable to do anything.

Suddenly the planet starts cracking, and completely blows up. Remnants of the jungle float around in space around the 999. The Conductor says that both Tetsuro and Maetel have disappeared. The Locomotive says the planet has disappeared and there is no life reaction around. The Conductor is shocked to see Tetsuro and Maetel behind him! He wonders if they are ghosts, but Tetusro says they are real. They point out King Dong, who is floating in space, and had saved them. While he looks scary, he is a kind hearted ape. Maetel says given the non-mechanical make up of those on the planet, the creatures there were gentle in nature. They are unable to make a grave for King Dong and see his body float away.

Tetsuro asks why Magnet was destroyed. Maetel claims the magnetic force was too strong, and it was an environment that was troublesome for mechanized humans. Tetsuro wonders why the Galaxy Express Administration sent the blast to destroy the planet and Maetel says it was controlled by the management station in Andromeda, one that is completely different than the one in their galaxy. In this part of space, living human beings are judged to be evil. It’s a difficult place for such people to live. Tetsuro feels bad about them not being able to make a grave for King Dong and Manamume. The Conductor claims their next stop is “Dragonfly Lake”, with a layover of 80 hours.

Non-Spoiler Analysis:

In stark contrast to the previous chapter, the 999 heads to a planet, Magnet, that has no mechanical people on it. It is because this is a planet that is completely magnetized, so it would be difficult for those made of metal. As a result we get a planet that is back to nature, reminding us of previous storylines like “Queen of the Primitive Planet”, “Sakezan’s Continent” or “The Cold Blooded Empire”. Sakezan even gets name dropped a few times in the chapter. The wooden craft used to bring Tetsuro and Maetel to the planet reminds me of the wooden body used by Yutaka Moriki, a character in the chapter “The Tombstone of Dead Leaves”.

Once on the planet things do somewhat go in a cliché direction as Tetsuro is attacked and Maetel is kidnapped. Oddly enough from a design standpoint, we never actually see those who attacked Tetsuro and captured Maetel, we just hear them talking. Maetel is left for the giant ape creature King Dong, whom we soon see show up. King Dong is clearly based on the famous ape “King Kong” who is name dropped by Tetsuro during the chapter. But luckily King Dong is kind hearted and doesn’t harm Tetsuro or Maetel, saving them both in the end. King Dong appears in shadows throughout the chapter so we never see his face in detail, just his eyes.

The machine empire’s ruthlessness continues as orders are handed down to destroy the planet, which occurs before chapter end. Maetel and Tetsuro are saved by King Dong and put back on the 999. It is a sad end for the creature who helped our two heroes. Manamume, the woman who helped heal Tetsuro’s wounds also appears to perish.

This is the fourth longest storyline in the manga at 76 pages (surpassed by The Pirate’s Time Castle, Snow Queen of Andromeda and one more story yet to come) although goes by fairly quickly due to many pages with no dialogue, just action happening, particularly when in space around the 999 and when the planet is destroyed. There isn’t anything that groundbreaking in this chapter, but it was a fun read nonetheless. I do think Matsumoto could have done more with the idea of the magnetized planet though.