News
Galaxy Express 999 Gets 1st Live-Action TV Special
posted on by Karen Ressler
Leiji Matsumoto's Galaxy Express 999 (Ginga Tetsudo 999) manga and anime franchise is inspiring its first live-action television adaptation. The series will premiere as an atypical live broadcast on June 18 at 8:00 p.m. on BS Sky Perfect.
Chiaki Kuriyama is playing Maetel and Ohshirō Maeda of the comedy duo Maeda Maeda is playing Tetsurō. The staff revealed images of Kuriyama and Maeda in costume. (More pictures are available on Mantan Web.)
Other cast members include Kaname Ouki as Queen Emeraldas, Toshiyuki Someya as Count Mecha, Jun Hashimoto as Tochirō Ōyama, and Takashi Ukaji as Antares.
Despite being a live broadcast, the show will make use of CGI to create the world. The show will be accompanied by a live 30-minute talk program hosted by Akinori Nakagawa, who plays Tetsurō in the upcoming Ginga Tetsudo 999 Galaxy Opera stage play.
The story of the anime and manga follows a young orphan named Tetsurō as he travels with a mysterious woman named Maetel through the galaxy on a space train, in the hopes of obtaining a cybernetic body. The train stops at many planets along the way, often leading to adventures for the two.
The 113-episode television anime series aired from 1978-1981. An anime film alternate retelling premiered in 1979. The franchise then spawned multiple other movies, specials, and OVAs. The original 18-volume manga ran from 1977-1981.
The Matsumoto Leiji - Mugen Sōzō Kidō book, which shipped on February 28, includes a new chapter for the manga. Yuzuru Shimazaki also launched the new manga Ginga Tetsudo 999 Another Story: Ultimate Journey (Galaxy Express 999 Another Story: Ultimate Journey) on March 19. Matsumoto is credited with the original work, setting, and design for the manga. The stage play adaptation will run in Tokyo and Osaka this June and July.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web via Otakomu
