Night on the Galactic Railroad... Why is this film a beloved Classic?

For my next Patreon request, I was asked to review an old film based off of a childrens story written by renowned Japanese poet and author, Kenji Miyazawa. This is Night on the Galactic Railroad. A young boy name Giovanni boards a mysterious train across the cosmos with his best friend Campanella. But where will this train take them and why?
If you wish to know more about Kenji Miyazawa, click on this link:
• BEGIN Japanology - Miy...
This video features the music track "Space" by Arthur Vyncke.
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#kenjimiyazawa #nightonthegalacticrailroad #titanic
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[@persomiissleepy]

If you want to know some irony Miyazawa hated cats. As he believed they were just as selfish as humans. Another fun fact is that another one of Miyazawa's works "The Life of Budori Gusuko" was also adapted in the same style as Night on the Galactic Railroad but was animated by Tezuka Productions.

[@elizabethmartin6707]

As a Pokémon fan, I thought it was funny that Ash Ketchum's voice was coming from a character named "Giovanni". Yes, that was my biggest takeaway while watching the movie 😅

[@BunnyRain946]

This film has a special place in my heart, just for the fact that this feels like a pure artists vision.

[@bizarroguy6570]

Not the story we’d expect, but definitely a story that deserves to be shared.

[@joaquinvaleri7022]

You should hate phantomstrider family guy and bad animated shows and movies ok?

[@sleuthentertainment5872]

Based on the great (never-finished) novel of Kenji Miyazawa, who wrote it after the dead of his little sister, this adaptation achieves a sensation similar to walking in the edge of a beautiful, fascinating and strange dream, sad and dark. A story told quietly to let yourself led by its mystery and sensations while thinking about friendship, life and death, eternity, weakness of time, sacrifice, universe and memory...leading everything to one of the most heartbreaking twists ever. Not many times has anime reached such level in the '80s.

[@tannerprice2018]

I started cracking up as soon as you said “They’re voiced by Ash Ketchum and Alucard!” XD

[@valeriegonzalez3117]

That's the glory of animation. You can get neat stories with all kinds of messages. How they turn out may vary, but here's a reminder to support good to great content.

[@lorenzoteague8445]

I remember hearing of this movie back in the late '80s when I was still getting deep into anime. But, never did I have a chance to see it. Now I have to!!! It looks so amazing and the story is my kind of tale to take in!! Sorry about the computer crash, Robyn. Hope you can recover what you can. And thank you for a great review!! o7

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

An amazing stream for an incredible story from an incredible author. Thanks for making this content girl! And that last bit at the end had me on the floor! 🤣🤣🤣 Keep beign amazing! Huge fan!

[@silversonic1]

And the fact that it was referenced in the Gen 2 Pokemon games is actually pretty interesting.

[@agreattimetoday]

Which game? My crystal version doesn’t say it… :(

[@silversonic1]

@@agreattimetoday It's the downstairs TV in your character's house. It's accessable from the very beginning of the game. I just loaded Crystal(US English) to verify.

[@zinzolin14]

Thanks for this mini review. This novel inspired themes and designs in Magia Record as well, which is how I came to know of it. I'll have to see if I could stream or get a physical copy of this film somewhere, it seems like a profound story.

[@physicskid]

I am watching the BEGIN Japanology episode about Miyazawa-san after I saw this video. Thank you for the referral, it is always tricky to try and track these episodes. We all can absolutely learn from Miyazawa Kenji's too-short existence. I feel your remorse has been heard Ms. Robyn. If anybody says otherwise just reach out to me and I'd gladly stand by you. I remember what you have told us working unbelievably-hard at your regular job and managing Anime America and I feel you try very hard. To learn your and your beloved were able to finally visit Japan recently to conquer a life bucket item inspires me to take life, gently of course, by the balls and not let it be wasted. Alas your computer failed, it has happened to all of us at least once...unless those people are still using typewriters to share! And even so typewriters are bound to failure too so..to those critics just land your airplane because it isn't worth the high blood pressure! To whomever recommended this please reply back to Robyn so that she can be happy and at peace once more! I look forward to your next video. I deeply adore your videos when you incorporate the Avatar because it always makes me feel happy.

[@skittycecil9786]

I absolutely love this film, and the dub is really charming IMO. Also the same director later made Spring and Chaos, a film much in the style of this one (complete with cat people) based on Kenji Miyazawa’s life! It’s worth a watch and I think it’s still available on KZbin dubbed.

[@brittanyrieger8123]

When I watched this the first two times I fell in love with this movie

[@PlexyFresh]

The Polar Express before The Polar Express

[@TheMasterofMasters1]

Exactly!

[@justwolf3937]

The Polar Depress

[@Logitah]

Oh Jiminy christmas!!!! This story ALWAYS makes me cry! Merely mentioning it breaks my heart all over again! 😭

[@lucinae8512]

The concept of a stream train travelling through space, inspired the late Leiji Matsumoto to create Galaxy Express 999. His work is great if you like anime space operas. *But nothing beats Macross.*

[@alibrennan5977]

I have never heard or seen this movie till now. And this author sounds like the nicest guy. As for the next top 10, I’m guessing it’s for Halloween🎃. How about Top 10 Fates in Anime Worse than Death ☠️. Can’t wait for Halloween season! But you need to enjoy your trip to Japan 🇯🇵 first 😉

[@CheriSmoke]

My vote is a tie between Kars and Diavolo from Jojo's Bizarre Adventures parts 2 and 5.

[@alibrennan5977]

@@CheriSmoke my vote would be Rika and Subaru dying via time loop and the magical girl system from Yuki Yuna is a Hero(trust me, it’s WORSE than even Madokas😳)

[@CheriSmoke]

@@alibrennan5977 the time loop IS Diavolo's fate. And I can't do justice in explaining what happened to Kars; that's something you'd have to see for yourself.

[@nickvinsable3798]

Sorry to hear about the crash < insert a _Speed Racer_ clip involving a crash >. My Patreon suggestion, at least a year ago, a onetime payment, was about _Princess Nine_ …

[@cfg83]

I saw this on VHS in the 1990s in Japanese + subtitles. Happy I did.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love your streams girl! You always make my day!❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊

[@arbitrarychannel]

Robyn being the respectful, professional, ethical person she is, goes out of her way to avoid mentioning that the easiest way to get hold of this film might well be to pirate it. And then youtube links straight to it in the suggestions :'D

[@BetamaxFlippy]

I live in Italy and I ordered the american BluRay from the states just so I could see this movie in the best possible quality, the 30mbps bitrate and 5.1 japanese audio really shos how much they cared for this movie's reissue. You could play it in a 4K upscaling BluRay player and you'd never know it was just 1080p.

[@TheCreepypro]

glad to see this video since it took some hard work to make it and the topic at hand is great to hear about!

[@CrystalStarGirl_Official]

I heard about this movie because it was one of the inspiration that Ikuhara (director of Utena) use for the anime Penguindrum and I can say that this movie was very beautiful story of loss, while I do admit that I had to stop watching a few times due to my attention span like 3 times till the group from the Titanic showed up that I kept watching till the end and then learning what the author was like was very interesting that I picked up the book for myself because why not! Also I knew it was Veronica Taylor the moment Giovanni started to talk

[@arbitrarychannel]

Ikuhara was the king of good sources of inspiration but I couldn't get into Penguindrum probably for similar reasons to this. What Can I say, I just can't do funny animals plus pathos. It just doesn't gel for me.

[@arbitrarychannel]

Shoujo Kakumai Utena is supposed to be largely based out of Nietzschean philosophy but my reading background isn't good enough to confirm this. I'm told the elevator dialogue from the first season is basically straight from, 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra'.

[@metaalboekee665]

I got into literature thanks to bungo stray dogs ( in which kenji is a character that closely follows his irl coubterparts beliefs) I read the og story and didnt expect the ending, as well as other works of his. I like his storytelling its so fantastical This story is special to me, as it reminds me of my grandmother who passed shortly after i finished reading it. I should watch this movie

[@TheMasterofMasters1]

It seems you to want answers then I shall provide. 🔮The reason why the staff loves "Night on the Galactic Railroad," is that before each Kingdom Hearts meeting, the staff would see this film before going back to concept writing. Heh, I'm surprised you figured out Square Enix's little secret.

[@biancagrottolo]

I actually read the book last year, and its really good. Actually, she came in to read. Honestly, it shows a lot of dedication to the one who wrote it. And honestly, it's page by page to the movie

[@cfg83]

I think of Kenji Miyazawa as the Jack Kerouac of Japan. Read Visions of Gerard to learn of a similar formative experience in Kerouac's life.

[@jacobdrolet4262]

Fantastic work on the video Robyn from anime America,amazing job.

[@electrofonickitty823]

You should see Spring and Chaos, its the biography on Kenji Miyazawa

[@hermanehrentraut4956]

I love all your material and appreciate all the work that you put into your videos. Years ago you did a video that compared western and eastern styles of horror films. I am trying to locate it but I forgot the video title. It may have even from your earlier channels. If you could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. Thank you.

[@NiypoFF]

I use to watch this channel back in 2015 and just randomly thought about it Out of no where.

[@kathryncampbell4432]

I may be wrong, but I also read a bit about the author: apparently, he was on the train while writing the book’s manuscript and died on the way. It was partially finished.

[@BetamaxFlippy]

Yeah it's all wrong

[@chrismusix5669]

11:22 Did you just conjure the image of Kagami Hiiragi??? Well done.

[@TheMasterofMasters1]

"May your hearts be your guiding key."😇

[@noahdean9685]

I love it saying is like saying "May the force be with you!"

[@TheMasterofMasters1]

Think of this of what I'm doing is equivalent to a Green Lantern Corp member passing down a ring of will power.

[@maytalacedo20]

I have heard of this movie but never knew this movie existed. it also got me thinking that's where magical record season 2 got its inspiration.

[@LambLiesDownOnBroadway]

This film was so beautiful.

[@aliceosako792]

I was initially confusing the title with _Galaxy Express 999_ , a very different sort of anime though also filled with philosophical musings. Glad to learn about this film.

[@dwainsimmons3447]

This dub still holds up

[@lastationproductions]

This looks good I’ll have to watch it

[@DSheartlady]

night on the galactic railroad is awesome !!!! it is so poignant imagine this was writen in1927 they didnt know about black holes awesome he was way ahead of his time🙂🙂🙂🙂!!!!!

[@flockinify]

I still can't get over Act-Age.

[@mrmysterious8124]

If there's one thing I know about Japan they love their Cat people🐈and can you do a Top-10 Anime Characters who have PTSD😱🔫😠

[@zinzolin14]

Bruh, what a time to bring up drowning and Titanic 😅

[@sailorsagittarius8526]

This Movie had me interested by a german anituber, I watched it and it was a mix of Antonio Saint Exupéry with a mix of Tove Jansons Moominvalley Anime and for some reason Ghibli. I saw it as a Boys Love or close friendship because of the bond of the two cats grow for each station and Giovanni suddenly is in his though jealous at the girl from Titanic, eventhough it's impossible. It also reminds me of Cats Return. Did I say I love this movie, because of cats, space and deeper bonds between friends and loved ones aswell. The art reminds me of Salvador Dali.

[@VooshSpokesman]

Love from a mothersBasement and Vaush fan!

[@dwainsimmons3447]

One of the greatest New York dubs ever. It even got Amy Birnbaum and Sam Riegel.

[@martinbaxter2616]

(sees sliver of 'Jack and the Beanstalk') You've scarred my soul, Robin. (I'll see that you get a bonus. That's not easy to do.)

[@butteredbananas1394]

The fact this was a recent video and I watched the movie recently lol

[@Dawnslight16]

Now do Giovanni's Island

[@christopherfreitas-leonard7099]

Nice work there Robyn. Though, I may not have a patreon page, but I do request, implore you, to do an anime review of this year, an anime that is wholesome, and will make you barf rainbow. My Clueless First Friend. Plenty of people commented of how much it is wholesome, with how our boy Takada made Nishimura special, even though he’s clueless, and those two are definitely a good matched for when they’ll get older.

[@writerpatrick]

This movie aired in the west at a time that anime wasn't so abundant or as easy to get hold of. And it was so different from the animated movies coming out at the time with a much more mature story.

[@sweetcherry7759]

Campanella sounds more like Snufkin from Moomin imo // but I 💯% agree about the Ash Ketchum voice ^^

[@171QA]

Neat.

[@morgancooper5762]

God bless you robyn

[@ericastones1052]

Remind me a little bit of Infinity Train but without the numbers, unique train carts and different characters.

[@Tazer_Silverscar]

Oh hey, Peter Barakan :D Wow, that seems to be a pretty old episode of Begin Japanology X'D

[@AugustusMondo]

NOOOOOO THAT ENDING!!! HOW DARE!!!

[@shizuwolf]

I had no idea that was Crispin Freeman 😅 he’s a lot quieter than what I’m used to from his performances

[@CheriSmoke]

Anyone else thinking of 'last train home'?

[@JaySmily]

Ah, a classic

[@habiba-wp1hn]

Please review "Whiskers Away and "The Silent Voice", both of those two move through me to tears!😢😭

[@ironwolf5802]

Didn't expect Titanic movie.

[@paxonite-7bd5]

Will you cover the blade of kamui? That movie is amazing and wtf at the same time

[@rami_ungar_writer]

Just wait till you see Giovanni's Island. It references the book this is based on in so many ways.

[@dakotasan8719]

I literally just saw this a few days ago on Crunchyroll and then this pops up?

[@JJUniverseChannel]

Awesome video lady 😎!

[@Emperor_Oshron]

2:13 funnily enough, i listen-watched to that exact movie just the other day XDDDDD

[@BarbaraHall-cn2ij]

Hello Robyn sorry to hear about your computer hope you can get it repaired anyway hope you are ok take care my friend

[@maytalacedo2942]

I wld recommend magica record because the final season had something similar to this. And judgemental critical who loves the lore of madoka magica franchise does a good job with deep dive on magical girls while looking deep on magical girls as parallels on the night on the galactic road. Highly recommend it.

[@4JBrewer]

Snessy has the whole movie on her channel.

[@kctaylor7563]

can you do a top ten anime house wives

[@hokutology1718]

I'm not on patreon, but I'm hoping Robyn reviews Angel's Egg at some point.

[@Thedragonlover95]

10:47 So the pokemon trainer is best friends with a badass vampire. . .Not something I would be hearing today. Also I find it funny that the two share the same kind of colors XD

[@jakstrieder]

oh gods... now I wanna see someone abridge this movie with Helsing abridges Alucard

[@warrirornunluv801]

I love Japanology!

[@KARENLEEETODD]

howd you make your Videos

[@silvercrystalrose28]

Please do a review of the misfit of demon king academy season 1 and 2.

[@Eken-Eken]

I like older Anime that often hasn't the stereotypical look. Now if Robin wants to be funny she puts a short "review" of 'Galaxy Express 999' right after this. Wonder if it had the inspiration of the same book. Surprisingly enough this movie is in low rez here on youtube. Didn't expect that.

[@berniekatzroy]

My question is in the original book, not the manga, are the main characters cats too?

[@youropinionsareshitandsoar1954]

Yea seems like it

[@Twilightman89]

👍

[@DamplyDoo]

When are you gonna stream a game next

[@MattCaliber]

Not gonna lie, if it wasn't for the fact that I knew I was a watching a review, I would have thought I was drugs watching the begging of the vid.

[@hannahmetzger4880]

"Oh, Jesus, it's the real Jesus!' I wanna know where _that_ meme is from!! 😂.

[@geardog24]

How can an anime about cat boys on a train be on the same level as Grave of the Fireflies? 😢

[@arbitrarychannel]

It isn't, quite. While I appreciate watching the death of your young but adult sister of an illness is tragic, it pales before watching your sister who is little more than an infant *preventably* starve to death, due to the impotence and indifference of those who were supposed to protect her. Not only that but the writer was basically still only a child himself at the time and took on so much responsibility for the events that he lost the will to live and nearly starved to death himself.

[@agreattimetoday]

@@arbitrarychannelthey are both wonderful films just different. Great description of Grave of the Fireflies!

[@AugustusMondo]

ROBYN THAT WAS EVIL 😂

[@yinyangyt8749]

Oh man. I never heard of this movie at all. To be honest, it gives me Polar Express vibes from the way you described it. And oh boy those visuals. They look just so good

[@summerjonz]

The japanese equivalent to the Polar express.

[@williamcrowe2576]

A mention of the Titanic just days after the loss of a mini-sub that went to explore the wreckage and never returned?

[@lowesgameing2003]

Ah classic someone has taste

[@Dr.Chibbins]

Funny story: my Ex and I watched this in anime class when we first met. We bullshitted the papers and I think she fell asleep on my shoulder. But now when I mention it, she just says “NOOOOO! It went from two catboys riding to two catboys sleeping on a train, and it only got worse from there “

[@sailorsagittarius8526]

Funny that I thought that Night on the Galactic Railroad was a Boys Love

[@denisemiles7099]

It looks a little too depressing to me.

[@geraldrichardson5281]

Promo`SM 😻

[@WesleyDanken]

Prase jesus

[@joaquinvaleri7022]

And stop ruin 2023 please for whatever days weeks and months ok?

[@BetamaxFlippy]

The english dub is terrible, they were all over the places with VA's selection and it was overall tone deaf towards the whole atmosphere the director created for this opera. You'll always be better off with japanese audio and english subtitles.

[@joaquinvaleri7022]

I'm still hate phantomstrider because i hate family guy qnd bad animated shows and movies and bad tv shows and bad movies ok?

[@mrmysterious8124]

If there's one thing I know about Japan they love their Cat people🐈and can you do a Top-10 Anime Characters who have PTSD😱🔫😠