Night on the Galactic Railroad

Night on the Galactic Railroad

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DVD Reviews of Night on the Galactic Railroad

DVD Review: One of the best animated films ever made
Summary: 5 Stars

Miyazawa Kenji was a significant poet and author of children's literature in the early twentieth century. As noted by others, death is a major theme in this film as are issues of friendship and family responsibility. The film is rather weighty and seriously beautiful.

Although the characters are human beings in the original Japanese story, they are primarily represented by cats in the film. This choice was a bit controversial when the film was originally released. The characters in the original story are clearly human beings and Japan does not have a strong tradition of anthropomorphic animals in either manga or anime. Further, anthropomorphic animals in folklore such as the badger and the fox are often dangerous and not sympathetic at all. Those who have read published mistranslations of the original story may be surprised to learn that the main characters have Italian names. Regardless, the characters and story are quite compelling. I was deeply moved by the film when I first saw it and subsequently read the original story in Japanese.

The artwork and animation for this film are both excellent. However, those who are fond of the cut-still approach to animation often found in Japanese animation for television may be disappointed by this film. Rather, the drawing and animation style of this film reminds me of a dark version of Disney's Fantasia of sixty years ago. Some of the images in the film remind me of impressionist or post-impressionist paintings. Film music and film sound are also quite pronounced in this film. Both the recurring theme first heard in the opening credits and the sound of the train on the tracks provide a recurring leit motif for what is an episodic film structured around various locations which often have symbolic importance. This recurrent symbolism reflects the Miyazawa Kenji who is noted as an important Japanese Christian poet who wrote European style poetry.

My copy of the DVD for this movie has a few technical flaws which suggest that it was not made from an original negative.