A 26-year gap collapses in one eclipse. Tetsuro's single act of faith becomes the hinge of an entire life, and the movie asks what a person actually does with a second chance when it arrives. The 999 doesn't save Kakeru. It just opens a door. What he built in that time, what he chose to become, that's the real story.
On the day of a total solar eclipse in July 2009, the Galaxy Express 999 pulls in for a short stop at Kagoshima. There Tetsuro meets Kakeru, a boy who hopes to become an astronaut, and hands him a pass for the 999, telling him that whether he ever uses it is his own decision. The story then jumps to 2035, when Japan awaits another total eclipse twenty-six years after the last, and asks what has become of Kakeru. This short sci-fi drama runs exactly 999 seconds. It premiered in Kagoshima on September 9, 2009, and was made to promote the prefecture as Japan's closest point to space.
