Tetsuro spent the TV series learning that immortality is a trap, and this film asks the crueler question: what if mortality itself becomes the price of saving anyone you love? The philosophical weight sits uncomfortable against the 55 minutes you get, which is why some fans feel cheated and others recognize it as exactly the kind of melancholy that defines Matsumoto's entire universe. The CGI train sequences don't hold up, but the conversation between a boy and a ghost about whether he should have been born at all still does.

Set a year on from the story of Galaxy Express 999, this 55-minute featurette is based on a story by Leiji Matsumoto. That earlier tale centered on the boy Tetsuro and his maternal companion Maetel, who struggled to drive the Mechanized Empire out of the universe after it had seized control of Earth. The film mixes action and drama in a science fiction setting.