Night on the Galactic Railroad (film)

Night on the Galactic Railroad (銀河鉄道の夜, Ginga Tetsudō no Yoru) is a 1985 Japanese anime film directed by Gisaburo Sugii, based on the 1927 fantasy novel of the same name by Kenji Miyazawa. The film's screenplay was written by Minoru Betsuyaku. It was released on July 13, 1985, and features Mayumi Tanaka as Giovanni and Chika Sakamoto as Campanella.

Night on the Galactic Railroad
Theatrical release poster
Directed byGisaburo Sugii
Produced byAtsumi Tashiro
Masato Hara
Screenplay byMinoru Betsuyaku
Based on
StarringMayumi Tanaka
Chika Sakamoto
Music byHaruomi Hosono
CinematographyNobuo Koyama
Edited byMasashi Furukawa
Production
company
Distributed byNippon Herald Films
Release date
  • 13 July 1985 (1985-07-13) (Japan)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Voice cast
Character Actor
Original English
Giovanni Mayumi Tanaka Veronica Taylor
Campanella Chika Sakamoto Crispin Freeman
Zanelli Junko Hori Oliver Wyman
Teacher Ryounosuke Kaneda Greg Wolfe
Store Owner Ryuji Saikachi
Giovanni's Mother Kae Shimura
Dairy Woman Reiko Niimura Rachel Lillis
Bird Catcher Chikao Ohtsuka Oliver Wyman
Lighthouse Keeper Fujio Tokita Eric Stuart
Wireless Operator Takeshi Aono David Moo
Young Man Hidehiro Kikuchi Sam Riegel (as Gil Ramsee)
Kaoru Kaori Nakahara Lisa Ortiz
Tadashi Yuriko Fuchizaki Amy Birnbaum
Conductor Tetsuya Kaji Scott Cargle
Marceau Miyuki Ichijou Rachel Lillis
Campanella's Father Goro Naya Eric Schussler
Dairy Man Seiji Kurazaki Scott Rayow

Additional voices

Japanese

Production

The film was produced by Nippon Herald and animated by Group TAC with in-between animation done by Gallop. The most prominent but controversial alteration made in the anime is that the main two characters (and their classmates) are depicted as cats.

Some other characters, such as the children from the ship, are humans. Many members of the anime staff ultimately went on to high-profile careers as directors or as studio founders, such as Kōichi Mashimo, then a storyboard artist, who more than ten years later would go on to form the famed studio Bee Train.

Use of Esperanto

The captions throughout the film are in Esperanto as an homage to Kenji Miyazawa, who was strongly interested in the language. The film's title in Esperanto is Nokto de la Galaksia Fervojo. Text appearing in various scenes was also written in Esperanto, such as writing on the blackboard in the classroom. A newspaper being printed in the printing house where Giovanni works tells of the shipwreck of a passenger ship bearing the Esperanto phrase Dio, pli apud vin (Nearer, My God, to Thee).

Soundtrack

The film soundtrack was composed by Yellow Magic Orchestra member Haruomi Hosono.

Home media

The film was licensed by Central Park Media in the late 1990s, and was released on VHS with English subtitles. The subtitled version played irregularly on the Canadian station Space in 1997 and 1998.[1] When it was later released on DVD in 2001, CPM produced an English dub that starred Veronica Taylor as Giovanni and Crispin Freeman as Campanella. The film was re-licensed by Discotek Media and released on DVD in 2015 and Blu-ray in 2016.[2]

Reception

Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network commented that the film was "a beautiful journey, albeit an ominous one. Slowly, the mood of the trek shifts from excited and childlike to desperate and profound."[3]

Accolades

The film was honored with the Ōfuji Noburō Award for 1985.

References
  1. Igarashi, Ru (November 24, 1997). "[Galactic Railroad] Space's broadcast". rec.arts.anime.
  2. Jensen, Paul (February 1, 2016). "Shelf Life: One Piece: Season 7 Part 4". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  3. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2006-12-21
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