Starring Masako Ikeda, Masako Nozawa, Kōichi Yamadera, Kaneta Kimotsuki, Keiko Toda, Yoshiko Sakakibara, Noriko Hidaka, Yuko Minaguchi
Directed by Kōnosuke Uda
When I said in last week’s review of Adieu Galaxy Express 999 that it was an impromptu trilogy I had no idea just how true that was. Eternal Fantasy was not quite what I expected. Despite my assumptions going in, it was not in fact meant to conclude anything. Eternal Fantasy fully intended to have a sequel, and even advertised for it after the credits. But low and behold, no sequel was ever made. So the film that actually concludes the Galaxy Express trilogy was the only film that wasn’t supposed to be a conclusion. And just to compound the irony, Eternal Fantasy‘s tagline is, “The future will never betray you.”
This is a shame since the film has a lot of potential. I would have happily signed on for another sequel if one actually existed. The changes were a mix of good and bad, but on the whole, things were going pretty well. Its only huge failing is its cut-off ending.
We start with Earth now totally under the control of evil robots who have mechanized the entire planet. Tetsuro has been imprisoned for the past year, and has apparently grown enough long, flowing hair to make any woman jealous. Outside his cell lies a woman encased in a block of ice. Despite looking awesome and being rather important to Tetsuro, the film never really explains who she is, although there was some implication that it might be Emeraldas. She doesn’t have the trademark facial scar, though, so I’m probably interpreting that wrong. In any case, the film does a pretty poor job of actually explaining itself.
There are some cool new characters, too. The new crew member, Cannon, may not have much to do, but she looks awesome. The new villain, Helmazaria, not only has a ridiculously awesome name, but she’s a total badass to boot. The final showdown is fantastic, with Helmazaria on the roof of the 999 firing down while Tetsuro shoots back from within, each of them trying to guess where the other is without a line of sight.
If the sequel had ever been made I might be singing a different tune, but without a conclusion I can’t recommend it. There’s too much good stuff in Eternal Fantasy for me to hate it, but for most people, it will provide more frustration than entertainment. Only big Leiji Matsumoto fans will want to check this one out.