Night on the Galactic Railroad
Encyclopedia
, sometimes translated as Milky Way Railroad, Night Train to the Stars, or Fantasy Railroad In The Stars, is a classic Japan
ese novel
by Kenji Miyazawa
written around 1927. The nine-chapter novel was posthumously published in 1934 as part of published by . Four versions are known to be in existence, with the last one being the most famous among Japanese readers.
The novel was adapted as an 1985 anime
film of the same title, as well as various stage musicals
and plays
.
At school, in a science
class, the teacher asks Giovanni what the Milky Way
really is. Giovanni knows that they are stars, but cannot answer. The teacher asks Campanella, but he intentionally does not answer to save Giovanni from even more ridicule from his peers. During class, the local bully, Zanelli, says that Giovanni has been so absent-minded because his father has yet to come back from an expedition
to the far north. Zanelli claims that Giovanni's father was arrested (because the trip was supposedly "illegal"), which angers Giovanni. Before he can give Zanelli a good punch, the bell rings, marking the end of the class. The teacher, after encouraging the students to attend the star festival occurring that night, lets everyone leave. Giovanni, however, stays behind to chat with the teacher.
After class, the teacher (another of Giovanni's friends) and Giovanni marvel at the fossils that Giovanni's father brought back from his expeditions. The teacher asks Giovanni if his father is back yet (this question is asked repeatedly throughout the story). Giovanni responds no, and heads home to begin another long, lonely night of work at the local paper.
On that night (which marks a large festival), Giovanni runs into Zanelli. He makes fun of Giovanni, mocking him about an otter fur coat his father would give him when he comes back, and runs away to the festival. Giovanni can not go to the festival, because he has to take care of his mother, and do the chores that his sister did not.
Tired after a hard day's work, Giovanni lies down on top of a hill. He hears a strange sound, and finds himself in the path of a train. Luckily, the train stops. He gets on board, as does Campanella. Giovanni notices that Campanella is all wet. Giovanni asks why, and Campanella says he's not sure, but a flashback that shows him drowning suggests otherwise. The train travels through the Northern Cross
and other stars in the Milky Way. Along the way, the two see fantastic sights and meet various people: for example, scholars excavating a fossil from white sands of crystal and a man who catches heron
s to make candies from them.
Children who were on a ship that crashed into an iceberg (possibly Titanic) get on the train at Aquila
, suggesting that the train is transporting its passengers to their afterlife. The train arrives at the Southern Cross and all the other passengers get off the train, leaving only Giovanni and Campanella in the train. Giovanni promises Campanella to go on forever, together. But as the train approaches the Coalsack, Campanella disappears, leaving Giovanni behind.
Giovanni wakes up on top of the hill. He heads to the town, and finds out that Zanelli fell into the river from a boat. He was saved by Campanella who went into the water, but Campanella had not come up since then and is missing. Worried, Giovanni heads toward the river, in fear of what he already knows. His worries prove true, because Campanella has been under the water for a long duration of time, meaning he is dead. On the verge of tears, Giovanni tries to stay strong. Campanella's father (who didn't notice Giovanni at first) asks Giovanni to have his classmates come over to his home, after school tomorrow (for reasons unknown, though it seems likely that they are being called in for a formal funeral). Giovanni then makes a promise to stay strong throughout life, claiming that, no matter where he is, he and Campanella will always be together. He then heads home, to deliver milk to his mother.
. The main theme of this story is "what is true happiness?"
After Miyazawa's most beloved sister Toshi died in 1922, Miyazawa, in sorrow, went on a railroad trip to Sakhalin
. He started working on this novel soon afterward in 1924, and this trip is said to be the basis of the story. He kept on polishing the work steadily until his death in 1933. The middle part of the novel was never completed but was published as it is nevertheless.
A tribute to those who give themselves to others is a recurring theme throughout the storyline, and according to Hasebe (2000), they are reflections of Miyazawa's philosophy of self-sacrifice, a view appearing in many other juvenile novels of his such as Yodaka no Hoshi and Gusukōbudori no Denki. Meanwhile, Suzuki (2004) interprets them as representing a "holistic thought of Ecosystem".
film in 1985 by director Gisaburo Sugii
under Minoru Betsuyaku's screenplay. The anime features Mayumi Tanaka
as Giovanni and Chika Sakamoto
as Campanella.
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
.
The English dubbed version in 2001 starred Veronica Taylor
as Giovanni and Crispin Freeman
as Campanella.
The captions throughout the film are in Esperanto
, paying homage to Kenji Miyazawa who was strongly interested in the language. In the language, the film is called Nokto de la Galaksia Fervojo. Texts appearing in various scenes are also written in Esperanto, such as writings on the blackboard in the classroom. An apparent extra at press in the printing house—where Giovanni works—tells the shipwreck of a passenger ship, carrying the Esperanto lyric of "Nearer, My God, to Thee
".
The film soundtrack was composed by YMO
member Haruomi Hosono
.
Sō Kitamura made the story into a drama titled . Note that 想稿 could be a play on the word and the character carrying meanings such as "conception" or "idea". Premièred in 1986, the play was performed by Kitamura's theatrical company Project Navi.
A part in a 2002 play consisting of various works by Kenji written by Yutaka Narui for a theatrical company Caramelbox, features the story by the name of . It follows through the episodes in the novel rather briefly. The play also includes some lines by Professor Burukaniro, which appear only in the first three versions of the novel.
Warabiza, a performing arts company in Akita Prefecture
, made a musical version of the story. The musical premièred in April 2004 and toured around Japan until March 2007.
to create his famous manga
, Galaxy Express 999
(whose literal Japanese title is Ginga Tetsudō 999, possibly in reference to the Japanese title of the novel).
In the Tōhoku region
of Japan where Kenji Miyazawa grew up, there is a real-life train line of similar name: , running from Morioka Station
to Metoki Station
.
The story inspired Going Steady, a Japanese punk rock
band, to create the song .
This book is also heavily mentioned and referenced in the anime Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
(Looking up at the half-moon), as a book that Akiba Rika's father gave to her.
A character in the light novel
.hack//AI buster
remarks that he took his online handle
, Albireo, because he was so affected by Miyazawa's description of the binary star Albireo
. The book is referenced once more during a discussion on how much stories can change from the first draft to the final draft, due to the various different versions of Night on the Galactic Railroad.
Utada Hikaru
's new album Heart Station contains a song, "Take 5", that uses this novel as a basis for the lyrics.
In the manga Aria
by Kozue Amano
, a human character, Akari, imagines that a nighttime train is the Galaxy Express from the novel. The next night she is given a ticket to ride it by a cat and nearly gets on it but donates the ticket to a kitten. Aside from Akari, the conductor and all the passengers are cats, similar to the movie.
Yakitate!! Japan
, a popular manga and anime series has a short mention of the work as illustrated in the reaction of the judge pierrot, the world class clown, after eating the bread of shadow who promised it would send him across the galaxy to see his mother. It is shown that the characters mother's favorite book is the same piece of literature; she is shown in a painting holding the book.
In the manga and anime Doraemon
, Nobita Nobi once mistook the novel for being Leiji Matsumoto's manga, since both contain "Ginga Tetsudō" in the title.
Kashiwa Daisuke's song "Stella" is program music based on the novel.
Through the character of Matamune
, the wise ghost of a cat often seen travelling by train in the afterlife and in the real world, manga artist Hiroyuki Takei introduced his own vision of Miyazawa's story in the manga Shaman King
. The wise cat is even seen reading the book by Miyazawa in tome 19 (chapter 164).
The themes and character's actions of Night on the Galactic Railroad become a major plot point in the anime movie Book Girl
.
The Vocaloid Gumi, "Megpoid" has a song titled Campanella (written by sasakure.UK), based after the novel. Gumi sings from supposedly Giovanni's point of view and the song was written for 'Campanella'.
distributes full text of the novel for free.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Kenji Miyazawa
Kenji Miyazawa
was a Japanese poet and author of children's literature in the early Shōwa period of Japan. He was also known as a devout Buddhist, vegetarian and social activist.-Early life:...
written around 1927. The nine-chapter novel was posthumously published in 1934 as part of published by . Four versions are known to be in existence, with the last one being the most famous among Japanese readers.
The novel was adapted as an 1985 anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
film of the same title, as well as various stage musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
and plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
.
Plot summary
Giovanni is a boy from a poor family, working hard to feed his sick mother (who has contracted an unnamed disease). Because of this, he never has any free time and is ridiculed by his peers, leaving him as somewhat of a social outcast. His kindly friend, Campanella, is the only one (apart from his mother and his sister, both of whom are never actually seen) who cares for him.At school, in a science
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
class, the teacher asks Giovanni what the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
really is. Giovanni knows that they are stars, but cannot answer. The teacher asks Campanella, but he intentionally does not answer to save Giovanni from even more ridicule from his peers. During class, the local bully, Zanelli, says that Giovanni has been so absent-minded because his father has yet to come back from an expedition
Expedition
An expedition typically refers to a long journey or voyage undertaken for a specific purpose, often exploratory, scientific, geographic, military or political in nature...
to the far north. Zanelli claims that Giovanni's father was arrested (because the trip was supposedly "illegal"), which angers Giovanni. Before he can give Zanelli a good punch, the bell rings, marking the end of the class. The teacher, after encouraging the students to attend the star festival occurring that night, lets everyone leave. Giovanni, however, stays behind to chat with the teacher.
After class, the teacher (another of Giovanni's friends) and Giovanni marvel at the fossils that Giovanni's father brought back from his expeditions. The teacher asks Giovanni if his father is back yet (this question is asked repeatedly throughout the story). Giovanni responds no, and heads home to begin another long, lonely night of work at the local paper.
On that night (which marks a large festival), Giovanni runs into Zanelli. He makes fun of Giovanni, mocking him about an otter fur coat his father would give him when he comes back, and runs away to the festival. Giovanni can not go to the festival, because he has to take care of his mother, and do the chores that his sister did not.
Tired after a hard day's work, Giovanni lies down on top of a hill. He hears a strange sound, and finds himself in the path of a train. Luckily, the train stops. He gets on board, as does Campanella. Giovanni notices that Campanella is all wet. Giovanni asks why, and Campanella says he's not sure, but a flashback that shows him drowning suggests otherwise. The train travels through the Northern Cross
Cygnus (constellation)
Cygnus is a northern constellation lying on the plane of the Milky Way. Its name is the Latinized Hellenic word for swan. One of the most recognizable constellations of the northern summer and autumn, it features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross...
and other stars in the Milky Way. Along the way, the two see fantastic sights and meet various people: for example, scholars excavating a fossil from white sands of crystal and a man who catches heron
Heron
The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron"....
s to make candies from them.
Children who were on a ship that crashed into an iceberg (possibly Titanic) get on the train at Aquila
Aquila (constellation)
Aquila is a stellar constellation. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it is commonly represented as such. In mythology, Aquila was owned by the Roman god Jupiter and performed many tasks for him....
, suggesting that the train is transporting its passengers to their afterlife. The train arrives at the Southern Cross and all the other passengers get off the train, leaving only Giovanni and Campanella in the train. Giovanni promises Campanella to go on forever, together. But as the train approaches the Coalsack, Campanella disappears, leaving Giovanni behind.
Giovanni wakes up on top of the hill. He heads to the town, and finds out that Zanelli fell into the river from a boat. He was saved by Campanella who went into the water, but Campanella had not come up since then and is missing. Worried, Giovanni heads toward the river, in fear of what he already knows. His worries prove true, because Campanella has been under the water for a long duration of time, meaning he is dead. On the verge of tears, Giovanni tries to stay strong. Campanella's father (who didn't notice Giovanni at first) asks Giovanni to have his classmates come over to his home, after school tomorrow (for reasons unknown, though it seems likely that they are being called in for a formal funeral). Giovanni then makes a promise to stay strong throughout life, claiming that, no matter where he is, he and Campanella will always be together. He then heads home, to deliver milk to his mother.
Major themes
This story contains a religious question by author Kenji MiyazawaKenji Miyazawa
was a Japanese poet and author of children's literature in the early Shōwa period of Japan. He was also known as a devout Buddhist, vegetarian and social activist.-Early life:...
. The main theme of this story is "what is true happiness?"
After Miyazawa's most beloved sister Toshi died in 1922, Miyazawa, in sorrow, went on a railroad trip to Sakhalin
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
. He started working on this novel soon afterward in 1924, and this trip is said to be the basis of the story. He kept on polishing the work steadily until his death in 1933. The middle part of the novel was never completed but was published as it is nevertheless.
A tribute to those who give themselves to others is a recurring theme throughout the storyline, and according to Hasebe (2000), they are reflections of Miyazawa's philosophy of self-sacrifice, a view appearing in many other juvenile novels of his such as Yodaka no Hoshi and Gusukōbudori no Denki. Meanwhile, Suzuki (2004) interprets them as representing a "holistic thought of Ecosystem".
Animated film
The story was made into an animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
film in 1985 by director Gisaburo Sugii
Gisaburo Sugii
is an anime director and Nihonga artist. He is currently a member of the anime studio Group TAC, and is most well known for his work as director of the Touch series and the movie Night on the Galactic Railroad...
under Minoru Betsuyaku's screenplay. The anime features Mayumi Tanaka
Mayumi Tanaka
is a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo currently affiliated with Aoni Production.She is best known for the roles of Ryuunosuke Fujinami in Urusei Yatsura, Pazu in Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece, Krillin, Yajirobe and Uranai Baba in Dragon Ball...
as Giovanni and Chika Sakamoto
Chika Sakamoto
is a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo affiliated with Arts Vision.-Television animation:*Baby and Me *Ashita no Nadja *Legend of the Mystical Ninja *Fighting Foodons *Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ...
as Campanella.
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
Koichi Mashimo
is a well-known Japanese anime director and the founder of the animation studio Bee Train. Since the creation of the studio, Mashimo directed or otherwise participated in all its works, for example, as a member of art or sound department...
, then a storyboard artist, who more than ten years later would go on to form the famed studio Bee Train
Bee Train
, commonly referred simply as Bee Train, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kōichi Mashimo in 1997. Since their involvement with Noir, .hack//Sign, and Madlax they have a strong following in the yuri fandom for being involved in series portraying strong female leads with speculatively...
.
The English dubbed version in 2001 starred Veronica Taylor
Veronica Taylor
Veronica Taylor is an American voice actress. Taylor is best known for her dubbing work in English-language anime adaptations, in particular for voicing Ash Ketchum in the English dub of the Japanese anime, Pokémon....
as Giovanni and Crispin Freeman
Crispin Freeman
Crispin McDougal Freeman is an American voice actor, and Mythology scholar. His roles have included Alucard from Hellsing, Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Karasu from Noein, Togusa from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, as Holland Novak from Eureka Seven, Touga Kiriyu in...
as Campanella.
The captions throughout the film are in Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
, paying homage to Kenji Miyazawa who was strongly interested in the language. In the language, the film is called Nokto de la Galaksia Fervojo. Texts appearing in various scenes are also written in Esperanto, such as writings on the blackboard in the classroom. An apparent extra at press in the printing house—where Giovanni works—tells the shipwreck of a passenger ship, carrying the Esperanto lyric of "Nearer, My God, to Thee
Nearer, My God, to Thee
"Nearer, My God, to Thee" is a 19th century Christian hymn by Sarah Flower Adams, based loosely on Genesis 28:11–19, the story of Jacob's dream. Genesis 28:11–12 can be translated as follows: "So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the...
".
The film soundtrack was composed by YMO
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band...
member Haruomi Hosono
Haruomi Hosono
, also known as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese popular musician, best known internationally as a key member of the rock band Happy End and the pioneering electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra.-Biography:...
.
Theatrical works
PlaywrightPlaywright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Sō Kitamura made the story into a drama titled . Note that 想稿 could be a play on the word and the character carrying meanings such as "conception" or "idea". Premièred in 1986, the play was performed by Kitamura's theatrical company Project Navi.
A part in a 2002 play consisting of various works by Kenji written by Yutaka Narui for a theatrical company Caramelbox, features the story by the name of . It follows through the episodes in the novel rather briefly. The play also includes some lines by Professor Burukaniro, which appear only in the first three versions of the novel.
Warabiza, a performing arts company in Akita Prefecture
Akita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku Region of northern Honshu, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Akita.- History :The area of Akita has been created from the ancient provinces of Dewa and Mutsu....
, made a musical version of the story. The musical premièred in April 2004 and toured around Japan until March 2007.
Illustrated e-book
This is an illustrated book with music, launched in 2011 as an application for Apple Inc.'s iPad. Using the final fourth draft of Miyazawa Kenji's original as the source text, this version is made up of 272 pages, an unusually large number for a picture book. Apple Japan has recommended the Japanese version as an educational application.Allusions in other works
The idea of a steam locomotive running through the stars inspired Leiji MatsumotoLeiji Matsumoto
is a well-known creator of several anime and manga series. His wife is also known as a manga artist.-Space opera:Matsumoto is famous for his space operas such as Space Battleship Yamato...
to create his famous manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, Galaxy Express 999
Galaxy Express 999
is a manga written and drawn by Leiji Matsumoto, as well as various anime films and TV series based on it. It is set in a space-faring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer their minds into mechanical bodies, thus achieving practical immortality.The manga won the...
(whose literal Japanese title is Ginga Tetsudō 999, possibly in reference to the Japanese title of the novel).
In the Tōhoku region
Tohoku region
The is a geographical area of Japan. The region occupies the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region consists of six prefectures : Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi and Yamagata....
of Japan where Kenji Miyazawa grew up, there is a real-life train line of similar name: , running from Morioka Station
Morioka Station
Morioka Station is a railway station located in Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, Japan.-History:The station was opened on November 1, 1890, by Japan's first private railway company, Nippon Tetsudō.-Station layout:...
to Metoki Station
Metoki Station
is a joint use terminus railway station located in Sannohe, Sannohe District, Aomori, Japan.-History:Metoki Station was opened on December 20, 1924 as the Metoki Signal Stop on the Tōhoku Main Line on the Japan National Railways . It was elevated to the status of a full station on October 1, 1948. ...
.
The story inspired Going Steady, a Japanese punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band, to create the song .
This book is also heavily mentioned and referenced in the anime Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
, subtitled looking up at the half-moon and also known as Hantsuki, is a Japanese romance light novel series written by Tsumugu Hashimoto and illustrated by Keiji Yamamoto centering around two hospitalized children aged seventeen and the love they begin to share...
(Looking up at the half-moon), as a book that Akiba Rika's father gave to her.
A character in the light novel
Light novel
A is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
.hack//AI buster
.hack//AI buster
.hack//AI buster is a novel by Tatsuya Hamazaki in the Japanese multimedia franchise .hack. It was published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten in 2002, and was translated and published in an English form by Tokyopop in 2005. Chronologically in the series, it is set before the anime .hack//Sign.AI buster...
remarks that he took his online handle
User (computing)
A user is an agent, either a human agent or software agent, who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified by a username , screen name , nickname , or handle, which is derived from the identical Citizen's Band radio term.Users are...
, Albireo, because he was so affected by Miyazawa's description of the binary star Albireo
Albireo
Albireo is the fifth brightest star in the constellation Cygnus. Although it has the Bayer designation beta, it is fainter than Gamma Cygni, Delta Cygni, and Epsilon Cygni. Albireo appears to the naked eye to be a single star of magnitude 3 but through a telescope, even low magnification views...
. The book is referenced once more during a discussion on how much stories can change from the first draft to the final draft, due to the various different versions of Night on the Galactic Railroad.
Utada Hikaru
Utada Hikaru
, known by her stage name Utada in America and Europe, is a Japanese-American singer, song writer, arranger, and producer. Since the release of her Japanese debut album First Love, which went on to become the best-selling album in Oricon history, Utada has had three of her Japanese studio albums...
's new album Heart Station contains a song, "Take 5", that uses this novel as a basis for the lyrics.
In the manga Aria
ARIA (manga)
is a utopian science fantasy manga by Kozue Amano. The series was originally titled when it was published by Enix in the magazine Monthly Stencil, being retitled when it moved to Mag Garden's magazine Comic Blade. Aqua was serialized in Stencil from 2001 to 2002 and collected in two tankōbon volumes...
by Kozue Amano
Kozue Amano
is a female Japanese manga artist. She is widely known as the creator of Aria, which proved to be a best-selling hit, and was adapted into an anime television series consisting of 3 seasons and an OVA....
, a human character, Akari, imagines that a nighttime train is the Galaxy Express from the novel. The next night she is given a ticket to ride it by a cat and nearly gets on it but donates the ticket to a kitten. Aside from Akari, the conductor and all the passengers are cats, similar to the movie.
Yakitate!! Japan
Yakitate!! Japan
is a manga, authored by Takashi Hashiguchi, serialized in Shogakukan's Shōnen Sunday, which has been adapted into a television anime series by Sunrise. The manga has spanned 25 tankōbon volumes, as of January, 2007, while the weekly serialization of the manga has ended as of January 10, 2007...
, a popular manga and anime series has a short mention of the work as illustrated in the reaction of the judge pierrot, the world class clown, after eating the bread of shadow who promised it would send him across the galaxy to see his mother. It is shown that the characters mother's favorite book is the same piece of literature; she is shown in a painting holding the book.
In the manga and anime Doraemon
Doraemon
is a Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio which later became an anime series and an Asian franchise...
, Nobita Nobi once mistook the novel for being Leiji Matsumoto's manga, since both contain "Ginga Tetsudō" in the title.
Kashiwa Daisuke's song "Stella" is program music based on the novel.
Through the character of Matamune
Matamune
Matamune is a fictional character in the Shaman King manga.Matamune, who appears in volume 19 and 20, is not in the Shaman King anime. Matamune is a Nekomata, a type of cat spirit with two tails; he also carries around a pipe with him and wears a necklace with three bear claws...
, the wise ghost of a cat often seen travelling by train in the afterlife and in the real world, manga artist Hiroyuki Takei introduced his own vision of Miyazawa's story in the manga Shaman King
Shaman King
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. Shaman King follows the adventures of Yoh Asakura as he attempts to hone his shaman skills to become the Shaman King in the Shaman tournament....
. The wise cat is even seen reading the book by Miyazawa in tome 19 (chapter 164).
The themes and character's actions of Night on the Galactic Railroad become a major plot point in the anime movie Book Girl
Book Girl (film)
is a Japanese anime film directed by Shunsuke Tada and produced by Production I.G as a commemoration of Enterbrain's ten year anniversary. The film is based on the light novel series Book Girl written by Mizuki Nomura, with illustrations by Miho Takeoka...
.
The Vocaloid Gumi, "Megpoid" has a song titled Campanella (written by sasakure.UK), based after the novel. Gumi sings from supposedly Giovanni's point of view and the song was written for 'Campanella'.
Novel related
As copyright for the novel has expired in Japan (and most of the world), Aozora BunkoAozora Bunko
Aozora Bunko is a Japanese digital library. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available....
distributes full text of the novel for free.
- Kadokawa Bunko version (Aozora Bunko)
- Shinchō Bunko version (Aozora Bunko)
- A review by Sabrina Laurent
- A list of English-translated publications