Young Tetsuro, older and more battle-worn, is summoned back into the interstellar fray, reinvigorated by the hope of seeing his beloved Maetel once more. The resistance against Queen Promethium is crumbling, and it’s up to Tetsuro to end the conflict once and for all. As boy becomes man, comrades fall, old friends reunite, and new allies are made. The time of rebellion has come … 

Time has largely forgotten Rintaro’s sequel to Galaxy Express 999, overshadowed by the original’s cult success. Yet this is a leaner, grittier anime that opens on the battlefront and plunges headfirst into war and death. It’s an underrated conclusion to Tetsuro’s life-changing journey that the internet has re-evaluated as the what The Empire Strikes Back is to Star Wars: A New Hope – you can even hear shades of John Williams in the score. Whatever your relationship with the original, the sequel undeniably is a high-speed bullet train of emotions and brutal battles. It’s a fitting and epic requiem for Tetsuro’s dreams spun from stardust and steam. An adieu at full throttle.