This Movie not only improves on the Previous Film with addition to working as a Great Sequel - it also stands as my personal favorite movie from Rintaro.

All of the flaws from the Original Movie are gone in the Sequel. Probably one of the best Sequels I've seen other than Godfather Part 2 or Mamoru Oshii's Patlabor 2.

It has the same themes of tackling the idea of the "so-called" transhumanist utopia. The characters are far more engaging then they were in the first film, and that's not because they were bad in the first. Rather, they are developed far more in this movie.

Even the settings and the way that the Plot begins is done with such mastery that pulls you in with great immersion. Maetel's character is far more nuanced in this one. Tetsuro is a lot more older and mature and grasps the concept of living in a way that builds on his character from the previous film. The pacing issues in the first movie are nowhere to be seen here. It's undeniably a great sequel.

Watching both of Rintaro's two "Galaxy Express 999" movies back to back was a treat. Both are definitive classics but this one takes the cake.

9.5/10 (Best Rintaro Movie)

I enjoyed this sequel, however for the most part I feel it was a bit unnecessary as the last movie wrapped up okay. This one only tops the first one in that the ending is a bit more final, in that it feels like there is not going to be anything else afterwords and all the questions have been resolved. In this one the young boy is once again going to board the Galaxy Express for destinations unknown. He is reunited with Matel whom he seems to really like a lot and they are off on another adventure that just is not as memorable as the first film. I have seen them both about the same number of times, but that one I can remember more of while this one the main things I remember is the kind of snotty robot girl who at the end has a change of heart that is kind of sad as know one really is there to acknowledge it and the ending itself where the young boy must face off against a very deadly adversary that has a shared past with the young boy. Captain Harlock is back and plays a bit more of a prominent role in this movie than he did the last and most of the other main players are back as well as one adversary thought disposed off. Like I said, the only thing this movie does is tie everything together at the end while most of the journey to get to the end feels very similar to the first film. In the end it is good, but not the first film.

This sequel takes off some time after the original film Galaxy Express 999. The film Galaxy Express 999 inquisitively explored the idea of being human through the quest of an adolescent seeking to become an android in an increasingly materialistic world.

As the protagonist learned to cherish his humanity he returned to earth to fight alongside a resistance force against the corrupt cyborg/android empire. That is merely the beginning as he continues off into space once again in the famed Galaxy Express 999 train to re-find the mysterious Maetel only to finally come across the cyborg he'd been hunting all along - Count Mecha (prepare for an uncanny Star Wars reference).

While this film re-explores the themes of humanity and degradation introduced in the previous film through flawed characters such as Metalmena, it is largely an attempt to find some conclusion to the series. Ultimately it ends in somewhat of a cliff-hanger.

The film serves up to be a pretty standard scifi action-adventure affair. As with the original, the animation is fairly good for the time and does a fine job of featuring the interestingly bleak and overtly mechanized future that spans the entire galaxy. If not worth watching for a little bit of entertainment, it should definitely be worth seeing so as to witness the incredible world crafted by Leiji Matsumoto.