Ginga Tetsudo-no Yoru
Two Boys, Galaxy, and...

Date：20, Mar, 2023
Investigated and Written by Misaka Youhei
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"Ginga Tetsudo-no Yoru (Night on the Galactic Railroad)” is, as already known widely, the Japanese classical novel written by Miyazawa Kenji. In 1933, this world was so filled with bad vibes. In Germany, Adolf Hitler became the prime minister and quashed the constitution. In Indian Empire occupied by UK, jailed was Mahatma Gandhi who directed the independence movement. In Japan, the Japanese author Kobayashi Takiji was miserably tortured and killed by the Japan's Special Higher Police. And Miyazawa Kenji got sick and passed away at the age of 37 in the September. Next year, his unpublished novel appeared officially. It was Ginga Tetsudo-no Yoru.

The novel is so well-known inside and outside, you may have heard the name. The story goes with the two main roles; Giovanni and Campanella. And after the World War 2 finished, some created the anime film version in 1985. The original novel described the characters as mortals. On the animation film, however, they look nothing but cats. Why? In fact, the film was what they turned the manga created by Masumura Hiroshi to an anime movie.

Masumura Hiroshi is the Japanese male manga artist who so loved Miyazawa Kenji. In 1983, he released the manga version of the "Ginga Tetsudo-no Yoru" whose characters were all described as personified cats. What on earth was the reception? I was only a baby at the time when it was out, I have nothing real about that. And it looked some of Japanese children loved so much, the film was honored with the 1985 Ōfuji Noburō Award.