is a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series by

Leiji Matsumoto is a Japanese mangaka, creator of several anime and manga series. His wife Miyako Maki is also a manga artist. Early life Matsumoto was the middle child of a family of seven brothers, and, in his early childhood, Matsumoto was given a 35m ...

which was serialized from 28 January 1980 through 11 May 1983 in both the ''

Sankei Shimbun The (short for ) is a daily newspaper in Japan published by the It has the seventh-highest circulation for regional newspapers in Japan. Among Japanese newspapers, the circulation is second only to ''Yomiuri Shimbun'', Seikyo Shimbun, ''Asa ...

'' and '' Nishinippon Sports'' newspapers. The manga series was adapted into a 42-episode

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series by Toei Dōga and broadcast on the

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...

network from 16 April 1981 through 25 March 1982. An anime film was released on 13 March 1982 shortly before the TV series ended. The anime series was combined by Harmony Gold and

Carl Macek Carl Frank Macek (September 21, 1951 – April 17, 2010) was an American screenwriter, script editor, producer and voice actor on numerous English language adaptations of anime during the 1980s and 1990s. His work is considered by many to hav ...

with episodes from the 1978 Matsumoto series, ''

Space Pirate Captain Harlock is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto. It was serialized in ''Play Comic'' from 1977 to 1979, with the chapters collected into five ''tankōbon'' volumes by Akita Shoten. The series follows the titular Capt ...

'', and shown from 1985 to 1986 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as the 65-episode ''

Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years ''Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years'' is an animated science fiction television series produced by Harmony Gold USA. The series was created by Carl Macek by combining footage from Leiji Matsumoto’s ''Captain Harlock'' and ''Qu ...

''. The series was broadcast in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Tele 5 Tele 5 is a German free-to-air television channel that broadcasts classic American films, series, cartoons and Japanese anime. On 3 July 2020, Discovery, Inc. agreed to acquire the channel from Leonine Holding, completing the purchase on 1 Se ...

during 1992,Alt URL
/ref> and on New Channel in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

in 1997 and on

Mangas Manges (; Greek language, Greek: μάγκες ; Grammatical number, sing.: mangas , μάγκας ) is the name of a social group in the Belle Époque era's counterculture of Greece (especially of the great urban centers: History of Athens#Modern At ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 2004.

Plot

The series takes place in the (then) futuristic year 1999. Professor Amamori discovers a 10th planet in the Earth's solar system, which he names La-Metal, while at his

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Its diameter is 9 times that of Earth. Amamori notes the planet has a highly

eccentric orbit In astrodynamics, the orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a dimensionless parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values betw ...

and, as it emerges behind the distant

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of trans-Neptunian object, bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the S ...

, Amamori realizes that La-Metal is on a collision course with Earth. He calculates that the planet will impact Earth on 9 September 1999, at 9 o'clock, 9 minutes and 9 seconds. It turns out that La-Metal orbits the Solar System every 1,000 years, but only this time it is fated to come dangerously close to Earth. While damage to the giant ice-covered La-Metal would be minimal, Earth would be destroyed by the planet's massive

gravitational pull In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...

. La-Metal is inhabited by a subterranean humanoid species ruled by a mysterious Holy Queen, Larela. She plans to abduct a large number of humans before the destruction of Earth, and enslave them with the help of her operatives already on Earth. These operatives are led by Andromeda Promethium, a woman known as a Millennial Queen who goes by the Earth name, Yukino Yayoi. She has been living on Earth for almost 1,000 years, like many such Millennial Queens before her, with the intention of establishing a colony for her home planet. Promethium, who comes to care for her Earthling foster parents and friends, begins to question the La-Metalians' plans. As Yayoi, she begins working for Professor Amamori and decides to offer her help when Amamori discovers that La-Metal is heading for Earth. The professor's young nephew Hajime, whose parents are killed while designing a spaceship to help a small group of humans escape from Earth, also joins their fight to save the planet. They are soon confronted by a sabotage campaign initiated by a group of La-Metal generals against Earth. As the two planets come closer to colliding, Yukino finds out that a

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...

is to blame for La-Metal's orbital deviation. A desperate plan is undertaken to destroy the black hole and save both their worlds. Sources:

Characters

;
: :Every 1000 years, a woman called a Millennial Queen is sent from the planet La-Metal to secretly rule over the Earth and lead an underground organization that secretly controls the entire planet. Promethium, known to Earthlings as Yukino Yayoi, is the current Millennial Queen. Some early movie promotional material identified her as Promethium ''II'', and indicated that she was the daughter of the Queen Promethium of the Machine Empire of ''

Galaxy Express 999 is a Japanese manga series. It is written and illustrated by Leiji Matsumoto, later adapted into a number of anime films and television series. It is set in a spacefaring, high-tech future in which humans have learned how to transfer ...

'' (another of Matsumoto's works). This idea (and the suffix, II) was later dropped, however, and Millennial Queen Promethium/Yayoi was considered to be the person who would eventually ''become'' the Machine Queen (see ''

Maetel Legend is a 2000 anime OVA based on characters created by Leiji Matsumoto about how the planet La Maetelle becomes the planet Andromeda, also known as Planet Maetel ("the mechanized world"). It serves a link between Matsumoto's previous series ''Qu ...

''). :While shown with rounder eyes in the anime television series, she is shown with almond-shaped eyes in both the manga and the anime film and looks just like Maetel from ''

''. :While Yayoi is Professor Amamori's private secretary in all three versions of the story, there are the following differences: :*In the anime television series and manga, Yayoi lives on the second floor of a ramen shop run by an older couple who have adopted her as their daughter. She has a tiger-striped cat. :*In the anime film, in addition to being Professor Amamori's private secretary, she also teaches at a school and lives in a high-class apartment. ; : :Hajime is the main character in the manga and is in junior high school. He looks just like the character Tetsurō Hoshino from ''Galaxy Express 999'', only wearing a gakuran. He has a keen interest in

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

, and is somewhat infatuated with Yayoi. While he doesn't get good grades in school, he is a very honest and kind person. At first he wants revenge on the people who are responsible for his parents' deaths, but he decides it is fruitless to hold a grudge and abandons that plan. :There are a few differences between the various versions of the story: :*In the anime film, he is introduced as a student of Yayoi. In order to protect the Earth from La-Metal's troops, he uses a

Zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or ...

from a museum. :*In the anime television series, he tries to act as a peacemaker between La-Metal and the people of Earth, and tries to work out a compromise between them. In the end, he tries to help people escape from the approaching La-Metal by using a helicopter. :*In the manga, he receives a cybernetic implant which increases his intelligence and allows him to fly space ships extremely well. ; : :Professor Amamori is the head scientist at the

Tsukuba is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 244,528 in 108,669 households and a population density of 862 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 20.3%. The total ar ...

Observatory. He is Hajime's uncle, though Hajime's father is his younger brother in the TV series and his older brother in the film. He became Hajime's guardian after his parents were both killed in an explosion. Amamori discovered the 10th planet, La-Metal, and determined it would collide with the Earth. At first, he had plenty of hair, but the discovery caused him to begin losing hair (though in the TV series, he keeps all his hair). ; :Larela is the Holy Queen and absolute ruler of planet La-Metal. She appears in the film as a small girl with glowing body and eyes, and energy halos at her head and feet. She is cold-hearted, and it is her plan to allow Earth to be destroyed when her planet passes it for its final time. Sources:

Media

Manga

The manga was originally serialized in from 28 January 1980 through 11 May 1983 in both the ''

'' and '' Nishinippon Sports'' newspapers. There have been multiple releases in book form. A planned ten volume B5-sized ' set released under Sankei Shuppan's "Wakuwaku Comics" label had the first 10 pages of each volume in color, and an appendix with cel images from the TV series and interviews with Matsumoto and the creators of the TV series. The series was only published through volume 5, however. *Volume 1, 203 pages, August 1981 *Volume 2 *Volume 3, 205 pages, April 1982 *Volume 4 *Volume 5, 205 pages, November 1982 A '' shinsōban'' series of five volumes was released by Sankei Shuppan. Each volume had approximately 200 pages.

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

released the series in both B6-sized hardcover and '' bunkoban'' formats under the shorter title. They also released the series in two volumes under their "My First Wideban" label, marketed to convenience stores. Shogakukan bunkoban reprints *Volume 1, 346 pages, , June 1991 *Volume 2, 340 pages, , August 1991 *Volume 3, 330 pages, , August 1991

Novels

A two volume novelization by Kaeko Iguchi and

was released by Sankei Shuppan under their "Junior Shōsetsu" label. *, 181 pages, December 1980 *, 180 pages, August 1981

Light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

adaptations were written by

Keisuke Fujikawa Keisuke (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese general *, Japanese mixed martial artist *, Japanese footballer * ...

, who also wrote many of the

teleplay A teleplay is a screenplay or script used in the production of a scripted television program or series. In general usage, the term is most commonly seen in reference to a standalone production, such as a television film, a television play, or an ...

s for the anime television series as well as the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

for the anime film adaptation. A film adaptation was also written. They were published by

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

under their

Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...

label. *Volume 1, 241 pages, , January 1981 *Volume 2, 239 pages, August 1981 *Volume 3, 233 pages, March 1982 *Film version, 1982 Bunka Publishing Bureau published a three volume "Pocket Mates" light novel series by

Ken Wakasaki Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * Ken (album), ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * Ken (film), ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * Ken (magazine), ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine ...

. *Volume 1, 315 pages, June 1981 *Volume 2, 256 pages, September 1981 *Volume 3, 290 pages, March 1982

Film comics

Film comic A or is a Japanese manga volume which uses illustrated images from an anime series, film, or video release, rather than original custom art. They generally contain the full dialog from the anime from which they are adapted. While usually publ ...

s based on the anime television series were released by Sankei Shuppan under their "Wakuwaku" label. *Volume 1, 156 pages, 15 June 1981 *Volume 2, 156 pages, 15 July 1981 *Volume 3, 156 pages, 15 August 1981 *Volume 4, 156 pages, 15 September 1981 *Volume 5, 156 pages, 25 October 1981 *Volume 6, 156 pages, 15 November 1981 *Volume 7, 156 pages, 1 January 1982 *Volume 8, 156 pages, 15 February 1982

Anime television series

The ''Queen Millennia'' anime television series aired on the

network from 16 April 1981 through 25 March 1982 in the 7:00pm to 7:30pm time slot. It replaced ''

'' in that time slot, and was replaced by ''

Patalliro! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mineo Maya. The comedy manga was serialized in ''Hana to Yume'' from 1978 to 1990, before switching to ''Bessatsu Hana to Yume'' from 1991 where it continues to be published. An ani ...

'' at the end of its run. The series was animated by Toei Dōga. The series was originally scheduled to have 52 episodes, but due to having lower ratings than the previous ''Galaxy Express 999'', the series was cancelled with only 42 episodes and the last 10 scheduled episodes left unaired.

Staff

*Planning: Tokio Tsuchiya, Kenji Yokoyama, Yoichi Kominato *Production Supervisor: Masahisa Saeki *Teleplay Writers:

, Shigemitsu Taguchi,

Hiroyasu Yamaura Hiroyasu (written: 宏保, 浩靖, 浩康, 博恭, 博康, 寛裕 or 仁康) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese prince and admiral *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footbal ...

Toyohiro Andō , birth name Okajima Tōjiro (1773–1828), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist and painter. He was a member of the Utagawa school and studied under Utagawa Toyoharu, the school's founder. His works include a number of ukiyo-e landscape series, a ...

*Chief Director:

Nobutaka Nishizawa Nobutaka (written: 信孝, 信教, 信隆, 延孝 or 伸貴) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese volleyball player *, Japanese neuroscientist and cell biologist *, Japanese politician *, Japanese s ...

*General Animation Director / Character Designer:

Yoshinori Kanemori Yoshinori is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Yoshinori can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義徳, "justice, virtue" *義憲, "justice, constitution" *義法, "justice ...

*Mechanical Designer: Katsumi Itabashi *Chief Designer (Art Direction):

Isamu Tsuchida is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Isamu can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *勇, "courage" or "bravery" *勲, "merit" *敢, "gallantry" *武, "war" The name can also be written in hiragana or katak ...

*Music: Ryudō Uzaki, Tomoyuki Asakawa *Production:

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' ''GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' ''Mazinger Z'', ''Galaxy Express 999'', ''Cutie Honey'', ''Dr. Slump'', ' ...

Music

''Queen Millennia'' had music composed and arranged by Ryōdō Uzaki and Tomoyuki Asakawa. The opening

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

, , was sung by Masaki Takanashi. The ending theme song, , was sung by

Manami Ishikawa is a common primarily feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Manami can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *愛美, "love, beauty" *愛海, "love, sea" *愛未, "love, sheep" *愛実, "love, fruit" *真名美, "tr ...

. Both songs had lyrics by

Yoko Aki Yoko may refer to: People * Yoko (name), a Japanese feminine given name; variants include Yōko and Yohko * Yoko Gushiken (具志堅用高, born 1955), Japanese professional boxer * Yoko Taro (横尾太郎, born 1970), Japanese video game di ...

, were composed by

Ryudo Uzaki is a Japanese musician, composer, and actor. His group, the Down Town Boogie-Woogie Band, was one of the most prominent 1970s Japanese rock music bands. He also composed many of Momoe Yamaguchi's songs with Yoko Aki. He is married to lyricist a ...

, and were arranged by Motoki Funayama. Ishikawa was selected from 1,898 applicants to work with Takanashi on the

image song An image song or character song is a song on a tie-in single or album (often called an image album or character album) for an anime, game, '' dorama'', manga, or commercial product that is sometimes sung by the voice actor or actor of a characte ...

. The song was performed by the Queen Millennia Grand Orchestra and arranged by

Nozomi Aoki Nozomi may refer to: *Nozomi (given name) *Nozomi (book), a photobook by Nozomi Sasaki *Nozomi Entertainment, the anime license and distribution division of retailer The Right Stuf International *Nozomi (spacecraft), a failed Mars space probe *No ...

. A second image song, , was sung by

Keiko Han is a Japanese actress, voice actress and western astrologer. She sang the theme songs in productions such as '' Story of the Alps: My Annette'' and '' Kazoku Robinson Hyōryūki Fushigi na Shima no Furōne''. Han is a fortune teller of western ...

and

Slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such a ...

, and was arranged by Motoki Funayama. The lyrics for both image songs were written by Yōko Aki and composed by Ryudō Uzaki.

Animated film

The 1982 film serves as a retelling of the anime series. The 1999 setting is designed as more futuristic in appearance than in the TV series. in addition, the film provides an alternate ending to the story leaving no room for the events of the ''

'' OVA. The music score for the film was written and performed by Kitaro, while the end-credits music was sung by American singer

Dara Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

Maetel Legend

The 2001

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

'' serves as a prelude to ''

''. It is clearly established that Maetel is the daughter of Yayoi and that Yayoi becomes the Queen Promethium of the Mechanized Empire.

References

External links

* * * {{Toei Animation films 1980s 1980 Japanese novels 1980 manga 1981 anime television series debuts 1981 Japanese novels 1982 anime films Animated space adventure television series Animated films based on manga Fuji TV original programming Japanese mythology in anime and manga Leiji Matsumoto Light novels Science fiction anime and manga Shueisha franchises Space adventure films Toei Animation television Toei Animation films