"If you can't stand your sadness, just look up to the sky and call me. I'll be watching you from this train, that is running through the Galaxy. Since I've started this never-ending journey, I've never forgotten you. I'm always beside you, so please don't cry."

A boy, Tetsuro Hoshino, and his mother dream of getting a machine body that can live for 1000 years. However, his mother is killed by Count Mecha's human hunters. Tetsuro escapes and collapses in a snowstorm, but is rescued by a mysterious beautiful woman named Maetel.

She offers him a pass on the "Galaxy Express 999" train to Andromeda, to a planet where he can obtain a mechanical body for free, if he accompanies her...

This masterpiece was adapted into an anime and became a huge hit. Through the boy Tetsuro and the mysterious woman Maetel, who travel from the Milky Way to Andromeda on the Galaxy Express 999 in order to obtain a mechanical body, this full-length drama explains what "life" means to human beings.

This is a story of how one boy learns about the world and his quest for a new body.

Note: Originally serialized in Weekly Shonen King from 1977 to 1981, a sequel was serialized in various incarnations of Big Comic from 1996 to 2005. In tankobon form, this sequel wasn't released as a stand alone titled, but tacked on reprints of the original series. This means, for example, that Shogakukan's 1997 release covers the original series in volume 1 to 14 and the sequel in Volumes 15 to 21.
Won Shougakukan Award in 1977 for Shounen Manga category

Viz released five volumes of the sequel. The original manga has yet to be translated into English.