The main character of The Galaxy Railways is Manabu Yuki, a young man who had dreamed of joining the Space Defense Force in order to follow in the footsteps of his father and his brother. After both his father and brother died in the line of duty, Manabu's mother tries to keep him from joining. However, Manabu is determined to pursue his dream and joins the force.
Manabu trains hard and ends up joining the Sirius Platoon, which his father used to command. The other members of the platoon are Louise Fort Drake, Schwanhelt Bulge, Bruce J. Speed, David Young, and Yuki Sexaroid.
When I started watching The Galaxy Railways, it felt like it was going to have an overarching story. The first episode focuses on Manabu and shows what happens from the time he was a child to when he leaves home to join the Space Defense Force. However, once Manabu is established in the Space Defense Force, the arc is suddenly dropped for a significant number of episodes; instead, each episode in this portion focuses on vignettes about the various supporting characters. It isn't until the final few episodes of the first season when the overall story arc finally returns.
I have to give The Galaxy Railways credit for the excellent job the series did in terms of character development. However, I didn't think the overall storytelling in the first season of the series worked as effectively as it could have.
When it comes to the character design, Leiji Matsumoto's touch is very evident. Manabu's uniform looks very similar to Susumu Kodai/Derek Wildstar's uniform in Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers, and Manabu's facial features look very similar to Kodai/Wildstar. Whenever I saw Manabu, I had to keep reminding myself that the character I was seeing on the screen wasn't Kodai/Wildstar.
Content-wise, there are scenes where characters are being killed. There are also shots where blood from injuries is clearly visible. Between some of the images in the series, as well as the storytelling that's employed, The Galaxy Railways is probably best suited for anime viewers who are 15 or 16 years of age and older.
| The Galaxy Railways | 26 | 2003-2004 | Yukio Nishimoto | Planet | FUNimation Entertainment |
| The Galaxy Railways: Crossroads to Eternity | 26 | 2006-2007 | Tsuneo Tominaga | Planet | N/A |
| The Galaxy Railways: A Letter From the Abandoned Planet | 4 | 2007 | Hideaki Oba | Planet | N/A |
