What is this robot-girl-filled anime?

May 20, 2009 9:20 PM

Can you help me identify this anime? I only saw maybe ten minutes of it, more than a decade ago, and I can't figure out what it was.

The main characters seemed to be a boy and an older girl. Here are the details I can remember:

-They were heading somewhere on a train whose dining car was staffed by robot girls.
-They stopped somewhere to speak to yet another robot girl, who showed them the frozen or sleeping body of a beautiful woman--she may have had her brain transferred to this robot to preserve her beauty. This scene may have taken place on a frozen lake or a similar large, open space with a glassy floor.
-At one point the boy was frightened or possibly hurt, and the girl hugged him, and he told her his memories of how when he was little his mother would hold him when he was frightened.

Thanks for any ideas!

posted by cheesegrater to media & arts (7 comments total)

Galaxy Express 999?
posted by CrazyJoel at 9:25 PM on May 20

Confirming that that sounds like Galaxy Express 999, the movie version at least. I remember the woman under the ice scene in particular, and the rest fits as well, with the one big omission from the description being that the train was traveling through space and stopping at different planets.
posted by CheshireCat at 9:31 PM on May 20

Definitely 999, a classic of the Saturday Anime shown on SciFi period of my childhood. More than a decade ago.
posted by Mizu at 9:39 PM on May 20

good grief that was fast. Looks like the right one. Thanks!
posted by cheesegrater at 9:39 PM on May 20

Heh, I had a feeling it was Galaxy Express even before I read the more inside. I remember it vaguely from years ago and found it via google a couple years back. I've known others who remembered it in bits and pieces as well. It seems to leave a lasting impression on people.
posted by Jawn at 11:40 PM on May 20

Wow, I also had a feeling it was GE999. Weird. It's been a while since I've seen it too.. Netflix here I come.
posted by Venadium at 12:23 AM on May 21

Heh, I had a feeling it was Galaxy Express even before I read the more inside.

Me, too.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:29 AM on May 21