Night on the Galactic Railroad
Originally released in 1985 and getting a home video release previously in North America by Central Park Media, Night on the Galactic Railroad is now getting a new release in Japan on DVD and Blu-ray. The feature is one that has been long requested of Kadokawa is that work through their catalog and now fans can finally get a high definitoin version of it. There are no listings of what extras or first press materials may be available for it yet as the product information has just gone live, though it’s not expected that there will be much for a movie of this particular age.
The Blu-ray release will be priced at 5,076 yen while the DVD release will be priced at 4,140 yen. There are no indications that this will be using any of the previously created English language materials unfortunately.
Plot concept: Based on a short story by the popular children`s writer Kenji Miyazawa, Galactic Railroad offers viewers a slow-paced, dreamlike journey through space and time. When Giovanni, a lonely boy in a hill town, goes to get milk for his ailing mother, he finds himself crossing the Milky Way on a faster-than-light steam railroad. The stations he visits in various constellations, like the planets explored by St. Exupery`s Little Prince, offer curious adventures and an assortment of human “types.” Reality and fantasy blur aboard the train, and its travels across the light-years sometimes suggests the journey through life. The characters as depicted as cats, presumably to avoid the problems of animating humans.
[Source: Night on the Galactic Railroad]