Galaxy Express 999: The Movie was directed by Rintaro. Galaxy Express 999 is the name of a train which travels through space, beginning at Megalopolis Station on one end of the galaxy and ending at Andromeda on the other. But the Galaxy Express is more than just a train, it's also a metaphor for life itself, with passengers constantly boarding, debarking, and dreaming along the way. Tetsuro Hoshino is a youth who'll give anything to board the Three-Nine,including a promise to accompany a mysterious woman named Maetel all the way to Andromeda, the planet where, she tells him, he can get a free machine body to avenge the cruel death of his mother.