Anime Review: Maetel Legend

Review Maetel Legend Written by Warpshadow Rating good

Fans of Leiji Matsumoto's works may enjoy Maetel Legend If only because it fills in a few holes in the universe's continuity. Other than that I found the movie to be rather disappointing.

The planet La Metal is drifting out of orbit and condemning the inhabitants to die by cold and starvation. Promethium, the queen of the planet decides to undergo a drastic procedure so save the people, namely turning her body into that of a machine at the suggestion of a scientist named Hardgear. As suspected by her two daughters Maetel and Emeraldes, the process has negative side effects on the personality of the recipient as the queen orders the entire populace to undergo the same procedure. It is up to Maetel and Emeraldes to do their best to save their mother any way they can.

The primary purpose of Maetel legend is to provide some more back story to Maetel and Emeraldes. This makes the movie somewhat inaccessible to people unfamiliar with the Galaxy 999 universe. The movie itself is balanced between an interesting premise and poor execution. The idea of being invulnerable being detrimental to one's ability to feel compassion for others is a valid concept and one first raised in Galaxy Express 999. On the other hand, the use of hypnotic devices used in the mechanization process ruins what could have been an exemplary philosophical movie. The animation quality is not that great either.