Review of Night on the Galactic Railroad (1985) by Pablo G — 19 Dec 2013

This animation, based off of a children's book written by Kenji Miazawa is an extaordinarily deep, and very fetching movie. Pulling in elements of Soren Kirkegaard's philosophies on life, death, the afterlife and alienation in life makes it more interesting to view, not as an animation, but a kind stroll through the mind.

I first recieved the movie as a present, after pining for its intriguing use of... Furries, I fell in love with its touching beauty, slow pace, and the pure blindness that we have when trying to comprehend what, by nature, we aren't supposed to. Giovanni's blindness to what really happened to Campanella, or his refusal to see what happened and where he was, shows us more about ourselves than most people would get. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, and sometimes letting go is hard, but once we see the true beauty in death, we can learn to let go, and ultimately enjoy what time we have, not with just our friends, but with ourselves as well.