Night on the Galactic Railroad

Giovanni is a lonely boy in a poor family. His mother is ill, his father is absent, and his after-school job leaves him at odds with his classmates. Only his friend Campanella stays close to him. On the night of the Festival of Stars, Giovanni finds himself aboard a train that travels through the sky, with Campanella beside him among a group of unusual passengers. The journey carries them past strange sights and encounters while questions about where the train is headed and why they are on it remain open. The film is an adaptation of Kenji Miyazawa's classic Japanese fantasy novel.

Gisaburō Sugii directed this 1985 anime feature, his second film after Nine and one made before The Tale of Genji, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie and later Lupin and Touch entries. Minoru Betsuyaku wrote the screenplay, and Masato Hara and Atsumi Tashiro produced it for The Asahi Shimbun, Nippon Herald Films and Group TAC. The voice cast includes Mayumi Tanaka as Giovanni, Chika Sakamoto as Campanella, Junko Hori, Kaori Nakahara, Yoshie Shimamura and Reiko Niimura. It runs 108 minutes.

On TMDB the film holds a rating of 7.1 out of 10 from a modest number of votes, which suggests a small but appreciative audience outside Japan.