Though Leiji Matsumoto is a popular mangaka and anime director, I will
admit the only work of his that I was familiar with for the longest time was
his collaboration with Daft Punk, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret
5tar 5ystem, based on the band’s Discovery album. Aside from that,
Matsumoto also has a number of works, either his creation or with his direction,
that share a universe with an overarching space setting known by fans as the Leijiverse
(Intertsella 5555 being one exception). Among these that I’m more aware
of are Space Battleship Yamato, Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy
Express 999; the last of these was a manga by Matsumoto that was adapted
into an anime that itself received a more compressed film adaptation directed
by Rintaro, which I recently decided to watch. Without having seen the source
material, I thought the movie was overall really good, though there were some
minor nitpicks that bothered me a little.
