Maetel Legend (DVD)

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"Maetel Legend" is another part of the greater Matsumoto-verse, a body of work including several TV series, OVA series, and manga (Japanese comics) series, all originating with the incomparable Leiji Matsumoto. In fact, it is one of the most important pieces, as it explains, for the first time, the origins of two of Matsumoto´s most intriguing characters, Emeraldas and Maetel. While it´s been hinted at for over 20 years, Matsumoto has finally laid out in detail how Maetel and Emeraldas started on their long fight against the mechanized empire.

As well as sisters, Maetel and Emeraldas are princesses from the doomed planet La Metalle. Their planet was near Earth, but was pulled away and cast into space by a rogue star. As the planet grows colder, the people are faced by a cruel choice—die in the encroaching cold, or sacrifice their humanity and take mechanical bodies. After the Queen makes it law, only Maetel and Emeraldas resist giving up their human bodies.

Like many of Matsumoto´s features, this one is shot through with melancholy and regret. If you´ve ever seen anything else in the Matsumoto-verse, you know that Maetel and Emeraldas fail to save their world and must flee, returning untold years later in "Galaxy Express 999" to stop the mechanical empire from mechanizing or killing the rest of the human race. The vital part of this story is in how Maetel and Emeraldas struggle to stop the engineer, Hardgear, in his evil plan to turn the people into his mechanical slaves, and in how we see the Queen struggle to hold on to her soul while her body becomes more synthetic everyday.

There are plenty of treats for the long time fans. There´s a scene where Emeraldas receives her famous laser/foil, and another where she has the chance to kill the infamous Count Mecha. The real gold for me was in seeing the younger, more vulnerable Maetel. While she never loses her kindness, the older Maetel seen in so many other Matsumoto features has a certain hardness to her that´s lacking in her younger self. Even at her young age, Maetel still manages to find her inner strength with Emeraldas´ help. As a small detail, I was surprised to learn that Maetel´s traditional black clothes are for mourning.

I believe this OVA would be enjoyable for people who are new to the Matsumoto-verse, as long as they know that it is one part of a greater body of work. "Maetel Legend" does not rely on any knowledge of events in the future, nor does it showcase any of the many other regular characters from Matsumoto´s other works, such as the young adventurer Tetsuro, the ubiquitous Captain Harlock, and only a cameo by the Galaxy Express 999 itself. As long as the viewer reads the DVD case and sees that this isn´t the entire series, but instead is in many ways the beginning, they won´t be left wondering why the story doesn´t conclude here.

Unfortunately, the Matsumoto-verse is not owned in total by any one North American distributor, and even worse, much of the older features, most notably the "Captain Harlock" and "Galaxy Express 999" TV series, haven´t been released at all. I still hope that they will be, given the recent success of such old classics as "Lupin III" and the original "Mobile Suit Gundam", but only time will tell.