Galactic Railways was created in honor of the 50th anniversary of influential comic artist Leiji Matsumoto's first published work.  Matsumoto is the creator (or designer) behind such anime and manga standards as Captain Herlock, Space Battle Cruiser Yamato (released as Star Blazers in the US) and Galaxy Express 999.  He's had a very successful career and this show was made to tie together his various series.  If the first volume is any indication, this will be a fun and entertaining series.

As we see in the first two episodes on the disc, Manabu Yuuki is the son of a Captain in the SPD, Space Defense Force, the organization that protects and guards the millions of miles of interstellar space routes that the galactic trains travel across.  Manabu's father, Wataru, is the Captain of Big One, the pride of the SDF fleet.  When Wataru has to take off suddenly on an urgent mission, Manabu and his brother Mamoru decide to sneek onto Big One to see their father in action.  They end up getting much more than they bargained for.

Big One comes to the rescue of a passenger train that is being assailed by pirates, and the outlaws get the better of them.  Pinned down, Wataru comes up with a plan to save all of the passengers at the cost of his own life.  Saying a tear-felt goodbye to his sons, they watch him go to his noble death.  Years later Mamoru comes of age and joins the SPD, only to also die in the line of duty.

When Manabu reaches maturity, he feels that it's his duty to join up with the SPD also to see the universe and help his fellow man.  Over the strenuous objections of his mother, Manabu ships out.

As luck would have it, he is assigned to Sirius Platoon, a fighting unit that sees a lot of action and uses his father's old command: Big One.  In the platoon with him are Louis, an attractive new rookie, Bruce, the old hand who doesn't approve of Manabu,

After the introductory episodes, the show takes on an episodic nature where Sirius patrol has to solve some problem or stop a crime.  In this volume they have to find a man who was last seen boarding a ghost train, stop a hijacking attempt, and retrieve Big One when it is stolen right out from under their noses.

One of the things I really liked about the show is that you don't have to be familiar with any of Matsumoto's work to enjoy the series.  Though it will have appearances by his other characters, the series stands on its own very well and in fun for the uninitiated.  There aren't a lot of references to other shows or characters, and those that are in the show aren't important to understanding the plot.  If you do know a lot about Matsumoto's other work though, that just adds another dimension of fun to the series.
 
The show has a retro look to it that works really well.  That's only natural I suppose since they are working with some characters that were designed thirty years ago.  The old style look fits the tone of the show though and doesn't seem cheesy like some purposefully retro shows do.

Okay, I'm going to say it though I'm sure I'll take some flack for it:  The idea of spaced based steam powered trains is really stupid.  The fact that the wheels have to turn before the train will move, the way the steam is blown behind the train, and the steam whistle blowing in the vacuum periodically really make it hard to take the show seriously.  The writers obviously didn't concern themselves with the realities of space travel, preferring to have the characters wear stylish peek-a-boo hairstyles in space suits instead.

Besides that, the show was actually pretty good once you get used to the silly parts.  Manabu is a likable character and the fact that he's had so much death in his young life gives him some depth.  He comes across as a little cocky at times, but that's part of his charm.

This volume contains the first five episodes in a clear keepcase with a reversible cover.  While I was happy to see five shows put on this disc, one thing that mars it is the non-skipable trailer that FUNimation included before the menu.  You can't fast forward or chapter skip past it, which is pretty irritating.

Audio:

This program offers the choice of a Japanese track in stereo or and English dub in both stereo and 5.1.  I alternated tracks while viewing the show, and all three were very good. While I wish that the original language track was in 5.1 also, I couldn't complain about the sound quality. The dialog was clean, and there was no distortion or other audio problems. The English 5.1 track had a bit more punch to it, and used the soundstage a bit more. The voice actors were very good. I was quite impressed. There were not any stupid accents or phony sounding voices. While I prefer the Japanese track, I enjoyed the English dub as well.

Video:

The anamorphic widescreen video image is very good.  The colors are bright and solid and the lines are tight.  There is a good level of detail with even small items being crisp and clear.  Digital defects are nonexistent with even aliasing being absent. This is a very good looking show.

Extras:

FUNimation really put a lot of bonus material onto this disc.  It starts off with and interview with Leiji Matsumoto.  This five minute featurette (in Japanese with English subtitles) was quite interesting.  Matsumoto talked about the series and his designs for it, the connection between the Manabu Yuuki in this story and the officer Kei Yuuki on the Arcadia in the Captain Herlock stories, and the overall theme of the show.  A very good interview.

There is also a video recording of the Japanese actors recoding the dialog to episode 2, which was nice to watch for a while, but soon grew a little dull.

The Title Announcement Conference is a five-minute clip from a press conference where Matsumoto talks about his vision for the series and mentions some surprises that are in store for the viewers.  He plans to include many characters from his other series and some characters that he invented when he was a child.

In addition to all of this there are text character biographies, textless opening and closings, and a series of trailers.

Final Thoughts:

Galactic Railways is an enjoyable series even if you've never seen any of Leiji Matsumoto's other work.  This story about a young boy joining the Space Defense Force after both his father and brother died while being members has a good amount of excitement and action with just a little humor to temper the show.  The stories are interesting and fun.  If you've enjoyed  Matsumoto's other projects you'll like this one too.  Recommended.