is a manga series by Leiji Matsumoto which was serialized from 28 January 1980
through 11 May 1983 in both the Sankei Shimbun and Nishinippon Sports newspapers. The manga series was adapted into a 42-episode anime television series by Toei Dōga and broadcast on the Fuji TV network from 16 April 1981 through 25 March 1982. An anime film was released on 13 March 1982 shortly before the TV series ended.
The anime series was combined by Harmony Gold and Carl Macek with episodes from the 1978 Matsumoto series, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, and shown from 1985 to 1986 in the United States as the 65-episode Captain Harlock and the Queen of a Thousand Years. The series was broadcast in Germany on Tele 5 during 1992, and on New Channel in Greece in 1997 and on Mangas in France in 2004.
Plot
The series takes place in the (then) futuristic year 1999. Professor Amamori discovers a 10th planet in the Earth's solar system, which he names La-Metal, while at his observatory in Tokyo. Its diameter is 9 times that of Earth. Amamori notes the planet has a highly eccentric orbit and, as it emerges behind the distant Pluto, Amamori realizes that La-Metal is on a collision course with Earth. He calculates that the planet will impact Earth on 9 September 1999, at 9 o'clock, 9 minutes and 9 seconds.
It turns out that La-Metal orbits the Solar System every 1,000 years, but only this time it is fated to come dangerously close to Earth. While damage to the giant ice-covered La-Metal would be minimal, Earth would be destroyed by the planet's massive gravitational pull. La-Metal is inhabited by a subterranean humanoid species ruled by a mysterious Holy Queen, Larela. She plans to abduct a large number of humans before the destruction of Earth, and enslave them with the help of her operatives already on Earth. These operatives are led by Andromeda Promethium, a woman known as a Millennial Queen who goes by the Earth name, Yukino Yayoi. She has been living on Earth for almost 1,000 years, like many such Millennial Queens before her, with the intention of establishing a colony for her home planet.
Promethium, who comes to care for her Earthling foster parents and friends, begins to question the La-Metalians' plans. As Yayoi, she begins working for Professor Amamori and decides to offer her help when Amamori discovers that La-Metal is heading for Earth. The professor's young nephew Hajime, whose parents are killed while designing a spaceship to help a small group of humans escape from Earth, also joins their fight to save the planet.
They are soon confronted by a sabotage campaign initiated by a group of La-Metal generals against Earth. As the two planets come closer to colliding, Yukino finds out that a black hole is to blame for La-Metal's orbital deviation. A desperate plan is undertaken to destroy the black hole and save both their worlds.
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Characters
Every 1000 years, a woman called a Millennial Queen is sent from the planet La-Metal to secretly rule over the Earth and lead an underground organization that secretly controls the entire planet. Promethium, known to Earthlings as Yukino Yayoi, is the current Millennial Queen. Some early movie promotional material identified her as Promethium II, and indicated that she was the daughter of the Queen Promethium of the Machine Empire of Galaxy Express 999 (another of Matsumoto's works). This idea (and the suffix, II) was later dropped, however, and Millennial Queen Promethium/Yayoi was considered to be the person who would eventually become the Machine Queen (see Maetel Legend). While shown with rounder eyes in the anime television series, she is shown with almond-shaped eyes in both the manga and the anime film and looks just like Maetel from Galaxy Express 999. While Yayoi is Professor Amamori's private secretary in all three versions of the story, there are the following differences: In the anime television series and manga, Yayoi lives on the second floor of a ramen shop run by an older couple who have adopted her as their daughter. She has a tiger-striped cat. In the anime film, in addition to being Professor Amamori's private secretary, she also teaches at a school and lives in a high-class apartment.