Where to Start with Leiji Matsumoto
— Captain Harlock, Queen Emeraldas or Galaxy Express 999

This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, TokyoComic earns from qualifying purchases.

If you want to read Leiji Matsumoto in English, start with volume 1 of Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection. For readers of Japanese, the best first book is volume 1 of Galaxy Express 999. But we could not confirm an official English edition of that series’ opening arc, so an English reader needs a different way in. The other works will tempt you too. For today, one book is enough.

On July 25, 2026, a new animated Galaxy Express 999 film was announced, with a story concept by Rintaro and animation by Toei Animation. If you remember the anime but have never read the manga, this is a good time to come back.

The best places to start

If you read in English

Know before you buy that the original Harlock serial stopped at “end of part one,” with the war against the Mazone unresolved. The Classic Collection gives you the original manga, not a finished ending.

If you read Japanese

Read the major space stories in this order and the relationships between the characters are easy to follow. Length is based on the number of e-books in Japan. Queen Millennia alone is counted in print, because we could not find an e-book.

You do not need to read them all. Volume 1 of the Big Comics edition holds chapters 1 to 10. Read that far and decide whether you want more.

If you want to read a story to its end, volume 14 of the Andromeda arc is one stopping point. Space Pirate Captain Harlock, on the other hand, stops unfinished at “end of part one,” and no new Eternal arc chapters are said to have been drawn after a 2005 special issue. Matsumoto died on February 13, 2023, so both remain stories that stopped partway. If you prefer finished stories, it helps to know that first.

Books that are easy to mix up

Several of the English books share a name with a different story. Here are the common mix-ups first.

Why you don’t need to read in publication order

“Just read the oldest first” is tempting, but with Matsumoto that does not settle anything, because the major works began almost at the same time. Here are their first appearances, from the works page of the official site.

Harlock and 999 began in separate magazines in January issues of the same year, 1977. 999, Harlock and Emeraldas are said to have been conceived as a single story and then reworked as separate works. None of them was finished first with the next one following on from it. So it is more natural to start with the one that is easiest to get into than to follow publication order.

For readers of Japanese, we suggest 999 first because it ran in a boys’ magazine and lets you discover space along with its hero, Tetsuro. The official site also says of this work, known from TV and film, that “its essence is seen most vividly in the original manga” (our translation).

Don’t try to line everything up by year

As you read on, you may notice the years do not fit. Harlock is set in the year 2977. The first episode of the 999 TV anime, by contrast, gives the year as 2221, more than 700 years apart. The story of Queen Millennia begins in 1999.

Trying to build a timeline here usually ends in a dead end. When characters with the same name appear in several works, sometimes the stories are connected, sometimes only the name is shared, and sometimes the worlds differ while the personality and role are similar. It is more relaxing to treat the years as a marker for “the far future” and enjoy each work’s own story.

How the characters connect (spoilers from here)

Read on after you have made some progress in 999. These are the main connections, based on the official site’s descriptions.

These relationships were not fixed from the start of serialization, though. In Queen Emeraldas as it was first serialized, Emeraldas was born on Earth. Queen Millennia did not put its link to 999 at the front during its run either. It is easier to think of later works revealing the relationships and gradually closing the circle.

The name “Harlock” does not always mean one character, either. Gun Frontier (Japanese edition) is a Western that also stars a Harlock, and because it ran in a magazine for adults, it has sexual content. The hero of My Youth in Arcadia (Japanese edition) is Phantom F. Harlock II, a German air ace at the end of World War II. In the Space Battleship Yamato manga, the hero’s older brother appears as a pirate calling himself “Captain Harlock.” You can read these whenever you feel like it, without worrying about order.

If space stories aren’t for you

Matsumoto is not only about space. If space does not appeal, try one book of either of these. For The Cockpit we could not confirm an English edition. For Otoko Oidon, Nippon.com says it was released in English as I Am a Man, but we could not find a publisher or a listing. The links below search for the Japanese editions, and Amazon.com may show few results.

Otoko Oidon (6 e-books in Japan): a coming-of-age story about Nobotta Oyama, who comes to Tokyo from Kyushu and lives in a tiny rented room of four and a half tatami mats. The official site calls it a work “with strong autobiographical elements” (our translation). Volume 1 of 999 also has an episode titled “Illusion of the Grand Four-and-a-Half-Mat Planet” (our translation), so reading both shows you how close space and that tiny room are.

The Cockpit (11 e-books in Japan): a series of short stories about World War II. If you do not like continuing stories, this one should be easier to pick up. Be aware that many of the stories that ran in magazines for adults have sexual content.

Which edition to choose

English editions are few, so the choice is simple. Here are the books in one table.

Galaxy Express 999 has many Japanese editions, so check the contents before buying. If you cannot decide, the Big Comics e-book edition is the easiest in digital form. It comes to 21 books, with the Andromeda arc in volumes 1–14 and the Eternal arc from volume 15.

If you want print, there is the new Japanese edition from Shogakukan Creative, launched in 2023. It has 10 volumes for the Andromeda arc and 5 for the Eternal arc, and Eternal volume 5 collects, for the first time, chapters not included in the earlier Shogakukan Big Comics Gold volumes.

Be careful with Queen Millennia. As of November 5, 2026, searches at the Japanese stores BOOK☆WALKER and ebookjapan do not show an e-book. To read it, the quickest route is print, such as the three-volume Shogakukan bunko edition.

If you know the anime

If you saw 999 on TV or in the movies, we still recommend the original from volume 1, if you can read Japanese. The Andromeda arc unfolds differently in the manga, the TV anime and the films, and the endings are not the same. Finding scenes that differ from what you remember is the pleasure of coming from the anime.

In North America, English Wikipedia lists Discotek Media as the home video licensee for the 999 TV series and films, and for the Space Pirate Captain Harlock TV series. Queen Millennia has an English home video from Sentai Filmworks.

Even if you know how it ends, the original’s short journeys, one episode at a time, have a flavor of their own. And if you are starting in English, one book is still enough. Open volume 1 of Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection and see where the Arcadia takes you.