Tetsuro Hoshino is a young street urchin who desperately wants to replace his human body with an android body, which would grant him immortality and the social freedom the androids have. Normally this is incredibly expensive but it has long been rumoured that if you board the Galaxy Express headed for the Andromeda Galaxy, at the end of the line is a planet where they are given out for free. After seeing his mother murdered by an Android Count, he has no reason to remain on his home planet and nothing to hold him back. Now, not only seeking the android body of his dreams but also a way to avenge his loss, he begins to search for a way to board the train alone. Then he meets Maetel, a mysterious woman who offers him a ticket aboard the train if he will be her companion for the journey. Their journey will take them to planet after planet, each strange and new, and each stop along the way being an opportunity for Tetsuro to reflect on being human, human actions, and the prospect of immortality. During their travels Tetsuro and Maetel meet, amongst others, Emeraldas and Harlock. 
Note: The first cycle was released from 1977 to 1981 and spans volumes 1-18.

After witnessing the death of his mother and being left for dead at the hands of Count Mecha, ten-year old Tetsuro Hoshino is awakened by a mysterious woman, Maetal. In exchange for only his company, Maetal offers him the ride of his life on the Galaxy Express 999. It is said that those who travel aboard the legendary train to the end of the line can receive a free mechanical body and with it, immortality.

Impoverished and alone, Tetsuro leaps at the opportunity and joins Maetal on a quest that will span the cosmos. As the Galaxy Express 999 makes its way across our solar system and beyond, Tetsuro is drawn deeper into a dangerous universe where peril lurks at every stop. 
(Source: Discotek)

After the death of his mother at the hands of the evil robot Count Mecha, young Tetsuro has become a delinquent street urchin who dreams only of revenge. 
Tetsuro lives in a far future world in which humans have the choice to travel to another planet where they can exchange their bodies for immortal, robotic counterparts. His goal is to someday acquire (through theft) enough money to board the Galaxy Express 999, a train which is capable of traveling through space, and which will take him to the planet of robots. 
One day, after escaping from the police, he meets the beautiful Maetel, who resembles his mother. She offers to take him on the Galaxy Express 999 to get a robotic body and to get revenge on Count Mecha. Along the journey, the two meet many varied people (including Captain Harlock and Queen Emeraldas), and Tetsuro learns what it means to be human. 
(Source: Anime News Network)

One year after the events of the First Cycle, Tetsuro has returned to Earth only to end up chained in his home in Megalopolis. It is then that Maetel appears before him once again, offering him the opportunity to join her on a new journey - one she claims will lead him to his destiny.
 
Note: Started 15 years after the series initially ended serialization. The second cycle makes up volumes 15-21.

Emeraldas navigates the sea of stars—and swears to do so until the flame of her life is extinguished. Aboard her ship, the Queen Emeraldas, she sails in search of a certain object, and along the way encounters the passions and tragedies of those who dare brave the infinite reaches of space. 
 
(Source: Kodansha Comics USA) 
 
Included one-shot: 
Volume 4: Emeraldus Versus Herlock

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