Adaptation Displacement: Outside Japan, Night on the Galactic Railroad is best-known by the animated film.
Awesome Music: While you might miss some of the music in the film itself, the track you hear at the end certainly qualifies (done by Haruomi Hosono, an electronic musician and a former member of Yellow Magic Orchestra).
Ho Yay: This is what some people see with Giovanni and Campanella.
Nightmare Fuel: This is as far as a director can go without having monsters, violence and/or blood in a film. "Creepy" and "dark" describe Galactic Railroad perfectly.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Heavy religious themes, conversations about death, frightening imagery, doses of Mind Screw and the overall darkness means that despite its initial appearance, most children would not be able to understand or appreciate the story fully.
The Woobie: Giovanni. You really wanna give him a hug. His dad went missing, possibly imprisoned or dead, his mom's sick, possibly on death's door herself, he's constantly bullied at school, and only seems to have one friend. And at the end, said friend died in order to save his main bully. Poor kid.
certainly qualifies (done by Haruomi Hosono, an electronic musician and a former member of Yellow Magic Orchestra).