It’s time I stop putting off my review of this show, despite it being one of only a handful of shows I had taken the time to talk about at the start of the season. It also ended up being one I talked about on Kaiseki Anime Podcast with Draggle along with a couple of other extremely quirky shows, including the recently reviewed A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics and Astro Note. One of the biggest reasons why I delayed giving my final impressions of this anime was because trying to even describe this show is a feat all unto itself.
Simplistically put, this is a coming-of-age tale set in a post-apocalyptic world. We’ve seen the like often enough, from zombie anime to mecha, so that in itself is inadequate to describe Train to the End of the World. The five separate girls, four of whom we spend the bulk of our time with, we follow result in varying degrees of self-discovery through the many confrontations between each other and those they meet along their journey. The main focus, however, centers on Shizuru and Youka, ranging from their childhood friendship to their current separation.
This all sounds quite normal, but the setting is anything but. The 7G incident that opened the series, with Youka as the unwitting instigator, transforms the world into a place that’s barely recognizable. Entire neighbors turn into twisted fantasies with no apparent connection to one another, including Shizuru’s hometown where all the adults become animals–a fate that awaits our characters with enough time. Other towns turn people into co-dependent mushrooms, or into goats who attack without warning or provocation. We meet a “zombie queen” who travels with her obedient zombies to protect them from the damaging heat, as well as a swan boat traveler with an uncannily accurate map whose cryptic drawings confuse more than clarify.
Some viewers found the stark differences between settings jarring and nonsensical, while I saw them as exciting adventures that allow the creators–writers, artists, and the like–to play in the sandbox that is the 7G world. That was the vibe I got during every second of this series, that whoever worked on this must have had a ton of fun. I know I would have! The playfulness doesn’t end with the final episode, either, where it seems like all will be resolved with the click of a button. The consequences of the long-lasting incident will likely echo for years, but that’s also appropriate in consideration of these girls growing up and understanding more about themselves and the world they live in. Every action creates a ripple, and, sometimes, we don’t see the full effect until we change our perspective.
Rating: 2 dango
*Rating system:
- 0 dango – average and forgettable.
- 1 dango – very good in its category.
- 2 dango – excellent show that is worth a try.
- 3 dango – exceptional show one must watch.
Anime B&B 