Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「GA-TAN GO-TON」by Rei Nakashima
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「ちょっと行ってくる」 (Chotto Ittekuru)
“Down the Escalator to Dark Nerima”
At last spring is here, and oh boy what a spring it is. Over fifty shows, multiple major hits, and quiet, unassuming productions like Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku here. I honestly have no idea what to expect from this one going forward – but I do know I want more of where this opener came from.
While I’d say the RC Preview does the job for explaining Shuumatsu Train, in reality you really have to watch this episode to get a sense of just how anime (read: batshit insane, in the good way) it is. Imagine if you will Ozzy Ozbourne, learning all about 5G, only now it’s 7G, it’s Japan, and instead of promoting the wonderful rise of global interconnection you’re initiating it. To some incredible results. The world? Turned almost literally inside out. The citizens? Converted (at least in the case of starting town Agano) into animals. Human civilization? Reduced to the barest trickles of electricity and local radio signals. Whether or not that intro was meant to be hilarious I couldn’t stop chuckling throughout it because you know exactly how this will play out. This ridiculous premise will meet equally ridiculous villain, and somehow, someway, the power of friendship will save the day.
Albeit tongue in cheek, friendship is ultimately the glue holding Shuumatsu Train together as shown by its main cast. Besides the usual blend of demure quasi-kuudere in Shinonome Akira (Kino Hina) and flip side of the coin rambunctious gyaru Kuga Reimi (Kuon Erisa; their banter really seals the deal) we’ve got the bubbly and sweet Hoshi Nadeshiko (Waki Azumi) and the one holding them all together in leader material Chikura Shizuru (Anzai Chika). It’s basically your tried and true adventure start, where Shizuru longs to find her missing friend Nakatomi Youka whom she had a falling out with and whose only clue of location lies in mystery newspaper clipping showing the girl in Ikebukuro. Tack on a convenient transit train located nearby, a train director in Zenjirou who apparently gets the ability to explain train operations when director cap is firmly planted on head a suitable number of times, and the promise of multiple episodic adventures over the coming weeks and darling you’ve got yourself a setup. While I still have an inkling of this being a Gakkou Gurashi/Tengoky Daimakyou mix in waiting given the underlying setting and premise, part of me has this pinned for something more along the lines of The Magnificent Kotobuki or High School Fleet. The absurd will meet cute girls doing cute things, and you best bet your companion mutt that it will be a sight to behold.
Overall a couple more episodes will definitely be needed to get a proper sense of what Shuumatsu Train is all about, but if characters, character chemistry, and the insane (yet humorous) setting are anything to go by, this one will prove to be a very interesting watch. I for one am quite eager seeing just what it offers up next.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「ユリイカ」 (Yuriika) by Rokudenashi
Holy S***! There is way too much dialog at an alarming speed. There is way too much for the audience to digest at once. I hope the amount of dialogue heard in episode one will be shortened in the next episode, and this is just something that happened in the first episode.
I am not sure how I like the concept that 7G destroyed the world yet…
IMO the dialogue was fine for an opener, just enough to describe things without being some massive light novel-esque infodump. Fairly benign given what we normally get with just enough mystery to encourage watching more episodes. At least for me haha
This one was all over the place in a good way, I didn’t expect that at all! I’ll keep an eye on the next episodes for sure, maybe another heavy hitter this season!