SHUUMATSU TRAIN DOKO E IKU?

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ONAWan Wan Train Doko e Iku?

REVIEWS

• 

  ZNote

  85/100
  Hop aboard! We’ve got doomsday, martial arts, and swan boats! Please stand clear of the closing doors.

  (Video includes audio. Be sure to unmute)

  Director Mizushima Tsutomu isn’t concerned with making the next “hit” – if anything, he’s concerned with making the next “concoction.” A look at his filmography will show that he has directed several projects which involve the heavy collision of various ideas that, on paper, seem like they should get along like cats and dogs. How, for instance, is the idea of cute girls doing cute things in a tank battle setting supposed to work? Why would anybody expect a lowbrow teenage sex comedy that also functions as a prison escape flick to mesh together, and somehow have that work? Crazy, right? But crazy is the point, as lo and behold, Girls und Panzer exists, as does Prison School.

  And those are just two examples! Mizushima’s understanding and approach to genre is to take what it is about each that people enjoy, and bend or twist them into new, almost-unrecognizable forms. Mizushima doesn’t care about having something to “prove” as it were, mostly because he gets his jollies out of being weird rather than being artful in the way that other directors are. And in an anime landscape where fresh ideas seemingly are in shorter supply, it’s at the very least worth considering just what he’s cooking up at any given moment.

  It therefore makes perfect sense why Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? / Where Does the Doomsday Train Go? / Train at the End of the World functions as it does in its weirdness. It is quintessential Mizushima, in that it feels like a sensible next step in his handling of preposterous entertainment ideas. Our foursome of heroines all embark on a post-catastrophe science-fiction screwball road comedy journey through a topsy-turvy funhouse world of strange landscapes, bizarre people, and way too many bitter lemons to eat. Each stop along the path to Ikebukuro comes complete with its own warped or finagled place, where the people there are just as mystifying. One stop has a serious shroom problem (to put it one way), while another location has a miniaturized military. But where could the adorable Yoka be, the person who accidentally got this whole 7G Network mess started when she pressed the button and screwed everything up? Can the world return to normal?

  

  (Animation credit to Minazawa Yasunori. The post-7G Japan is just goofy-funky enough in its layouts and storyboarding to be strange and a little unwelcoming at times, but is never foreign enough to feel like an entirely alien world. The balance between the two vibes is executed to near-perfection)

  From the first minute, Shuumatsu Train doesn’t pretend to be concerned with giving fully fleshed-out character biographies to Shizuru, Nadeshiko, Reimi, and Akira and assumes you’ve seen enough cute girls doing cute things anime to know this rigamarole already. The immediate need-to-know particulars of who they actually are comes through in the quick conversations and colliding personalities about incidentals and the grand design, and expects you to “get it” already so it can “get on” with the real point – the journey. Any development or more-dynamic character building will come not from the native environment that they know, but instead by venturing into the yonder.

  

  (The characters core dynamic makes for a strong magnetism at the start, and gradually begins to take on newer, cooperative shapes as the journey continues)

  And if cute girls doing cute things has often been the gravity surrounding fixations on hobbies / “the main thing” that could be considered either abnormally obsessive or unusual (we all can list at least one show in which the cast revolves around a niche activity that more or less defines them), then Shuumatsu Train takes that gravity and maximalizes it to the universe itself. Each location does indeed have its own central “thing” that distinguishes it from every other stop, almost like the different levels of a video game in which each location has its own puzzle to crack before opening the door. It provides a sheer unpredictability to each setting even when the outcome inevitably ends with the train pulling out of the station and moving on. Sometimes, they’re simply passing through and commenting on how weird something is because…well, sometimes something is just weird and there’s not much more to say. Other times, the ridiculous level of micro and macro analysis needed to get through is itself like an overstuffed shogi board ready to collapse under the weight of its excess pieces.

  Yet, miraculously, it never falls apart because it never stops being fun. The inherent appeal of the screwball road comedy is in the varying locations and peoples, and how the characters are forced to interact with both in order to make heads or tails of what’s happening. Using post-catastrophe science-fiction as the backdrop allows any crazy idea to be applied without needing to spend all this time and energy explaining why something is the way that it is. Any such explanation can be chalked up to “LOL 7G” (its activation in the first episode makes a further lack of explanation all the more acceptable) and instead put resources into making each stop more tangibly present. Beyond the “trait” that each place possesses, each also presents obstacles that are distinct enough to require different solutions rather than a single tried-and-true method. As such, the variety in the settings complements the variety in the situations.

  

  But that maximalization I spoke of does not occur with the heavier drama, though drama is certainly present. Tone-wise, the show rarely makes actually sincere attempts to divert away from the comic because the attempts that appear on the surface to do so are, in and of themselves, far too deliberately silly or tongue-in-cheek to take too seriously. Yokote Michiko’s series composition lets you know who is doing what and how they are functioning within the show’s overall universe either as a force for, against, or within the main foursome, but never to the point where it forgets or misplaces its popcorn origins. This is only broken with Yoka and Shizuru, the ones who got the metaphorical train running in the first place. As a result, the show’s inner structure is quite bare-minimum, but the color explodes every time, coming with some genuinely-impressive layouts and animation displays that go far harder than a show like this would reasonably be expected to have.

  

  (Shuumatsu Train has an inherently ridiculous sense of humor, with the characters put in odd situations or having to reconcile that the world is constantly defying reason and always has a weird surprise around most corners)

  Coupled with the understanding that Mizushima’s Twitter account over the past several weeks has been talking about train stuff from facts to fascinations, including other incidental things about the production or locations used for making it, he clearly got bitten by some kind of bug and decided to just run full-tilt with it. He’s created something with the full awareness of what it is and avoids the pitfalls of derailment, even if it couldn’t escape production problems with its final episode. The whole is an unusually free-spirited anime, chugging along its merry way and always prepared with a fun little something to whet the appetite.

  There is no room for normal on this route; Shuumatsu Train takes delight in its oddness, and that’s the way it should be.

  
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• 

  Mcsuper

  87/100
  Absurdity That Paid Off In Spades

  Train to the End of the World is the latest screwball sci-fi comedy (?) anime on the block, and the sheer creativity of it had me quite impressed with it. It is not often that we see an anime go so far into the depths of “What were the writers thinking?”, and commit so hard to every comedic bit, but also tell a coherent story, so full credit to the writers for that.

  

  (The oddities in this show know no bounds, and every scene screams creativity, and although likely crunched for time in the production cycle, a lot of fun to create.)

  It being so out there does not surprise me though, given what the director, Tsutomu Mizushima, has directed previously. With the likes of Prison School, Shirobako, xxxHOLiC, and Girls Und Panzer on his resume, Train to the End of the World follows in the same vein, as it lands between a lot of genres, but not committing to just one or two, but distorting and breaking the mold to create a memorable experience. This is a risk to take for sure, as sometimes, these sorts of stories fall flat from one misstep, leading to a snowball effect that brings the viewer completely out of the experience, whether it’s through questionable writing, theming that is all over the place, or just an incoherent storyline. Perhaps, that was what happened to Mayoiga, which funny enough, took place on a moving vehicle as well. Was this show the redemption to that one? Such a fate happens rather often to anime originals, but this anime had no such fall off.

  One particular thing I really enjoyed about this anime was how snappy it was, while not feeling too rushed. Yes, there is an argument to be made about whether or not this would have functioned even better with more of a runtime, but what we got here was excellent nonetheless. The characters talk quickly, the story is fast-paced, and the comedy is as well. Honestly, that’s very befitting since the characters are on a train for a good portion of the anime, and trains in Japan are associated with fast speeds. The director’s Twitter account made numerous tweets about trains, inspirations for the show, and talked about some real life locations as well. It is great that he did his research beforehand on such things to make the show pop even more. Despite all the odd things that happened in this show, it feels like you’re on a tour along with the characters, with how the story is structured that some stops along the road to the final goal, which is Ikebukuro, get explored, just like if the viewers were on a crazy train ride themselves. The background music in this show certainly helped a ton as well.

  Another thing I was very glad to see was that it stayed a fun romp until the very end. There were numerous opportunities to perhaps delve into more drama, with how the relationships between the characters were like, but the show stuck to its identity of being more comedy and adventure-based, and didn’t fall into the pit of emotional backstories. It did not deviate from the path of the train at any point, rather, it charged full steam ahead at every turn, and left no time for any interruptions.

  Visually, although not the most polished at times, it ended up being quite solid and creative. Episode ten stood out to me the most with how many styles it employed to create such a hilarious battle between the main characters and the antagonist henchmen.

  

  (The imagination of the staff involved in this anime, made for some great art styles, which effectively erased the problems I had with some of the visual jank, because this is amazing.)

  Overall, this was one of the best anime the Spring 2024 season had to offer. I had high hopes going in, and I leave this train having been on such a wild, and fun ride. Its imaginative, creative artistry had me in awe, and its comedy kept me laughing throughout.

  Mizushima grabbed a blender, scooped up every ounce of his wild ideas from that head of his, blended it, and out came a delicious smoothie. I don’t know how this mad man did it either.

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• 

  Zanmataisei

  0/100
  I don't care anymore man why does this shit always happen

  "Go big or don't go at all" is a phrase I judge any work by, I don't see a point in writing or creating something if you're not gonna "commit to the bit" per se, some of my favorite works ever (Aquarion, Zenkaiger, Demonbane) may not have a lot in common in the surface except for the fact they all take their idea and run with it to the finish mile and then a few hundred kilometers past that. Shuumatsu Train is the complete opposite, it's like going to a luxurious holiday island and exclusively visiting the walmart
  Thankfully I documented my thought on every episode so I can go bit by bit and explain why this anime sucked so much ass

  EP1 - I started watching this on a whim, I had no idea it would be a surreal or pseudo-expetimental anime, frankly if it had just been a SoL with a train gimmick I would have been happy enough so you can imagine my shock when Yoka pressed the funny button and the entire world distorted. A CGDCT anime about exploring this deformed, surreal, colorful world in a train? Hell yeah bro I've been waiting for something like this for years, something to fill that hole GLT and Made in Abyss left all those years ago and that Shimeji did a few months ago after having the most 7/10 ending of all time. It looks too good to be true but I'll have hope

  EP2 - And now the girls are locked in on this journey? Even better! I'm sure this is gonna pay off in the end

  EP3 - And then we get our first sign of things to come: The mushroom town
  The entire episode isn't sure if it wants to be a horror or a parody of horror, we get the most obvious "hey this town is weird" signs of all time and somehow we're meant to just not see a plot twist coming, I guess, I'm not sure, this episode could have been like 4 minutes long and the ending would have hit about the same. We do see one big issue with Shuumatsu Train here and that's that it has the exact same of self-aware-but-untalented sense of humor as a Channel Awesome film, characters will constantly point at their own actions and go "that's weird as hell!" but it never lands, even in the more serious-ish moments the show tries its damn hardest to look at the camera and go "get a load of this guy" but it just lands flat because you need actual talent to make those bits work, or at the very least you need balls which this show also lacks horribly

  EP 4 - I think this one was just a comfy, backstory episode, I don't have much written other than "This show is definitely at its strongest when it's a surreal sorta comfy journey instead of a horror mystery". An extremely funny observation considering this show leans a lot closer to some weird mystery anime rather than a surreal sorta comfy thing

  EP 5 - Another problem with the show arises: The boring, normaler moments last forever, the surreal, creative ones fade away instantly. You create a world where anything is possible, where you can be as fucked up and original as you can, and the best thing you can come up with and the thing you put the most focus on is... A horror town thing? Little people? Zombies??? This is an augur of the show's biggest issue which I'll get to later but seriously, this isn't interesting, there's 7000 other things out there that have already done what this show has so far done but way better, maybe this would have rocked 30 years ago but it's been a long time, do something else

  EP 6 & 7 - These ones are just unremarkable, they do their thing good enough I guess. It's a bit of a twist on the usual zombie trope but 1 twist doesn't justify an entire whatever episode. The only things I can really say is that seeing Shizuru being very hearltess to Yoka in the past was VERY promising, it gave me hope that the fated reunion would make it all worthy (It didn't, the reunion happened out of nowhere and the anime dedicated a lot more time to showing how Yoka got groomed), and that I can see what these episodes were going for but the execution wasn't fully there. They're fine I guess

  EP8 - And alas, we dive head first into the pool of liquid shit: The Neriali episode. If the last few were already killing the hope I had for this anime this one tried to dig up its grave and accidentally decapitated it with the shovel, then it said "fuck it" and started beating the shit out of its corpse
  Neriali feels like Shuumatsu Train is trying to make up for all the normality of the previous half of the show, but here's the big issue and the thing that ruins anything this anime could have ever been: A terminal and complete lack of Balls. I beckon back to the phrase at the beginning of this review "Go big or don't go at all", if you don't have the confidence, the talent, the Balls to go through with a complete absurdity of an episode, creating a whole fictional anime with the dumbest plot idea possible, then why even do it? You just end up with a half baked idea that before even starting is already laughing at itself. Neriali is rushed to hell, it's rushed to get to nowhere, it constantly points at how stupid it is but never tries being actually stupid, it just throws shit at the fan without committing to any bit because everyone involved was afraid that, if they showed even the slightest bit of honesty, the audience would laugh at them or call them dumb, as a result we end up with an episode that pleases nobody. Oh yea and if that wasn't enough we get the Yoka plotwist that she's now the evil queen of ikebukuro and who gives a fuck

  EP9 - "Plotshit" is a term I like to use for shows that end up focusing too much in having a story that makes sense instead of making the show actually good, do we need something with no plotholes to enjoy it? Are we really so afraid of our own shadow that if something is slightly ignored we get scared that we're lost? Personally, I'll give a shit about the plot if the plot is the point, or if it's interesting, or whatever, every work out there has a "vibe" AKA something it excels at and something that should, in an ideal world, be the focus of the work. Shuumatsu would have exceled at being a surreal, weird moe journey, instead what we get is a Plotshit anime of a guy that solely exists to be annoying and his masterplan to groom a random girl into giving him godmode powers or whatever the hell. Basically: I don't care

  EP10 - Ah yes, we shall return the world to normal! Weird things are BAD and ESCAPISM, we cannot let this happen! We will save this world!. This idea has been tried before time and time again and it's not something you should do unless you have some real fucking experience writing it because you run the risk of looking like your message is "Being weird and creative is bad you should go to normal school and die at a normal job". Does Shuumatsu do this? Kinda, thankfully the ending focuses on something else so I'll give it credit whereI'm not finishing that sentence
  Anyways this episode was either hilarious in a cosmic way or completely insulting. The actual gall to have an entire episode dedicated to artists struggling to make their work when you yourself are struggling to make this show ANYTHING. "Artistic expression has no limits!", spouted by a show too terrified to reach past any limites

  EP11 - Rush rush rush, rush to get the Yoka reunion, rush to come up with the plan to fix the world, rush everything and get nowhere. Not much to say, this show was already well on its way to sucking

  EP12 - They got this ending at the ending store

  ---

  So, in short, Shuumatsu Train is FINE, if I take out my hater hat for a second I can say it's maybe a 5/10, or a 6/10, it's dissapointing but it's not terrible, it's probably fun enough if your standards aren't too big, but if I put my hat on I see this show for what it could have been and what it ended up being. I see endless potential for something truly timeless behind layers and layers of cowardice and irony, I see an extremely lack of confidence in your own talent to create something and the desperation at hiding it behind large stretches of painfully normal ideas or unique ones taken not seriously whatsoever
  We could have had something special, something that recreates that feeling the other animes I mentioned here was very much possible. But alas, we didn't get that, and that's what makes me really hate this anime

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