Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Train to the End of the World
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<('_')^
Posts: 75 |
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Seems interesting, will probably follow weekly. Though did all the main characters have to be school girls? This sort of wacky premise would have greatly benefited from having a more diverse main group. At the very least they could have kept that old conductor guy.
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1480 |
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Another series this reminds me of is Rolling Girls, though that series is considerably more light hearted (and has the benefit of a soundtrack full of Blue Hearts covers).
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ab2143
Posts: 762 |
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I'll be sad if the series kills off Pochi
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3981 |
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I think that keeping him with them would have been more of a hindrance than a benefit considering that his mind is fully intact for only 5 minutes a day. |
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Vanadise
 Posts: 535 |
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But this is a work of fiction, so the authors could have easily just changed that if they felt like it. |
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Shay Guy
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It's hard for me to pin down just what Michiko Yokote's inclinations are. She's a figure who's interested me for a while -- she's been involved with writing for so many things over the past 35 years, and while I've seen her knack for comedy noted, she feels like a bit of a chameleon to me. Her Bebop episodes include "Ballad of Fallen Angels", "Mushroom Samba", and "Hard Luck Woman". She created Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. And aside from her work with Mizushima, she's served as head writer on the likes of Gravitation, Princess Tutu, Nabari no Ou, Kobato, RIN-NE, Kiss Him Not Me, ReLIFE, Knight's & Magic, Children of the Whales, Tsurune, The Great Jahy Will Not Be Defeated!, Call of the Night, Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist… hell, friggin' ONIMAI. What do you make of a resume like that? She doesn't pop out the way Okada does, or Gen Urobuchi. Even her Shirobako co-writer Reiko Yoshida is arguably more prominent, considering her work with KyoAni. But Yokote's 20-plus-year partnership with Mizushima is definitely striking, and combined with the rest of her career, it's an oddly fascinating picture of an unnoticed industry workhorse. EDIT: Oh, and she's also done a good amount of writing for Super Sentai. Lead writer on Gekiranger (2007) and Goseiger (2010), apparently. Last edited by Shay Guy on Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:22 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Thesarum
Subscriber Posts: 542 |
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This show is so weird and dissonant. I'm loving it so far.
It doesn't seem like he's going anywhere to be honest, he's with them in spirit via the medium of rail line morse code (how does that even work after the tsunami ripped up all the rails?... But that's no really a question you can ask in this world is it? The girls certainly just accept that the world is incomprehensible and roll with it) if not in body. |
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<('_')^
Posts: 75 |
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As the other user said, it's all up to the authors. Could have been 5 min, 5 hours, or whatever condition they wanted to set. But even then, they could have just kept him around and utilized his little quirk as a last minute get-out-of-trouble card. Some writers would have opted to hide his young/intelligent form for a crucial moment mid-way through the series. Anyway I just wish they would have spiced up the main party a bit. A group soley comprised of school girls isn't the most original idea in this medium and just narrows the perspectives. |
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Piglet the Grate
 Posts: 799 Location: North America |
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School girls are kawaii, boys and adults not so much. The target demographic in Japan likely feels much the same way. |
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<('_')^
Posts: 75 |
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I get the whole "cute girls doing cute things" sub-genre, but unlike most of those shows, the writers seem to have a more interesting and supernatural premise here. Kawaii factor may be needed to sell slice of life shows about mundane things like fishing, golf, picnics, or whatever. But here they've actually got more adventure/comedy potential.
I mean, babies, kittens, birbs, and etc. are "kawaii" and would have at least contributed to making the main party feel more inspired. Not every character in the main group needs to be a school girl. Could have spared a character or two to give us some other archetype. Also this is a post-apocalyptic world, there's no point in keeping them in school uniforms. Just comes off as the artists feeling lazy and not wanting to put the effort into giving each character their own unique outfit. |
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Beltane70
Posts: 3981 |
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Sure, the author could have it 5 min, 5 hours, or whatever, but it's already been established to be not only 5 minutes a day, but 5 minutes at 5PM. Sure, things could change later in the series, but we can only go by what we currently know. |
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Shay Guy
Posts: 2349 |
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I'm reminded of the running thread in Shirobako about the market trends of anime pushing a huge chunk of the industry toward "cute girls doing X". Which the director and primary writers were no stranger to -- the three of them had worked together on Joshiraku two years before, and of course Mizushima and Yoshida had also done Girls und Panzer. And naturally, Shirobako itself is "cute girls in the anime industry".
That's beside the point, which is that it didn't have to be written that way in the first place. They could've chosen to make him capable enough to be worth keeping around. |
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dm
Subscriber Posts: 1480 |
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If they kept the conductor around it would have risked a harem situation (or, in his old man form, a situation in which he risks being the adult in the situation). Much better to neutralize gender expectations of that sort of you want to concentrate on other stuff.
Oh yeah, episode two was Charybdis, episode three the land of the Lotus Eaters. How much more of the Odyssey will we see? |
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a_Bear_in_Bearcave
Posts: 551 Location: Poland |
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I agree with dm that adding conductor would add unnecessary creepy harem feel, but also I'd say that any adult would by necessity need to be "caretaker" of the group, having to be the responsible one keeping girls out of danger. That's why so many adventure shows opt for all-kids cast, adding adult characters only as temporary advisors. For one famous example, kids in Narnia stories had to act alone too, most of the time, with Lion only as temporary advisor. Even in LotR much of the time child-like hobbits had to travel and survive without Gandalf or Aragorn. As for girl-only crew, adding one boy would feel like harem, and two boys would either make group way larger, or replace the girls, and this is clearly story mostly about girls - I bet the main girl is in love with the missing girl, and this is some yuri allegory story.. |
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<('_')^
Posts: 75 |
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I don't see how adding in the conductor would turn this into a "creepy" harem anime. Especially since the conductor would be a side character. Adding the dog and introducing animal people didn't make this a "furry" show. It really depends on how it's written. Could easily be done in a wholesome way. Again its not necessarily about having the conductor in the party or not, it's just that having all the main players be school girls is boring. Especially if they wear uniforms 24/7. It's a tired trope that the show doesn't need to lean heavily on since it's got an interesting premise to hold the audience's attention.
Based on what? I'm noticing a trend where people project "romantic" narratives soley by the composition of the main party in a story and for no other reason. "Oh there's one guy in the group? must be a harem." "Oh there is a male lead and a female lead, they must hook up with one another eventually." "Oh its a guy only group? They are probably gay." Where does it end?
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