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Rail Romanesque Anime Reveals 2nd Season's Key Visual, New Staff, October Premiere

The official Twitter account of Rail Romanesque, the television anime of digital novel brand Lose's Maitetsu game, revealed on Thursday the key visual, new staff, and October premiere for the anime's second season, titled Rail Romanesque 2.

The anime's second season will premiere in Japan in October on the TOKYO MX channel. The anime's first season will air again on TOKYO MX starting on July 13.

Just like in the first season, the anime's second season will also feature unique Railords. The anime's staff previously announced that Rie Tanaka will star in the second season as Kaniko, based on the C11202 steam locomotive.

Michiru Ebira is now directing the second season at Yokohama Animation Lab. Tensho Sato (Gamers!, Tawawa on Monday Two) is the new character designer, and Kō Ogata is the art director. Yūsei Kashima is in charge of color design, Ryohei Miyasaka (Assassins Pride) is the director of photography, and Kisuke Koizumi (Chainsaw Man, My Happy Marriage) is the new sound director.

The staff also announced that a new game titled Rail Romanesque Origin is in production. The game is based on the original Maitetsu game, and it will be reconstructed with the addition of the story and world view of Rail Romanesque.

The 12 five-minute episodes of the Rail Romanesque anime's first season premiered in October 2020. Crunchyroll and Funimation both streamed the anime as it aired.

Sekai Project released the original game for PC globally via Steam in June 2018. The company describes the game's story:

Maitetsu takes place in an alternate reality in Japan, where railroads were the most popular form of travel and transportation. But the difference with these railways is that the trains were paired up with humanoid modules called “Railords.” Due to a popular new form of travel, the railroads were practically forgotten about and eventually, railways were discontinued.

Players will assume the role of Sotetsu, a recent high school graduate who, shortly after entering University, decides to return to his adoptive hometown to save it from water pollution caused by the proliferation of factories. By chance, Sotetsu reawakens “Hachiroku,” a recently decommissioned Railord. He becomes her owner and decides to assist her in finding her missing locomotive, the “8620,” while attempting to save his hometown in the process.

The story of the anime, which features new original characters, is set in the game's fictional southern Hinomoto city of Ohitoyoshi after its successful revitalization spearheaded by Hachiroku's tourism promotion. The city is now planning to host the first Maitetsu Festival to bring together Railords and their respective masters from all over Hinomoto. Inspired by the humans planning for the festival, the famed Suzushiro and other Railords are also hosting a "Railord Summit" at the railroad station cafe Amairo to share their collective wisdom.

Lose developed the original Maitetsu visual novel with art by cura. The game shipped in Japan in March 2016, and it is rated 18+ in Japan. The game then launched for PlayStation 4 under the title Maitetsu -pure station- in July 2018. The game also spawned a Nintendo Switch version in January 2020 in Japanese, English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese. The sequel Maitetsu: Last Run released in October 2020 after a delay.

Sources: Rail Romanesque anime's Twitter account, Comic Natalie