X Densha de Ikou

I definitely enjoyed "Take the X Train" - it has a commitment to the craft that is very admirable. The character designs lean heavily towards a realism rarely seen in modern anime, while combining that with the incredibly zany cocktail of a haunted train stalking an ESP-awakening office worker. I think the biggest stand-out visually is the design of the ghost train itself; fully electro-incorporeal, arcs of lighting suggesting the shape of a train without "revealing" it - it understands the rules of the spook. And within this vague story is a bit of thematic depth and genre playfulness, about the world modernity left behind ... and what (if anything) we got in return.

The downside here is that it does not do very much with any of these parts. The characters are vague and one-note; the "story" could easily be told in a few minutes, and none of the themes are developed. I am not saying it should change all of those pieces - simple is good at times - but for a ~50 minute OVA there just is not enough meat to hang off the bone here. Honestly if this was ~20 minutes I would rank it much higher. Still, the parts where it does well are worth the watch. I use the whole range of numbers in my reviews - 5 is not bad. If you like experimental approaches to anime and some fun ghost train aesthetics set to free jazz, give it a watch.

It is dedicated to "Take the A train" composer Duke Ellington; jury is still out on if he would take that as a complement or an insult.

This is a really, really weird one. After completing it, I was just left thinking, "What the hell did I just watch?"

Let's start out with what sticks out the most: The character designs. Definitely not your standard, stereotypical 'anime' style, but rather a strange type of realism only stretched out a bit verging on the grotesque. Reminds me a bit of Don Bluth characters. And the designs are so...distinctive...you can't get past them in this one-shot story. You're noticing how strange the people look from beginning to end.

But beyond that, the ... rest of the artwork (including the backgrounds) are wonderful. And the animation quality is top-notch. Among the very best I've seen for the entire decade's worth of work.

The storytelling style is also a little outside the norm, which is par for the course when you are dealing with the eccentric director Rintaro. Which is fine by me, it seems to work well in this case.

But as for the story itself...well, that's where this really falls down the most. There's some sort of psychic connection between Taro the Loser Boy, and a mysterious ghost train that is 'terrorizing' the railways. Not sure why, and not sure what it really has to do with anything. It just ends up being a hapless, simpering guy who is the sole person who can seem to stop this phantom train, as he runs around getting nosebleeds (from his 'psychic' events) all the time.

And I do mean All. The. Time. That's the other thing (besides the character designs) that I noticed that really stood out a lot. Loser Boy kept getting very visible, active and volumnous nosebleeds over and over and over and over again. It was very off-putting. Ugh.

In the end, I was just left wondering what really happened, and what was the whole point of it all. A visually interesting adventure (minus the quarts of blood dripping from the nostrils, ugh), but all sound and fury signifying nothing.

4 (decent)
seen via english subtitles

Warning: if you are not a fan of blood don't watch this!

Likes:
art: For an 80's flick animation was good. Transitions were clean and cut.

Plot: A unique attribute unseen in most videos on horror. The right flare, right touch, right paint strokes... a lot of good tension building horror tools were used.

... Dislikes:
art: Characters and some elements were trashy in appearance. Not something you would go home and fantasy over.

plot: was confusing not in a good way. Too many unanswered questions. Mostly caused from the weird turns they made.

Intro: was a mess. I understand they had two stories going on in the one scene but tell the viewer whom it is they should be paying attention to. Sorry but one at a time!

Audio: Not a very balanced musical attribute. A lot of piano for sure very little drums and so forth.

Overview- you are better off not watching this because you won't gain anything from it unless you are a train fanatic. If you do decide to watch this you wont find your self reflecting back to it ever! In other words, the chances of a re-watch are slim to none.