Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku?

The introduction of 7G Network technology promised miraculous technological advancements; however, the aftermath of its launch plunged Japan into chaos. From drastic changes to the terrain to bizarre mutations among people, the way of life is overwritten with new rules. The town of Agano is one of the few remaining settlements, and its citizens aged 21 and above have transformed into animals.

Shizuru Chikura, a high school student from Agano, is desperately searching for her friend, Youka Nakatomi. Coming across a picture in a newspaper placing Youka in Ikebukuro, Shizuru starts packing for a trip. But with public transportation effectively shut down, her options are limited. Fortunately, Tairo Zenjirou, a senile old conductor and the only human adult in town, comes to the rescue when he teaches her how to operate an abandoned train.

With her destination set, Shizuru ventures off on a journey to find her missing friend. On the day of departure, however, her other classmates—Nadeshiko Hoshi, Reimi Kuga, and Akira Shinonome—decide to tag along at the last minute as they embark on this one-track adventure that might expose them to dangers far surpassing anything they have encountered in Agano.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shinonome, Akira Main

Kino, Hina Japanese

Chikura, Shizuru Main

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Hoshi, Nadeshiko Main

Waki, Azumi Japanese

Kuga, Reimi Main

Kuon, Erisa Japanese

Zenjirou Supporting

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Kuroki, Mito Supporting

Kohara, Konomi Japanese

Matsutake, Keiko Supporting

Fukuen, Misato Japanese

Suu-chan Supporting

Izawa, Shiori Japanese

Nakatomi, Youka Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Swan Hermit Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

Sotokawa, Akihiro Producer

Itou, Shousei Producer

Nishimae, Shuka Producer

Kawamoto, Sachi Producer

Reviews

Dec 2, 2024

IntFox

Recommended

From the first episode, an analogy with "Kino's Journey" arises. Each station somehow reveals different, often not entirely pleasant aspects of the world, which is reflected in Yoko's eyes. The main characters directly state — we never got to know her, and the journey serves as a method of revealing her worldview.

The density of ideas here was multiplied by the brevity and simplicity of presentation. Because of the speed of the narrative and the absurdity of the form, it can be difficult to grasp the meaning of a particular scene. References to different anime, sometimes comical narration, familiar images that appear and collapse in ... an unusual setting and combinations.

Ikibukuro for the newly arrived Yoko, which looked unfamiliar and frightening as a hodgepodge of products and furnishings that are outlandish for her usual habitat and crawling out from everywhere, at the push of a button turns into its artistically framed and brought to the point of absurdity version - an urban jungle in the literal sense of the word.

The selection of the protagonists reveals the views of different types of people. Akira gives metaphysical comments, tries to get to the meaning and categorizes according to theory. Kuga is straightforward, values beauty and has more mundane interests. Nadeko values social interaction and connection, and Shidzuru acts as a person of action and not words, in this case from the desire to protect her values, playing more of a driving force. If you dig into the names of the characters (not only the main characters, but also the secondary ones) - you can find a reflection and references to their roles.

Maybe the river was not that big, maybe the distance between the stations was actually much smaller, but in Yoko's perception it feels like a huge space that is difficult to overcome.
There are references to harmful but pleasant habits and drug addiction. To people who like to rush headlong without understanding the meaninglessness of their actions. To those who lure with a berry, but, in fact, are just scammers. To people who dedicate their lives to making the ball fall in the right place. For show-offs or believers who stagnate motionlessly. And so on.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 28, 2024

patkarunungan

Mixed Feelings

I've been curious about this anime because some people I follow in X like this anime and consider this one of the best in 2024. Does their esteem live up to that? I don't know. YMMV.


§ Overview

The launch of 7G proves disastrous as the world plunges into a dystopian state. Nakatomi Youka is at the heart of it as was the one who pressed the button that turns the world into something unrecognisable.

Chikura Shizuru is a friend of Youka, who has been missing for two years. She sees a picture of Youka in the newspaper, and she decides to take a journey to Ikebukuro by ... train. She is joined by her friends who also like to find Youka.


§ Notes


1. First of all, the visuals are gorgeous. The background art is great. The art direction is superb.

The character designs are fairly acceptable.


2. It's a simple story of friendship and forgiveness. Our girls started on an adventure to look for Youka. Shizuru in particular wanted to reconcile with Youka, and that by itself is enough to recommend it or at least say perhaps it's worth your time.


3. As for why I did not like it that much, I am uncomfortable with how it conveyed its anti-technological subtext. Part of me feels that some aspects of new technology are harmful if we're not careful. More and more people are having less and less attention spans. With more people relying on AI to write crappy articles, fewer and fewer people have the capacity or inclination to read long-form articles, much less write them.

But it seems that the show wants to throw the baby with the bathwater and deem every form of technology as harmful. Currently, we have 5G and god knows when in the real world we will actually have 7G. I don't think the anime's slamming of 7G, modern conveniences, and technology in general is a good message.


4. Furthermore, since the anime's 7G incident, there are a lot of strange phenomena happening such as humans turning into animals and vice versa. Or turning into immovable objects among other things.

It stands to reason that the usual laws of nature and physics are different in the anime world. Despite that, you can't help but feel that this seems to be plot conveniences (or call them plot holes if you prefer) that may annoy you. How they were able to communicate using Morse code several stations at 5 minutes per day despite how distant the stations are, really requires too much of a suspension of disbelief. It's not helped by how another form of communication emerged, which I won't tell you, but I feel so appalled at it.


§ Conclusion

It's a fairly acceptable anime, and it's heartwarming if you just focus on the surface narrative and don't think that much. The visuals are a feast for the eyes.

It's just hard to recommend because of the problematic messaging and a physics that make suspension of disbelief difficult.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 26, 2024

Justykanna

Not Recommended

Train to the End of the World was a slog to get through because it never really feels like it's inching towards it's ultimate goal, outside of x-point is getting closer to y-point, physically. This lack of real progression can make audiences feel like they're taking more of a passive watch than anything.

Story: Train to the End of the World is a strange, strange tale with, possibly, a stranger basis. Pontarou considers himself a genius and believes he has figured out a way for humans to telepathically communicate with each other with, literally, the push of a button. Middle-schooler Youka Nakatomi is ... randomly selected to push this button to activate this new invention, which is labeled as "7G". She pushes it, and the entire world turns into, what I can only describe as wacky and weird over the course of a few minutes. Youka goes missing shortly after this happens, and Shizuru, along with classmates Nadeshiko, Reimi and Akira, along with Youka's dog Pochi, learn to drive a train so that they can make it to where Youka is suspected to have run off to - Ikebukuro.

One of the comparisons I made to the series when I first started watching it was that it reminded me of some of the Studio Ghibli films - weird, wacky and entirely too strange. While I understand that the point of this is to emphasize what the 7G did to the entirely of Japan, it got a little too strange for my liking. Yes, it keeps audiences guessing, but I never felt like it told a great story to go along with it. Look, the ultimate goal for our main cast is to use this train to get to the end of the line where Youko is. But you could basically watch the first two and last two episodes, and really not feel like you're missing out on too much - outside of the brief arc where you learn to Mito Kuroki is. It makes the series feel like it's got a start, end, and really no filling that doesn't feel like a "filler". There are actually some scenes where our characters need to fight against enemies in physical confrontations, and maybe I missed it, but they really make them seem strong for ordinary middle-schoolers. I don't get it.

All this being said, the series still does an okay job at addressing the distress that our main cast have with Youka. While her main reason for her disappearance is never very clear to us, the girls believe they know why she is missing and have a real emotional reason to find her. In a series where good storylines feel absent a lot of the time, this was not the case when referring to the reason for our main cast's search. This is the main reason that I was pleasantly surprised by the final two episodes. Were they perfect? No, there were still some bland points or others that moved too quickly, but it was a step up from the storytelling that we got in previous episodes. (5/10)

Characters: Our cast each have their own strengths, but there's not enough depth to them. Shizuru mostly acts as our lead, but her time to shine doesn't really come in until the end. She's just kind of feels "there" sometimes. Akira has a solid moment a few episodes in, but otherwise, is probably the biggest worry-wart of the group. She's able to read past the picture in front of her, likely in part because she loves to read novels, but after her little arc, she's doesn't do much. Reimi is the supposed bully of the group, the classic example of more brawn over brain, but she wasn't that exciting otherwise. Nadeshiko was similarly just kind of "there", which isn't great considering I'm say similar things about all four of our main cast.

Youka doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, and I'm a little surprised by how little she was involved in the plot until the end. My guess for this is related to her mental state after we meet her, but leaving her and Pontarou until the end doesn't feel right to me. Pontarou, similarly, doesn't come up very often, but his whole idea of a messed up 7G didn't have nearly enough depth to it. Mito meets up with our group about halfway through and reappears near the end. She's a fine character that certainly has a purpose, but her inclusion felt like it didn't have much of a purpose for dedicating so much time to her. Zenjirou has a small role, but it mostly feels like his job was to keep us informed more than anything. Or attempt to anyways. (5/10)

Art: This series looked pretty mediocre in basically every aspect. It never really shone and was unspectacular for the most part. Which is weird considering what 7G did to everything. (6/10)

Sound: This series actually had some decent tunes, which surprised me. It never went with anything significant going on in front of us, but hey, small positives, we take those. I was actually a really big fan of the ED, Eureka, by Rokudenashi. VA work seemed fine for the most part. (7/10)

Overall: I'm a little surprised by how well Train to the End of the World was received on here, but it might just be that I'm not a huge fan of the journey our characters go on. It doesn't feel like it ever has progression to it, but some people are just fine watching the weird and wacky happen whilst turning their brain off. This could appeal to those audiences. I'm just not one of them. (5/10)

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - May 13, 2024	77 replies	by MrList »» Jan 22, 9:17 PM
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	Poll: Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) KANLen09 - Jun 24, 2024	119 replies	by LacingMaster »» Dec 26, 2024 7:34 AM