Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku?/Train to the End of the World

that would be a twist. Esp since the train can't return the way it came because of the flood and broken bridge. That set up not only the ardous task but also parreleled the shaggy dog moment sOddysus had the first few tiems they approched Iathqua

the animorphism aspect could also tie into Circe and the pigs. maybe the girls would have pig tails and and ears? Haven't really see a porcine kemono outside of Death Mage

Of course this maybe means the girls will have to blind something in the next episode

Huh, I’m curious to see if the parallels to The Odyssey pan out.

The bitter melons growing really fast just seem to be a feature of the train. They probably grow as fast as the train goes I guess?

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 17th 2024 at 6:15:03 AM

I got the feeling it was implied to be how things work in Agano. I'd have to check episode 1 again, but it sounded like they mostly live on rice, barley, and bitter melon.

they do, it was also pointed out in episode three then they mentioned shrine offerings.

The only reasons its mostly because of exclusively are because of the Black Panthers.

I want to change the caption text on the page to something less generic. Would a roll call of the quartet and the dog suffice (that would be Akira, [dog], Reimi, Shizuku and Nadeshiko)

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 17th 2024 at 7:08:46 AM

The bitter melons are Agano's staple crop but I'm not sure they mentioned them growing fast before? The girls even seem a little surprised when the train-plants grew that quickly.

So do you think the setting out-wierds Interface so far or no?

It certainly outweirds anything I've ever watched. Or maybe that's just me not having watched anything weirder out there.

okay so new episode tomorrow.

I assume that the current past is one stop per ep, but the thing is that I don't know how many cours were ordered in advance. With 30 steps betwixt Agano and Ikebukuro, and the first ep already dedicated to introducing the quartet, it seems like it would take roughly 2 and a half cours just to reach Ikebukuro, let alone find Yoka and maybe solve the mysterious behind 7G.

That has me wondering if they are going to skip over some stops or use a montage to gloss over them for the sake of pacing as I assume this is devised as a single cour anime, or if a second cour is comfirmed so that they could at least fit in some more locations.

Thoughts?

Also I brought up Interface because I saw some paraellels. mostly between 7G and Cerebral Electricity

• both of the phebotinum that caused the setting's weirdness, and seemed to have electrical properties.
• Both were harnessed by a tech corp, but in a way that accidentally foils each other (Celebral Electricity emerged first in interface's setting alongside the weirdness in its wake and were being Harnessed by Greetings Robotics to try to restore normalcy. 7G was instead created by a different tech firm and the weirdness were less natural phenomena and more very unexpected side effect. That said the first instance of the former came form the Philadelphia Experiment FWIW)
• Both had warped the immediate setting and the residents to various degrees, extending to the main protagonists (even thought it wasn't apparent at first glance. but it is confirmed in Train's case by Akira having what I assume is a budding tail by the end of the third episode)
  • Related is that both works have someone among the protagonsits who is obviously affected by the phebotinum. (Mischief and the train conductor) in contrast to the other protagonists (again, Hendrick and the girls)

There are also some parallels between both works outside the respective phlebotenum

• a focus on travel (the girls man a train, Mischief ferrying Hendrick around)
• The emergence of sentient animals
• People getting used to the new buy bizarre normal (Very tentative in Train's case. FWIW accepting the present and letting go of the past is a theme in Interface)
• the past, and specially a past severance, is a large part of character motivations (Hendric's family was consumed in Interface. While Yoka left Agano after a fight with Shizuru, eventually spurring the latter's quest)

it's all likely just coincidence, but the similarities are pretty interesting.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 21st 2024 at 10:49:39 AM

Since people have been suggesting that this is based on The Odyssey, here a quick breakdown of Odysseus's journey:

• A raid on the Cicones, followed by being driven off course by storms— Tends to get skipped over in adaptations, but the storms could roughly correspond to the wave in episode 2?
• The lotus-eaters— This matches pretty well to episode 3
• The cyclops
• Aeolus and the bag of wind— I really have no idea how they'd adapt this one
• Man-eating giants
• Circe
• The edge of the world, where Odysseus talks to dead people
• Sirens
• Scylla and Charybdis— Seems difficult to do when they're on a train?
• Thrinacia, where the crew hunts sacred cattle— Not sure how this would work without gods, a dwindling party, or time pressure
• Calypso
• Homecoming— Presumably this would end up entirely different

It's about enough to fill out a single cour

that does make sense, my thoughts of possible ways to adapt those beats.

• Cyclops: I seems to be the most able to be adapted in a literal sense. Like if people can change into animals, someone losing an eye, socket and all, wouldn't be that far a stretch. The bigger issue is to how adapt Poseidon's Papa Wolf moment there.
• Aeolus/Winds: Well the goal is Ikebukuro, so I'm going to say that the girls might find someone that claims to know a shortcut that requires steps that someone, say, Reimi, messed up. Causing them to end up back where they started (thought not Agano).
• Man-Eating giants: I'm goign to assuming that the canibalism aspect might be eschewed and that the girls either encounter or become the giants via finding or falling victim to sizeshifting issues. Perhaps the girls find Drink me signs and end up with their scaling messed with as a reuslt. Bonus point if they end up in a position where the larger size (if giant) ends up a hindrance despite technically being able to cover more ground in a stride (say for example, confined spaces). I'm expect Nadishiko to get focus in that case.
• Circe: Her bit beside having the hots for Odysseus and a kykelon obsession is animorphism. So I can see her being adapted already depending on how episode 4 begins. Maybe culminating in an encounter with someone who is able to lock the girls into human form and grant them the means to ensure the other Agano residents at least do not go feral. It will likely be moved towards the end though.
• Edge of the World: That seems like soemthign that's hard to square. Literaly spekaing Japan's apaelgio is far enoughtt hat even China is impossible to se fromt he islands. That said there is an implcation that the 7G thing had erased the rest of earth, so if that is to be released this is the beat to bring it up in. As for the seance aspect. I can see afterimages or mirages showing pre-7G japan and its people that the girls end up seeing. Or using a Lotus-Eater Machine (despite the trope naming beat already being done with the mushrooms). If that is the route the writers are going, it would make the Interface parallels more interesting.
• Sirens: That could actually be mixed in via the LEM part of the above, with the allure of normality ad a false reality being the siren call. If we are aiming for fidelity than Shizuru, as the leader of the group and de facto Odysseus stand-in, will likely be targeted for this specifically and its gonna be up to Nadishiko, Akira an Reimi to to save her from the LEM.
• Scylla and Charybdis: Yeah the train aspect does seem like it would be difficult. Expect that the beat also involved a vehicle (the ship). I cna see it taking the form of a literal Morton's Fork and a seemingly broken third path.
• Sacred Cattle: time pressure might be the likely method here, esp if it turned out the girls are "aging" to the point where their human forms become more bestial.
• Calypso: that seems like it'd be difficult to square unless they really want to pull a Time Skip. That said Calypso is a sea goddess right? Because the analogy would be the personification of the 7G network itself (Moka?). Or perhaps this is where they end reach Ikebukuro, find Moka and get roped in whatever plan is there (likely involving reversing or expanding the 7G's influence)
• Homecoming: Two ways it can go. One they reach Ikebukuro here and find Moka. In which case it would be a reality short and sweet affair. Option two, that is instead moved to the above and, and the goal would be returning to Agano with Moka in tow.

I might have more ideas for how these plot beats are laid out, thought I do think we're putting the care before the horse TBH. the Odyssey parallels are as tentative as the Interface ones and it could be easily jossed by whatever happens in the next few episodes.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 21st 2024 at 6:23:09 AM

Some stops could be montaged or skipped and only referred to as Noodle Incident fodder if they run out of cours.

I fully expect this to be single-cour. Stops can be montaged, off-screened, shown departing from as the episode begins, etc. It's not really a problem

Yeah, I really don't expect this to have 30 episodes. Even with the level of wackiness on display already, I don't think there's any way they could stretch the core cast's interactions that long.

Of course, the question does then become when they'll get to Ikebukuro and how compressed the journey will be (which is to say, when and/or if Yoka will join them).

I feel like we're most likely to have two episodes at Ikebukuro, where they reunite with Youka and ultimately reverse the 7G crisis, ending with an uneventful train-ride back as the credits play

Double-post, but I spent some time thinking about how I'd do it if this actually is based on The Odyssey:

• Cyclops: Some sort of big monster (former human) that they have to outsmart
• Aeolus: Maybe just something wind-based? The actual conceit of that chapter doesn't really work under these conditions
• Laestrygonians: Just giants? We already did a village with a dark secret and a monster
• Circe: They meet someone with the ability to manipulate the 7G effects to some limited extent. Initially antagonistic, but ultimately helpful, giving a lore dump that increases the sense of urgency
• Edge of the world: Some weird 7G nexus. Allows Shizuru to communicate with Youka, among other things
• Sirens, Scylla & Charybdis: An "on the rails" episode filled with various oddities. Scylla grabs the bitter melons rather than any actual characters
• Thrinacia: Some sort of situation where eating the food is obviously bad, but, oops, their own supply is gone
• Calypso: They meet a nice lady who helps them recover, but then doesn't want to let them leave

And then after that we're back to entirely original material

Actually works out to a pretty natural ratcheting-up of the stakes right in the middle

Edited by Hylarn on Apr 22nd 2024 at 3:24:25 AM

Well if they are doing an Odyssey plot reference, they have mixed up the plot beats.

also helicopter cliffhanger, and it turned out Akira did have a mushroom attached after all, it simply took longer to notably affect her than the others.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 22nd 2024 at 7:40:24 AM

Uh, yeah, unless this goes very differently next episode than it's looking to, I'm going to say that they're pulling from multiple fantastical travelogues

It's been pointed out on Reddit that what's likely going on is that when Yoka was the one to press the 7G switch, the world changed based on her impression of things. Those discussions she had with Shizuru at the start of the episode bring up a few things that have already happened, for instance, and the stations are largely flanderized versions of things that are associated with them (there are a lot of big golf courses at Higashi-Hanno, for instance).

New episode was wacky as usual. What a cliffhanger to end the episode on though. Also found it interesting that the things Shizuru was talking about at the beginning ended up being the basis for the places they went to.

That's exactly what caught me about episode 4, too. It's more or less confirmed that when Yoka pressed the 7G button, she projected her mindscape into the world, resulting in this weird and wacky place with the aggressive goat-men, the tree-people and giant organs flying through the sky. Organs flying through the sky. The liver drawing on the map they got was, apparently, very literal. Now I really need to see what the sushi station is like.

Though of course the true horror is your entire home warping into an infinite golf course. NOOOOOOO! Seriously, though, this episode hit a perfect mix of creepy and hilarious. We can also assume that the final boss at the end of all this is an ant-eater that Shizuru has to defeat with her jiu-jitsu.

It's unfortunate that Akira let her butt-shroom grow as big as it did, but it did provide an incentive for Shizuru and the rest to stop and search for a doctor. I always loved Gulliver-style settings, so I'm excited to see more of Inariyama.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 23rd 2024 at 4:40:41 AM

Ep 5

turns out Inari was taken over by another "Kaiju" with a desire to own a military base and a distaste for gals.

I had suspected there is a cognitive aspect to 7G, but I assumed it meant that it was a mass hallucination, something that got tossed by seeing the Lilliput military base there. Turns out there is still a cognitive aspect

also we got context and what happened to Zenjiro and also Nadeko's archery skills. Speaking of which I'm expect the twintailed Team Mom to get spotlight next EP

21 stops to go.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 29th 2024 at 7:36:52 AM

I liked the latest episode. It was fun. and had a bunch of Godzilla and King-Kong references.

And obviously 7G guy is the main villian. But WTF with that "archery" match?

EDIT: NVM, parsed the post wrong.

My guess, it means to double as sword practice?

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Apr 29th 2024 at 4:02:54 AM

Wait, the hell was that with the bows?

Fun enough episode. Does feel like it starting to make some greater point but never quite got around to it

So we do get confirmation that 7G’s reality-altering effects are heavily based on perception, and it doesn’t only apply to when Yoka pressed the golden button. With Doctor trying to reunite with Zenjiro, I can see her managing to reverse the wibble wobble surgery (holy shit at how brutal that was), and together they can revert things back to normal. That’s probably for the final leg, though.

I’d already mentioned I like Gulliver-style settings and this whole episode was a treat on that front. Akira went wild in that miniature military base hahaha. Also I can’t believe I missed the VERY obvious solution of feeding Akira a book to give her brains back. Just makes sense!

The archery duel was out of left field, haha, I’m pretty sure that’s not how those work! Expecting a spotlight episode for Nadeko next where those skills will probably come in handy.

I think we’re building up to a reveal that Yoka was romantically attracted to Shizuru.

21 stops until Ikebukuro!