"A sweet story that goes nowhere"Genre: Supernatural, Slice of Life, Mystery, Reverse Harem (Somewhat)
Summary: The Oedo train line has a mysterious train called the "Miracle Train," which appears to help troubled women. The eki (train stations), who appear as bishounens (hot dudes), use a combination of dates, talking, and history to solve all the ladies' problems by the end of the episode.
Characters: There were some cute variations here of the typical reverse harem personalities. Like the intelligent, socially awkward type and the quiet, but easily influenced by others type. There is also a conductor who wears a mask and is very mysterious... (Conductors don't exist like this in Japan on the Oedo line) and the guide, a little girl in a pink suit and hat (... and nor do guides...) Some of the personalities of the train stations do seem to overlap. Like I was never completely sure about one of them who has green hair. He didn't stand out as much of the others. Character development was quite severely lacking here. The train stations, though, were just created when their respective Oedo line stations were built, so that's understandable, but I would have liked to know more about the guide and conductor.
Art: Fine. I didn't even notice it with the exception of when the train goes into "Overdrive". Then, I thought it was pretty corny, but other than that, no real complaints. The little train dog is cute. :)
My review: It started out pretty normal. Each episode or two is pretty much its own self-contained arc; you know that by the end of the episode, the character's problems will be resolved. It is not the most well thought out of plots, but it is more of that "to each his/her own" thing. If you like reverse harem sorts of things, you might enjoy this. So, for that, I wouldn't give it a 3, but at the end, it just gets rediculous. The ending is so absurd and makes no sense in comparison to the rest of the story...
There's one other thing... You know how after watching Ouran High School Host Club, it's like you've gotta pick a favorite? (Or a couple ^.^) But, there are just guys you like from that anime. Here, I didn't care. I wasn't drawn to any of them... The characters were just too flat to care...
Spoiler Alert and Rant (highlight to read): The guide is one of the troubled ladies, but she forgot her memory when she got on the train. Her presence causes the Conductor to try to put the train in "hyperdrive" and go back in time for repair everything, but this just makes it worse. For some reason or another, he decides to erase her memory. He winds up using magic powers with his eyes and putting the train stations who want to protect her to sleep.
If the Miracle Train can only have one customer at a time, that is still one customer at a time. There are 2 basic rules in this train: 1. One customer at a time and 2. The customer cannot leave the care of the Miracle Train until her problems are solved. What was her problem!? That is never resolved... They just go back in time through this portal that comes from the touching of the watch that she had back in time and its futuristic version. That was not a satisfying ending...
Also, suddenly the conductor goes nutso and fights against the stations with this power that suddenly appeared and suddenly there is time travel... Suddenly Hikari (the guide) is kicked out and suddenly the anime ends... And I'm left with... What just happened? It felt as though the author couldn't figure out how to end it, so he/she made this ending. Or, they just skipped most of the rising action...
And what is with the dog!? He's adorable to no end and all, but who is he?
Targeted Audiences: This is probably aimed toward the Josei (women) or Shoujo (girls) range.
Who will love it: Women who are content watching hot anime men.
Who will hate it: People who need their anime to have all the elements of a good story.
Disclaimer: None. It is everyone-friendly.
Overall: It starts out as a decent "Slice of Life", but by the end, you realize you know nothing about the characters and you wonder what the heck was going on in the last half of the second episode. You stand there, looking at the screen, a question mark sitting atop your head. You exit out of http://www.anilinkz.com/, think about it for a second more, then decide it isn't worth another thought.
Upcoming Anime Reviews:
- Skip Beat! - 1/7
- Tokyo Mew Mew - 1/8
- Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch - 1/10
- Tantei Gakuen Q - 1/14
- Chi's Sweet Home - 1/15
- Monster - 1/16
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