Forum - View topicTrain to the End of the World (TV).
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11377 |
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I wasn't correcting you about the station name, just its location (that's why I put the map up there, 'cause I knew I'd want to look at it a buncha times without cueing up the ep  ). I was just speculating about whether the doctor was actually still there or not. If he is, then the pipe drawing makes me even more curious about what they'll find there.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2856 |
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#5
It's another wild episode, although it does rely on fairly trite tropes to get the train back on track when a derailment looks a real possibility. It's still plenty of entertainment, since who doesn't love a homage/parody to King Kong in a situation which practically begs for it? I had wondered how the tiny soldiers were able to get the girls into that compromising position early on, but the end of the episode solved that mystery. Scaled down as it is, there's enough lifting power in the heavy machinery on site to get the job done, all that's required are enough human bodies and organization. In a sense, the area around that station got off lucky since they didn't transform too drastically (and it's an enduring mystery how the station itself didn't change in size, but there would be no story if it did). The "Boss" is another left-field development, but it's one of the few facets of this episode which makes sense (the tyrant has absolutely nothing going for him except size, the metaphorical allegory isn't lost on me). So the pair of them once free can easily take him on especially when Shizuru is a martial arts exponent. The only thing remaining would be the trigger to get Reimi to revert to King Kong mode, which apparently isn't the first time she's gone into that state (refer to flashback, same way her eyes are animated). Poor Zenjirou ended up the way he is because some kind of lobotomy was done to him either immediately after or during the 7G activation. If the professor with the absurdly long and very un-Japanese name is right, then the reality they're in really is the product of warped perceptions made manifest. It's possibly good news since it's technically reversible, but when the Boss is also afraid of Ikebukuro as it is now there scale of the quest our intrepid explorers have taken upon themselves is even starker than it was at the start of the episode. They needed to find a way to get Akira back to normal, so a bit of poetic justice in getting her to do what she tricked Reimi into doing all those years ago. Not fond of this trope, but they had to find something to work once it was clear the Doctor was the PhD rather than the MD variant. Considering how long it took our current party to travel nine stops on a regular-sized train and the devastation the tidal waves wrought in episode two, the only way the professor survives to see Zenjirou is for plot armour to keep them safe throughout the perilous trip westwards. With this arc done, I'm expecting a few more skipped stops to keep the pacing going (we spent one and a half episodes at stop 9 and there are 21 to go. No way this is one stop per remaining episode). There's still a lot about this world that's unexplored and unexplained and this episode only scratched the surface. Hoping to see more, with a healthy mix of the surreal action delivered by this week's episode. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15480 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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My take on the 'boss' was of him being a pretty textbook incel. He could spin a tale about being disparaged for his lack of masculinity and not getting taken seriously despite his interest. But he doesn't even see what he forces on other people, looked like he thought he would be a "nice guy" at doing a bare minimum (letting her go), and is clearly not only intimidated but angry at a gyaru. I hope not too off topic of a tangent, but his spoken dislike of gyaru makes me think of Our Dating Story, where that one nerd keeps talking bad about the tough gyaru, which I see as certain guys being intimidated by women/girls acting too strongly. Its a form of misogyny. And I thought that Reimi's rampage was a fair response to say the repeated elements of a bunch of guys thinking they can just push around a gal like it makes them tough. |
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Beltane70
 Posts: 3892 |
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After this episode, Reimi is quickly becoming my favorite character of the series. I love her energy and never give up attitude. I definitely agree with you about you said about “Boss” being an incel.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1951 |
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While I agree that he is a toxic incel I tend to avoid using incel as a negative term personality wise as a blank statement. Over the years I have gotten to know more than a few guys who are an incel by definition but were friendly and respectful people, they were just not very attractive physically or socially capable enough to establish a relationship. Anyway, just a ramble from my side since incel has become something different from its actual definition and rather a term for a very negative/toxic person.
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Harleyquin
Posts: 2856 |
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#6
A reminder: The four girls leading this trip into the great unknown are humans with very pronounced character flaws. We've seen glimpses of it in previous episodes, but it's this episode which really lays down the hammer in emphasising just how bad those flaws can be. Relationships can be severed by thoughtless remarks, and Shizuru is a walking howitzer of those. Bluntness and honesty are but two sides of the same coin after all. Reimi isn't much better as she doesn't think too hard about much and will instinctively follow the path of least resistance. So if it means cutting off her possibly zombified friend to save herself she'll do it, hence the desperate attempts by the remaining two to convince her otherwise. Since she's not much into thinking about arguments, she's also easily swayed which for good or bad is what she defines her. We've seen enough of Akira's flaws in previous episodes, so Nadeko, who hasn't really been in the spotlight much this series, gets her turn. Although the most level-headed of the four, she doesn't take charge often enough to stop situations from escalating. Trying to calm people down all the time instead of taking more initiative partially led to the situation at the end of the episode. She's also not great at taking responsibility when her proposals end up backfiring spectacularly. The zombies were shown in the hand-drawn map, although it's a surprise they're migratory. They have a sentient leader, who has complete command over the horde. She's keeping Shizuru alive for now, but there's a reason why they've bound her hands yet left the dog unbound. Wouldn't surprise me if she's thinking about adding another member to their ranks. If Shizuru does become a zombie this story will end as all four of them need to be human if they want to survive this journey in one piece. I had wondered why the production committee called itself Apogeego, and this episode reveals why. It's the name of the train taking them to Ikebukuro, so they picked Shizuru's choice. The trailers for this series reveal more talking animals, but I expect they'll need to resolve the zombie arc first before those characters can be introduced. As for Youka, the three of them are very much hoping they can still repair the relationship as part of the package of being friends. If she's been transformed into something other than human, that relationship might be broken beyond repair given the remarks bandied around this week. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15480 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Maybe it is just me, and I don't recall seeing any signs before now, but Shizuru kind of felt like a sociopath. The parts from like no reaction to Pochi throwing up with no feeling of responsibility that the dog followed her. Added with the comments she made to Yoka. Everything up to her looking like she decided to walk on her own after being discovered to not have normal reactions.
It is just not what I thought about her until now. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23797 |
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Yeah, this episode made it very hard for me to like Shizuru. In fact, I don't. The stuff she said to Yoka-chan were just horrible. I guess the idea is that she said them out of a fear of losing Yoka-chan since if she follows her dream, she'd be leaving Shizuru behind, but they are still horrible things. And wandering away from the tracks is just stupidity at its mightiest. I like the Queen of the Zombies, though.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 1951 |
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I like it when anime have characters that are flawed and do things that are mainly due to them being selfish/flawed, it is a nice contrast with the often perfect characters in most shows. There is a difference between flawed and cruel and between flawed and being utterly stupid though. The group has survived some encounters by the skin of their teeth so some of the actions this week are not sensible at all. As for Shizuru...she is the type of friend you can do without.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23797 |
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I'm just hoping my interpretation of Shizuru is correct . In her mind, I'm sure she justified what she said to Yoka as, "hey, it's not my fault if you can't handle a blast from my truth cannon" but I really hope it's because deep down her real message was, "I'm scared of you leaving me behind." Because if I'm wrong than Shizuru truly is a piece of garbage.
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