Miracle Train Discussion Thread

[Suwako Moriya]

Yes, I realize what type of show this is, but let's face facts. I've tried out every other "Autumn" series on Crunchyroll. So I may as well just throw this one on to the mix and claim I've tried them all.

There's also another reason which should become apparent soon enough. Which I suppose you can figure out if you know at least a tiny bit about the series. As in who one of the characters is.


ANN Entry (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=10763)
Official Site 1 (http://www.miracle-train.tv/)
Official Site 2 (http://miracletrain.jp/)
Official Site 3 (http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/miracle-train/index2.html)
Crunchyroll Stream (http://www.crunchyroll.com/library/Miracle_Train)


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[Suwako Moriya]

Some girl named Chinatsu is looking for her dog, Kotaro.

We're introduced to the stations err guys err stations.

Apparently the Miracle Train has a female guide names Akari and she's a loli.

I get the feeling Akari exists to give guys a reason to watch the show.

Chinatsu apparently had school issues related to making friends.

Well, at least her dog was found. But that dog will one day destroy us all!

The miracle train appears before troubled ladies? So guys aren't allowed to see Akari?

[DiGiKerot]

Yes, I realize what type of show this is, but let's face facts. I've tried out every other "Autumn" series on Crunchyroll. So I may as well just throw this one on to the mix and claim I've tried them all.

You know, Miracle Train is actually one of the few Autumn shows I've actually kept up with. Sure, it's a conceptually stupid sausage-fest, but it's hilarious. Seriously, one of the funniest shows I've seen in a long time, and at least some of that seems to be intentional:sweat:

[Suwako Moriya]

You know, Miracle Train is actually one of the few Autumn shows I've actually kept up with. Sure, it's a conceptually stupid sausage-fest, but it's hilarious. Seriously, one of the funniest shows I've seen in a long time, and at least some of that seems to be intentional:sweat:

Since I only started on it recently, I can't say that I've been keeping up with it. However depending on how I feel about the next episode or two I may catch up.

One thing that helps is that I'm feeling bored and that I'm essentially watching multiple episodes at once. Thus I can always watch this as a side show while another series is running.

Of course, I'm also trying to catch up with some other shows as well and even with multi-watching, I can only watch so many shows at once. And I have a lot to catch up with. So it's hard to say if/when I'll get around to 2+

[Suwako Moriya]

The fact they're anticipating their next customer makes it clear they've been doing this for awhile. The fact they're given an idea of when to expect her gives the impression that this is not by random chance.

The random facts randomly appearing makes me sense I'm supposed to be learning something. Watch me forget everything they told me in... Wait, what was I talking about?

And the next person finally gets on the train.

*Slaps Tocho-san* Akari is more important than the rest of you.

The lady has already solved her problem. She's going to quit her job.

Of course the fact she's on the train means it's not that simple.

She has a point, they only just met her.

Although they do know her name is Mai-san.

Seems the problem is her boss wants her to work overseas and she doesn't want to. Meanwhile our stations talk about how they can't leave the Oedo line.

She's only 25 and therefore too young to work oversea. Lady, there have been people who traveled at younger ages.

They're trying to figure out the real reason why Mai wants to quit her job.

Oh, so her boyfriend broke up with her because he didn't want a long distance relationship.

And Mai ultimately decides to work overseas.

I'm not even sure I want to know how much they ate.

[LKK]

Oh, so her boyfriend broke up with her because he didn't want a long distance relationship.

And Mai ultimately decides to work overseas.
I'm impressed she chose work over getting back with her boyfriend. From what I've seen in anime & manga, it's usually the other way around. (I'm assuming that getting back together was an option.)

[Suwako Moriya]

Oh, so her boyfriend broke up with her because he didn't want a long distance relationship.

And Mai ultimately decides to work overseas.
I'm impressed she chose work over getting back with her boyfriend. From what I've seen in anime & manga, it's usually the other way around. (I'm assuming that getting back together was an option.)

At the very least she was probably hoping that quitting her job would be enough to convince her boyfriend to get back together with her. Whether or not it would have really worked is another story.

In any case, the fact she ultimately chose work was a change of pace. Even if at first, she was leaning towards the boyfriend. You're right that it's usually the other way around. At least in my experience it is.

I think one valid reason for choosing work aside from enjoying your job is the conclusion that if someone is going to leave you because of your work then you can take it as a warning that the relationship probably wasn't going to work in the long run anyway.

[Suwako Moriya]

The chance of riding in the Miracle Train is about as high as the chance to dream about a hawk carrying an eggplant to fly down from Mount Fuji. Must be a cultural thing.

The current passenger doesn't seem to be that excited. In fact she wants off the train.

She talks about how she was supposed to be at a party, but because she tripped stuff feel out. Including an ID indicating that was 14. The said party was a "Marriage Party". Seems like she was looking for a spouse ahead of time.

Trying to hit on her is not a good idea.

And now they're reading her plans for the future. I think they're making things worse.

The train has stopped, time for her to get off. Or rather not as instead more stations get on.

I wonder. If I kill one of these guys, will the actual station blow up?

Oh, now they wonder about her name. Let's just call her Heizo!

Actually her name is Michi and she doesn't like it.

Michi feels that this is her worst day ever.

Michi's parents are train fantatics and would have named her Tetsu, but were stopped. So instead she got called Michi.

There's no escaping the Miracle Train! At least not until your real problem is solved.

Time for Michi to watch a scene from the past. Apparently she does or did like trains.

Her father talks about how things don't always go according to plan, but it's still possible for the journey to continue.

Seems like she's finally come to terms with things and thus can leave the prison err train.

[Suwako Moriya]

A girl named Mirai is a fortune teller and works with a friend named Asuka. They generally spend time with three customers a day. However their business has become popular and Asuka is thinking about finding a way to expand the number of people they can help. Mirai is uncertain about things.

[Suwako Moriya]

A girl with glasses and a hairband! I approve of this.

Her name is Noriko and she seems to be excited to be on the Miracle Train.

As a train fanatic, she already knew the legend about the Miracle Train.

Noriko points out that the Oedo line doesn't have conductors, it has drivers.

Noriko finds Akari to be cute and wants to take a picture. Noriko has good taste.

Her problems comes from the fact she's know some guy who is also a train fanatic and the guy keeps telling her things. Which seems to frustrate her and apparently hurt her pride.

She plans to get revenge by bragging about the Miracle Train to him. The conductor won't allow her to do that.

Ah, so the main reason she became interested in trains is because of the said train fanatic guy and she wants to beat him in knowledge in order to get his attention.

Thus she's only pretending to be a train fanatic. However she feels her plan is failing because the guy only seems to care about trains.

Noriko is told that perhaps the guy just doesn't know what to say. She's also told to try to confess her feelings and take the first step.

They just had to cut off the scene when she was about to confess.

[Suwako Moriya]

It's your basic story about a daughter of a wealthy family that has a father that dictates way too much of her life. The daughter being Himeno.

[Suwako Moriya]

Darn it, no passenger this week. Where's my dose of weekly female to balance things out?

The conductor is mysterious and strange.

In this episode, the Miracle Train has issues.

Shiodome has quite the imagination.

It looks everything is doomed, but then suddenly things are normal again?

This episode added some err drama, but it seems a bit out of place for some reason.

[DiGiKerot]

It's your basic story about a daughter of a wealthy family that has a father that dictates way too much of her life. The daughter being Himeno.

Himeno eh? Like Princess perhaps?

Oh, Miracle Trains sense of naming makes me laugh with it's obviousness.

[DiGiKerot]

Darn it, no passenger this week. Where's my dose of weekly female to balance things out?

It's a while since I watched it, but wasn't there a touch more Akari than normal in this episode to balance things out?

[Suwako Moriya]

The passenger this time is a run-away loli named Airi.

Airi is looking for her father.

She decides that Tocho is "daddy".

Airi is going to be a handful. Also her voice is familiar.

Turns out the father she's searching for is dead. However it seems she has trouble accepting this.

Airi decides that she'll marry Tocho when she gets older.

[Suwako Moriya]

Darn it, no passenger this week. Where's my dose of weekly female to balance things out?

It's a while since I watched it, but wasn't there a touch more Akari than normal in this episode to balance things out?

Yeah, there was an extra helping of Akari goodness. Which now that you mention it does help a bit.

[Suwako Moriya]

Himeno eh? Like Princess perhaps?

Oh, Miracle Trains sense of naming makes me laugh with it's obviousness.

You've got to love it when characters get names like that.

[Suwako Moriya]

The Miracle Train has a new passenger, except this time it's a male?

They come to the conclusion that there was a mix up and he got on instead of the actual passenger.

Even if it was a mistake they have to solve the passenger.

The guy denies there's any problem.

Tocho comes up with a bunch of theories...

The guy has cute stuff with him. He claims it's because of his girlfriend, but after he hugs the dog it becomes clear that was just an excuse/lie.

He actually likes cute stuff, but he's afraid of his girlfriend finding out because it might ruin her image of him.

And now the stations are pretending to be each other in some weird game.

The history behind the guy's room.

The guy is determined to give up his cute side and become manly.

The stations clean his room out and remove the cute stuff.

Time for the stations to give him a speech.

The guy accepts his cute side and invites his girlfriend to his room. Turns out that she also likes cute things.

And at the end the actual person that was supposed to be on the train arrives.

[Suwako Moriya]

This time we have an actress from the series Oedo Cops and her name is Makoto.

Akari's blushing followed by the comment, "Akari swings that way?" is win.

Makoto is quite the angry one.

You know if I was running the Miracle Train, I'd have a clause that would allow me to kick off passengers.

Turns out that Makoto's father was an action star on Oedo Cops and thus she wants to be one too. However her ad-lib in a scene disappointed the director.

Tocho asks Makoto what she thinks the appeal of Oedo Cops. She claims it's the intense scenes done by the action stars. Tocho tells that Makoto that she doesn't understand Oedo Cops.

Suddenly they're acting out an Oedo Line Cop series and making Makoto a part of it. Which means amusing nicknames and she gets to be a part of it as the Rookie.

Pizza has died in action!

Black Station as the villains?

Makoto learns what she needs to do is put feeling into her role?

[Suwako Moriya]

Mayu has arrived and it looks like she might be trouble.

Mayu is explained the situation and wonders if it might be a scam.

Mayu needs to be at Roppongi Station by Five, but it was already after that when she got the train.

Mayu wants to take pictures for the sake of her sister.

For someone in a hurry, Mayu sure gets distracted at easily.

Mayu is the type that runs into constant delays. Hence she tries to set earlier times a counter.

Maybe you should just ask her, nice advice.

If they let her off now, they won't be the Miracle Train.

The special day that Mayu is having with her boyfriend is their engagement day.

Mayu seems to happy for someone on the Miracle Train. Also maybe a bit too nice in general.

Mayu is traveling with her body guards err I mean stations.

I think I see what Mayu's problem is. She needs to learn she doesn't have to get involved with everything.

Mayu is early for her date and the stations worry that during the time she might get involved in something again.

Mayu runs out into the street to recover a lost balloon. Suddenly she's transparent and stuff.

Flashback scene reveals that she's actually dead?! So the Miracle Train has ghost. And they can't bring her back to life.

However they help her make a phone call from beyond.

Yeah, this episode is kind of depressing.

The real fun is going to be the next episode if images I saw are any indication.

[Suwako Moriya]

The Miracle Train runs into trouble again and it might be related to Akari.

Apparently she was actually a passenger that ended up on the train with amnesia. Which made it kind of hard to solve her "problem".

As such she was made into a guide as temporary measure. Her outfit is cute and has strawberries on the underwear. Yeah, we needed to know that.

In any case, they need to solve her problem before the train disintegrates. Yeah, no pressure.

Roppongi decides that walking around with Akari outside the train might help jog her memory.

Tokugawa the pet dog showed up after Akari. Tokugawa is not happy his flashback is one scene.

Akari feels she has found her elementary school. Wait, it's a preschool.

Akari has bad sense of direction. She gets lost inside the train.

Seems like Roppongi's plan might be having some effect, but whether or not the effect is enough is another story.

Akari points to the office building that she works at. Yeah, Akari, that seems to be odd to me as well.

Akari is in pain and seems to be changing.

Roppongi returns with Akari. Akari is no longer a loli. Well, that's one way to end the episode.

I will note that it was images from this episode that made me think about trying this. Akari is indeed the main reason to watch this.

[BigPants]

Flashback scene reveals that she's actually dead?! So the Miracle Train has ghost. And they can't bring her back to life.

However they help her make a phone call from beyond.

Yeah, this episode is kind of depressing.


This episode has been my favorite of the lot thus far. Maybe because it was so unexpected compared to the usually cheeriness of the show (and everything before the realization of this episode).

Suika, I'm taking it that you've been enjoying the show at least (since you're up to episode 12)?

[Suwako Moriya]

Suika, I'm taking it that you've been enjoying the show at least (since you're up to episode 12)?

The simple answer would be "yes", but enjoyment is a vague term. I can enjoy three different shows, but one of those shows may be of a much higher level than the other two shows put together.

I'd consider Miracle Train to be roughly around the medium level. There are shows that I'm enjoying quite a bit more this season. However Miracle Train has proven itself to be decent enough to keep watching.

In some ways, the format of Miracle Train makes it a rather easy watch anyway. It's follows the strategy of being mostly episodic for the majority of the series. With the final story being that can be used as a good way to close the season.

Not that this strategy always works. Sometimes the "final story" that's introduced comes off as nothing more than a forced way to add drama and is lamely handled.

However if episode 12 is any indication then the final story for Miracle Train should be one that won't do anything to ruin the over all feel of the series, but also provide a decent way to close it.

[Suwako Moriya]

Apparently the Conductor is uber!

Akari's problem apparently involves complicated time related issues!

Well, at least things work out in the end for her.

A reminder of the various characters that appeared through out the series.

Not exactly the most grand series ever, but it did a decent job of passing the time.