Welcome to the Miracle☆Train! Will you fall in love with a station?

Name: Miracle☆Train: Oedo-sen e Youkoso

Japanese Name: ミラクル☆トレイン〜大江戸線へようこそ〜

Air Date: October 4 2009 – December 27 2009

Studio: Yumeta Company

Episodes: 13

PLOT

There is an urban legend in Japan about an underground subway line that moves without limitations. The rumour is only gorgeous men ride a train that is known as the Miracle Train. And if you were to happen upon this line, you would undoubtedly fall into a complete state of happiness. Being touched by a ray of light, granting her access to enter into the Oedo Line platform, where the Miracle Train runs. As the doors open up, the space inside is very different, as six handsome men await you inside. According to the conductor the leadership of these six gentlemen and the female guide, when women have worries or insecurities, the Miracle Train will appear. With names matching the stations along the line, these fabulous gentlemen, whose bonds together are tight despite their different personalities, will erase all of your worries and fears.

I would like to take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to everyone no matter where you are in the world! I hope you all have a good one and I wish you all the best for 2013! I will not be watching any anime over the holidays since I’ll be spending it with my family and I can guarantee that it will be hectic. Also with the new season coming, I’m sure that 2013 will keep me occupied with some decent anime series. I’m particularly looking forward to Brothers Conflict, AMNESIA, Chihayafuru 2 and Uta no☆Prince-sama♪ Maji Love 2000% so that’ll keep me going through the year! The excitement is building…

And now for some good news…I’ve broken the 6500 barrier! You don’t know what that means?! It’s fairly straightforward…I’ve gotten over 6500 views since this blog opened back in late August which I have to say I’m quite proud of. A huge thankyou goes out to all of you who bother to read my posts! Mummy’s proud of her little blog ヽ(*´ー`*)ﾉ

I know that I said I’d watch Campione! but I haven’t been in the mood to watch it recently. After ploughing through Hakuouki, that’s when I lost my motivation. I have no idea why so don’t ask. I decided on Miracle☆Train just so I can get my mix of fantasy and shoujo as well as a series with a lighter plot. I haven’t watched a fluffy shoujo series for a while o(^_^)o I’m afraid Campione! will have to wait. Mystical powers or not, you’ll still have to wait Campione!

First Impressions

A train that magically shows up to troubled ladies where handsome guys who represent the stations await to help. Wow. No matter how many times I look at it, it’ll never get into my head. Why aren’t I there? I have a lot of problems that I’m worried about and yet no train filled with bishies pops up to take me away. My life sucks. That’s the major difference between anime and reality; anime can come up with all sorts of things that reality can’t grasp. The gentlemen – or should I say stations – that ride the Miracle Train are Fumi Roppongi, Itsumi Ryougoku, Rintarou Shinjuku, Iku Shiodome, Saki Tochou and Izayoi Tsukishima. Nice names. I’ve been introduced to KENN at last though! He voices Fumi Roppingi in this anime. I heard KENN has gotten very popular recently and I know that he voices Fuuto from Brothers Conflict. I’ll have to start watching anime with him in it just so I can join in with this hype.

The first episode pretty much set the mood for the series and what the rest is about. I reckon that there will be a girl who has problems in each episode and the guys cheer them up with fanservice their personalities or something like that. They’re more like hosts because of their good looks and gentlemanly manner towards women…THE HOST CLUB HAVE RETURNED. Dun dun dun!! What have I gotten myself into? There must be one problem that they can’t solve, now that would be interesting! I wonder what they would do? They’ll never give up until the passenger is happy though so that’ll be a bit boring (-_-)

When in doubt, catch fish.

Some of the females that turn up are alright but there is this one that I can’t stand. Her name is Michi and she appears in episode 3. She’s 14 years old but she is the most brattiest girl I’ve ever seen. If I could come up with the definition of a brat, it would be that girl no doubt. Geez, she just kept on screaming “I hate trains” or “I hate journeys” and it really got on my nerves. I felt the strange need to punch her face…quick! Someone hold me back! And Rintarou had to deal with her. Imagine that. What I hate about her the most is that she tries to act older than she is. Well you failed at that xD she tried to go to a marriage party but she was underage and got turned away. Want my advice Michi? No adult man would hit on a 14 year old unless they were a pervert. Sorry to burst your bubble love.

I am a huge fan of that dog. I think his name was Tokugawa? He’s such a cute little doggie who makes snide comments about everything and you know what the best thing is? He’s voiced by Akira Ishida ＼(^o^)／ he’s my favourite character at the moment. Even though he’s blunt and does weird things, he’s still my favourite. Nothing beats a cute dog. Yes, out of all of those handsome guys I pick a black and white dog xD but I do love Rintarou…he’s a flirty fella who reminds me of Kaname from Brothers Conflict. It’s the hair and his sweet words I swear! Well, it can’t be helped. I am a fan of these types of characters! I also like Izayoi simply because he’s voiced by Daisuke Ono. There is nothing wrong with that voice. In fact, it’s probably one of the most perfect voices I’ve ever heard. I love you Daisuke Ono, I really do!

Midway Impressions

Just when I was getting tired of the same thing repeating and repeating, something exciting happens ＼(^o^) but only for one episode though (-_____-). Basically the train kinda malfunctions or something along those lines, and everyone is like “what the heck is happening?!” to which the conductor appears and explains that everything is alright. No kidding. Nothing is alright; they’re travelling through space surrounded by a rainbow stream with no destination in sight. Yes conductor, everything is perfectly fine ( ಠ_ಠ) the Miracle Train crew end up at a station which looks like it’s currently being built but Akari and Fumi recognize the place but they can’t remember from the top of their heads. It seems familiar. Now I’m confused. How does this station link to Fumi’s and Akari’s past? I hope that the last few episodes will expand on this so I can understand what the hell is going on!

Guilty conscience speaking here, does anyone else think the conductor’s hot? He’s shrouded in mystery and why he wears a mask is beyond me but even so, he’s pretty damn hot. I like the mysteriousness of a guy and the conductor immediately appealed to me. He’s a strange character but I like him. And when he came out of his room in episode 7…*nosebleed* he was smoking hot! The water against his skin and wearing only a bathrobe, that was when I fell in love. Gosh that sounded…perverted. But he can be awfully scary at times too so I’m guessing that I should stay away from his bad side. I think he’s my favourite now, sorry Tokugawa (^_^;) I still love you anyway! You’ll always be my favourite anime doggie in my book ❤

How could one NOT drool over this?

Finally! The guys have to help a man with his troubles! Thank god it’s not a female because I’ve had enough of most of them. No jokes, the females that turned up kept on getting more and more annoying as I went through the episodes. The last one was a child for goodness sake! It was rather amusing watching the guys get all confused about the mishap of having a man riding the Miracle Train. It was even funnier watching them attempt to help the man with his troubles; turns out the man loves cute things so the moment Tokugawa walks into view, the man hugs him and screams “how cute!!” ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵ Poor Tokugawa. The poor little doggie struggled to get out of the stranger’s arms! Don’t you dare touch him again strange man! I’ll beat you with a stick!

Overall Opinion

The plot – when I first read about it – sounded pretty lame therefore I didn’t have high expectations for this series. The beginning episodes were a tad boring because you have to begin with the introduction of each and every character – in this case train stations – and each station goes about teaching the viewers the history of Japan’s Oedo Line.

What was good about this show was that there little bits of information regarding Japan’s history and how the stations came about etc. They were quite interesting but also somewhat confusing considering that most people including myself don’t know much about the Japanese Culture. I have to admit that I learned a lot. I guess this would help out anyone who wants to learn more about the train stations and cities on the Oedo Line as well as their unique culture for each stop. They were informative tidbits that I enjoyed seeing so they will come in handy if I ever go to Japan! I shall amaze the Japanese with my knowledge…

The animation was also a good point for this series. If there were a group of bishies then obviously the animation would have to be good. It wasn’t extraordinary like other animes of the shoujo genre such as UtaPri, that was a beautifully illustrated series. But I’m not reviewing UtaPri, I’m reviewing Miracle☆Train so shut your trap Jimmy. Ha. I’m scolding myself now…how funny. Back to the issue at hand, the animation still pleased me which gives extra points to this series.

The only downside of this anime was the characters themselves. Yes the seiyuus did a good job of voicing them however, there was no proper character development. This is most likely because they are stations or something like that. You can’t really develop a character out of a train station can you? That sounds really odd. Despite that, I still loved every single one of them with their eccentricities!

SPOILER: Akari is actually a 20 year old woman who was a passenger on the Miracle Train but has lost her memory. The conductor made her a guide and she’s been on the Miracle Train ever since in her child form. The cause of the Miracle Train’s recent overdrive was actually Akari herself. This is because only one passenger at a time can enter the Miracle Train and since Akari was a passenger, her presence disturbs their diagram schedule.

S-she’s grown up?!

So even though Miracle☆Train: Oedo-sen e Youkoso might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I found it quite wonderful. I just loved the way each station handled the problems of each passenger when they need it most. I know this series might draw the female audience towards it because of the handsome train stations but it also has a decent plot. It’s not just another series with pretty men, it tends to be more than that with deeper meaning.

Bye for now guys! Have a lovely Christmas and I hope you’ll continue reading my blog in 2013! In the meantime, I shall suffer as my family attempt to annoy embarrass me with countless bombardments and sing a longs.

Go for it Jimmy! Fight!