Anime 23309 Rail Wars Reviews Filter Check 3

(At Studio Passione, a meeting between the director and the animators)

Director: Okay. Thank you for coming on such short notice. I just wanted to discuss some minor changes that I thought would be appropriate.

[Animator A and B both nodded their heads and said, “Okay.”]

Director [smiling]: Great! Okay. Animator A, you are charge of animating most scenes involving Haruka Koumi, right?

Animator A [nodding]: That is correct.

... Director: Okay. That’s good. [Glancing at his clipboard.] I noticed that her breast sizes were a size ‘D’. I don’t like it, could you increase it to a size ‘F’?

Animator A [looking shocked]: What? Why? isn’t that a bit too big?

Director: Hm. What do you mean? There’s no such thing as ‘too big’. Only ‘too small’. And, also, add more jiggle physics.

Animator A [still stocked]: What? Are you kidding me? But, this character already has a lot of jiggle scenes.

Director: I understand. I’m not asking you to add more jiggle scenes, I’m asking you to add more bounce, more jiggle physics, because she’s clumsy and tends to be naked most of the time. I want the animation design to be fluid, polished and smooth. If the viewer will not remember her sweet, kind and gentle personality, then they will remember her nice flowing and bouncing breasts. I want the viewers to be awe by her large bosoms, especially when she's running!

Animator A [sighing]: Fine. But, this is going to take a lot of work.

Director: That’s fine by me. As, for Animator B, you know what to do?

Animator B [nodding]: Of course. Increase the breast size for Aoi Sakurai from size ‘C’ to ‘E’. And add more jiggle physics, because every viewer is watching for beautiful flowing breasts.

Director: Exactly! Now, get to work.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
(A meeting with the director and the script writers)

Director: Okay, folks. We don’t have much time. We are losing viewers at the moment and I’ve got an idea to get more viewers, and to make the story more interesting.

Writer A: So, what is it?

Director: This story has no need for a deep, complex plot. That will turn off the viewer. [He sighs.] It needs to be predicable, it needs to have lots of typical cliches and fanservice, and it needs to have fillers. That's what this anime needs and there are four things that we must do: 1) add a idol episode, 2) make the girls wear lots of swimsuits and bath towels, 3) have the clothes of the girls torn, ripped or wet, and 4) have one nipple scene. With this set-up, everyone will tune in and watch this series.

Writer A [hesitating]: But, isn’t this series about trains, kick-ass action, and conspiracies?

Director [shrugging]: Well, yeah. To some extent. But, recently idols have been all the rage, and remember you can never go wrong with 'the plot'.

Writer A: I guess, however, won’t the viewer be expecting lots of trains and action?

Director [sighing]: If I had to put the story in percentages, then 50% is about 'that plot’ and ass, 30% is kick-ass action, 15% is about romantic subplots, and 5% is talking and looking at trains. Look, you must remember, this anime isn't serious or 'deep' and complex, it's just a bunch railway security force members stopping bad guys from doing bad things, with lots of 'plot' action and ass shots.

Writer A: Won’t the viewers be disappointed about this?

Director: Not really. Because, they’ll be 'watching it for the plot’. It's always the 'plot'!

Writer A [sighing]: Okay. If you say so.

Director: Oh, I know so.

The End

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**

What a disgraceful, irredeemable, repulsive piece of trash this anime truly is. This show has thus-far been the most uninspired, lazy, and forgettable pulp I’ve ever had the misfortune of sitting through. Not a single OUNCE of effort was put into this butchering of a somewhat promising and unique concept, and while the show thinks it can distract the audience from its laughable “plot” (if you can even call it that) and its worthless, pathetic, cardboard-cutout characters with absurdly excessive fanservice, they aren’t fooling me. It's unbelievably stupid, it's misogynistic, it's cliche, it's rushed, it's... Y'know what? Let’s just go ahead and delve ... into what is likely hands-down the worst anime of the season, Rail Wars.

Synopsis: Four teenagers begin working for a railway station. Hijinks ensue.
…
That is literally it.

The synopsis of Rail Wars on MAL is extremely misleading mostly because it implies that this show has a plot: It doesn’t. There is NO exposition. I’m not exaggerating; there is none what so ever at any point. This show is literally a montage of random, unrelated incidents that the protagonists have to fix and/or get themselves out of. There is no coherency or consistency to be found (unless you count constant fanservice as “consistency"). This is a show that tries to pass itself off as “mindless entertainment”. There’s one problem though: It’s not entertaining! The writers have no idea how to give the random scenarios they come up with any suspense at all! There are no action scenes what so ever (excluding 10 seconds in episode 1), there is no reason to care about the generic characters, and there is simply no energy or excitement to be found. You can literally feel how rushed and passionless the development of the anime really was. In fact, they make an effort to AVOID fast paced and exciting scenes! In episode 3, this show has the audacity to make us sit through some of the most boring and pointless dialogue I’ve ever seen as it builds up to what was shaping up to be a good fight scene (albeit the buildup is painfully slow). Just as the fight was about to start, the shot becomes a still frame and we cut to after the fight is already over. If that doesn’t prove that the animators don’t give a shit, then I don’t know what will; what an absolute slap in the face.

Perhaps the biggest joke of all is that some of these episodic scenarios aren’t even related to trains! I mean… really?! This show was advertised as some sort of action-shounen based around railways, which could have been cool, but all we got was random fanservice and nothing to hold it together. In fact, there is literally no reason for this story to be related to trains at all; whether it’s diffusing a bomb or stopping a dangerous intruder at a music concert, literally any other setting would have worked just as bloody well. The “writers” (if this garbage can legally be considered writing) just jotted down as many generic scenarios as they could think of and made each episode consist of a one of those scenarios. I could have written this show at the age of 8. It really is that stupid, random, and simplistic. Not ONE thing about the show’s “plot” was done even remotely right. It is a complete, unbridled disaster.

The characters are just the icing on the cake to this amazingly repugnant arrangement. The only thing I can say about them is that they fucking exist (unlike the plot). The MC doesn’t have a spec, and I mean not a SPEC of originality to him. The driving force of the "plot" is that he wants to be a train conductor. Too bad I don't know a goddamn thing about him and therefore I don't care what the hell happens to him. The MC’s harem is just as generic as he is; there’s one red headed chick who sort of has a personality, but it’s completely stereotypical. I guess having a generic personality is better than not having one at all, which is the case with the rest of the cast. Rail Wars left me scrambling so hard to find positive aspects that a 2-dimesional character is considered a highlight of the show. I think that says it all right there.

In conclusion, Rail Wars is a disgrace. They took a unique concept with potential and loaded it with clichés through the addition of highschoolers and a big-breasted harem. Throw in the absurd writing and piss-poor choice of direction and you have yourself, dare I say, a trainwreck!
*Pause for laughter at obvious joke that I didn’t have the willpower to resist making…
This is just a humiliation to the anime industry and to fiction in general. Everyone responsible for this monstrosity should be ashamed of themselves, because I’m certainly ashamed. I cannot fathom a single, solitary reason for ANYONE to EVER watch this show. It’s not good for action, it’s not good for comedy, it’s not good for mindless entertainment, it’s not good for ANYTHING. Other than fanservice, this show has nothing to offer (and you could pick thousands of other superior anime if you really want fanservice). The music is decent I suppose, and that is the only thing that separates Rail Wars from a 1/10. Needless to say, I not only wouldn’t recommend this garbage to anyone, but I also wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It is honestly the most worthless and contemptible anime I’ve ever seen.

Overview:

Rail Wars! is one of the worst anime of 2014. The series is about a bland protagonist who works as an employee of the government run railway system. He and his harem of bouncing G cup babes must fight against the evil forces of capitalist extremists that wish to privatize the Japanese Railroads using terrorist tactics. This show is like a soft core porn that was written and directed by Vladimir Lenin while he was high on mushrooms!

Plot and characters: 2/10

Rail Wars takes place in an alternate world where the only major difference seems to be that the Japanese railroads are still owned by ... the government. The entire theme of Rail Wars besides Echii nonsense of course, is the question of government vs. private ownership and when it is better for one vs. the other to control a certain sector like transportation or healthcare. This is a highly relevant and interesting topic that needs to be discussed. Unfortunately, Rail Wars does a REALLY poor job of tackling this complex subject matter. Rail Wars enters the territory of sublime idiocy from the word go! The first episode shows a ridiculous training sequence with our young cadets performing tasks that are completely irrelevant to being a modern railroad worker like firing guns, jujitsu, and shoveling coal. This isn't 1859! Shoveling coal and fighting off train robbers shouldn't be the big parts of the training! The characters are little developed beyond following tired anime cliches. The 4 main characters are as follows: You have the Tsundere who hates men, the wooden and shallow harem male, the ditzy girl with huge boobs, and the best friend who exists to support the main character. The pacing of the plot is also terrible! As a personal note, I actually know a little about government run railways through experience and how awesome they are. I've spent 3 weeks vacation in Moscow and St. Petersberg and 4 weeks vacation in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Hong Kong. These government run trains and subways are cheap, efficient, and overall excellent! In the US, trains between cities are pretty much non-existent as of in 2014 and only about 5 of our cities have mass transport of any kind. This includes: Boston, New York, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, and that's really about it. Forgive me if I missed one. If you don't have a car, you can't comfortably live in most of the US. This is a real bitch because gas isn't cheap and neither is properly maintaining a car. Now, does this topic really need an anime devoted to it? NO! Especially not one as as awful as Rail Wars!


Art: 5/10

The CG is not really that impressive, but the tits are fairly nice at least.



Soundtrack: 2/10

The soundtrack is forgettable and doesn't really make me emotionally engaged. I don't feel pumped up, sad, or gleeful. It is just background noise. If there is one thing an essentially communist anime series should have, it is fucking kickass music! If this series had hired the Red Army Choir to sing socialist classics like "Cossacks" Polyushka Polye", and "Smuglianka" it would have made this pile of shit anime worth while for that reason alone. That is how awesome far left music should be!

Overall: 2/10

Although it has decent art and animation due to somehow landing a large budget, this series fails in every other category. It is a shameless echii series that attempts to deliver a socialist message with horrible writing and terrible execution. I'm fairly left leaning, and I HATED HATED HATED this anime! I can't imagine how much I would hate it if I was a conservative! My head would probably have exploded and I would be unable to write this review.

Rail Wars! is a confusing show. It is an ecchi harem with the primary gimmick being that it supplies the viewer with plenty of train facts.

There is no progression to this story. Although it is a harem, there are only two moments in the series that could be considered "plot development between characters" in which two different girls' announce to the screen that they have feelings for Naoto, our main character. However, while both of these girls may have revealed their feelings (to no one in the story), the only effect this has on the story is the addition of blushing throughout the ... otherwise ordinary moments this show is chock full of.

The only notable plot progression throughout the series is the very arbitrary promotion of Naoto from "kid who works for train station" to "kid who leads other kids who work for train station" which has no actual importance on the series as he is bossed around enough by his incredibly tsundere teammate that his title is meaningless. Aside from this tidbit of progress, nothing resembling a plot will occur for the rest of the series. You may be thinking, "well, that's okay. I'm just in it for the fan service anyway" and this is where I will have to stop you. Unless you, along with the writers of this show, are deeply infatuated with girls removing their pantyhose in a two-shot still frame every few episodes, you will be very hard pressed to find yourself satisfied in any way.

Much to my surprise, Rail Wars falls extremely short in the fan service department. Given that this is an ecchi harem show with no plot whatsoever, no character development, no relationships, and terrible animation you would think that we would at least get some Grade A boobies in our faces every few minutes, and although literally every female character with any significance has an obnoxiously large chest, we are left with pantyhose removal every few episodes and the occasional heavily-veiled changing room scene. If sexual tension is all you need, don't continue watching after episode two, where we get our one and only moment of actual tension which last about a minute and produces microscopic amounts of embarassment between the two characters involved. (Of course this is assuming that girls taking off their pantyhose doesn't completely captivate you, because the writers REALLY just eat that stuff up. When that still-frame passed and Sakurai's legs turned from darkish tan to light peach I knew my world had changed forever)

If you're still thinking "I'm just in it for the trains!" you are still not safe from the disappointment. Two or three times per episode, as a different 3D model of a train scrolls across your screen, Naoto will read to you the first ten sentences that wikipedia has to offer about that specific model of train. This interaction will then abruptly end and the show will continue normally, although occasionally a female character will comment on Naoto's obsession with trains which will result in the cheerful laughter of his teammates while the camera pans away to a fade, and we can escape from the tedium of Rail Wars! for just a moment.

Probably the only interesting aspect of Rail Wars! is the immense responsibility that these junior train cadets in training have, as they are equipped with pistols put in charge of defending the lives of thousands from a multitude of train-hating terrorists. While this may sound entertaining, I assure you that any conflict or action will take place in the final minute of the episode and be portrayed through a still-frame of a bad guy getting kicked by Sakurai. The ability of the junior train cadets to absorb minutes worth of tasering to the neck - completely unscathed - is notably comical yet also ruins any hope for the plot to actually start moving.

There is very little left to say about Rail Wars! If you are looking for 4 hours of large-breasted characters doing mundane things, poorly animated CG trains, 2 minutes of unfulfilling ecchi, half a dozen still-frames of action, and a small pamphlet's worth of information on trains, then Rail Wars! is the show for you. Otherwise, you should consider looking elsewhere.

In reality, trains are actually fascinating inventions with great enterprise and a means of transportation. But put that into anime form under the title ‘Rail Wars’ and you’ll get a pseudo-harem anime where you wonder what this show is really about. Is it really about trains? Sort of. Are the characters completely devoid of interest? Somewhat. Is this show memorable for what ultimately tried to achieve? Hell no.

Based on the light novel of the same name, Rail Wars apparently takes place in some alternate version of Japan. The only difference is that the setting involves a railway system that has yet to be privatized. ... Then, enter main protagonist Naoto Takayama, a big fan of trains who originally wanted to be a driver. Now the kid is part of the Fourth Guard Squad. What he doesn’t know is that he is also gaining a harem. I think at one point, one of the characters mentions “You're a lucky guy for being surrounded by cute girls, Takayama.”

The series’ story is almost laughable and for all the wrongs reasons. In fact, there is barely any plot to speak of and with what little it has often seems to make fun of itself. However, the series takes itself somewhat seriously rather than acting as a parody. The most evident problem involves the one dimensional plot with little agenda by pandering on the harem-esque trope. The main protagonist Naoto is the main butt monkey as he is labeled a pervert by the female protagonists. Panty shots are prevalent throughout the show and almost present in every episode. It seems that the goal of the series is try to get Naoto to succumb to his inner desires. However, being the persistent young healthy boy that he is, Naoto resists his lusts most of the time. Then again, the show tries to highlight the female characters to a point where it becomes preposterous.

Regarding most of the other characters, none of them really stand out. Forget characterization, the main focus on them seems to be their sex appeal and non-sensational personalities. The list includes the tsundere (Aoi), the beauty (Haruka), the mischief (Nana), the idol (Noa), the childhood friend (Mari) and the muscle head (Sho). Get the picture now? It’s sad to say but Naoto is perhaps the most normal protagonist. At the very core, he is a kind young man with a decent knowledge train models and types. He is neither a Gary Stu nor sidekick but plays the role of a leader on the team. One should realize that his motivations are often for the safety of the public as he puts others before himself. And from this, girls seems to fall head over heel for him where almost every main girl with a name isn’t safe. Other characters also play their roles with knowledge about the trains and machinations. Yet, the show does a sloppy job at exposition. The writing is lifeless despite the mechanics explained. No clever background stories. Instead, you get awfully timed scenarios including cliffhangers and predictable outcomes. Some episodes also makes little sense with saturated misunderstandings that will make you face palm.

Some people might also see this as an action flick. Perhaps the first episode highlights this bit with Aoi’s debut and her impressions. There’s some properly timed action scenes with firearms and fighting techniques. But really, that’s about it. If Michael Bay was to direct this series, maybe the show could be a bit appealing with jaw-breaking action scenes. However, the show only occasionally adapts this fashion as most of it is covered by its cliché-riddled ideas. The comedy also makes diehard attempt to make the audience laugh but fails with the usual shenanigans. As the show likes to take risks with trivia and facts, there are occasionally moments that can evoke interest. Some episodes have a thrillerish feeling such as stopping a terrorist bomb. However, the series tries far too hard when this ploy becomes the focus. Dialogues are also cheesy with less emphasis on the premise but more potential relationship developments. Unfortunately, Naoto is dense as a rock despite the obvious hints that the various girls drops throughout the show. Whether it’s genuine or not, Naoto’s love life is like a train-wreck as he isn’t committed about getting a girlfriend. Perhaps he is in love with trains…

Visuals wise, the show only has a few moments when you’ll have eyes glued to the screen. Unfortunately, those glorious moments are short lived by its poor timing. I’m not talking about the action scenarios but the overall execution tied in with the story. Similarly, characters sends a poor message with their professional attires. The girls wear short skirts while the guys lack appeal. Naoto’s face is what I would describe as the Average Joe; the plain guy. Also, expect tons of fan service whether it’s the inevitable beach episode or the lascivious camera angles. Perhaps the only other thing I can give praise to the artwork would be the technology as the backgrounds are solid. The trains doesn’t look very impressive but is faithful to the designs.

Soundtrack isn’t impressive but at the same time doesn’t kill the show completely. Character voice mannerism are dense with Naoto’s dull personality making little impact for interest. However, the girls does have a diversity of voice mannerisms. The most evident is Aoi and Haruka as they compete for their love. As result of this, expect nothing more than annoying chit chat. On the more technical side, background music and OST is sufficient enough to be acceptable. The biggest reward for perhaps every episode is the ED song for its delivery. It’s sad to say but the ED song alone dwarfs the story of this show with its recreational imagery. The OP song also has some catchy beats to accompany the premise.

By the time you finish reading this review, you’re probably thinking about refraining yourself to watch this show. And to be honest, that should be the right decision to take. This little harem-esque adventure is saturated with fan service, characterless framework, and a plot that jumps all over the place. There are times when one might wonder if the show is about trains at all. Sure, there are some info dumps and mechanics but this may all be quickly forgotten by the message the show is really trying to send. Instead of learning about trains, you’ll be distracted in the same way Naoto is with his lady friends. In retrospect, Rail Wars destroys itself by derailing the premise and leads it to become….a train wreck.

Ok, so another summer anime has just ended, so no more fucking around and just present my ratings for each of this anime's category:

Pathetic 1.

Story- there isn't any, in spite of what its genre states, each of this anime genre applies each one of the characters, also the plot where it's an alternate world where Japan's railway system isn't privatize and was treated by people who would like to privatize it, didn't really fan out, rather this anime's story plot was pretty random to say the least. Also, the title "Rail Wars" was simply too misleading since one would expect that there where two entities ... who would be battling to control Japan's public railway system, now if I were Takumi Toyoda (the one who wrote this anime/novel/manga) such scenario where two entities who were battling to control or buy Japan's National Railways, then such plot would have been great.


Mediocre 5.

Art- since it was pretty much your usual art which has some resemblance with "Chu-2."


Good 7.

Sound- the rating is for the closing theme that I like.

Dreadful 2.

Character- ok so there isn't any ecchi for them pierros to howl for, but since I'd said that this anime genre doesn't apply to the anime as a whole, rather it applies to each character, so let's start with some of the main characters:

Naoto Takayama- if we're talking about harem in this anime/manga, it would be him and it was pretty obvious as to why, though, he is a heroic guy who is very dedicated doesn't do much justice for him, co'z he still plays this very annoying character who doesn't know what to do with his harem. Also it was quite disappointing co'z everything was placed on him even-though some of the weight could have been shared with Sho. One reason why this category deserve a 2.

Aoi Sakurai - if we're talking about adventure and ecchi in this anime/manga, it would be her, since she serves as this bitch who can't seem to sit still and always wanting some action, also her figure is somewhat of every guys fantasy.

Haruka Kōmi - if we're talking about romance in this anime/manga it would be her since she does play this girl with brains but now brawn who is in love with Naoto and someone who is willing to be the martyr.

Shō Iwaizumi - if we're talking about action, you only need him, however I'm a bit disappointed that his more like a support than being one of the main characters, also, it's kind ironic that he wasn't given a share of the harem where his character has potential of having one, frankly his character was a waste which is another reason why I gave this category a 2.


Nana Iida, Mari Sasshō, Hitomi Gonō and Noa Kashima- well....they are the slice of life.

You know, I would never understand this anime/manga/ novel writer Takumi Toyoda as to why he still stick to the notion that teen boppers would do the job of grown ups, in fact I hate the idea that them character are still in high school working a kind of job that an adult would do, perhaps it won't matter if this anime has an additional seinen genre, co'z the character here should be young adults ( probably somewhere between 19 - 22) instead of high-schooler, which is the main reason why I give this category a 2.


Fair 6.

Enjoyment- Ok, so I admit, this anime did entertained me up to episode 11 and episode 12 is a disappointment.


Poor 3.

Overall- the poor usuage of the characters where they should be young adults instead of high-schooler, the plotless story that seemingly pretty random would prove to be a poor combination, so I really can't blame those majority who have made a review before me that gave this anime a low score. Besides, it really does deserve a low score, also, the anime itself was more like a documentary of Japan's Train history than anything else, beside who gives a shit about those trains? In my opinion such informative documentary should've been saved for the "Discovery Channel" or the "History Channel," and not in this anime/ manga.


Btw, here is a train joke, How does a train conductor drink beer and fart?

Ans: They Chung-aa, Chung-aa afterwards they Proot! Proooooot!!!!!!

The title should be called "Oppai Wars".

STORY (2):

The story takes place in a nationalized railway system in Japan that was not privatized. Naoto Takayama and the gang are trained to become securities by doing physical training and learning how to operate trains.

In going to see this anime, I have no expectations because from the first 3 episodes, they show us fanservice like skirt blown by the wind to reveal panties, man accidentally landing on a woman with his hands grabbing her boobs. If I see another of such thing happening, I would snap.

Basically my expectations will be determined by the trailer and the first few ... episodes. The anime studio Passione hasn't been making any good anime, so far from what I have researched, Passione made the anime "Haitai Nanafa" which was not well received so I thought that Passione might stand out from the crowd but sadly this wasn't the case with this anime.

This anime was directed by Yoshifumi Sueda who hasn't worked on any anime so I assume it is his first directorial job on an anime with a big name.

Let me explain how this show goes about.

10% trains and

90% fanservice

This anime is supposed to be about trains. However, this anime focuses more on the fanservice and it bothers me the most. The comedy was weak, there wasn't any memorable moments in this anime. Even the action was predictable. An action is supposed to build tension however with bland characters and a bland story, it just comes off as boring and predictable.

The scene where the gang have to protect the prince was the most boring and predictable scene I have seen in this anime. Reusing the peeping tom cliché.

ART (3):

The animation as I thought was dull and cheap. But at least the characters are decently drawn. The problem with the animation is that there is inconsistency like in one scene, they wear gloves while in other scene, they don't wear gloves.

SOUND (3):

The opening and ending songs were forgettable. The in-music when they use action was like detective songs used in the 1970s.

CHARACTER (2):

How are the characters? Let's find out. The characters range from bland to annoying.

Naoto Takayama: HAHA! Oh boy I can't stop laughing. Anyway his character is so generic and bland. He couldn't defend himself. The only thing I remembered is that his character resembles like Mark Wahlberg from the Happening by saying "What? No! I didn't". And for a minute I laughed.

Sakurai Aoi: She may be badass but she is mean to Naoto just because of one mishap. She is just annoying and obnoxious. I never felt a connection between Sakurai and Takayama because they never established that in the first few episodes.

Haruka Koumi: What can I say? She may have better grades but she is defenseless and have no personality other than to arouse Naoto Takayama.

Shou Iwaizumi: At least he is badass and decent. It is sad that he has not enough screen time compared to the others.

The rest of the characters are bland and forgettable.

CONCLUSION (2):

I will just sum up like this.

Hollow characters + Forced fanservice = Rail Wars

That's all I have to say. I already expected this anime to be terrible from the beginning. It's a 2/10.

The show should have these characters' license revoked before this anime started.

DIRTY RAIL WARS REVIEW:

MINDSET:
HAREM. ENOUGH SAID.

SYNOPSIS:
After that holy shift opening, Generic Harem Lead has the natural ability to lead all of the chicks to fall in love in him like some sort Whores Masturbator because of his good heart while its completely bounded by Your ordinary Harem ending, like, why can't it should've been a Hentai in the first place with the whole group banging each other excluding his one male friend? And the reason why this review exists? F**king Holden and its all about trains. Obvious Fact.

REVIEW:
Hearing the word Harem, I pretty much see mass clones of the same thing over and over again, ... of course, there are those who put a bit more effort into the writing such as Oreshura's Misuzu, Shuffle, just play it up in a completely different perspective (deconstruction) like School Days, or the most enjoyable of all those types of Harem... Harem Hentai obviously, since I give it a wooden medal for the best consistency.

And if You really hate Harems, and You know this repeated trend very well and are pretty much not willing to watch any at the moment, then You can predict my entire review, and leave some positive feed back that I didn’t waste precious minutes of Your life span. Go off, shoo, so You can other things in life such as baking a self-detonating cake or something.

So if You really want to know, yes, all characters are a complete one dimensional stereotypical Archetpye who simply blorb out an Otaku's fantasy. Like the useless whore, the tsundere, the quiet girl, the forever alone comic relief, the unseen father etc. So there is noting much to talk about in those realms either.... Unless if You think these are actual complex characters (in that case I'll shoot you for taking those drugs) and You know, the development is very minimal to none, so all what You'll remember from the girl team were there cute faces and boob proportions. No, there zero characters who are worthy enough to be in this review.

Sure Harems have the horrible tendency to mass clone themselves especially that where in the 2010's, but something that I do kind of appreciate at what so many of these Harem are doing (and what there actually best at) is there surprisingly good consistency. You see, the show knows what it wants to be, and really sticks to it without derailing. Do You wannabe see softcore porn? Check! Would You like to see a bunch of girls? Check! Are the boob jokes finally making You laugh? Check! Sure its easy to write those kinds of stories, but considering the material the writers have to work with and how its supposed to be portrayed, then You can see why it should deserve some redeeming bronze just for that. This one is just no exception, except You know, it has trains! And Its like trying to make its some sort of marketing scheme to mix Thomas the Tank engine look more BA with he's new pimping design, and how a lot chicks ride on that long, long travelling rod of his...

However such one good trait ricochets back like too many other harems, and that’s because it is very, very, VERY boring to watch the same thing over and over again. There is also a lack of story or any interesting character to appeal the audience, sure it would be OK if it really was just a bunch of people doing “Stuff” and there is actually nothing profoundly or noticeably wrong with rail wars because it achieved what it was trying to do ever since the first episode.

What is there to say about the Animation? All what I remember were a bunch boobs and panty shots. Its budget is clearly mediocre, and the colours are bright. Animation is very consistent.

If there is anything I would clap at the music, it would be the OP and ED song making the whole show sound (not look) like a cool action show that I would give a higher score for.

LEGACY:
You watch it, You forget it like any Harem that was cloned. It makes a good tactic for killing time, or to simply use it as some sort of video material. People watch it, they forget it....

SCORES:
4/10 – Very Self-Aware, but very boring. There’s not even an “Actual Plot” in harems.
4/10 – ARCHETYPES.
5/10 – Mediocre Budgeted Animation
6/10 – Cool OP and ED bro.
3/10 – This show lacks any value or entertainment, since I gotten bored of the Harem formula ages ago.

FINALE: 4/10.... maybe that was too kind, but whatever.

Ah, Rail Wars.... The trainwreck of this summer!

Okay, sorry, everybody already heard that pun but I just had to use it here. Now that this is out of the way, I think that I should start with my real review.

First of all, I think that I should mention that I'm quite interested in trains, so I actually had high hopes after I heard the title and the premise of this series. Sadly, all my hopes were crushed after the third episode.

Story: 2/10
If I'm really honest, this show is nothing for people who are interested in good stories. It's not even really good for people who ... are solely interested in “plot”, given that even the “plot” was ridiculously bad. Obviously the story consists mostly (at least 90%) of “cabooses”, which is why my rating has become so low, since I've obviously been expecting something different. If you read the synopsis of this show here on MAL, you can read something about an extremist group called “RJ” plotting to privatize the railways. My sole question is: where are the extremists?? Throughout the show there were some people who tried to attack the railways, or an idol who promoted the Japanese Railways, but the extremists were never mentioned as such. This is the first out of a lot of disappointments.
Besides, even the little elements of story in this series (which had basically the length of one episode), were quite unrealistic as well. As a railway fan, I really must emphasize on the lack of realism in quite a few episodes. Given that all the characters were 17 years old and had neither a license for guns nor a train driver license... Why in the name of hell were they allowed to carry guns with them?
As well some of the characters acted in a quite imbecile way. By all means of respect... Who on earth would be paranoid enough in order to believe in assassinating cats?

Art: 2/10
Ah, the animation of Rail Wars!... That's where the true trainwreck starts.
First of all – I really do feel sorry for the animation studio (Passione), given that this was their first bigger project. Still, it is really mentionable that the amount of animation errors is so high that it's almost ridiculous. I won't point out all the errors one by one, you should check for yourself how inconstant the animation of the series is.
And even the size of the cabooses (which were probably important for the producers) changed during(!) all episodes.
There's nothing more to comment here, let's just say that the animation is one of the worse parts of this show.

Sound: 4/10
To be honest, the OP and the ED were fairly nice, in particular the rather funky ED somehow fit the show. Still, they're not outstanding in any particular way. As well the voice actors were in general acceptable, even though all the other sound effects were rather dull.

Character: 2/10
I'm pretty sure that I've never seen as many cliches used in an anime as here.
First of all, we've got Takayama, our stereotypical, dull and boring MC. Maybe it's because he is as dull and stupid as I used to be, but according to me he is one of the most boring and hateful harem leads ever. His sheer denseness is outstanding even in comparison to other harem leads.
Then we have Aoi. Your generic redhead-tsundere. My opinion about Aoi probably isn't really neutral (because of my rather negative stance against that character type), but I still consider her one of the worse tsunderes, given how bluntly she tries to ruin a lot of things, in particular during the earlier episodes of this series.
The next mentionable character is Haruka, who is at least a little more interesting because of the little yandere-side of her character. Still, she can be also seen as a quite dull character.
And the last (but definitely not the least) character of the “Fourth Vigilance Squad” is Iwaizumi, the only character I liked at least a bit, simply because he usually tries to do something productive. Still, his appearances are way too seldom throughout the whole series.
All the other characters of Takayama's harem aren't outstanding as well, so there's nothing special to brag about either.

Enjoyment: 1.5/10
As a railway fan, I really had my hopes high for this show. Perhaps that's why my rating is so harsh, but I just cannot ignore the sheer amount of logical errors throughout the whole series (as mentioned above): Simply because of this very fact I wasn't able to enjoy this show at all. Seriously though, 17 year-olds carrying guns (and trying to kill each other with them because of a misunderstanding), running away from cats and being officially allowed to drive a train without a license? That's surely not what I did expect from this show.

Overall: 3/10
Obviously my expectations for this show were far too high. But even when I try to look on this show from a different angle, I can only see a dull, boring ecchi harem show with nothing particular to remember.


tl;dr this show is good for you if you are interested into cabooses whose size changes minutely, otherwise you should turn away.

I wanted trains. Because I like trains a lot. I'm a huge nerd who wastes their time reading train schedules and learning about engines. So, I wanted to see trains. I got fanservice. I like hot girls, not gonna lie. But I dislike animes without plot. This anime didn't have plot.

My geeky needs are not met and I will cry.

The opening was very nice though. I liked that

Rail Wars is quite the bizarre series indeed. Anyone who actually bothers to research something would have understood that this series was going to have harem influence and the lead designers of the characters, same as the one who handled Witchblade, should also have told most people that a focus on T&A would be fundamental.

Where things really came out of the left field though was execution. From what I hear, the light novels are significantly more action packed and actually...relevant to the plot. Apparently there was a bit of an argument between the anime director and the novelist and as such the anime is nothing ... like the novels, or so I've heard.

This makes a great deal of sense though because this anime has no point to it. It's not quite a harem comedy, because there really is not THAT much fanservice and quite a few episodes put humor on the backburner. It's setup to be about a different way of thinking of railway management, and about some kind of war against terrorism on trains or something along those lines. The title and first episode both imply such. This all but gets dropped completely though, so much so that sometimes I wondered if I was just watching a series of OVAs and actually missing out on the real series.

Seriously episodes are just random action movie cliches mixed in with some ecchi elements. This wouldn't be so bad if the series had a budget of any real kind, but instead frames look terribly half-assed, with often times wonky proportions and faces, and even worse: there's little attention to detail. Pay close attention to any episode and you will see what I mean. The designers straight up ignore or forget about basic levels of space and realism. A character could be sitting on one side of a table next to Aoi, and then in the next frame be on the other side of the table or standing up, all during a steady consistent conversation. Trains can sometimes be not much taller than a human in one scene, and then so huge it would take multiple people standing on one another to reach its top in another scene. This sense of QUALITY was actually probably the funniest thing about the show.

As far as the sound score goes, it's got a good set of voice actors and I actually quite enjoyed the soundtrack. The OP and ED are both catchy and there's a few songs in particular that play during episodes that I found upbeat and enjoyable. The character designs are also great. I never thought I would find outfits like the ones they wear as appealing as I do now, though them being unrealistically tight helps for sure. The faces and base designs are excellent, but as I said the actual low budget and lack of well drawn frames somewhat ruins the potential of these designs.

What's truly strange about Rail Wars is how enjoyable it actually is though. Despite basically being bad objectively in nearly every single way, I always found myself coming back for more and it was a consistently enjoyable series throughout. It's the kind of show you watch weekly without much expectation; you just kick back, relax, and enjoy the ride. When the show did try to take itself a bit more seriously and focus on trains, it was both informative, interesting, and sometimes quite exciting. As a whole the series seemed to start to better understand the direction it wanted to take toward the end, so it's a huge shame that most of it felt like filler OVAs. That and the low budget kind of spoils scenes that could be downright incredible in say an anime film.

The cast is also a bit baffling. Aoi, the main girl, is a tsundere that had she not had beautiful red hair and a huge ass, would be extremely unlikable. Simply put, she's a terrible person. She's violent, irrational, prone to illogical and sporadic actions, and belittles the protagonist for little reason. As a self proclaimed hater of men, she runs around asserting herself in ways that are laughably stupid. It's as though the writers tried so hard to make an alpha female that they ruined any sense of realism that could have been here. In her extremely tight skirt and stockings she manages to do superhuman motions and actions to take out thugs on a daily basis. It's an anime and not one that takes itself super seriously so I can forgive such things, but things like this also ruin any sense of suspense or realism that she show was trying to go for. I can't have someone explaining to me how cool reallife trains are and how dangerous terrorists are just to have an arrogant and rude red-headed girl run around soloing waves of people without taking a scratch. There are even scenes of her purposefully making things harder for her friends. She really is the weakest link to the show.

There is also Iwaizumi. If I got his name wrong, it should be obvious why. This is the token harem protagonist's friend. He's a happy-go-lucky active dude who seems to have little real sexual drive and as such can just run around laughing, smiling, and eating food. There are episodes where he is just straightup not in it, as though the writers actually forgot he existed. He gets no real time to shine especially because his one gimmick, his strength, is outmatched by Aoi who also shares this gimmick. He's not unlikable, but he's also not all that likable just because he has little real presence. It's a shame too because as the only other guy in the series he is pretty important to balance the cringe worthy harem elements the show throws around.

The protagonist is actually pretty likable. Usually we all hate these beta harem protagonists, but this one has his motivations and facts straight. He loves trains and dreams of being a conductor. He works hard at his job, is pretty easy going, and has a big heart. I can see actual reason why the girls around him take a liking to him and he's consistently nice to everyone around him, without really being all that naive, except of course when it comes to the feelings people have for him. He's stupidly naive to such things and it comes across as awful writing too. Multiple times in the series the cast of women will actually fight over him verbally...right in front of him. How dense can you be? It always leads to nothing too. He might blush or shrug, but that's it. It's such shitty writing that it makes you want to facepalm.

Literally every girl in the series seems to fawn over this man within minutes too. There could have been such better ways to go about this.

All in all the concept of this series was wonderful and deserved a hell of a lot better treatment than what we got. All Rail Wars made me want to do was brush up on my Japanese and give the novels a try, because the anime sure did fail to live up to its base premise.

Rail Wars! A show about trains! Or not.

I found Rail Wars through a gif of a model train running into a woman's breasts. No joke. And if I had to describe Rail Wars, that's the gist of what I would say. Rail Wars is, pun intended, a train wreck, with a ton of boobs (and butt and legs).

Overall: 2

Rail Wars! is bad. The only things decent about the anime is art and sound, and neither are all that great. Characters are just 2D cardboard cutouts. There was no creativity in story. While the short arc formula worked for the anime, it didn't help it. Rail ... Wars! is not interesting, cool, or funny. There is no way I could recommend this anime to anyone.

Story: 3

Rail Wars!, on the surface, is an anime about a boy who loves trains, and wants to be an engineer. Simple enough. But then once you get into the story, there is hardly any train driving. What a shame. To make it worse, he's thrown into a job in security for Japanese National Railways, the public train system in Japan. To make it even worse, nearly every character introduced is a hot girl.

There's the problem. Rail Wars is an ecchi harem anime, intermingled with trains. The story is a jumbled mess. A wannabe engineer in a security job, who practically turns all of JNR into his harem, with side plots that are never dealt with. Again, just a train wreck.

Art: 7

Probably where RW! excels the most, but even then, it's not fantastic. Thankfully, there are a lot of trains in Rail Wars! (who'd've thunk it?). The scenes with the trains actually driving are really well animated. I mean, watching the way the wheels just... wheel... just cool. I don't know how accurate it all is, but it looks right to me!

Outside of the trains, however, art isn't that great. While the fight scenes are cool, there isn't anything special about the animation. I noticed, especially later in the anime, lots of mistakes in animation. Mouths not moving when a character talks, characters looking 'melty'.

Sound: 7

Train sounds are pretty good, I guess. They sound very trainy.

OP and ED are both really cool, a little too cool for Rail Wars! if you ask me. But nevertheless, they're very well done songs.

Character: 2

In Rail Wars!, either you're the MC, you're in love with him, or you just don't matter. Not to mention, all of the characters are blatant and bland archetypes. An oblivious male lead, a large-breasted gentle lady that he doesn't remember, a tsundere who likes to hit people, and the aniki cool strong guy. Others include: Childhood friend, superfamous idol, semi-airhead, and cold, distant team leader.

Not to mention there is no major character development, and they ignore Iwaizumi, the aforementioned aniki, unless his brute strength is needed. I mean, they even address that he's completely ignored in the anime...

Enjoyment: 2

I did not like Rail Wars. It was boring, unfunny, and lame. There was no hook, nothing to keep me watching, not sure how I even managed to finish it.

I was very excited when this anime was first announced, however I was very much let down by what I was expecting to be a seriously informative and respectful anime. Because this is the first anime that I've given a lower score to, I wanted to write a review as to why. So with that being said, here's my very first short and simple review on MAL.

First off, one of the major things that turned me away was the characters and the sheer amount of "fanservice". You never really get to know the characters, they're just supposed to be taken as is with their personalities. ... Fanservice, please don't get me wrong, is great when it's utilized in moderation and in animes that you want to watch for those things. Not so much in an anime about trains.

I'm not really a big train fangirl, but I thought it would be cool to learn about trains and especially in the fictional world this anime creates with its non-privatized railway system. That part really got me excited when I first heard about it. However, it hardly, if ever, went into much detail about the actual railway system and non-privatization. Which was to say fairly disappointing.

Story (2/10):
You mean there's a story? I'm kidding. The premise for the plot is promising, but the actual story is stagnant. There's no progress at all, and it's just similar situations after one another with a cliche love triangle (pentagon??).

Art (4/10):
Despite the many many many animation errors, I couldn't really complain about the art. They did their best, but it wasn't stunning in any way. The OP animation kinda looked weird for me, but that may be me.

Sound (7/10):
Saved by the sound. I thought the OP and ED were pretty nice actually. Plus the BGM in some scenes really were appropriate and good. Nothing superb, but I liked it to say the least.

Character (5/10):
Eh. Eh. Eh. Most of the characters seemed to just be there simply for the sake of creating situations and fanservice. There was hardly any depth to them and I felt like they weren't very memorable since the only things I can really remember is whenever Takayama accidentally touched their breasts (countless times). However for some characters, you can tell a lot went into them, such as Takayama and Iida. They made the anime a bit more tolerable and it seemed they drove the story forward.

Enjoyment (5/10):
Well, it was good enough for me to get through all 12 episodes, so I can't necessarily say I hated it. It was worth trying out despite everything. All in all, it has it's good moments, but in the end it was really missing something vital for me to actually enjoy it.

Random train station fluff. There were flickers of quality once in a while.

I think it is a good pick if you're a young adolescent and you get excited by dumb fan service. I was once that, it is only a part of growth. I think 12 y.o. me would've been A-OK with this anime, and not for the story (there is no story).

If you're anyone else -- eh. It's almost watchable, but there's no real reason to hop on board. Unless you're just in the mood to watch generic anime stuff happen on a train station, I wouldn't choo choo choose Rail Wars for ... you, one might say.

It might benefit from the 4 A.M. Technique, where you watch a show that doesn't require thinking at 4 A.M. and somehow enjoy it more due to your delirious state. So, maybe try that.

i'll get to the point.. this bores me to the bones.. really regret that i tried finishing til last episode hoping for a light.. even if you are a train fan, you're better off google-ing infos..
Action? - unarmed teenagers beating up pros with a puch or a kick.. zzz
Ecchi? - "foot slip" that ending up in an ecchi event are cute.. But there are countless in here that made you think "how stupid can this get?"
Trains? yeah Trivial info name, engine, location, nothing more..
There are so many event that make you say "Why do that? When he/she could've do this?"
i cant even think of a ... genre for this anime..

When I first heard of "Rail Wars" I thought of an interesting anime full of action and a good plot but it was totally different. There's barely action and good moments to enjoy and remember.

The story is about a high school boy called Naoto Takayama who wants to drive trains, but before he gets inside an engine he must pass a training along other characters. The training is in the security team helping people and watching thiefs.

The training makes sense but as the story advances less and less action we see and the dull situations are more present. Naoto is clumsy and he shows ... no sign to be getting better, his friends are as boring as him, especially Aoi Sakurai whom is a happy-trigger and never tells Naoto of her feelings for him.

The only good momento of the show is when the group has to take a tissue to the city, for an emergency situation aboard an old maintenance wagon, on their way to the city they'll have a lot of technical problems. After 6 episodes I had to leave this because I was tired of watching nothing. But if you want to see good train designs and a lot of fanservice this is your anime.

I'm gonna keep this short, If you can handle none realistic scenarios and just plain stupid issues and solutions the the problems then you might actually enjoy this anime. Let me give an example... A breaker keeps tripping in one of the episodes so there solution is to hold it in the on position... WHAT!!! Do they not know how a breaker works? And if you don't, holding the breaker in the on position will do nothing, the breaker will still trip even though its stuck in the on position. This is constant, you will face palm at least 5 times an episode with the ... flat out ignorance displayed by all the characters. But i digress, I know some people don,t mind this kind of thing so hopefully they can enjoy the show for what it is, which is an ecchi harem.