Rail Romanesque

dlxuniuniu★ 6

“I like trains” Got bad grades? I like trains! Awkward date? I like trains! (you know the music and the song!) Trains! Without trains, we would all have big problems. There are so many kinds of them, and we use it every day. So why not make an anime with cute girls being Raillords ("humanoid control modules") for different kind of trains? The idea behind it is certainly good, but unfortunately it was not implemented ideally. STORY: The general setting takes place in Hinomoto, where our main character Suzushiro and her stepsister Hibiki set out to search for Hachiroku's lost locomotive. She unintentionally awakened the Raillord Hachiroku and with this actionbecoming her owner. Now they are on a journey looking for her locomotive. That's basically the whole story...such a locomotive doesn't usually go missing on its own but where could it be? They travel around and meet other Raillords, together they come up with some business merch ideas for different occasions. The structure of each episode is similar and the plot isn’t that much. CHRACTERS: Due to the short duration of each episode, there is not much to say about the characters. Everyone has a different personality, our main character Suzushiro is known for her eloquence and adaptability. She is a calm girl. Anyway, they are all quite friendly and nice to each another. We also see from time to time how much they love and cuddle each other. Real trains “cuddling” would be inconvenient and problematic, but this kind of “locomotive cuddling” is noice to see! ART: The girls are shown cute, even if you can directly tell there are places that could be improved regarding the animation. The locomotive and trains are shown very well. SOUND: After each episode we get to hear an ending song. It's not a song that makes you hooked for days. The music and melody sound happy and everyone have fun together while the song is being played. That's the most important thing! ENJOYMENT: Although I was less interested in the facts about trains and locomotives, I found this series amusing. Our "train girls" are just too cute. For a short series in between, this anime is suitable for everyone if you are a fan of the CGDCT genre. For people who are dieing for different types of locomotives and trains, this is almost a MUST watch. You cannot find such a combination somewhere else. A second season for this was announced ahead of the ending of the first season already (after episode 11). There are certain series where we urgently need a second season, but our train journey will continue. Finally, there is at least one more reason to say: "I LIKE TRAINS"

IrrelevantGuy★ 5

As a person who isn't familiar with Maitetsu whatsoever, I didn't think I would enjoy Rail Romanesque. But surprisingly, I kinda did. To put some context to it, Rail Romanesque is apparently a short spin-off to the fairly acclaimed visual novel Maitetsu. But one thing should be made clear: I don't think having prior experience of Maitetsu is needed to watch or enjoy this short. And that is coming from a person who knows almost nothing about the original visual novel but still enjoyed it. The plot of Rail Romanesque is very bland. Simply put, it's about a bunch of "Raillords" (or "cute train-girls", if you will)trying to come up with ideas to make the railways more advanced and popular among the tourists. As you can see, there's not really a proper story here, and the characters aren't great either. Besides, considering the entire anime is around only 40 minutes long, any kind of character development is almost nonexistent. Even on the production side, Rail Romanesque is quite mediocre. The character designs are quite decent, but the visuals are rather ordinary. While the ending songs aren't bad and the voice is acting is actually decent, the background music mostly consists of generic cheerful tunes that are easily forgettable. So, if everything about Rail Romanesque is so unimpressive, why should you watch it? Well.... Because it's pretty wholesome. Despite its simplicity and mediocrity, Rail Romanesque kept me entertained for the entirety of its span because of how cute it was. The characters of the anime, despite being very generic, are honestly entertaining. Watching them do cute things together is pretty fun. There are occasional Shoujo Ai moments as well, that will probably warm your heart. I'm very disappointed that this anime is so short, though, as I actually would like to watch a full-length TV version of it. Rail Romanesque is nowhere near being remarkable, but I would say it's worth a try nonetheless. Everything about it is very cute and adorable. You may even learn a thing or two about trains after watching it. It's only around 40 minutes long, too. Also, if you are into train-girls for some reason, it has plenty of them.