Rail Wars 04-05 [NSFW]
Those aren’t pillows, Naoto (at least he’s not outright grabbing some, tho)
Well, two weeks ago we all complained about the pretty terrible production values of Rail Wars, while still being interested in the show, which I thought was a pretty good sign. So after a couple more episodes, what’s been going on? BTW, the NSFW tag is just in case, you might not think it is, but better safe than sorry.
Getting The Beach Episode Out Of The Way Early
Naoto’s Angels
All the way up in Episode 4. And I have to say that after being pretty iffy in those first 3 episodes, it seems like Passione has pulled up their game and gotten rid of the glaring continuity errors and poor attention to detail. Of course, maybe some of that is that it’s easier to not have continuity issues when half the cast spends half the episode topless. Episode 4 features Minori Chihara as an idol – Nao Kashima – who is performing the opening for a JNR publicity campaign featuring her for the year. So we get a field trip for D4 to the beach, where to fit in they’re wearing swimsuits. That’s when they finally get to putting the swimsuits on, since this episode featured a lot of talking about stuff in the dressing room between putting taking clothes off and putting swimsuits on.
I give them credit: they got “Bra Taking Off Physics” right with Aoi
As for the plot, it wasn’t amazingly well-developed., although it was a bit topical. Crazy fan for Nao decides that he’s going to kill her, so D4 has to protect her. And of course he makes his move right in the middle of the presentation on stage. This gives Naoto the chance to be a big hero because even though you’ve got trigger-happy Aoi and big dumb and athletic Shou, Naoto’s the guy who always saves the day, leaving the others to clean up. So this time, he protects Nao from the guy, and of course gains another remote girl in his harem. Even after following her into the girl’s changing room, grabbing some panties, and ticking Nao off by saying she shouldn’t perform.
I liked Minori Chihara’s singing in this one, much as I like the OP song for the show. Generally I think she does a lot better with out and out rock, which the insert song was. And the skit they faked the attack into worked out pretty well, even if it was pretty by-the book. I do think it was awfully convenient for Iida-san to be in the presentation thing, but they did make Noa the Captain of the Defense Force For A Day.
Bonus Iida-san
More Development for Aoi
“I want to punch you so much!”
Episode 5 gets back to focusing on Naoto and Aoi. Or maybe it’s more correct that episode 5 got back to focusing on Aoi’s ass after an episode with a lot of boobs in #4. It didn’t forget about the boobs tho, starting right off with a boob derailment of Naoto’s toy train, and Iida’s talking about her new bra. But back to Naoto and Aoi. It’s pretty obvious they’re trying to have the two of them meet in the middle, although the middle they want is a lot closer to Naoto’s “pacifist” tendencies than Aoi’s Rambo tendencies. Conveniently (perhaps the best way to describe this whole show is that everything happens tremendously “conveniently” for the plot), those two encounter the designated bad guy of the episode, an accomplice of the bomber in Episode 2. This gets them started on a long chase out to the wilds of the national rail network.
What show did you think this was?
Of course there’s the usual difference in philosophy between Aoi and Naoto in apprehending the criminal, and a long pointless foot chase where Aoi loses the guy, only to find him the next morning (because he’s definitely going to hang around when he knows he’s been made by the fuzz). And because Naoto’s such a good guy (and also because Aoi wants to impress him for whatever reason), his method wins out, and she uses her marksmanship for good, not killing, saving them from being hit by the train (why didn’t they just move off the track?) and the train from falling in to the blast hole.
Are you supporting her arms, or grabbing her butt?
I find I use things like “conveniently” and “of course” in the descriptions of this show a lot. And it’s a little disappointing to realize this, because as it was last post, the show is generally enjoyable and interesting. It’s a lot like an 80’s crime drama, albeit with more focus on girls boobs and butts. But again, that’s to be expected from a show by Masahi Suzuki. It’s really good that Passione has gotten more on the ball about the show’s particulars, because it’s a lot easier to stay engrossed in the show without the niggling continuity and production errors. In fact, in viewing the show again for this post, I really didn’t see any obvious errors besides Naoto changing from grabbing Aoi’s butt to not grabbing it at the end of episode 5. Hopefully that’s a good omen for the future. I’d definitely like to see more development of Naoto, not just of the girls. It would be good if he could get to a spot where he’s not just freaked out every time he sees a girl in her bra or panties, and it was good the time that Iida quieted him so that he didn’t disturb Noa and her manager’s conversation. If it’s going to happen so much in this show, it’d be better if it wasn’t as big a deal to him.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
[NSFW] is a big sign called CLICK ME! MUST VIEW AT WORK! 😛
Speaking of which… what happened to the MetaFap?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
It’s on hiatus due to a lack of appropriate content. I mean, a show like this would probably fit in, but what else this season would? Maybe Blade Dance, but nobody wants to cover that.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I agree with the seirei tsukai feel. The last episode left me on the verge of dropping it if not for the promise of more Scarlet. Note the correlation of the lack of Akaneko and the crappiness of the episode.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I tried to get myself interested in it, but the only thing I could come up with was stunt blogging. Basically, putting screen shots of other generic shows in and talking about them instead; only to tie it all into Blade Dance during Final Thoughts. Ah, well, I’ll give it a midway and final review…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
For all it’s “perks”, we have a fun show here. I do rather like how they are odd-coupling Nao and Aoi, as it has some quirks that are much more fun to work out than just a straight up couple.
OMG. That shot! Wrrrrry! Convenient set-up…
And…do you think I would ever have my own boobs and ass show to write about? Probably not!
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Love Stage, pls.
POWUH: 800-899 and Flying Sage with 856 comments
Epsidode 5 crossed over the line for me. The plot is getting dumber and dumber, when I thought it might turn out to have some sort of story worth telling.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I don’t know if it’s the kind of show I’d expect to have a main story arc besides “Naoto gets a harem”. I was actually surprised they had any continuity between the bomber in the 2nd episode and the 5th episode.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Wait, I thought this show was about trains? At least if you want harem, do it INSIDE the train(s).
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
But they do. Aoi and Naoto spent pretty much the whole episode inside a train or a station.
And actually, Rail Wars! has had more trains and train content than Glasslip has had glass blowing or Hanayamata has has yosakoi…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…hardly fair comparisons…lots more rolling stock than there is the others…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I think it’s an apt comparison, especially if you include the yosakoi shop parts in Hanayamata. A much greater amount of show attention has been given to trains (although I don’t know if they’re fake trains or not) in Rail Wars, especially technical and operational details, than the ‘subjects’ of those other shows have gotten. And I’m just talking about when they’re talking about and showing trains as background info, not all the times that they’re *on* a train chasing bad guys, or at the platform chasing bad guys, or in the train heading to work.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Takayama and Sakurai are growing closer as a team and they’re gradually beginning to accept each other’s differences though I really wish he wasn’t such a pacifist. Not everything is going to be solved just like that. Action needs to be taken sometimes.