Rail Wars 10-11

She made him turn around and not peek to take off her stockings, but then lets him do this?

Final story arc for Rail Wars! this season, even if it’s not the end of the series yet. So how did they handle the “prince”?

 

Old Friends and New Harem Members

Haruka has to make sure Naoto knows the prince means nothing to her

So the noob defense unit gets assigned to the special detail to guard Prince Bernina from Atela (I could put prince in quotes throughout this post, but that would get tiring). Of course, he wants to ride some special train, and they can’t manage to keep the rest of the world off this train. And I called them noobs, but at this point, D4 probably has as much experience guarding special people as anyone else, after dealing with the guy who came after Noa. And they’ve got an in with the prince, because he was a classmate of Haruka’s when they both were in England. Haruka has to make it clear to Naoto that they were just classmates, tho, and that the prince totally didn’t mean anything to her. I mean, she wouldn’t want Naoto to get the wrong idea about how dedicated she is to him, would she?

The Prince’s Panties (a nice silly song)

I think the least surprising part of this story arc was the revelation that the prince was a girl. I mean, that’s what we expect out of this show (and she even told him not to peep). And of course to have Naoto find out in the most revealing way possible is in keeping with how the show usually goes. Ultimately it doesn’t make much of a difference in the way the show goes, except that now we know that Naoto’s going to have another harem member, this one who shares his love of trains. And they helpfully told us indirectly that Bernina is the same age as Naoto, even though she looks quite a bit younger. But unlike with Noa, they didn’t really overdo the “I love Naoto” stuff at the end of episode 11.

Once again, Naoto ends up with a naked girl

Wiping Out the Whole Royal Family

Aoi makes it just in time for a hug

I actually thought the action in this arc was some of the best that they’ve had. There seemed to be fewer plot holes and more realistic fighting. And the attack on the prince’s family by someone who’s at least the sixth in line to the throne was a somewhat believable plot. These guys even had a well-thought out plan: distract the defense force while you make off with the prince. Of course, we still had Iwaizumi taking on more guys than he should be able to, but that’s his job, right? We also had the strategic holdback of Sakurai, who managed to show up just when needed, even though she could have told them that she’d gotten on the train at the last stop. And the setup for the final twist, rescuing Haruka who had been kidnapped instead, actually used a good return plot in having Naoto dress up as the prince.

Of course they stopped to pick up everyone else…

The action worked out pretty well too, with the retaking of the train engines, but finding out that they were damaged beyond control. There was a little bit of stormtrooper shooting, with guys with automatic weapons unable to hit someone walking down the narrow walkway outside of a diesel engine, but apart from that, there wasn’t much to roll your eyes at. Even the finish, having the Black Bear engines of the Special Response team slow the engines down from in front, was believable, at least more believable than having it crash somewhere like they’ve done with seemingly everything else.

I think this was definitely a step up for Rail Wars! over the previous arcs. Focusing a bit less on the harem and a bit more on the action over these two episodes paid off, as well as having a much more complete plot. They got a little bit of harem-y stuff in, with Haruka reminding Naoto that he’s the only one for her, a new harem member in the “prince” and Aoi almost having a last moment confession to Naoto. Of course, he won’t get it, but I think she’s getting closer to being up front with him. Not that it’ll happen in this series, but at least there’s progress being made. One more episode of the show to go, and this time it’s Iida in the spotlight, although I think it’d take a lot for her to stop being in love with Hitomi and fall for Naoto.