X Densha de Ikou

Ignore the negative reception completely; this OVA is amazing. It's not "deep" or "high art for the elite" or any of those other pretentious descriptors, but it's a very inventive, experimental, stylish, spooky, funny and above all else mind-bendingly fun horror-comedy. As far as I'm concerned, everything is perfect - it's conceptually sort of (I say "sort of" because it's always hard to simplify something extremely unique) like the kind of vague, unexplained short horror stories Edgar Allan Poe wrote, if made in the 80s, mixed with a ton of animated comedy and sci-fi elements. Don't worry, though. It's not generic anime comedy.

All the plot ... and lore explanations that left viewers confused would've absolutely destroyed the willfully mysterious structure of the work (compare to Poe's similarly mysterious and inconclusive "Manuscript Found in a Bottle", "The Masque of the Red Death" and others). The plot is solid and gets you interested completely in the strange premise, but you'll never know exactly what happened. And hey, that's the beauty of fantastical horror.

People complain the protagonist is "shallow", but he's simply a funny and charismatic everyman (not "charismatic"in the real-world sense, but in that he's entertaining and audiovisually engaging to watch all the way through) dealing with some absolutely maddening events that he's at the center of. I suspect people wanted more dialogue, or even monologues, to give him more personality, but that would have completely ruined the atmosphere - the extremely expressive visual characterization is more than enough to understand what the character is going through.

The film was made as a tribute to the late and great Jazz musician Duke Ellington, and its strange, experimental yet at times very upbeat score perfectly fits the strange story and action.

The direction is outright FLCL-like in its craziness, despite this coming from 1987. Imagine how insane and experimental this looked back then. The animation is generally kick-ass and highly worked with only a few shortcuts used here and there (which you should forgive, for such a niche release). The artwork renders the average (or sometimes even ugly) faces of its Japanese characters in a beautifully skilled way that shows amazing drawing ability; top-notch understanding of how to draw stylized and cartoony yet also organic and subtly realistic characters, mixed together with the knowledge to make them move and emote naturally & believably. Even outright ugly characters can have appeal - look at Ren from Ren & Stimpy for example, or Looney Tunes' Witch Hazel. Those characters are ugly, but looking at them doesn't make you uncomfortable, right? This OVA knew the secret of "ugly appeal" very well.

Take the X Train is mind-boggling, suspenseful, intriguing, scary, technically amazingly animated and drawn (especially so, given it's a niche production) and above all else it's fun as hell.

Take the X Train, a riff on Billy Strayhorn’s composition ‘*Take the “A” Train,’ was written by Kōichi Yamano as a tribute to the late Duke Ellington. This OVA is a fascinating thriller that is half supernatural spectacle, while the other half focuses on the protagonist’s paranoia, involving government surveillance. I came across this anime, while going on a Rintaro binge, and it blew my socks off! It is spectacular!
*Take the “A” Train was a signature piece performed by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

This review of X Densha de Ikō (1987) contains spoilers! You have been warned!

—Story/Characters

The story begins with Toru Ishihara, who is a run-of-the-mill ... salaryman—working for the railroad conglomeration. He isn’t married and sticks to the simplicity of having a casual lover. One day, Ishihara’s fate becomes intertwined with a phantom train that creates constant mayhem, by destroying everything in its path!

It is insinuated that Ishihara has some sort of psychic connection to the sentient locomotive and catching wind of their connection, the Japanese secret services abduct him and (1) interrogate him, (2) force him to wear obtrusive head gear, and (3) have him comply with them, so that they can capture the X Train. Consequently, Ishihara ends up completely merging with the X Train—the ending is an eerie shot of his skeleton in the train’s engine! Basically, Ishihara becomes an indomitable chaos agent to give to a middle finger to the corrupt bureaucracy and forgoes his humanity in the process.

This entire OVA was a wild ride and I loved every second of it! If you’re interested in government probing, jazz music, and a Lovecraftian force of nature, then this is the story for you! The characters aren’t really important to the writing but the journey that Rintaro takes you on makes it worth your while!
NOTE: There are visual referendums that reflect the OVAs’ Western influences: the color palette mirrors the warm, starkly-contrasted colors that you would see on the pages of American comics from the ‘50s and ‘60s and there is often a word bubble above Ishihara’s head that has English text in it.

The structure of the story is like an Edgar Allen Poe novella—placing its audience in a perspective that makes it feel as if you’re the one who’s experience the insanity, alongside the protagonist. The brain probing scene was so direct and visceral, that it felt as though I were the one that had been abducted in the white van!

—Technical

The only credited seiyū is Yū Mizushima, voice of the protagonist, Toru Ishihara. Mr. Mizushima was cast regularly as the lead protagonist in many anime productions of the ‘70s and ‘80s, usually either voicing an action hero or the love interest—in series whose target demographic was primarily little girls, like Mahō no Tenshi Creamy Mami and Tokimeki Tonight. Mr. Mizushima is still doing voice work for anime, at age 63—as well as doing Japanese dubs of live-action shows, like voice-overs for franchises like Friends and Star Wars! Notable Japanese animation roles include:
• Ryō Asuka, Devilman
• Shukumaru, protagonist of Fire Tripper
• Isamu Kurogane, Hyaku Jūō GoLion
• Toshio Ōtomo, Mahō no Tenshi Creamy Mami
• Subaru Equuleus, Saint Seiya Omega
• Luigi, Super Mario Bros: Peach Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen!
• Shun Makabe, Tokimeki Tonight
• Clow Reed, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
• Telemachus, deuteragonist of Uchū Densetsu Ulysses 31
• Riki Muroi, Mahō no Yōsei Persia
• Marion Fiesse, protagonist of Natsu e no Tobira
• Takeru Myōjin, Rokushin Gattai God Mars
• Shō Fukamachi, protagonist of Kyōshoku Sōkō Guyver
• Tsutomu Sugioka, protagonist of Meikyū Monogatari -EN: Neo Tokyo-
• Hikaru, protagonist of Time Patrol Tai Otasukeman
• Gai Tanbara, protagonist of Time Slip Ichimannen
• Sanada Ikkyū, protagonist of Ikkyū-san (1978)
• Akemi Nakajima, protagonist of Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei
• Bander, protagonist of One-Million Year Trip: Bander Book

The director is none other than skilled veteran, Rintaro. Some of his notable works include:
• Bonjour and Adieu Galaxy Express 999
• Deimos no Hanayome
• Download: Namu Amida Butsu wa Ai no Uta
• Final Fantasy
• Genma Taisen
• Hi no Tori: Hōō-hen
• Meikyū Monogatari -EN: Neo Tokyo-
• Metropolis
• Teito Monogatari
• X/1999
Over the years, Rintaro has been an extremely ‘hit or miss’ type of director for me. While I thoroughly enjoyed Deimos no Hanayome, Hi no Tori: Hōō-hen, Meikyū Monogatari, and Metropolis—I disliked Download, Final Fantasy, Genma Taisen, and Teito Monogatari. I can’t give an accurate summation of my feelings for X/1999 because I have good memories of watching it over a decade ago, and I can appreciate the artistry, but I admit that it isn’t the greatest. Without a doubt, Take the X Train is the best Rintaro animation that I’ve seen!

The character designer is Yoshinori Kanemori and has an iconic style that carried over in works such as:
• Aoi Bungaku Series
• Final Fantasy
• GeGeGe no Kitarō (1985)
• Gokusen
• Stop!! Hibari-kun!!
• X (TV)
• Yawara!

Along with the eye-catching character designs, the background art is stunning and accompanies the surrealistic atmosphere that Rintaro heavily lathers on, in Take the X Train. The two background artists that credited are (1) Yōko Nagashima—her notable works include:
• Hadashi no Gen 2 -EN: Barefoot Gen 2-
• Hi no Tori: Hōō-hen and Yamato-hen
• Kaze no Na wa Amnesia -EN: A Wind Named Amnesia-
• Majo no Takkyūbin -EN: Kiki’s Delivery Service-
• Makai Toshi Shinjuku -EN: Demon City Shinjuku-
• Meikyū Monogatari -EN: Neo Tokyo-
• Unico: Mahō no Shimae
(2) Akira Yamakawa is known for creating background art for—
• Cello Hiki no Gauche (1982)
• Galaxy Express 999
• Gin'iro no Kami no Agito
• Giovanni no Shima
• Hadashi no Gen 1 and 2
• Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko
• Hi no Tori: Hōō-hen
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
• Little Nemo
• Meikyū Monogatari -EN: Neo Tokyo-
• Metropolis
• Omoide Poro Poro -EN: Only Yesterday-
• On Your Mark
• Robot Carnival
• Tonari no Totoro -EN: My Neighbor Totoro-
• Urusei Yatsura OVA

After a long slew of uninteresting anime last year, this story created enough intrigue to perk me up, out of my mindless stupor. I would suggest this OVA for anyone looking for something out of the ordinary, as far as Japanese narratives go. I give Take the X Train a 7/10 and a hard recommendation to those looking for an avant-garde thriller!
NOTE: I don’t understand why X Densha de Ikō has such a low rating—I believe that anyone with an appreciation for art would be fascinated with this short, horrific tale!

Toru is the put upon lackey of an add company and learns about a particular train. He thinks nothing of it, but little does he know that he is more closely connected to this train than he realizes...

Pros: The best part of this ova is the artwork. It has a very classic 80's style that is smoothly animated. It has some good gross/spooky imagery that fit the horror theme. It also does a quirky, comic book style word balloons to represent actions at some points, like the sounds of a fight. I had never seen it used like this in anime before and thought it ... was interesting. The atmosphere of the horror film was good. I especially liked the pacing and that it had nice long establishing shots to build tension and it tries to have a good pay off in the end. The sound is solid, especially the creepy sound of the train.

Cons: even the art has flaws: all the characters are stylized to the point of being ugly. While the plot is adequate, it takes odd turns and seemed overall lackluster. It has some very silly points that can detract from the overall horror story. The main character is flat, with no real defining features other than being involved with the plot.

Conclusion: this is a popcorn flick to watch once, appreciate for it's quirkiness, and then quickly forget.