Let's jump right in.
STORY:
The story's about following our main character, Takayama Naoto, who wants to be a train driver. He went through a boot camp setting of which was breezed through a bit but showed key points to the training, made three friends along the way, and with a stroke of luck after graduation is reunited with said three friends as trainees in the Public Security Force.
After that, we get episodes involving some back story on everyone, interesting knowledge about trains, and renegade policemen-national security situations!! That's right! There's catching purse snatchers, bomb disposal, saving your friend's friend from drug dealers, gunplay, self-defense and hand to hand combat, VIP transport and protection-
All of this, wrapped up in a competitive-harem bow.
As you can see, it's a pretty simple story. But the story's strong points is how they go about the elements I listed, all the way to an ending that will make all who liked the anime, expect another season.
Some anime tend to teach us, the viewers, about its underlying or main theme. Chemistry here, games there, but over here it's trains. And it's presented the knowledge in a nice, natural, and comfortable pace. I never really knew about trains and their history or the measures that are taken to make sure both the trains and the passengers safety paired with the training necessary to support both the trains and the order on and off the trains, until watching the anime. It gave me something I'll remember if I ever hear about trains or take an actual train ride. Granted it doesn't get you ready to help the crew if something's wrong, so don't expect to be some train savior after watching the anime; it wasn't meant to make you that. It just gave those who didn't know about trains a refreshing and new view of them and the things the people who work on the trains have to deal with.
ART:
The first thing I thought about the art is how the characters designs, especially the faces, reminds me of SAO (Sword Art Online). But it takes SAO's detail to the naughty bits of women that appeared in subtle ways in SAO, and exaggerates them a whole heap on most of the female characters in Rail Wars. You'll get big round breasts, butts, and legs that can reflect light depending on if the scenes in the anime wants to express fanservice, and sometimes flesh seemingly at bursting point through clothing.
You may also like the attention to the environment. Whether in the city, through Japan's mountainous areas or when going across bridges. All that you'd usually enjoy when looking out a window of a train, is all here for your viewing pleasure.
They say trains are a mans romance, and I found that to be true by watching this anime and playing a video game that involved a train segment. The drawback however, is that I felt they could have shown me the inner workings of the relevant trains more often. And so my immersion into the world of trains that the anime displayed suffered a little because the characters would often talk about the workings and make of the train but sometimes not have enough segments showing me these features the train has.
There were two drawbacks in the opening animation.
The first is that at some point the opening tried to display trains and scenes or segments of the characters in the anime at the same time. And that worked as well as some of you may have expected: the trains and the ground they occupied annoyingly blocked out or covered the scenes and segments that I think hinted the characters personalities in the background. You know how an opening theme is supposed to show you what you'll expect? Well thanks to the opening I expected trains; you can be sure of that, but barely anything else when the trains were showcased! And it's not like the trains over throw or outshine the characters, or gave off vibes like "at the end of the day,it's all about the trains". It was a just poor design choice of that part of the anime opening. They could have either eliminated the ground the trains ran along, or made both the ground and trains outlined or transparent until the scenes of the characters were finished.
The second drawback of the opening, is that they showed clips or pictures of random places on and off the train station. Some of the places they showed, weren't really visited anytime during the anime. I feel they could have toned down these, and made use of showing off the characters more. However it did give me a good sense of the environment of a train station, so it's got an up and a downside.But aside from those parts of the opening, the rest of the opening was very engaging and did great in displaying what the characters and environment were like most of the time.
Another part that I might consider a drawback is how sometimes the action and stunts (be it acrobatics and combat) were exaggerated too much and space where everything was happening seemed to expand or detach away from the characters. But I figured this was meant to show that the anime is"over the top", funny, makes room for the characters to do their action scenes, has fanservice, and to inform the viewer what the character(s) will be capable of during the anime.
It has some 3DCGi, but it's rarely shown with the animated characters, and is only saved for when looking at the train from the outside as it travels and such. So it didn't stop me from enjoying the animations.
Overall the art and animation will give you a lot to enjoy. Just know that quality for both varies to set the mood, show relevance, or to give the fan service an edge.
SOUND:
Aside from the man works the speakers of just about every single train or station in most episodes who sounds weird, out-of-place, and sometimes not even like he's speaking through a speaker: everyone's voice actors fit the characters well enough. I don't know whether the person who worked the speakers was one of those automated voices, but he sounded bad and could have been replaced by someone with a better voice or made him fix his voice. They could have added more sound effects before, during, and after he spoke to make it sound like man was part of the intercom system and not like he was a narrator or sitting in the same room as you.
I don't feel there was any concerning drawbacks in the voice acting, nor any praises to be sang. I would have liked if it could have had more realism based on what was happening or had happened to the bodies of characters (like falling down because of being jumped off of or fell upon and getting into fights), but no real issues. In the end I think that's always been up to preference, as I know not all anime will stop to make the sounds real people would make in similar situations and not everyone will criticize or even look for the realism in an anime.
The OP and ED theme really sets the anime's tone to me. Both are filled with a sense of preparation for battle, struggle and longing, all in a sense of "this is how the world is" and "it's up to us to keep everyone safe", and I love that! Especially in a modern-day time! It makes me feel like this anime could have been the mecha, futuristic, war and battle ridden world that I assumed it was by the name! But I never said I was disappointed by what it was or wasn't, and it's still a nice choice for the anime.
CHARACTERS:
What we have is our standard harem setup, a surprisingly tough and reliable bro, and a mentor who starts to favor the main character almost as much as the harem members. A drawback I want to bring up first, is that you may find some of the harem candidates falling for the main character too quickly or taking interest in him for the littlest things. But since it's 12 episodes long, I guess the anime had to be fit all this love for the main character in sooner before later, as to make for cute and valid scenes throughout the anime.
Now to get into what I thought about the main character:
The main character had a child like fondness of trains and that appealed to me because I felt I could relate to him in terms of the things I like. No matter how much certain characters thought he went overboard or told him to shut up, he would always have something nice to say about the trains as well as the characters who got annoyed by his honesty sometimes.
His drawback is you may dislike how often he comes off as weak, and yet powered up in certain situations with no reason except to look cool, get opinions of him improved, or with explanations like, "I have a friend who toughened me up and they will never forgive me if that's all I could take". Characters like this are made to seem like they're improving as people as the anime goes on, so I can put up with him being weak for a while. Other than the drawback, I still found him to be a great person, way ahead of his time mentally, as he would often put the public's safety and comfort before himself.
Now for the main and extra harem members:
First up is Aoi Sakurai. She's the very aggressive type of tsundere who has a very bad and close-minded view of just about all men, and constantly hits and yells at the main character over accidents and the smallest of things. I cannot stand these kinds of tsundere characters! Even if her aggression, mean streak, and hitting of the main character tones down the more she hears his thoughts about certain matters or sees him in action during certain situations(casual and serious). Ultimately replacing this hate and poor opinion of the main character with teasing to get his attention or embarrassed love taps. She was so annoying at the beginning of the anime that her good looks and fanservice wouldn't have been enough to keep my opinion of her dropping for the rest of the anime.
But like I said, it gets toned down to acceptable levels. She gets a lot less annoying and a lot hotter and cuter, just in time to pay attention to her back story and withheld feelings for the main character. I began to like her and think better of her, so don't peg me as someone who hates tsundere characters in the reviews I make. It's just I can only take so much of a harem member whooping the main character's butt, until it gets played out and annoying.
Next is Haruka Kōmi, the big breasted intellectual who's very gentle and can be competitive in the harem sometimes. She can also be take-charge in regard to serious situations or when she's the most helpful. I'm not going to dig too deep into her as it'll spoil how she became a member of the harem. So I'll just say that it might annoy you(the viewer) at how frail she comes off sometimes and less likely to say what's on her mind. Especially when compared to the other members. She's the real "damsel in distress" type who's both resourceful and needs saving.
Next two characters bring the "standard harem" bit i said before, home.
First is the childhood friend who not only has a normal frame compared to EVERY member in the harem, but also has an edge over everyone else since she knows the most about the main character. She had a bit of a noble, "I'm not too worried about how I measure up to the other girls", demeanor to her. And I liked that about her.
Second is the pop idol who is revealed to be the most predatory and bold of all the harem members. She would have a tone that challenged the other members to make her stop clinging to the main character, and it would be a pleasant surprise to see her pop in after her introductory episode.
Now that I got the harem out of the way, the last character I'll talk to you about is the muscle headed character that had a great sense of honor, impressive strength and reliability (except for that one time...), and who ate a lot. He also appeared to be smart and have insight on certain things, for some reason was spared from Aoi Sakurai's hatred of men early in the anime, and was a fun guy to watch. You may find me a smudge forgettable, passing him off as the ox character who was there to round out and support the main cast, but I found him to be a great addition.
Everyone else, you should watch the anime to get to know about.
ENJOYMENT:
The parts I enjoyed about the anime, was the fanservice, action, over the top climaxes of action movies, learning about trains, and the harem.
While development and relationships of characters seem rushed, I felt it was because everyone needed to get closer to each other to make the rest of the episodes that followed more valid and possibly setup for a season two. That's just how I feel though. I don't know if there will be another season, but here's hoping.
It's highly rewatchable, and is a worth while experience.
If you don't like over-the-top and exaggerated action, acrobatics, and fanservice, you probably won't like the anime as much as I did. So keep this mind.
For the rest of us, we'll rewatch and probably even talk among ourselves as fans expecting more to come. Because we're suckers for action, butts and boobies, and the usual harem setup with fun interactions among both the characters and harem members.
OVERALL:
Now to close the review so you can see the anime for yourself.
I give Rail Wars!:
An 7 out of 10.
It is a good anime. A good buy and worthy of support for either more anime like it, or to show that you're a hopeful for a sequel.
It started out as a light novel that now has 9 books, a manga adaptation, and it almost had a game for the PSP Vita. I don't know about you but a game of this anime sounds like it would have been refreshing and fun to look into, had it not been delayed for some reason . So be sure to let the makers of the anime know that they made a good anime, and be on the look out for a possible video game.
Until then, let's meet up at a review of another anime!
