While there is narration of the story throughout the film I'd say that understanding it or even caring about it isn't really important for the experience that is this film. The film itself is more of a audiovisual journey literally through "Fantasy Railroad in the Stars" as the title of the film suggests. I'd say this is one of the best and most unique adaptations of a story that I've seen. It is made almost in a way that makes you feel that you were part of the story yourself.
Kagaya did phenomenal job with the visuals and art. Pretty much every scene of the film is brilliantly rendered with a fantastical look and extremely true to the detail and enhancing the story immersion experience. You can see that this art was created through passion for the work in question and fantasy of the stars and space in general. In short I'd say this film has showed me something that I didn't believe was possible to achieve with animation and visual medium in regards of immersive storytelling experience through the visuals.
The art and overall visual atmosphere is as soothing as it can be. It is rendered beautifully and retains its fantastical and mysterious vibe throughout the film while still appearing relatable and immersive, as if you were discovering something beautiful for the first time. Laying your eyes on a masterful work in art gallery. I'd say the film definitely is an artistic experience and journey where Kagaya poured everything in the art and you can experience that through this film.
The sound design is another part which I think is something exceptional. The general tone and voice of the narration is done with a soothing voice, giving you and the film a calm and relaxed vibe, its almost like you were listening some kind of performance. That is only when it comes to the narration and the voice acting. When it comes to music it really matches the fantastical and extraterrestrial vibe of the gorgeous visuals, while still staying calm with the narration. I'd say that the music itself is a masterpiece of its own, but combined with the narrative and visual experience, matching flawlessly, I think we have something extraordinary here.
Note there are no visual depictions of any characters that appear in the story, but as I mentioned earlier due to the excellent way of visually portraying the story it is possible to immerse yourself as a part of the fantastical scenery as a character of the story. It is almost as if you were actually boarding the train experiencing the "Fantasy Railroad in the Stars" through the combined experience of narration and audiovisual storytelling of the film.
I've not experienced anything like this film in anime or anywhere else before and I can safely say that it is one of the most unique experiences that you can get as far as audiovisual medium goes. I got nothing but respect for Kagaya for crafting this luminescent masterpiece.
