Miracle Train | First Impressions

The next series I climbed aboard was the bishonen fest Miracle Train ~Oedo-sen e Yokoso~ (Welcome to the Oedo Line). Was the train ride a smooth one, or did it crash an burn?

Ms. Chinastu is, amazingly, unfazed by the 

"reverse harem" that she has found herself in.

The main reason why I decided to watch this show were because of the highly enjoyable Hetalia: Axis Powers, which uses a similar gimmick. In Hetalia, multiple nations are anthropomorphised as bishonen characters and it works very well. In Miracle Train, different train staions along the Oedo line are anthropomorphised as bishonen characters, and it doesn't work nearly as well. I was hoping that this would be funny, but the attempts at humor ended up being very dry and the admittedly silly concept also ended up being dry and uninteresting. The questionable production values and lackadaisical voice acting don't help either. The bishonen are, of course, rendered nicely, but the animation is minimal and the overall art design is dull. Apparently director Kenichi Kasai couldn't do all that much with such a limited budget -- a disappointing follow-up to the excellent Aoi Hana (Sweet Blue Flowers), to say the least. Aoi Hana didn't pander to its audience, though it isn't surprising that Miracle Train does the opposite. I am one and done with this far from miraculous episodic series.

If only there were more characters like Akari (L)

in this show. Maybe then it wouldn't be so dull.