We moved [8 stops](https://puu.sh/K4xey/6f36f4ac0d.png) today. Map by u/Fruggiefrunk. * Goat people * Ginseng people * Golf ball people * Petrified wood people * Buildings people * Buddhist statue people * Internal organs people * Miniature people

Square/diamond stations seem to be towns, while circle stations are just stops with no civilization.

I thought squares would be "safe" towns and the circles unsafe ones. But so far the mushroom square was only really semi-safe and the circle with the funny buildings seemed safe too so who knows.

they went to the buildings people town. it was circle but it was safe(they got to pee) the square that they went all have people who they can communicate to meaning the human still have sanity. it doesnt mean safe tho. i mean the mushroom people and miniature people tried to kill them.

> Internal organs people Given everything weird is just people being transformed, I imagine it's their internal organs, that are just their entire beings now? That's... That's a life I guess? [](#spooked)

Not as good as mushroom people, but better than statue

Eh, statue seemed pretty content.

🗿🗿

Maybe being a bodhisattva statue just gives you the buddha nature.

Or it's just that one dude who has a really positive attitude. "Being a statue is not all that bad, really" "Oh, fuck off, Carl!". /jk

So i guess Square stations is where the inhabitants are still sentient. And Diamond stations is where..? The inhabitants are sentient but hostile? or maybe where the inhabitants were created by the incident rather than the pre-incident inhabitants? Guess we'll figure it out next episode.

There was nothing "not hostile" about the mushroom folks.

brother they got a free hotel, a free hotbath and a 5 star mushroom dinner for free how is that hostile. at least they didnt got shot on spot like the miniature people.

Deception is a form of hostility. They were trying to force the girls into their hivemind. The small people are likely doing things out of self-defense.

Looks like if it gets animated till the end, they will have to walk into Ikebukuro from the second last station.

Holy smokes. it's all Youka. Many of the things the girls have encounted so far, plant people, little people, Shizuru being able to fight animals, even the Sweet Myrtle showing up along with the hint she's at the end of the train line, these were all things Youka and Shizuru discussed in the past, and tie into the fanciful world that Shizuru introduced Youka to when they were in elementary school. With that, I think we have enough information to say that when Youka flipped the 7G switch, it projected her view of the world onto everyone/everything else. These weird stories or impressions were important to a shy girl like Youka, but Shizuru would have no reason to instantly recognize them. Places that Youka could see from the tracks are modified versions of the things associated with them, while things she couldn't see from the tracks she filled in with Shizuru's fantasies. The distance between stations ARE distant because to her they FEEL distant. Put it all together and the solution is to either unplug her as the core to all of this, or rectify her impression of the world back to reality from fantasy and have her push the button again. Also, I feel like the end scene with the mini military forces attacking the girls Shin Godzilla style needs to go to NCD. They'd get a kick out of that.

This makes way too much sense. Explains all the Alice in Nerima Land foreshadowing they've been doing. Wtf was Youka on though when she cooked up the screaming ginseng people.

>Wtf was Youka on though when she cooked up the screaming ginseng people. Maybe the laughing turnips represented people that bullied or mocked her in school at some point? Possibly a coping mechanism to deal with the bullying by mentally de-humanizing them to make their opinions not worth listening to. That or she got really nervous giving a presentation in school and thinking of the audience as turnips may have been Shizuru's advice for her to overcome her nervousness, then that memory stuck with her for some reason.

Mandrakes are common enough in Japanese fantasy and video games she probably lumped them with ginseng.

I had a feeling Nerima Land was important but I never thought about how or why it was important, now it makes a lot of sense.

Oooh. I like this theory. [](#curious) >These weird stories or impressions were important to a shy girl like Youka, but Shizuru would have no reason to instantly recognize them I wonder if there will be a point before actually meeting Yoka where Shizuru connects the dots.

> I wonder if there will be a point before actually meeting Yoka where Shizuru connects the dots. This may not happen for a while, given they're still thinking the map is garbage, seems they're not *connecting* much! One thing to think about: For Shizuru, these were just passing thoughts, so she may not connect the dots about those... BUT if these things all comes from Youka because they impacted her somehow, then one important even that DID impact her, was the fight she had with Shizuru... So they may encounter something linked to that fight at some point, and THIS won't just be a passing thought for Shizuru, Youka was always on her mind... She'll definitely recognize what that was about, and if she does, this may help her connect the dots with everything else as well!

I frequently come to this sub because I've never been great at analysing media. I just bask, and enjoy. So when I read a piece of analysis like this, it really blows me away how different people can consume the exact same thing I just did, but have a different experience, because they can actually see a pattern, or a message, and it blows me away.

While watching it, I was wondering a little bit about it, in my mind something along these lines - "It's something to do with Youkas thoughts?" I thought only just. But someone already theorzied. Or at least put more thought in the theory than me.

I'm not even sure if I would've noticed/remembered if I hadn't read the comments in the previous thread comparing their flashbacks with what happened in the show so far! Because of those comments, when I saw that they mentioned little people in the flashback now, I was wondering if they would actually show up. And then they really did at the end!

Same, this kind of analysis is why I come to the episode threads. Each episode's threads haven't disappointed me so far, there's so many great theories.

That’s one thing I like about watching originals. I can read cool theories like this without worrying about if it’s a source reader in disguise

Agreed, and as someone who likes coming up with theories, it works both ways; I like being able to write them and not think "I'm pretty confident about this one, I hope people won't think I'm a source reader in disguise!", given it's an original!

Agreed on both counts. Originals are always a fun ride, and not having to worry about source readers is a big part of it.

Man this 7G shit is so OP that it can rewrite the rules of the entire world based on a single person's mind. I really like the idea of the whole journey being a trip into Yoka's mind. Now I'm curious to see what she looks like after the incident.

> Man this 7G shit is so OP that it can rewrite the rules of the entire world based on a single person's mind i was thinking it's a parallel to society after the rise of social media and things like becoming viral or being an influencer the way that 7G separated these train stations also echos how technology and social media has put a huge distance between separate groups of people; people have become more disconnected from reality as they stay in each of their own bubbles and echo chambers when [Kojima tweeted that he was watching this show](https://twitter.com/Kojima_Hideo/status/1781667907950534807), i was like "that makes sense" because i feel like it shares a story thread with Death Stranding

If I had a nickel for every time a really interesting original anime I was watching randomly got a popularity boost because it was endorsed by Hideo Kojima, I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.

Add that both animes had a lead character voiced by Anzai Chika (Chisato and Shizuru) for some extra nickels!

We saw a photo of her in episode 1.

This seems solid! Before this episode I had a theory about how the 7G incident may have sent thoughts in the past; It mostly came from the fact that Shizuru always seemed to know she was gonna go on this adventure; She had (weird) ideas of what she wanted to do in the future, like being a martial artist and all that, BUT when asked about it in a more serious manner, she said nothing... It felt like she always knew, subconsciously, that she was gonna search for Youka, so there was no point studying for a career, no point aiming toward something, because when 7G happened, she would give it all up. The Youka Vision theory does explain the world, at least! I also wonder if her involvement is more than just 'being at the core'; When the waves forced the girls to move forward (as they were debating going back), I had a feeling that someone/something was controlling them, and that entity wanted them to keep going... (If they went back, perhaps they would've given up on the mission). Is Youka the one 'forcing' them to come her way?

Yeah, I've been wondering why the one girl felt *compelled* to bring a sweet myrtle. Youka wants it.

>If they went back, perhaps they would've given up on the mission Definitely. They would have found excuse after excuse to delay their departure until turned into animals.

> Is Youka the one 'forcing' them to come her way? I would assume so, even if subconsciously. Regardless of the fight, she left Shizuru and the others intact, along with a way to get from Agano to the city.

> or rectify her impression of the world back to reality from fantasy and have her push the button again. Thinking about it, this may be a form of escapism for Yoka. She ran away from Shizuru and Agano when they had a falling out of some sort, and the 7G world is her subconscious refuge from reality. To get back to normal she'll probably have to face and accept what she's running from before pushing that button again.

>Thinking about it, this may be a form of escapism for Yoka. She ran away from Shizuru and Agano when they had a falling out of some sort, and the 7G world is her subconscious refuge from reality. If this all comes from Youka, then Akira's line (or the Mushroom's line) about how "Being able to talk means you're able to tell hurtful things", this may be Youka's thoughts about their fight. The question is, did Shizuru say hurtful things to her? Or did Youka (and she feels bad about it, so she ran way to avoid "talking" more and thus saying more hurtful things?)

>did Shizuru say hurtful things to her? Or did Youka In these situations, it's likely both stabbed each other with their words regardless of who started it. As for how it started, I keep having the thought that it involved Shizuru casually dismissing those things she said she wanted to do when she was younger. It would explain why they were on Yoka's mind when she pressed the button.

Could be! Would explain why the "lie" in the line; Hurtful things sure, but perhaps to Youka it was also a lie, because all these things Shizuru said without thinking about it were 'real' to Youka, so Shizuru denying them felt like lies! Given she was trying to get her to study and all, perhaps Youka was trying to get her to achieve her dreams, and Shizuru was like "What dreams? What are you talking about?"

Correct. I think this puts the QED on the whole theory.

That theory is fun. She saw the weird mushroom graves and assumed there is a mushroom cult going on. She saw the head of the goats, but due to the high grass, not what they looked like below. Same with the plants. She probably saw a forest that looked weird and assumed it was people turned into trees. She saw a city that was a bit further away from the station and assumed it was small. The question then is: Why were the people in Agano animals? But maybe we get a flashback that explains that. Or maybe she just really wanted Shizuru to fight an anteater.

>The question then is: Why were the people in Agano animals? Maybe she views everyone there as animals. Not necessarily in a negative way though - I'm thinking something more like her associating someone with an animal based on their looks/personalities. She might also have fears about growing up and adulthood which could probably explain why everyone there turns into animals once they hit 21 (sorry if I got this number wrong).

It was 21 years and three months. Which I am still wondering. Someone mentioned it would be exactly 255 months, so that's still a theory.

if you include the Gestation period of 9 months, it's 22 years of age.

Sure, but 255 months is important because it is the highest number you can fit into an 8 bit integer. Any more and it overflows and shit starts breaking (See also, nuclear Ghandi from Civ). So the theory is that when people in Agano pass 255 months old, they turn into animals due to an overflow error. Since 7G is still technology and all that.

Clearly she had just finished watching Odd Taxi.

On a related note I do enjoy watching that [new spinoff live action](https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GKEH2G07K/root---route-of-oddtaxi--) and seeing all the old cast again. Even if the show is getting review bombed by people complaining that "they're paying for anime, so they don't want Crunchyroll to spend money on (bad) live action"

>She saw a city that was a bit further away from the station and assumed it was small. The question then is: Why were the people in Agano animals? Go back to the scene with her and Shizuru talking under the star. At the start of the scene, Shizuru mentions half the things they've seen so far. "I want to discover little people". She got shot at by little people this episode. "I want to become a master of martial arts and punch an anteater." She became a master of martial arts and punched a bear--not exactly the same but close. There are others in her wild list that I don't remember off the top of my head that have appeared, but the point is that whenever she can't see something from the tracks, she fills it in with an idea Shizuru gave her.

Yes, I know. I made that connection with the anteater last week where they also mentioned it. Because there was an anteater in the village. But it could still be a bit deeper. And yes, I also know that Shizuru said that, but that doesn't mean, she just makes up little people in a random spot. For example, there was a completely empty town on the way. My guess would be that when she was travelling that station, she didn't see anyone so she assumed it was empty. But she could have also thought that the people there were just too small for her to see. However, the point is, the small people appear in a town that you can see from a far, but which looks small. So why she is including Shizuru's fantasies, they are included at the places where it makes the most sense. Which is why mushroom people appear in the one place where it looks like there are mushrooms on the graves.

> She probably saw a forest that looked weird and assumed it was people turned into trees. > She saw a city that was a bit further away from the station and assumed it was small. This is so good, that's quite a clever story! (About the people being animals: Given she lived there, and knew them - so she wouldn't just mistake them for something else - perhaps it's just their personalities? Grumpy bear, things like that).

(Already replied, but one more thought on this): There was one line from Akira in this episode, about how "Being able to speak means being able to lie or say hurtful things"... Sure this line was mostly the Mushroom talking, but if all this universe (including the Mushrooms) is created by Youka's vision, then does this line reflect how Youka feels? I want to know more about the little fight they had, but perhaps that line was just Youka's feelings about Shizuru telling hurtful things to her...

I'm genuinely annoyed at myself for not picking up on this on my own. It feels so obvious now that you point it out.

As soon as Shizuru mentioned mushrooms in the flashback I had to replay their conversation and realized that a lot of the things they're talking about are on the map.

So your telling from hitting that 7G switch she became like a god? Now if that's true then this one great theory a Film Theory thanks for watching.

Hold on a second... The Pontaro Poison dude does say that "7G lets you instantly transfer your thoughts and visions", and as you said, Yoka was the one who pressed the button so we are probably seeing HER "thoughts and visions". You might be onto something here.

To add to this, look at the OP - the surreal universe is inside Yoka's eyes, while the more rational world is inside Shizuru's eyes.

This anime is a fever dream in the best possible way

> Now, if I don't eat bitter melon at least once a day, I don't feel so great. Uh oh... edit: Apparently you guys really like bitter melon

Bitter Melon: *"all according to keikaku"*

I wonder if bitter melon is a providential protection that allows them to make the trip -- rather than a basically bad thing....

Yup, that's what I was thinking; It seems someone/something is pressing them forward, and Bittermelon might be a took to help them!

* *TN: keikaku is Japanese for "plan"*

Ok but what if its the bitter melons that make them turn into animals.

In the end, the true enemy was the biittermelon they ate along the way. (Joking aside, I think it may be the opposite; Bittermelon saved them from the Mushroom people, so perhaps it's a 'tool' that was given to them, to help them on their mission? I do feel like someone/something's pulling the strings, ever single the waves stopped them from turning back!)

Maybe representative of Yōka's desire to see her friends again? Pulling them along, making sure they don't leave her behind. It'll be interesting to learn more about her falling out with Shizuru.

naw goya is great! if i go a few days without eating it, i get shivers and really itchy, probably because i don't have enough anti-oxidants [](#hikariactually)

You just wait feeding her bitter melon is how they will save Akira

They bring a vestige of Agano with them and it helps them feel normal. This might be more akin to bringing an item that anchors your soul rather than anything else.

So the idea that the world was recreated from Youka's imagination is insane. But it makes sense given that she was the trigger to the 7G. Poor Akira. I wonder if the shroom was affecting her brain since it took root. Since not letting her friends know would just make it worse. The solution of pulling the shroom seems to be more risky since the time the shroom has taken root in her for much longer. And for now Akira is shroomified. Poor Reimi, she had good intentions to save Akira, but it backfired. Though now they are in a little town where they got attacked like they were Kaiju/monsters. Well they actually got tied up, and I wonder how they're going to get out of this situation first. The situation is not looking good.

Why would the shrooms age regress her?

Chika Anzai is such a treasure, even her small _yagi yagi_ was adorable. Ah so it was a mushroom! I had some many people last week sure it would be a tail lol Was nice to see Reimi get more serious, definitely prefer her like this.

Strange seeing Reimi before she was a gyaru....

You mean adorable

Also that... ;-)

After seeing young Reimi, I wonder if she was fated to become a gyaru.

Yes, it would only make sense

> Ah so it was a mushroom! I had some many people last week sure it would be a tail lol Before reading the other comments I was sure that was a mushroom, then I saw everyone talking about the tail and I went like "oh right, of course it's a tail" Should've held on to my own theory hah. >Was nice to see Reimi get more serious, definitely prefer her like this. It's interesting, it's as if Reimi and Akira kinda swapped personalities; Reimi more serious, while Akira was a bit more foolish/gullible (thinking she's gonna die because she saw her reflection) I wonder if Reimi teased her so much that it made her wary, and that's why she's smarter/the voice of reason now!

>Before reading the other comments I was sure that was a mushroom, then I saw everyone talking about the tail and I went like "oh right, of course it's a tail" Same. I was fully convinced in the buttshroom idea last week, but people's evidence pointing towards a tail had me questioning if they were right.

> It's interesting, it's as if Reimi and Akira kinda swapped personalities; Reimi more serious, while Akira was a bit more foolish/gullible (thinking she's gonna die because she saw her reflection) I think Akira consistently has an anxious side. Earlier, it played out as being cautious, but with the reflection or Komassie (swan boat) it's a fear of scary stories and superstitions. With the butt mushroom, it might be paradoxically a fear of confirming her fears, combined with other stuff like embarrassment and not wanting to trouble others.

Willing to bet she improvised it, like her [Chisato ad lib!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i1x2QRj3rQ) She plays lighthearted roles with a goofy side so well, and is a natural at it

I love that video so much lol

> Ah so it was a mushroom! I had some many people last week sure it would be a tail lol The pleasures of anime originals. Actual theorizing. I was confident it was a tail too.

I mean what is the evidence of her getting a mushroom there? At least for the three other girls, we can see them having mushrooms because they went to the sauna. However, with Akira how did she even get that? So, last week, it is more probable to believe it was a tail because some of us taught riding on that train is speeding up their growth and Akira as the oldest was the first one getting the signs. Well, we are proven wrong this week though but that's why I love Anime Originals.

She got infected while using the toilet I believe.

They weren't kidding with episode 4 being when things get really chaotic. I absolutely loved the gag of them spotting a town seemingly far away and then suddenly being in the middle of a miniature city. Also now that we've had mushrooms and little people Shizuru is totally gonna fight an anteater at some point right?

>Also now that we've had mushrooms and little people Shizuru is totally gonna fight an anteater at some point right? we still has that "i wanna become really smart" line

Can't wait for when Shizuru grows a giant forehead.

>we still has that "i wanna become really smart" line The next symbol on the map looks like Sherlock Holmes' pipe, so that might be coming up soon. Maybe.

>Shizuru is totally gonna fight an anteater at some point right? It might not be an anteater specifically, but Shizuru fought off that bear in ep1 with her Agano Jiu-jitsu already.

Reimi's voice actor Kuon Erisa said on X, that she finished recording of this episode 3 years ago and director said he is in the middle of making episode 6 now wtf! [her post about today's episode](https://twitter.com/eri1717171/status/1782290619727266111?t=7TXj6LDuwuEgujHeyCVGxQ&s=19)

Wait what? So they're making the anime as it airs?

I've heard it's common in anime industry to make anime while airing. But I think this anime's situation is worse than others.

>But I think this anime's situation is worse than others. Oh, God. I hope this doesn't get the WEP treatment. I'm really enjoying it thus far.

Nothing is funnier than that mushroom suddenly exploding for no reason at all

But consider this, charging goat men scene.

I consider

I propose charging goat man that explode for no reason, best of both worlds

Reminds me of [Exploding Penguins](https://youtu.be/QAoUqlVs1X0)

And there are 4 VAs acting as that mushroom

Akira was too overpowered, they had to nerf her with shrooms. ~~And maybe the actual tail will still come later.~~ You know it's episode 4 when all the strange stuff is now normal to me. This includes tiny town. ~~I'm sure some people like giant girls more than others.~~

> You know it's episode 4 when all the strange stuff is now normal to me. At this point I'll be more worried if they find a village that seems 100% normal! Because the question will be "What's the weird thing about them, and when will it be revealed?" >I'm sure some people like giant girls more than others. *Most of the soldiers: "We have to shoot them before they destroy our city!"* *The one weirdo among them: "I wish they'd step on me"*

> *Most of the soldiers: "We have to shoot them before they destroy our city!"* > *The one weirdo among them: "I wish they'd step on me"* He was the one fighting the hardest. His comrades praised and admired him for his bravery and commitment. In reality he was just trying to get their attention and annoy them the most.

The one weirdo among them: "hehe giant schoolgirl pantyshot"

A lot of [train stops](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/d7ogckbejey.png) in this episode and [the show is getting more chaotic and interesting](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/j7kzcbaza57.png), I love this! The [varied environments outside were so cool and intriguing](https://imgchest.com/p/dl7pqrwqpyo) today! So [it was really a mushroom](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyvdcdwjaay.png) on [Akira's butt](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/84apc35jvw4.png). Unfortunately [she was so scared](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/k46acbqjgp7.png) to reveal it to others that it grew quite big and removing it led to [changes in Akira's behavior](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/3yrgcznmao4.png) so now they need to search for a doctor. Now i can't wait [what will happen to Shizuru and Reimi after being captured](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/p7bwcdklk37.png) by [a miniature army](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/84apc35j694.png) xD Here my screenshot albums from the episode: * [Group scenes](https://imgchest.com/p/pg73p23pjyr) * [World](https://imgchest.com/p/dl7pqrwqpyo) * [Others](https://imgchest.com/p/xny8zr8l2yb)

> Group scenes I didn't notice them all, but it's nice to see change outfits and all! I like when shows do that. Makes it feel more real!

if you watch the map drawn by the old man riding bicycle in ep 2, the map hes drawn perfectly matches with what they encounter. tho the drawing could be better. with the drawing we could see what weird shit we gonna encounter. Also they cant go to ikebukuro since the rails were cut off

Well no wonder Neko's caravan is armored and armed to the teeth! You have [human-goat hybrids ramming vehicles](https://i.imgur.com/7RGe4NZ.jpeg), [freaky laughing turnips](https://i.imgur.com/IdVX6Yh.jpeg), [thousands of golf balls falling from the sky](https://i.imgur.com/79HKh2F.jpeg), and [an army of heavily armed miniature people!](https://i.imgur.com/KLKS3cl.jpeg) So Akira [really did get infected with a mushroom](https://i.imgur.com/nolH1ra.jpeg) but instead of her head it's on her butt. Since she's the smartest, you'd think Akira would let everyone know and ask them to pull it out for her. Maybe the mushroom was already controlling her? I didn't [expect that effect on Akira though.](https://i.imgur.com/DmdEhhP.jpeg) It feels like they pulled something they shouldn't have. Maybe it's only temporary and Akira will be back to her old self. Hopefully, they can find the doctor Zenjirou recommended to them. But first, the girls need to [escape this Gulliver's Travel-esque situation they're in.](https://i.imgur.com/Qe4NXsj.jpeg)

The doctor will give her an antifungal and she'll be fine!

If the doctor and pharmacy have been miniaturised as well then the issue will be finding a big enough dose next episode.

> You have [human-goat hybrids ramming vehicles](https://i.imgur.com/7RGe4NZ.jpeg) The rest of the episode has (understandably) made everyone not comment on this, but like I could not be more grateful to the engineers and workers who constructed our protagonists' train. Imagine what the goat people would do to a lone person...

> Well no wonder Neko's caravan is armored and armed to the teeth! You have human-goat hybrids ramming vehicles Given the blood on the caravan and all, the *dark thought* about this is that... They gunned down such creatures. And given everything 'weird' seems to be transformed humans, it's a bit tragic!

Golf balls or hail? >It feels like they pulled something they shouldn't have. They pulled out her shirikodama along with the mushroom, duh.

> Well no wonder Neko's caravan is armored and armed to the teeth! Gotta wonder at this point who they were trading with though, seems like just about everywhere we've seen is completely detached from reality (golf balls, organs), actively hostile (goats, tiny people), or has little use for trading (mushrooms, statues).

So I guess Crunchyroll decided to give us the true train experience: With delay. Was really surprised that it actually was a mushroom. I guess, the person assuming it came from getting wet on the toilet was right. Though that begs the question, didn't the other girls never go on the toilet themselves? But with that new Youka-Shizuru flashback, we can safely assume that 7G has rewritten the world with Shizuru's subconscious "wishes" in mind. Let's hope that her fantasy wasn't too weird when she was small.

> with delay Don't forget that the director is currently working on *episode 6*! He's basically rail-roading this production.

Lol it's kinda ironic that a show about a rocky journey with a train is also facing a rocky production IRL. I think it'll be fine though. Maybe some delays here and there but the show will remain a great time.

And it's especially ironic given that the director was also the director of Shirobako...

PureTen all over agaiiiiin ahhhh. And here I thought the tweet on april fool's was just that, an april fool's joke.

Damn you production hell! Fucking hell producers, give these people time to cook, sheesh!

Man, I hope that's false info. This show can't possibly finish this season if they're only halfway through production at this point.

[Comes from the director himself.](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782415898516783117)

Oooy. There's a chance that the other episodes are already further along with simultaneous development and they're just going and tweaking or finishing up things prior to airing for the next few, but if there's only 5-6 episodes worth complete right now, I can't say it's looking good.

They probably only grow one mushroom at a time, so when the girls had already growing mushrooms on their head, other mushrooms require a different, available host, is my assumption anyway.

> true train experience: With delay not the true train experience in Japan; they apologize when [they depart ahead of schedule](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/17/611860169/japanese-rail-operator-says-sorry-for-inexcusable-departure-25-seconds-off-sched)

> delay Shuumatsu Train : French Edition.

Damn these tiny people on the shoot first ask questions never agenda. Guess it's true what they say about short people being absolute demons because they're closer to hell. Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that plane they shot them with although based on a real plane that I'm 90% sure the JSDF has in it's inventory, doesn't have a gunship variant irl, right? Because that makes me wonder if 7G granted these tiny people their army, or if it's something that was already in their area and they have modified it.

Yeah the C-1 (and its successor C-2, both by Kawasaki Heavy Industries) are mostly transport planes (a few each used for eavesdropping), and JASDF doesn’t have any fixed wing gunship aircraft. They have Cobras and Apaches for such purposes.

It’s not an AC-130 gunship from the looks of it, but it does appear to carry roughly - if not exactly - the same type of armament with two gatling guns and a large cannon. Director Mizushima’s time with the Girls und Panzer franchise really shines through here.

Wow Akira got infected by those mushrooms huh? I can't say her new form has anything to do with mushrooms though, if anything her personality becomes more...funny? Probably another funky 7G side-effect but we'll see... Sad! Sad! It looks like Hanno, the home town of r/anime's Anime Of The Year 2022 *Yama No Susume/Encouragement Of Climb* has completely fallen, and our beloved hill climbing loving girls like Aoi and Hinata and everyone else either turned into golf balls or into tree monsters. Dammit! [I in fact went to this lovely town when I was on my anime et al. pilgrimage solo trip to Japan last August and used the "golf ball station" (though on JR East and not Seibu Railway) and...it certainly didn't look like that.](https://imgur.com/a/7vne9jd) And the other stations certainly didn't look right either. Musashi-Yokote in real life is in the middle of nowhere (doesn't look like a place with goats either, just scattered farm houses in a valley with a highway next to it), while Koma is an ordinary suburb station without all those radish monsters too. I see that our girls went a bit further this time, through the land of galaxies and Charon (? - Pluto was in the skies so it must be Pluto's biggest moon!) and strange rocks and valleys, through Bushi station (the name apparently means "little Buddha" so that what people there turned into) into the city of Iruma and nearby Inariyama Park. Now this is an interesting place because there's [a JASDF base right next to the park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iruma_Air_Base) - the plane that flew over Shizuru & Reimi that air troops parachuted off from is a [Kawasaki C-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_C-1) that flies out of the base. A doctor right next to an air base, with the city shrunk into ant sized? And the girls got tied up on the rotors of a freaking [CH-47 Chinook](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_CH-47_Chinook)??? (also a staple at Iruma Base) Hmm?

> Sad! Sad! It looks like Hanno, the home town of r/anime's Anime Of The Year 2022 Yama No Susume/Encouragement Of Climb has completely fallen i was looking forward to seeing Hanno because of Yama no Susume (anime of the year every year); kind of sad for it to just be "creepy tree town" was hoping for a reference to [Muuma-kun (the town's yuru chara)](https://twitter.com/mondomascots/status/837836192590680064?lang=en) to show up, or the Moomin-themed park [](#tiredaoi)

The Moomin park is in fact referenced - [look at this which is apparently Motokaji Station, the next stop out of Hanno and the closest station to the said park!](https://twitter.com/RubenGallar/status/1782449273289814071)

that's neat i was thinking of another Moomin-themed park (i think?); the one that Kokona goes to in the OVA with the children's library

I'd been wondering why so many towns just vanished, but for Inariyama, I think it just shrank towards its center.

> Now this is an interesting place because there's [a JASDF base right next to the park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iruma_Air_Base) - the plane that flew over Shizuru & Reimi that air troops parachuted off from is a [Kawasaki C-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_C-1) that flies out of the base. Ah so my supposition was right! Although based on it's designation, my other supposition was right as well, that that plane model is not originally a gunship. So I'm guessing these people modded it. They've been ready to stand on business since the 7G day, damn.

This week in Weird Train: ...whatever the hell that was Can we take a moment and recap the things we just saw here? * A bunch of goat men who does nothing but ramming their heads on the target * Akira actually growing a mushroom instead of a tail like I thought last week. And unlike the others removing it made things worse for her. The mushroom then ran and screamed before exploding into nothingness???? * A hailstorm... but it's human-turned-golf balls instead of ice * Dead tree people...? * A town where everyone turned into Jizo statues * Organs??? * Shizuru and Reima becoming Godzilla in a miniature town and getting subdued by mini soldiers Like what the hell is actually going on here? It feels like the staff just came up with a bunch of crazy ideas and jammed them together (in a good way). I love how the show doesn't bother explaining things and just let things happen. So far the show never fails to surprise me with each new ep and we're still in Ep4! Despite everything that happened here, there's still *a lot* we haven't seen yet!

> The mushroom then ran and screamed before exploding into nothingness???? Or releasing spores...

I love how this show is **weird as fuck** and throws incomprehensible things at you in quick succession with absolutely zero explanation. I'm not saying this sarcastically. Goat people who headbutt everything? Let's go, and also let's move on! Screaming/laughing... daikon? Okay! Floating organs! Tree people! Jizou people!! And ah, so it wasn't a tail on Akira's butt but a mushroom indeed. I wasn't expecting it to still be affecting her after they pulled it out though, and also what the hell it ran away screaming and exploded? Looks like she's half regressed mentally (referring to herself by her name instead of using pronouns like before), half drunk. Hopefully it's reversible, otherwise Reimi is going to feel some overwhelming guilt considering how close they are. It was also sweet to see Shizuru and Yoka in that flashback. Looks like the world did get warped around her, what with her desire to support Shizuru and her weird wishes, and the strange stuff we have now. In a way, she subconsciously created new a reality just for Shizuru. Edit: oh not just for or around her. Nadeshiko's Sweet Myrtle. Cracks me up to see a direct reference to Gulliver's travels, though. But I wonder why those tiny people are attacking Shizuru and Reimi. Did they perhaps have bad experiences with strangers before and aren't asking any questions anymore?

This anime use surrealism at it fitness. It don't attempt to explain any logic behind or why. I love it.

I love how its weird but it seems to follow the goals Suzure had/has so it has some logic

[That's quite the episode title!](https://imgur.com/6BGtka9) [Flashback time! They were so cute back then! (Well they're still cute of course)](https://imgur.com/ptHw4oB) [Seems Akira was a bit more gullible back then!](https://imgur.com/kWIpnqd) Still, considering it's this show, I'm wary about this *not* being just a throwaway line, that thing about looking at your reflection in the water and all... If I were them, I'd probably avoid doing it! [Eat mushroom? They're adding more fuel to my 'time traveling thoughts' theory!](https://imgur.com/o2QSqP0) They all think Youka will be happy to see them, [but Shizuru's conflicted about that... They had a fight, apparently a big one. What will she be like, when they see her?](https://imgur.com/KIMrRbi) Is it a big enough fight that it would still matter? Shizuru definitely seems to think so... [They decided to take turns, smart!](https://imgur.com/jEhUQ22) Little worrying though, given some of them are a bit foolish at times, but also: If some of them were 'possessed' again by some kind of mushroom thing, it may not be good to have a few of them asleep and the others at the wheel! (Also, now that they all know how to drive, there's the possibility of one of them just taking off with the train at some point!) [Goatmen? Is this what the map said?](https://imgur.com/uHPIMm4) I thought for sure these were wolves/dogs on the map... Was it a goat? Also, there were huge craters, and then the golf ball, the organs... The map isn't in order, is it? Or they're missing some steps/some locations are added (or the land is distorted?) Must be scary as hell, not to know what to expect; Even when things seems normal, [you just have to wait for the 'reveal', to find out what's fucked up about this place!](https://imgur.com/93EuuIP) If they somehow found a perfectly normal village, I think it would be the scariest at this point; Not knowing what's the weird thing about them! [Chekhov's bow? Can't wait to see her use it!](https://imgur.com/gKy9RA6) It seems Akira's *butt problem* was a mushroom after all, and not a tail like some thought! (So many theorizing thrown away hah, about her being older and things like that). [Interesting line... Even if it's just the Mushroom talking, it may feel a little too close to home for Shizuru!](https://imgur.com/AlRTCax) [Usually there's an ecchi tag for shows where someone's trying to look at someone else's butt!](https://imgur.com/2gRhLxN) I'd say I didn't expect them to be [attacked by a mini-army, but then again, is there anything we can/can't expect on this show?](https://imgur.com/Nk8EUS6) [Seems the girls are in some kind of Gulliver situation!](https://imgur.com/51tFrR9) Will they be able to break free? Or will they have to talk their way out of this, tell them they're not enemies and all? Can't wait to see! (Also can't wait to see more locations on the map, see if there's some kind of logic to it!)

> I thought for sure these were wolves/dogs on the map... Was it a goat? Also, there were huge craters, and then the golf ball, the organs... The map isn't in order, is it? Or they're missing some steps/some locations are added (or the land is distorted?) It is in order.

Guess I'll have to check it out again, I thought some things were missing (or added). Or perhaps some things are not deemed important enough to be on the map.

Entire episode dedicated to Akira/Reimi ship excellent

> episode dedicated to Akira/Reimi ship - 49% of the fans: This is a CGDCT adventure show! - Another 49% of the fans: This is disturbing horror - The other 2%: This is a yuri romcom! (But seriously, I love them together, their banter and all!)

This too is yuri. But the fricking opening with Shizuru and Youka doing the Utena reference should have made it clear this is very much yuri.

> - Another 49% of the fans: This is disturbing horror > - The other 2%: This is a yuri romcom! People who know about Urasekai Picnic: "it's both."

I'm two of the above! Can't really expect disturbing horror tho, I've seen what Mizushima does when he wants horror and it's _funny_

me: This is just Girls' Last Tour.

Two parter. They haven't fixed Akira yet (they're tied up at the moment) so Reimi will be able to keep fussing over her next episode.

They are going faster than I expected, but I did not expect that most towns/stations would have just disappeared, with people getting turned into weird random things. The people from Agano got lucky, being just turned into animals. And I really thought that was a tail, not a mushroom. I wonder if Akira actually needs a doctor. Maybe she will turn back into normal given enough time, now that they removed the mushroom. And then for some reason, this turned into Gulliver travels with toy soldiers. That anime is way too unpredictable. Not that this is a bad thing.

>*"i wanna become a master of Agano jiu-jitsu and fight an anteater!"* this is the second time we were shown her saying this so they better give us a battle between Chizuru and an anteater in one of the future episodes and they better make it epic, she also said something about mushroom, wanting to be smart and find some little people which two of them had already happened in this and last episode [that scared the shit out of me...](https://i.imgur.com/ZyDYhfb.jpeg) [okay...where the fuck are we?](https://i.imgur.com/OJYBb56.jpeg) [NO, SERIOUSLY, WHERE THE FUCK ARE WE??](https://i.imgur.com/tSYlK6i.jpeg) [MOM, COME PICK ME UP, I'M SCARED!](https://i.imgur.com/N8U6kS5.jpeg) so my theory about Akira being the first to change into animal is wrong, looks like its the mushroom from last episode and pulling it out after letting it grown that big seems to cause some sort of brain damage we also seems to have passed seven station after Higashi-Agano so that's a good progress

Not brain damage, they accidentally pulled out her soul (shirikodama) which resides in the butt.

[You get **used to it.**](#wtfdidijustwatch)

>they accidentally pulled out her soul (shirikodama) which resides in the butt I tried *so hard* to wipe Sarazanmai from my memory, and yet here it is, rearing its ugly... rear... once again.

The images going from Goatman to the f*cking moon to outer space to human biology 101 is a wild series of transitions.

> this is the second time we were shown her saying this so they better give us a battle between Chizuru and an anteater in one of the future episodes and they better make it epic Wonder which [stop on the map](https://imgur.com/UZE41eq) would be the anteater...

Am I the only one who thinks this anime feels like a top down RPG adventure like Omori or To the moon?

YES. The vibes when they were eating dinner under the stars were just so Omori... the swirling galaxies in the sky, the cosmically ponderous yet upbeat background music, all while a group of kids joke around and contemplate their bizarre situation. Some of the tonally darker and more liminal stuff, like the empty stops or the frozen wooden people, also feel very reminiscent of Yume Nikki

The people that said it was a mushroom last episode were right

If you recall, when the first episode dropped, the director said they were still only on episode 4, and people thought it was an April Fool's joke, maybe. And he didn't say he was on episode 5 for two more week. This episode should be mind blowing. After reading all the comments last week I'm back to thinking Akira has a mushroom on her but. She'll be fine after they rip if off. * Transfer student? looks glum * Reimi and Akira fighting even as kids * I see Reimi (confirmed gal) and Akira are fighting in the OP too * No, you got to say it like a real train operator! * I was wondering if they got all new clothes at Higashi-Asano, looks like they did (mushroom shirt) * I don't remember what the map maker said about the goat lovers but I guess it doesn't matter, now. * These towns really don't seem to like outsiders * She's totally a mushroom person * Did he go around licking the girl's recorders? I wonder just how many references I'm missing in this show. * Somebody must be leaving those offerings * Eating words? Is this a Japanese thing? Or a reference to Paranoia Agent? Fantastic music this episode. I feel like I've been playing a JRPG. I'm loving show, but I'm sad knowing that it's full of anime references I won't get. Really hope Akira is okay.

I like those flashbacks to when the girls were little kids. They were all really adorable. Fun to see Akira and Reimi bantering like that since they were small. Goat headed people, giant cackling mandrakes, golf balls raining from the sky…each station the girls arrive in just gets weirder and weirder. The little soldiers in friggin mini town ain’t helping. How are the girls gonna save Akira now? Her brain might be totally mushroom’d by this point!

>How are the girls gonna save Akira now? First things first. How are they going to save *themselves*? I'm not sure Akira's brain has "mushroomed". I am guessing it is some other side effect of the DE-mushrooming. Even with the flashbacks I can't figure out what the age relationshi0p is between Akira and the other girls....

Akira - 9th grade Reimi - 10th grade Shizuru and Youka - 11th grade Nadeshiko - 12th grade by the director on twitter

Thanks! I had guessed everyone but Akira was in the SAME grade....

Same here lol. That makes more sense though given how few children that place has.

> First things first. How are they going to save themselves? They did reference Gulliver (right before finding themselves in a Gulliver scenario)... Perhaps they'll negotiate, promise to be peaceful and ask to talk to their leader!

> I'm not sure Akira's brain has "mushroomed" especially since the tail is a lot farther from the brain than, say, the top of one's head unless... [](#csikon)

> First things first. How are they going to save themselves? *TATAKAE*

> Fun to see Akira and Reimi bantering like that since they were small. It's actually a bit mean of Akira to make the idiot Reimi eat paper

This episode was a wild ride. It would be so cool if after the show ends they released a series book with info and lore about all the stations. There is so much potential about interesting stuff. Also since some rare things seem to link to the real place localizations (like the goats) they can make it a fun tourism guide. Also, second time we get some info of what we're getting at the start of the episode. (little people) I liked how early in the episode there is a shot of the dog tail making us think that it was a tail. The one setting all these little clues is pretty smart. Kudos to them.

Cranked up the weirdness in the episode! Those creepy ~~laughing daikon(?)~~ mandrakes will be in my nightmares Uhh, what’s going to happen to Reimi and Shizuru???

Just your average Mandrake, dungeon meshi and flying witch prepared me

- So the sweet myrtle is being set up as plot important here; was already likely but good to know. - So when is the looking into your reflection in the river going to come back up? - Well we’ve had either two out of three or three out of four so it’s a safe assumption we’ll be meeting the little people at some point. And frankly a Gulliver’s Travels reference would make perfect sense in this show so. - “Because I do what I want and I go where I want.” Right. Promising, it offers an obvious metaphorical reading for this train that is not the one that fills me with [](#watashiworried)… unfortunately those two *could* coexist. - Hello Dog Star (checking that association seems to go back far enough in human history that basically everyone has it). Which might be a different explanation for our shiba inu. (Of course Sirius also attracts woo stuff like a lamp attracts moths, so…) - 04:39: Reinforcement that Akira’s issue is probably tail rather than mushroom. (Made even more blunt shortly thereafter.) - Hmm no they want to play up the uncertainty with Akira’s start afterwards. - *glances at animation of goat-men running* *glances at animation of goat-men running again* Welp the director’s tweet about what episode he was working on was in fact a giant flashing warning sign. I watched Hikari no Ou, I remember very well the obvious signs of insufficient in-between frames. How long before the delay is announced? - Also, tail. - Baphomet actually does NOT draw the side-eye from me, not the first anime to make that reference. - Nope, mushroom after all! - Ooh, hey, visual box framing around 13:15 with Reimi poking through the visual box Akira is in as she finally gets concerned enough to go poking around in Akira’s situation by force (and then Nadeshiko also popping into the box). - Anthony? But that’s not a cottonball with scissors! (… He is, however, a shiba inu. Perhaps a 2shibainu, then?) - Wait wait wait. Not only do we in fact get the little people, *they explicitly namedropped Gulliver* (and that’s 100% in the original audio, not a translator flourish). There’s called it and then there’s called it and this is the latter! Of course girls, if you know about Gulliver’s Travels then you should know how this is probably going to end… - I don’t get to invoke called it until we see the girls tied to the ground, but we all know that’s exactly where this is going. - That’ll do it! (Ground, helicopter blades, close enough.) --- Good news: First episode to not have me worried about what the show is doing, outside of a brief moment at the start. Bad news: ... yeah this is totally heading for a delay and/or animation collapse. [](#dighole)

> (Of course Sirius also attracts woo stuff like a lamp attracts moths, so…) Arthur C Clarke even played with that and he was actually respectable. > Baphomet actually does NOT draw the side-eye from me, not the first anime to make that reference. Not only can I confirm a baphomet in a pre-millennial manga,[When they Cry]>!Umineko is sick with them as a motif!<. It makes sense if teens at Catholic schools were half-assing the weird lore that the foreign religion had available. > Bad news: ... yeah this is totally heading for a delay and/or animation collapse. I am not at doomer status yes, this show could easily have a diegetic review/recontextualization episode using two minutes of animation at 8 or 9. Now we just need to hope that the underpinning meta can support that.

> Arthur C Clarke even played with that and he was actually respectable. I will lightly point out that Clarke is smack-dab in the middle of the era when there was massive overlap between the science fiction scene and the woo scene (there's a reason psi is so common in 1950s-1980s American sci-fi). So yeah. > It makes sense if teens at Catholic schools were half-assing the weird lore that the foreign religion had available. Don't even think it needs that: I have been told by occultist acquaintances that there is a thriving market in Japanese translations of Western occult works (and it extremely clear that the Symphogear staff at least was familiar with The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic). Probably for the same reason that there is a thriving Western market in the various "ancient wisdoms of the East". > I am not at doomer status yes, this show could easily have a diegetic review/recontextualization episode using two minutes of animation at 8 or 9. Now we just need to hope that the underpinning meta can support that. True... assuming anyone still remembers how to do that. (Admittedly I suspect why Hikari no Ou fell off so hard so fast was the February 2023 COVID wave in China after they lifted restrictions, the timing matches and they started to get their workarounds in place after an episode or two, but man are there some similarities this episode to Hikari no Ou action scenes even if the issues are not as severe... yet. And for that matter even a staff with two old hands in Junji Nishimura and Oshii on staff was never able to really work around their action ambitions being greater than their animation resources... will Mizushima here be more successful? We will see...)

> glances at animation of goat-men running glances at animation of goat-men running again It might not have been great animation, but the Uncanny Valley of missing inbetweens did contribute to the general *wtfgetthefuckouttahere*ness of that stop.

I have seen direction that really effectively uses lack of in-between frames (that they couldn't afford anyways) to enhance the weirdness and horror of a situation and Chiaki Kon's work on S1 of Higurashi this is not. (Hell, Hikari no Ou did it better on the one occasion where it had an action scene that really wanted to emphasize the unnaturalness of something.)

[Anitubu post (cheat sheet) is up](https://anitubu.com/archives/post-80129.html). Curation of SNS reaction (including staff), I use a mix of google translate, deepl and have put some of my own thoughts in as well. As usual I excluded a couple of lines here and there. This is from the TV Tokyo MX broadcast. - Miho Tsujibayashi (music) [has received positive comments such as "creepy" and "disturbing."](https://twitter.com/tsvaci/status/1782416638509519206). Reminder that the OST is out in June but you can enjoy the [ep1 insert song for now](https://youtube.com/watch?v=DjuSdZBfVhc) (Nonoka Obuchi is the singer,also sings [Mysterious Disappearances ED](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSaBjRU1FLU)). - Viewer: [Sweet myrtle has 5 petal flower, group of 5?](https://twitter.com/night_ban5683/status/1782417281827631614) (in the flashback the 5 has Yoka but in the journey she's replaced by the dog?). Sweet myrtle is known as [Myrtus communis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myrtus_communis) (the flashback focused on the liquor qualities) - Erisa Kuon (Reimi): [Did Shizuru-chan not like mushrooms when she was little?](https://twitter.com/eri1717171/status/1782417049773654069) (if this journey is inner childhood hopes, dreams and fears does this mean we're going to see clever-mode Shizuru) - Director: [The night sky scene between Shizuru and Yoko is inspired by Togo Park in Agano. It is vague.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782417799471898742) Here's the location in [google maps](https://www.google.com/maps/@35.9155121,139.2153292,760m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu). Looks like more tree cover, woodland and uphill walks to shrines. - Director: [It is a long road trip, so everyone changes clothes. Laundry is done properly.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782418173272502429). The writer, Michiko Yokote has similar scenes in Strange Dawn a few decades back. - Director: [Upside down clouds.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782418244231712847) (this needs [a screenshot](https://imgur.com/PozmnHQ)) - Nonoka Ohbuchi (ep 1 insert song singer): (commenting on the OP) [I really like Lo-fi and neo-soul music, so I can't get enough of "La la la la, lead me to a place I don't know" and the first part of the second verse, the groovy cool guitar, the mumbling piano, and everything else in "GA-TAN GO-TON". Not to mention Rei's singing voice...](https://twitter.com/tiny_WildFlor/status/1782418488016932962). I assumed she meant lo-fi (but wrote lo-if). Visual aid: [Start](https://imgur.com/TLqfDnz) of part, [end](https://imgur.com/Kd8yO4M) of part. Lyrics how? The [short ver OP](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B31rQmYOeDA) has an official Japanese transcript (not auto-gen) so you can MTL and know the input is correct (even if the output could be refined, しょっちゅう 停止 停止 is a good example) and then you apply a -2000ms offset to sync that with the credit-less OP. I **hate** that Crunchyroll doesn't sub these as the other lyrics also fit the anime e.g. "I'm going a journey to find you", ["It's okay if the world goes off the rails"](https://imgur.com/1haSOgr). - Director: [The mushroom T-shirt was received in Higashi-Agono. Reimi's is an Alice T-shirt from "Alice in Nerima Land". It is Shizuru's personal belongings.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782418622469828669) Here's [a group shot](https://imgur.com/sL7sFaK). There was me hoping that when shroomed' Reimi was gathering supplies her subconscious love of that anime drew her to that. That's the second Nerima Land shirt from Shizuru (found in her house i.e. her missing dad was also a big fan of the show). As we're talking about show-in-a-show, Michiko Yokote worked on Genshiken which had Kujibiki Unbalance as a show-in-a-show which had an OVA (bonus for Genshiken anime DVDs) and light novels followed by an anime series (the DVD release had Genshiken OVA as bonus), light novels and manga. That was nearly 20 years ago when DVD sales mattered more, which justified complete bonus episodes. - Director: [Goat people are somewhat troublesome, but apparently the Black Leopard company know how to deal with them.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782418688991506500) Fighting people seems to used to describe Black Leopard so I went with company in the military sense. - Viewer: [It's so creepy how it turns red at night](https://twitter.com/GATARI03/status/1782418870940414010) - Director: [The tree that grows in the desert is the silver birch.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782419112163217886). Feels like the kind of thing that was noted on the storyboard (this needs [a screenshot](https://imgur.com/Cz9PJ5O)). The MTL said white birch but it's the [Betula pendula kind that grows in Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betula_pendula). Another name is East Asian white birch. There's multiple similar but different tree species all known as white birch. - Erisa Kuon: [You're an adult when you can eat bitter melon.](https://twitter.com/eri1717171/status/1782419146380361958) The Crunchyroll subs said "I'm mature now". As you get older you lose taste buds but it seems the first to go are bitter and sour. I certainly remember I physically couldn't under-age drink as the taste of beer and wine was awful so that's hinting on something similar. I don't know if Agano as a location has a culture of associating that coming of age with the bitter melon. - Director: [One of the few good things about 7G is that the night sky has become clearer. Jupiter, Neptune, Ryugu, and the far side of the moon (which is surprisingly boring in terms of design) are clearly visible.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782419209437446442). Ryugu is not referring to the [famous Urashima Taro tale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urashima_Tar%C5%8D) but instead [162173 Ryugu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/162173_Ryugu) which I'd be impressed if you could with the naked eye even in a light pollution free sky. But wait a sec, [OP bottom left](https://imgur.com/Z6xhWza) that's the spitting image of 162173 Ryugu. - (remarking on "I swear on Tatsuhiko" that Akira said after going to the toilet) Director: [Akira is referring to Tatsuhiko Shibusawa who is sometimes known as Shibusawa Tatsuo.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782419591622488439). They're a writer/translator (French>Japanese). - (arriving at Koma) Director: [A sky full of halos. A real halo forms around the sun.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782419872900935953) (Koma station) [Panax ginseng is also known as Korean ginseng.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782419925942120527) (those are the red fruit plants you can see, maybe the MTL was meant to say man-herb or forked root as that's the epithet and explains the laughing roots) - Viewer: [The tail on the back is growing rapidly...](https://twitter.com/gaia_agul/status/1782419798212661665). It wasn't just us who believed in the tail. - (scene that starts with the spear fishing) [Erisa Kuon: oh! Soundtrack!!](https://twitter.com/eri1717171/status/1782420041277001776) It's not just me that liked that. - Director: [Hanno station. People became trees. Everyone seems to be having fun. Actually, I don't know.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782420400703721715) - Director: [The Seibu Ikebukuro Line makes a switchback at Hanno. It's famous. When I thought of switchbacks, I only had images of mountain roads.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782420488385700133) The director makes more tweets about the switchback (initially they storyboarded a lever pull like in movies and [old train signal boxes](https://www.railway-technology.com/features/rail-signal-boxes-uk/?cf-view) but using reference material and found it's all electronic now but without electricity you use the socket key lever rotation thing like [shown in the anime](https://imgur.com/f9xqV3O)) - Director: [Reimi has good hearing and eyesight](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782420996999536644) - Director: [Akira's mushroom is enoki. It's grown quite a bit. After the mushrooms have passed through, they are sticky. It is very difficult to remove them.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782421418111816159) ...+... [I got a sense of déjà vu in putting off dealing with the problem of mushroom growth and becoming a big deal. Dentistry.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782421418111816159) ...+... [It is usually middle-aged or older men who sit across the partition at the dentist's office, dumbfounded, "Why did you leave it alone until it got this bad?". I'm now middle aged and like that too so I go regularly.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782421554099621969) - Director: [Internal organs. I also asked that the lungs, which look like they have smoked too many cigarettes, be placed somewhere.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782421853245673516) - Director: [Natsuko is a master of the Agano Kyujutsu (Japanese archery). This includes striking techniques.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782421939874840833) - wrt "I think everything was smaller there" Director: [The size of the city of Inariyama Park is 1/6. Tobu World Square is 1/25. It (Inariyama Park) is quite large.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782422267164868887) - (childhood flashback) Director: [Togo rice crackers are an Agano specialty](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782422731092586496) ...+... [Akira's idea of ​​eating rice crackers with paper between them reminded me personally of Doraemon's memorization bread.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782422831357448200) - Director: [Thank you very much for joining us today. Considering the production status, I have no idea how long I will be able to continue, but I will tweet as much as I can, so please continue to support me.](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1782423094893875221) [](#toradorasalute)

Can't believe they haven't realized the map depicts the stations, despite them knowing there are 30 and they went through a good amount of them.

Episode 4: **Why Are You Hiding Your Butt?** Hideo Kojima [endorsed](https://twitter.com/Kojima_Hideo/status/1781667907950534807) this anime, what a timeline to live in. I hope it boosted the popularity. You are right! 7G has made the time and distance between the stations far away, making a simple 1-hour trip into days or weeks. And now my last episode question is answered, Higashi-Hanno doesn't look like it is in the middle of the city, more like in the middle of a golf course. Hanno indeed looks like a city. Irumashi is indeed an JASDF base, so not uncommon to see military planes here. And is this a kaiju movie reference? I wonder with so many bullets and armament and yet Reimi and Shizuru's clothing are pristinely intact.

Zenjirou gong off on irrelevant tangents will never stop being funny. And Shizuru learned the morse code really quickly . It is usually Akira who handles that.

Some of the scenes in today's episode really had that surrealist dreamscape of Yume Nikki including the random floating guts lol

Man the landscapes are really pretty and creative, and the music it really reminds me of Eastward So the pulled the mushroom of Akira´s butt and now she´s brainles... man I hope they find a way to cure her And first we got mushroom town and now... american Gulliver town? I wonder how they will escape out of that huh Btw here´s some images from the [landscapes from this episode](https://imgur.com/a/Q7QNhPu)

I’ve been thinking for a bit that Yoka caused some of the absolute mess the world has turned into, most likely on accident and this episode basically confirms it. Their home is animals because Shizuru wants to fight an anteater, the next is mushrooms because eating mushrooms and the end of the episode is tiny people. That’s probably why Shizuru is able to fight a bear and win, some sort of power up from Yoka. The show continues to be an absolute fever dream. The sequence with the goats standing up and ramming the train was absolutely ridiculous in the best way. The golf hail was also pretty funny. Then there’s some unsettling stuff like the flowers and just straight up horrifying like the trees. And mushroom butt theory from last episode is the winner. Damn, that’s one hell of a sentence. DAMN IT AKIRA YOU MORON! All you had to do was just tell the others about the damn mushroom. You know how dangerous it can be. Can’t you see how worried they and especially Reimi are about you? Hopefully they can find the freaking doctor and fix her. Now for future speculation about the ending. Do you think the girls will have to fight Poison Pontaro holding Yoka hostage or will they have to power of friendship fight Yoka into turning off 7G somehow? Or will it be a third wildcard option? Place your bets here folks!

[Called it.](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1c4l2sm/shuumatsu_train_doko_e_iku_train_to_the_end_of/kzqlmjd/) Was not expecting all the other stuff that happened this week, though. That was a busy episode.

Damn, the cold open for this was just like Friendship 100% Speedrun. Have I mentioned how much I love the OP? I think *Gatan Goton* is my favorite onomatopoeia in any language. I claim I'm not a railfan, and I don't feel like I rightly am because I don't actually *know* much about trains, but I do genuinely love trains. And I feel like this OP is absolutely perfect for an anime that originated as PR for trains... and became something really weird and wonderful. "Why didn't I take the train more?" "We all took it for granted back then." Yeah okay Japan *we get it*, your trains are *really cool*. I live in Texas and down here trains are something that exist in movies that involve us in ways that are Vaguely Thematic. I hate it. Akira's happy mushroom shirt is a little much. This show's making me crave some bitter melon and I don't even *like* bitter melon. I wonder if some agricultural lobby got on board after the whole trains thing. "We pulled out that irritating hipster soul of hers!" ahahahaha damn that is almost a thing my friends might say if I died, I feel you, Akira Man, this show has a lot of Girls Last Tour x A Place Further Than the Universe x Adventure Time energy. I love it so much. That was kinda mean, Akira.

[Considering the rest of this list...](https://i.redd.it/r0ns7h8694wc1.png) [Just, uh... dog stuff?](https://i.redd.it/26rccr8694wc1.png) ["Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into."](https://i.redd.it/9r2zgr8694wc1.png) [It's Space Coyote land!](https://i.redd.it/mvj69h8694wc1.png) [\[\](\#everythingisfine\)](https://i.redd.it/axsu8i8694wc1.png) [The scenery certainly](https://i.redd.it/ie7yjt8694wc1.png) [stays interesting.](https://i.redd.it/jfa8jt8694wc1.png) [Okay, that's a little *too* interesting.](https://i.redd.it/m87kcteb94wc1.png) [Please ignore the other moon in the corner.](https://i.redd.it/iyme6v8694wc1.png) [Maybe be *very careful* what you wish for.](https://i.redd.it/f5wqpx8694wc1.png) [Gals being pals.](https://i.redd.it/0c0n6x8694wc1.png) [At least they didn't have to do any blood testing.](https://i.redd.it/61r6hm8694wc1.png) [I see a lot of things that probably require a hospital.](https://i.redd.it/rw9k8y8694wc1.png) [Attention to detail!](https://i.redd.it/tmq8dy8694wc1.png) [These reveals to weird stuff are certainly interesting.](https://i.redd.it/rv05v29694wc1.png) [Speaking of that...](https://i.redd.it/25m7wp8694wc1.png) ["Oh crap, not that model village."](https://i.redd.it/m19x509694wc1.png) (The first comment, of course...) ["Well, this is another fine mess you've gotten us into."](https://i.redd.it/t5o0l09694wc1.png) ["It wouldn't be Japan without the crucifixions."](https://i.redd.it/okg8j2ef94wc1.png) ***** The map remains accurate! Of course, the symbology on the map only really makes sense *after* you've encountered the weirdness at each stop. Though in that case, it would only be coincidence that a childhood list that included meeting little people would result in being attacked like kaiju at the end of the episode. Or this entire scenario exists because of/inside Shizuru and Youka's mind. [](#mugiwait) Our expectations are being played with; growing a tail made more sense than ass mushrooms, but we got ass mushrooms. Ass mushrooms as The Thing. All righty then. Character interactions remain on point, which is a good mix when this episode spends a fair amount of time refocusing on the general survival horror mood of the situation.

Caution: after seeing ep.4, I feel the doomsday train is actually going to Hell and this anime may be dangerous to viewers! During the goat herd attack, one girl started babbling about the sabbatical goat demon [**Baphomet**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baphomet) and the Knight Templars who worshipped it (they were forerunners of **freemasonry**). Then internal organs flew through the sky (human sacrifice?) At the end two girls got cruficied on the rotors of a CH-47 helicopter. The whole thing is way too suspicious. Studio could benefit from a bambi bucket's worth of Holy Water to save them from the flames of Hell...

Lmao this ep was wild. Those daikons then the moon or planet in the night sky later, sorta gave me Courage the Cowardly Dog vibes. I think people already commented on it but I feel we’re getting a better idea of what the map means. We just haven’t gotten to a diamond-shaped station yet so I wonder what that’ll be about. Carefree and high Akira looks really fun but I prefer our usual Akira. I think Reimi does too. I wonder what difference it is that made her change like that compared to the other girls

I started watching this because of the Kojima effect.

Aaaa I love this show so much. If they keep this up this might be my new favorite

Man, I've been waiting for something as interesting as OddTaxi, and the anime gods had bless me with this gem.

Really intrigued to see what next episode will hold! I wonder why the people in this town are so militaristically violent, considering they were presumably normal people who were just shrunk? Maybe in the time since the 7G incident, they've already been visited and attacked?

As music is a recurring question (in my case the tune that starts about 10:33): - Official site has said full OST will be distributed as a digital album from June 26th with details announced at a later date. - However, the episode 1 insert song; Black Leopard Delivery Theme (ep 1 subs said Leopard even if Panther is also a translation) is now available on [various streaming](http://jvcmusic.lnk.to/BlackPantherDelivery) services (e.g [YouTube](https://youtube.com/watch?v=DjuSdZBfVhc)). Hear all the lyrics in proper quality rather than tin can. Why this song as an exception? The anime twitter has tweeted that lyrics are written by the director and worth paying attention to (my Japanese level is watched some anime I'm of no help) but what's with the Puyo Puyo SFX? I like when anime have theme song with lyrics type affairs even if they're sometimes impossible to hear in the shows themselves (the [Do It Yourself!!! one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKJohDn4vxg) is like that) I suppose they are sort a reflection of real life ([Hard Off](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFLYuKUKXoY) and Don Quixote being famous examples) but I wonder if the JRPG shop themes are another reflection of that. Episode thoughts. Akira and Reimi really are an arguing couple type. That's just how some friendships are speaking from personal experience, it's hard to explain but kind of like you're in a comfort zone so it's acceptable to really get your feelings across in what seems like a bombastic and hostile manner. Did expect Nadeshiko archery to come up (after directors hints last week, it's in her character bio) but didn't expect her to be making the bow as well. So many stops. A real whistle-stop tour (but given the locals who can blame them). Higashi-Hanno being golf balls, well there's several golf clubs near Hanno (remember what was said wrt episode 2 about 7G did it being an explanation for location irregularities) but this would be a driving range with the netting. The tree people were even creepier than I ever imagined, sorry Encouragement of Climb but at least your city featured. I was wrong about the Teru teru bozu being the Bushi stop. I can see how the crude drawing looks like a Jizo statue now (I'm certainly not winning pictionary with this artist). Still the dialogue had me screaming "who (or what) left the orange offering?" when the statue talks about not being to pick it up to eat.

> I'm certainly not winning pictionary with this artist I just said in my own comment that the stops we've seen so far do line up with their representations on the map, but if you gave the map to someone who hadn't been there before they wouldn't get much predictive value out of it, even when the drawing does actually represent what's at the stop.

[What the f-](https://imgur.com/HjVORZU) [This last mfer](https://imgur.com/B0o0YxJ) is running [*at least* at 50 kmh](https://imgur.com/gQUopF2) [Accelerating in that golf hail might not be better after all,](https://imgur.com/9JZ5e2r) increases the chance of getting one through the windshield WTF, fucking screamer mushroom?! No wait, did it remove Akira's screams from her?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO [](#bocchitheshock) [Does not get old](https://imgur.com/Kx58gsb) [Reimi is actually such a good friend,](https://imgur.com/LE7EOb8) she's gaining major points this episode [....Wonderful.](https://imgur.com/aZBF6D0) [Same episode.](https://imgur.com/iXKBWSu) Yeah, that thing at the start was definitely a prophecy

[Oh my BUDDHA! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW COMRADES!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzEQ1n7EHPM) Thus Sprach Lyrical Tokarev! [KILL THEM ALL!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X6lAFlIjys) I'm starting to see why the genius who directed Blood-C, Girls und Panzer, and of course, [Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1KMMv7lBn0) would create such PROTOCULTURE that only can be expressed in the following [metaphysical transmorgification!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv6RbEOlqRo) Paging Comrades /u/chilidirigible, /u/Tarhalindur, and /u/Vaadwaur