Surreal New Anime Proves Why it's the Season's Smartest Series With One Genius Move

Summary Train to the End of the World cleverly combines high and lowbrow humor, including a literary reference from Lady Chatterley's Lover.

The anime's staff showcase intelligence and planning skills by quoting a Public Domain novel strategically during the airing.

Despite appearing nonsensical, Train displays a balance of wit and absurdity, showcasing EMT Squared's confidence in the project.

The post-apocalypticCrunchyroll anime Train to the End of the World may love using physical comedy and rapid-fire banter, but it is certainly not for lack of intelligence. Episode #7, for example, displays a masterful combination of high and lowbrow humor, exemplified by an unexpected and understated literary reference. This may make the anime the most surprisingly well-read of the season, even when using the book for absurd situations.

While the anime has provided moments like schoolgirls rampaging against miniaturized armies, or pulling parasitic mushrooms from people's behinds, Train draws on all sorts of material. The quotation of a specific raunchy novel that has just arrived in the Public Domain shows not the extra effort the staff at EMT Squared are putting in, but also a management talent that speaks to their skills.

While Train seems nonsensical, the directing and writing belies the razor-sharp skill director Tsutomu Mizushima and the rest of his team are employing to create the anime.

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Train To The End Of The World Digs Deep For Witty Humor

Timing of Public Domain novel shows the studio's clever planning

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Episode #7 pits the travelers from Agano against a horde of zombies, though in Train's usual absurdity, it's quickly discovered that they have a fatal weakness to erotic stimulation. To turn the tables, Akira thus loudly recites passages from a lascivious novel, causing the undead to explode around them. While the studio could have just imitated a generic dirty story, the writers went above and beyond, and quoted passages from D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. While the novel is infamous for its suggestive content, the choice still shows that EMT Squared looked for a work with genuine artistic merit.

Perhaps more interesting than the reference itself is the planning that went into making this joke viable. While Chatterley's is in the Public Domain, it only became so this year, at the same time as the anime is airing. Given that these projects often require several years to get off the ground, that means Mizushima and the rest of EMT Squared chose this novel while timing its quotation to come after it would be free of legal implications. While this is all for the sake of one joke, it shows the planning and ambition the team is putting into the anime.

The Anime Hides Its Smarts In The Margins

The series has plenty to say, but fashions its themes through clever literary tricks

Train continues to straddle the fine line between the well-read and the ridiculous, as it uses astronomical terms as a metaphor for Shizuru and Yoka's relationship in one episode, before using classic erotic literature to fight off a zombie horde. While it may seem like an excessive effort, it also attests to the great confidence EMT Squared has in this project, as well as the care and consideration the staff put in. Train to the End of the World is an anime to keep an eye on this season, looking at the effort put into every part of the show.