cielo.miller - 2015-03-21 19:34:19

In the first two episodes alone, even a lax viewer will notice some egregious editing errors, like mismatched voices and items disappearing and reappearing. The characters are shallow and generic. The anime as almost nothing to do with trains, using them only as a setting. Nothing more. There are also several moments where it seems like nobody did their homework and it just ruins the entire mood.

hackett.abigayle - 2015-03-07 19:19:33

different story that portrays the everyday life of how a train security officer has to work, it is shown quite accurately (except for the fan service) and also it adds a little anime style to it such as the vacations/the organ delivery was pushing it too far

kertzmann.dortha - 2014-10-25 17:40:40

Rail Wars! is an anime adaptation of the light novels written by Toyoda Takumi. The story is set in an alternate universe where the Japanese government never privatized the national railroads, but is otherwise completely realistic (for an anime).

Story

The story follows Takayama Naoto, a high schooler with an irrational love of trains. In pursuit of his life goal – becoming a train driver – he joins the Japanese National Railways Central Academy, which he believes will set him on the career track towards his dream. Also enrolled in the academy are Sakurai Aoi, Koumi Haruka, and Iwaizumi Shou, and the four of them join the Japanese National Railways Security Force as trainees, where they work together to combat acts of terrorism and keep the company’s customers safe.

Sakurai, Iwaizumi, Koumi, and Takayama, with a crook in the foreground

The show doesn’t have much of an over-arching story, instead focusing on small incidents one at a time. These typically deal with the group working against some type of terrorist threat or trying to overcome some other challenge together.

There are plenty of laughable situations in the series, whether ridiculous train antics or Takayama conveniently tripping and falling on one of the heroines. There is also a bit too much focus on fanservice, but at least it doesn’t distract from a worthwhile story.

On the other hand, many of the situations are very tense, both for the characters and viewers, as the outcome seems unpredictable. While they generally opt for the best possibility with these situations, the lead-up can at least hold the viewer’s attention and pique their curiosity in the conclusion.

Characters

At its core, Rail Wars is just another harem anime with a generic male protagonist. Besides his love of trains, nothing really sets Takayama apart from similar protagonists in countless other shows.

The only character who significantly develops over the course of the series is Sakurai. While she is initially a cliched violent tsundere, by the end of the show she was far more reasonable in her disposition towards Takayama – the transition is most noticeable around episode 5, one of the highlights of the show. As a strong female character, she is the most interesting person to watch and one of the most interesting parts of the entire series.

Koumi and the rest of the recurring female characters are mostly present as harem members, never adding much to the story. While Sakurai’s personality slowly changed through the show, Koumi and the others remain the same from the beginning, attracted to Takayama for no explicable reason, and their presence is simply exploited to advance the plot or provide fanservice.

Iwaizumi, the secondary male protagonist, only exists to provide the brawn of the group. In scenes where he is not needed, he is not present, and he is an extremely one-dimensional character, always thinking with his muscles and stomach more than his brain.

Art/Animation

Unfortunately, the animation is very inconsistent. There are many animation errors, characters that aren’t in the foreground commonly look awful, and bodily proportions seem to change at random – this is most evident with Sakurai’s chest, which seems to balloon during some scenes.

As one example of an animation error, in the second episode there is a scene where Sakurai is pinning up a poster. In the TV airing, the poster was blank half of the time, so the poster would alternate between a blank white and properly filled in. Fortunately, this was at least fixed for the ongoing blu-ray/DVD release. Besides this, there are a few scenes where characters speak without their mouths moving and other minor errors.

TV on the left, BD/DVD on the right

Background art for the show is adequate, but generally a bit bland. Many times, especially when the cast is on a train, the background will have one consistent color, resulting in a washed out appearance that isn’t helped by the constant out-of-focus blur effect. f/15plz

Character design for Rail Wars is pretty standard fare, as most of the characters look neither outlandish nor generic. Takayama looks the same as countless other protagonists, but each of the other characters have something to set them apart from visually similar counterparts. Most of this is in the characters’ hair design, which is different enough from the standard to both look good and normal enough.

While this is an ecchi series, it isn’t as exaggerated as many more popular ones. While the camera frequently focuses on or pans up from the chest, especially for Koumi and Iida, there isn’t any full frontal nudity or borderline hentai situations. Besides that and the typical protagonist-trips-and-lands-on-female trope, the majority of the visual emphasis is on the girls’ rear-ends, hence all the “caboose” jokes surrounding the show. This isn’t a problem, but it’s at least worth noting.

Sound

The anime’s opening theme, Mukai Kaze ni Utarenagara, is the clear musical highlight, setting up a high-octane atmosphere for the show. The ending theme is below average, being some weird rap/dubstep/electronic J-pop hybrid that fails to deliver anything worthwhile in any genre.

For the most part, the soundtrack is effective enough. The music generally fits with the situation, but never really carries it – as a whole, it’s above average, but certainly nothing special. It lacks memorability and emotion, merely assisting the situation adequately. There are some tracks that are a bit over-dramatic and cheesy, but they aren’t too common.

The voice-acting is nothing noteworthy. Most characters had fitting voices that were acted well enough, with no standouts on either side of the spectrum.

And… uh… the trains sound authentic. I guess.

Enjoyment

Honestly, while the anime generally consists of average components, the whole is very enjoyable. Rather than falling into the “so bad it’s good” category, it has enough to hold it above average before being sunk by a sometimes laughable story. While most of the characters are rather bland, Sakurai carries the anime, both visually and from a character standpoint. The other characters injected into a few episodes also help to add some dynamism to the show, such as Noa in episode 4.

Despite its many flaws, Rail Wars is plenty of fun, but it will quickly turn away those who aren’t prepared for an anime with greater emphasis on the behinds than the story.

Story – 4, Nothing special
Characters – 5, Meh besides Sakurai
Art/Animation – 4, Meh besides cabooses
Sound – 7, Effective, good OP
Enjoyment – 8, Fun stuff
Cabooses - 10, best in the industry

Overall – 6/10Recommendation – For the best harem on rails you’ll ever see, watch it. Or if you like cabooses (on trains or females). Either way, you should probably wait for the full BD/DVD release so that the animation errors are corrected.

bfarrell - 2014-10-02 05:10:02

It's got trains, hot girls, some action, a trap, and more. Got some spare time and don't want to think too much? Then watch Rail Wars.

adolphus81 - 2014-09-21 16:02:13

I started watching this because of the plot, an anime about trains is something totally weird and different to watch. Unfortunately the anime focused more on fanservice than in history. I'm still waiting for the extremist group called "RJ" that wants privatize the Japanese National Railways. 
The main protagonist, Takayama, is so generic. He don't have nothing special, only your madness by trains. The only character that I liked is Sakurai, she is crazy hehehe.
I expect that, if there is a second season, the producers focus more on the story.
Concluding, the anime was childish, funny in a few moments, have a lot harem and ecchi scenes, and the plot is only about boobs and more boobs.
If you like ecchi and harem (and boobs), you I'll like of this anime.

flo.lind - 2014-09-20 20:21:50

RAIL WARS WTF if i wanted boobs and asses in my face id go to a strip club very poor not a MUTTER of a good story i was clinging on i gave up it made me feel sick it is all F A N S E R V I C E  really sad pushing it the animation was okay and the sound was good as well  but that is me looking for things to give them NO ONE should need to do that so bad
could of been MUCH better  

sadye.stracke - 2014-09-20 04:27:46

Rail Wars is one of those adaptations that shouldn't exist...

There's basically no story on it, the character are the most stereotypical thing I've seen in this season, the animation has a lot (and I mean A LOT) of errors like awkward faces, bad CGI design, and even bad transitions... Yeah, that's right, THERE ARE MOMENTS WHERE THE ANIME LOOKS LIKE IF THE SEGMENTS WERE BADLY EDITED. I can't believe that something like this could happen in this day and age. Some action scenes are good and well detailed and the ecchi is fancy sometimes but there are some moments where the animation is just awful.

The music was actually really good in every chapter, but sadly, the sound effects were not at the same level. (also, catchy OP and ED).

I know this show is in the "Ecchi" genre but an adaptation like this should have something else to catch your attention besides of fanservice (that isn't that good to begin with). The story doesn't tell you anything, some of the characters have arcs in some episodes where we can see a bit of their backstory but it's not interesting at all. There were only two episodes that kept my attention (Ep 8-9). Those episodes were really good. exhilarating at some point. but were quickly shadowed by the show's poor execution.

Also, I'm aware that the animation studio "Passione" had some issues with the owner of the light novel. apparently the owner of the Rail Wars series didn't like how the anime resulted and had a discussion with the studio. so the guys at Passione had to re-create part of the anime. But I guess that it went from bad to worse.

It's a shame that this happened, because I heard that the light novels of Rail Wars are pretty good, but oh well... 

what are we gonna do about that?

zconsidine - 2014-09-19 23:20:20

Rail Wars isnt the type of anime that tries to take itself too seriously. The producers know that people don't watch it for the story or anything like that, so they don't put budget on useless things. I accompanied this anime weekly and it was worth it, since it was a very heartwarming causal show. Don't go in expecting too much, it is nothing more than a simple fun anime with great animation, but that is also exactly why you should watch it.

Story: 

Nothing special. A boy named Takayama wants to be a train driver, and so he joins the JNR's training school and meets up with three other friends (two of them girls). They end up solving several problems in the JNR and every few episodes Takayama's harem grows with the addition of a teacher, the boss, the childhood friend, and the idol. 

Oh also the RJ extremist group never actually shows up, Im guessing they scrapped the idea. It is better than way though, because Rail Wars is not a serious show.

Animation:

The show's high point. Very above average animation. The trains are excellently animated and so are the ecchi parts. The action scenes are also very well animated. Best boobs and asses of the summer 2014 season no doubt.

Sound:

Also above average. The OST has a considerable variety of songs, and the songs are always played at the right moments. The voice acting is definetly good as well.

Characters:

This is a harem, so don't expect too much. Takayama doesn't grow much as a character along the story, in fact he doesn't grow at all, but the two main girls Sakura and Haruka do grow over time. The Idol and the childhood friend also evolve as characters. Iwaizumi is pretty much the same throughout all the episodes. Meaning that the girls are actual characters, the boys not so much.

Enjoyment:

This is a heartwarming enjoyable show no doubt about that. Does it get you jumping from your seat every time a specific theme plays and the MC starts screaming ORAORAORAORAORA while beating the crap out of the bad guy? No. Is it still enjoyable? Very much so.

Overall:

It is a heartwarming Ecchi Harem with plenty of action components. If you go in expecting nothing more than that, then you won't be dissapointed. If you go in expecting a masterpiece, then you will be disappointed. I was expecting Rail Wars to be nothing more than a show with good animation, ecchi scenes, and enjoyable scenes overall, and it lived up to my standards.

ccole - 2014-09-19 18:18:03

After just completing the series I can honestly say this was not at all how I expected the story progressed. It had a chance to become something genuine and live up to the title "Rail Wars" but all we got was an "ass-brigade" harem anime with some train fanatics thrown in. The characters were all copy-paste bland, which didn't help the fact that they had no particular progression direction. I could easily classify this as "an anime about nothing" considering that's pretty much what goes on seeing as how each arc only lasts a maximum of 3 episodes IF that much.
Ultimately, I went in expecting too much and didn't get out of it nearly as much as I wanted. If you're into harem anime WAY too much, you can watch, but it's not even that raunchy and doesn't possess too much action either.

The best episode was probably episode 7 imo, because it showed the grit and grind of being a hardcore train team, which is something all the other episodes lacked. It got my adrenaline pumping, it got me excited and it out shined every other episode in it's series.

shields.lew - 2014-07-14 16:25:47

I am curious to see if this goes anywhere. After the first two episodes I would not recommend checking it out on a weekly basis, maybe it would be something to marathon? 
It's a lot of fanservice and one dimensional characters so far.