Train to the End of the World (Shuumatsu Torein Doko e Iku?, literally "Where Does the Doomsday Train Go?") is an original anime animated by EMT Squared.
2 years ago, the launching of the experimental 7G cellular network results in complete disaster. Civilization has broken down all across Japan as the people are being affected by 7G's reality-altering powers.
At the town of Agano, its people have transformed into animals with only the youngest being unaffected: Akira Shinonome, Reimi Kuga, Nadeshiko Hoshi and Shizuru Chikura, the best friend of Yōka Nakatomi, the girl who triggered the 7G incident.
Worried about the fate of Yōka and guilt for falling out with her prior to her leaving, Shizuru takes over a passenger train to reach to Ikebukuro, the epicenter where the 7G activated.
The anime premiered on 1 April 2024 on Crunchyroll. A manga adaptation illustrated by Torimura started serialization in March 2024, accompanying the anime.
This page contains the following tropes:
- Alien Sky: The sky is filled with strange planets that weren't there before with even weirder scenes in the regions between train stations, such as the sky full of floating organs.
- And I Must Scream: One city has the entire population turned into Buddha statutes where they are unable to move, eat and drink.
- Apocalyptic Logistics: Agano is fairly well off, aside from everyone turning into animals. Their three staple crops grow at an accelerated pace after the disaster, providing a nutritious if boring diet. The 7G also passively provides electricity, or something similar to it, sufficient to keep water running and power one or two household devices at a time. Any items they can't obtain locally are traded via armored delivery trucks, though the companies are being wiped out one at a time.
- Beautiful All Along: Zenjirō looks like a senile, old man. It's only when he wears his train conductor cap that he reverts to a handsome young man.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The people of Higashi-Agano warmly welcomes the travelling girls but are secretly converting them into Mushroom people. Once the deceit has been exposed by Akira, the town drops the facade and act rudely towards the group.
- Bizarro Apocalypse: The activation of the 7G network effectively broke the laws of physics across Earth. Buildings, people, and animals have been randomly transformed, dangerous threats lurk all around, and the distance between settlements has stretched impossibly.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Akira asks Zenjirō for advice on the danger of Higashi-Agano's mushrooms, Zenjirō starts reeling off random bits of mushroom trivia. This ends up wasting their entire communication window to Akira's frustration.
- Cryptically Unhelpful Answer: The girls encounter a man on the Agano River who has already traveled the entire length of the railroad to Ikebukuro. He gives them a map of the route to help, but rather than writing down details he just made a series of doodles about each station that are largely useless without context.
- Didn't Think This Through: Shizuru prepares for her trip to Ikebukuro by learning how to drive the train, but the only supplies she gathers are some junk food and a single bitter melon planter. It's only after they've left town that the other girls point out she doesn't have nearly enough food and also didn't bring any other supplies like bedding or extra clothes. That, and she wasn't planning on bringing three other people with her. As for Reimi, Akira, and Nadeshiko, they quickly chased after Shizuru after her sudden announcement of leaving, and jumped aboard the train in a snap decision, only realizing their own lack of preparation long after they left their town.
- Everyone Knows Morse: The girls and Zenjirō can communicate by tapping out morse code on the rails no matter the distance or the actual state of the rails between them. Shizuru knows just enough Morse to get confused by Zenjirō's rapid-fire coding, so the more fluent Akira handles communication.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Pochi fixates on the mushroom growing on Akira's butt, even going into a barking frenzy when it becomes more active. Justified, as Zenjirō notes that dogs are especially good at locating mushrooms.
- Fatal Flaw: Akira won't tell anyone about her problems until they grow bad enough she can't hide them. She hides the fact she was infected with a mind-altering mushroom until it had severely affected her personality due to prolonged exposure.
- Forced Transformation: All adult residents of Agano were transformed into random animals when 7G went live, and the younger residents now transform after turning 21. This effect apparently persists even if a resident moves away. Similar transformation can be seen elsewhere, such as with the residents of one town all being transformed into statues.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Zenjirō has become this to the people of Agano, especially the girls who think he is an old coot. It doesn't help that due to his time-limit, Zenjirō is almost completely unhelpful to them whenever they face a crisis.
- Giant Wall of Watery Doom: The girls have to outrun a tidal wave which forms on the oversized Agano river. While the train manages to reach safety, the track to their hometown is destroyed.
- Gruesome Goat: Musashi-Yokote is populated by goat-headed humanoids that are extremely hostile towards the group and tries to attack them.
- Lobotomy: Pontaro subjected Zenjirō to a "wibble-wobble" procedure which left a large scar on his forehead and reduced Zenjirō from an intelligent young man to a senile old man. A flashback shows the procedure involved a power drill applied directly to the forehead while he was awake.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Transformed Agano residents can sometimes lose control of their instincts and behave like their new animal form. Shizuru suspects that in time their human minds may fade completely, leaving only animals.
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: Zenjirō ostensibly is supposed to serve as an advisor to the girls, giving them daily advice on the train and dangers they encounter. However, he's limited to only five minutes per day before his senility returns and is unable to focus on actually giving them advice. Whenever he does finally get to the point and start to give real information, he inevitably trails off into "choo-choo's" mid-sentence due to running out of time.
- Motor Mouth: Zenjirō is constantly talking in a loud voice while in his young man mode, but what he's saying is often irrelevant and only tangentially related to the actual discussion.
- Parting-Words Regret: Shizuru and Yōka had a fight prior to the latter leaving for Ikebukuro. When Yōka doesn't return following the 7G incident, Shizuru is deeply regretful.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The mushrooms in Higashi-Agano appear to be this at first, controlling the townsfolk to convert the girls. However, it turns out the mushrooms only induce feelings of blissful apathy. The townsfolk decided that they'd rather die happy due to the mushrooms than struggle to survive and assumed the girls would feel the same.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Reimi and Akira share this relationship. In terms of personality, Reimi is energetic and optimistic if slightly dim while Akira is intelligent but sullen and pessimistic. In terms of appearance, Reime is very tall and well-endowed, has blond hair, and wears a standard bright blue uniform with red accessories. Akira by contrast is very short and slender, has black hair, and wears a nearly black uniform with blue accessories. The two have squabbled with each other since childhood due to their clashing personalities.
- Road Trip Plot: Shizuru and her friends have to navigate the 30 stops between Agano and Ikebukuro, with the Bizarro Apocalypse turning a formerly quiet cross-country trip into a dangerous expedition with no way to know what has become of the land or the residents they'll meet along the way.
- Umpteenth Customer: Yōka was chosen to activate 7G due to being the 77,777th person to arrive.
- Unstoppable Rage: After the military broke the bracelet Akira gave to her, Reimi completely goes postal and decimates the lot of them.
- Villainous Crush: In Episode 5, the Boss seems to be smitten with Shizuru and bargains with her to stay with him in exchange to have her friends spared.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Mushroom people of Higashi-Agano attempt to convert the girls, believing it's best they live a short life in bliss rather than continue to struggle with life.
- World of Chaos: What the world has become following the 7G incident. The laws of physics are altered, different places now have different weird things happening, there are more celestial bodies in the sky, and so on.
- You Can't Go Home Again: In episode 2, the train tracks behind the train are destroyed, leaving the girls unable to return to Agano, at least for the moment.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: 7G brain wave syndrome is a condition which can cause a person's belief that their body is changed to cause an actual change to the body. Akira nearly dies due to her belief the mushroom pulled off her would be fatal.
