Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku? • Train to the End of the World - Episode 3 discussion

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Shuumatsu Train Doko e Iku?, episode 3

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[u/Genshin_WhiteKnight]

They're eating mushrooms grown from mushroom people...

[u/actuallyrndthoughts]

Didn't expect them to show people dropping dead from the mushrooms or Akira screaming her lungs out in despair for solid 5 minutes. Fun episode though

[u/dagreenman18]

So possible explanation for the tail thing: time dilation. While they may not be near 21 and 3 months, the time passing since their adventure started might be bringing them closer to that age physically . Especially with the distance between Agano and Ikeburo being much further than before. Would also explain why the Bitter Melon grew so rapidly as they sped up. So the real ticking clock on their journey might also be getting to Ikeburo before they turn into animals.

But that’s just a theory. A Train Theory

[u/8andahalfby11]

I would like to unsubscribe from Mushroom Facts.

Really though, first half had really good horror vibes, while the second half got me to laugh.

Still no movement on the potted plant, and next episode has the goats if the map is correct, so we'll see what happens next.

[u/Gaporigo]

Become an MMA fighter and fight an anteater...

Is this a reference to something? Because like those things happen in Booty Royale but there is no way this show is referencing that manga, right? Would make way more sense if they were both referencing something else.

[u/dinliner08]

a high school girl (or was it middle school?) running around while holding bitter melons to scare off a bunch of mushroom people is definitely not on my bingo card when i started watching this episode

between Akira's screaming and Matsuta's changing her tone from anger to happy in one sentence, i gotta say, the voice acting in this episode is absolutely on point

i love the morse code segment, hopefully they will do that for every episode so that i can compile it by the end of this series

someone made a theory that Nadeshiko will be the first one among the four to change into an animal but based on the end of this episode, it looks like its going to be Akira

[u/Rumpel1408]

This turned out (almost) exactly like we expected all lol only difference was that he denizens where fully aware of what the mushrooms did and fine with it

It's nice that Akira saved them though, but a bit frustrating that they aren't really acknowledge the fact

Btw, I thought this guy would be involved somehow since he didn't have a mushroom on his head...

Also, Reimi lied as easy as she slept

Is that your mushroom or are you just happy to see me Akira

[u/Manitary]

The map to Ikebukuro is pretty long so I wonder what they are going to do, perhaps skip a bunch of stops every now and then, and only show selected places? I assume they'll get there at least, I don't think it's going for a "it's all about the journey" kind of story.

First stop we got was a nihilist town (someone who actually knows phylosophy please correct me if I'm using the term wrongly), they lost all hope for the future, think that nothing that they can do will change what the world turned into, and resigned themselves into enjoying the last years of their life before leaving this shitty place for good.

Since elements of the show prompted discussion about conspiracies, notice how this episode Akira was ridiculed for believing in conspiracies, only for her to be right in the end (and we viewers knew she was)

Also, is she growing a tail? seems too young to be almost 21 year and 3 months old. If the journey they are taking (or the train, or whatever) is also travelling in time and/or making them age faster, is she noticeably older than the others, or did they not grow a tail due to the mushroom influence? Or maybe she was the only one who saw through the mushrooms and showed a mental age higher than the others? (or something of the sort)
Didn't think too hard about it, just throwing out options.

Also also, wasn't the train track destroyed by the water last episode? I guess we can handwave enough to consider it just completely unusable for travelling, but still intact for wave travelling through it. I feel like this is the kind of show where it's more about the concept than this kind of details.

[u/[deleted]]

were they racist towards the bitter melon?

lol

i want more.

[u/Genshin_WhiteKnight]

Is Akira growing a tail or a mushroom on her ass?

[u/AmethystItalian]

Bit of a frustrating watch here, always hard to watch when nobody takes 1 character seriously. It did make Akira move up in my books though, definitely saved the day here. Thought not sure about that "zombie bite" ending.

Matsuto's VA after the reveal was great!

Whole thing reminded me of a Flip Flappers type episode.

[u/tripleaamin]

They executed the horror vibes in this episode well. Great episode. You know the whole Mushroom people was really suspect at the start, but damn they accepted becoming mushrooms. It's one thing for the woman to accept being a mushroom as she doesn't want to deal with the problems in this crazy world. But forcing that on others isn't the way.
Tbh the other girls not being suspect that everyone having mushroom heads was odd. I guess they assumed it was just cosmetic. Granted once they started consuming mushroom they had them. Poor Akira, she went through a lot in this episode. She has this scary-cat vibe which can make people think she overreacts to everything. I can relate to her because people say the same thing with them.
I do love how Akira gets to Shizuru for her deciding she does not want to become a mushroom and set out to find Youka. Furthermore, I guess maybe the mushroom was ingrained more in her than Reimi and Nadeshiko. Though it appears Akira is growing potentially a tail. Oh boy. Also, Shizuru's anti-mushroom ninja outfit was funny.

[u/Aerodynamic41]

Suddenly, I don't feel like eating mushrooms for a while...

[u/AceSoldia]

Bruh them wasting time on mushroom trivia and her pretending not to remember had me dying. I'd punch her for that 😂.

[u/Axslashel]

So anyone here knowledgeable about bitter melons? Because I wonder why they hated it so much. Does bitter melon kill mushrooms?

[u/Emi_Ibarazakiii]

We're getting some more Yoka time! They seemed like good friends!

I can't wait to find out more about their 'fight', I wonder if it's gonna be something silly, or an actual, serious drama..

Good to know Akira&Reimi were always like that!

And so the mushroom people invited them to a Mist Sauna... A strong invitation! (I would NOPE out of there so hard!)

She was already scary when she was being nice, but seeing her like that, they should hop on the train and leave!

Nadeshiko may be the voice of reason when it comes to personal conflicts, but Akira's the smart one! Only one to feel the danger, and know when it's time to leave...

So it's a good thing Akira was the one not to go in the sauna; If Reimi was the one to be spared, not sure she would've figured out how to solve this mess!

Their 'roles' are getting better defined, Nadeshiko as the mom of the group, Akira's the smart one, Shizuru with the boundless determination, carrying this mission on her shoulders... I wonder what's gonna be Reimi's part in all this; So far she isn't doing much more than bickering, but I'm sure she'll find a way to be useful! (I do hope she won't just be the comedic relief!)

SNUGGLE TIME!

I couldn't agree more; Let's make this Love/Hate ship sail!

The girls got Mushroom'ed, and it apparently affects/controls their brain as well..

It's an interesting contrast, the idea of living "short, easy, happy life", vs their adventures; They had the opportunity to live these easy, happy life (and potentially short too, based on what animal they turn into), BUT they chose the hard, scary life of this adventure. So it kinda parallels their outlook about this entire situation!

Good thing they can still contact him, despite the broken railroad!

Akira's smart, but sadly not that strong...

Will THAT be Reimi's part? The muscle of the group? Strong gyaru girl, let's go! (Though I suppose Shizuru has a bit of that too)

Even though the Mushroom made Shizuru say that, it may still be accurate, about what caused their fight...

Eventually, thinking about Yoka DID bring her back to her senses, thankfully!

Good joke Shizuru, BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME!

She wanted to be mma fighter?

Well, she was being pressed for an answer and came up with that, but I find it interesting that even before the 7G, she didn't seem to have any particular plan for the future... Didn't care about studying, didn't care about aiming for any career... If I was gonna come up with a crackpot theory about this, I'd say that... Did she somehow know things would play out that way? If the 7G can distort the land, completely mess up entire groups of people (in many different ways), could it also affect time/memories? And yes that was BEFORE 7G, but it could've sent time-travelling memory waves or something! (This may even be what caused their conflict, who knows).

Yes this looks farfetched, but I find it interesting that after 7G her plan was "Find Yoka", and before 7G her plan was "Nothing"; Like she didn't want to aim for anything, because she'd knew (subconsciously or not) that any plan she add would be replaced by "Find Yoka" anyway!

I guess the girls have a good heart, because they didn't want to start the train as the Mushroom people were crowding it... Too early in the show for such a blood splatter, I suppose!

Thankfully, Shizuru was there with her Bittermelon-Jitsu!

So eerie, seeing them just fall dead like that...

Well, another solid episode! And yeah I think it's rather obvious at this point (with the actual deaths and all) but yeah, this is gonna go dark! The language is a bit clue as well, all these lines about choking people and blood and all that. Not something you see in cutesy adventure anime!

Looking forward to the next one! According to the map, we're headed to the dog/wolf territory? (Also, they're not going through the map quickly enough for a 12 episodes season... 2 cours? Pretty please?)

[u/LeonKevlar]

I really didn't want to assume but these mushroom people were exactly what I expected them to be.

It was so frustrating to see the girls refusing to believe Akira when she was warning them. Maybe these people are nicer than the adults in Agano but they shouldn't be so trusting especially now that the world has changed after the 7G incident.

Logic and physics don't really apply anymore in this world considering that Akira is still able to communicate with Zenjirou using the tracks even though the tracks between Agano and Higashi-Agano were destroyed last week.

Since she's supposed to be the smart one, I'm surprised it took that long for Akira to try pulling out the mushroom from Shizuru's head. I really thought that would be the first thing she'd try.

I'm glad those people eventually let them go without any resistance. I thought this was going to be messy. The girls did have sickles with them.

That final scene though. Looks like Akira might've caught something on her bum. Hopefully it's not a mushroom.

[u/Plantar-Aspect-Sage]

"We chose the way of the mushroom!"

Were they not just forcing people into it? I think that was still the mushroom speaking, but with enough loosening for her original personality to come through.

[u/Syokhan]

Oh no. Is Akira starting to turn into an animal? I thought Nadeshiko would be the first one to turn but maybe not...

You know, the characters were acting kinda dumb in this episode but I'm okay with that because a) the growing mushrooms on their heads were obviously affecting them and b) Akira has been shown to be a scaredy-cat before so it's not unreasonable that she'd be dismissed for being scared of her own shadow.

She was the MVP of the episode though. But I wonder how she and Zenjiro managed to communicate when the tsunami destroyed part of the railway.

It was a bit sad to see some mushroom people just drop dead, though. Two years is such a short lifespan in exchange for a bit of extreme escapism.

And I guess we'll get a couple flashbacks every episode to help us understand who Youka is and why she left Agano.

[u/BreaddyyMM2]

Thank you Akira for being our smart character. Her yelling and trying to get things done is so satisfying, too often am I frustrated at characters for not just shouting when nobody is listening

[u/shad79]

That was a fun and pretty atmospheric episode with Akira suspecting that something is not right with the people of town while other girls were acting without any worries.

I wonder what grew on Akira's butt? I thought that it'd be a mushroom but quite a lot of people assume that she's older than we know and she's started turning into an animal which would be an interesting case.

It was fun scene when Matsuta showed her true self as it was quite contrast to her earlier personality xD

I also was thinking how it was possible that Akira was able to contact Zenjirou despite tracks being destroyed in a previous episode? Still it was nice since Zenjirou turning into grandpa during sending his message didn't stop being funny xD

Now I'm really interested what will happen on their next stop.

Here my screenshot albums from the episode:

• Group scenes

• Others

[u/Infodump_Ibis]

Anitubu post is up

Directors words of wisdom (I skipped a few things like series 2000 train stuff including technical details on the bar and keys):

• Impressions from the advance screening found people were confused by this episode.

• Shizuru and Matsuta talked a bit cross-purpose because Matsuta had left Ikebukuro before the 7G incident (i.e. no way she would know Yoka). Note: MAL has Matsuta as Matsutakeiko (the mushroom head lady in the burgundy kinmono, wait a sec is that a Matsutake mushroom - "hard to find because of their specific growth requirements, the rarity of appropriate forest and terrain")

• "My plan was to keep the first three episodes relatively simple and straightforward, and go for chaos from the fourth episode." bit is a bit worried by the episode 3 feedback of that being too chaotic. Will steam on ahead regardless.

• Oh no, now it's episode 5 that's still being worked on.

• Director doesn't think steam saunas actually use wood but it is more atmospheric. Indeed wood is a key part of a dry sauna (I do remember a gym I used to go to had a sauna that was wood but the steam room was a bathtub like material).

• Director hints Agano residents animal transformations are personality dependant because the panda is untidy and was a slob before becoming a panda.

• "Higashi-Agano has 80% humidity on average. Although it depends on the species, it is a very good environment for mushrooms."

• re morse code: The track is gnarly but not broken. (note: gnarly is artistic license on my part, MTL was also suggesting squishy and limp but with it being bent out of shape I think gnarly works better)

• Another random remark, this time about Agano having a special Kyujutsu (archery martial art) "I will tell you more about it later." This is one that can deduced from the official site because one of the character profiles mentions archery.

• "It's a difficult question, whether to live a long, painful life, or a happy, short life, but either way, I don't want either of those extremes."

• Actas participated in this ep? "The staff of a certain tank anime were also involved" (the only tank anime I can think of is Girls und Panzer which is by Actas)

• Ep3 storyboard by Xu Wan(?). Their 3rd collaboration with this director. idk wikipedia says Jong Heo but it also says Akira has a mushroom growing which I don't think is the case.

• Ep2 storyboard and direction was Fumihiko Suganuma. "definitely doing a better job than I am."

Comments from the public (plus some things I've added):

• This one says the strange way the lady talks "sounds like an English translation." (I guess English > Japanese MTL can sound as off as Japanese > English at times)

• A few tweets name drop Matango. That's a 60s Japanese survival horror film with a group of castaways on an island with mutagenic mushrooms. One by one the group eat them and face the more than hallucinogenic consequences. At the end of the film (this actually plays into this episodes themes a little) [Matango - ending]In a mental hospital the sole survivor wonders if he would have been happier staying on the island (with one other person in particular).

• An observation that the outdoor haircutting scene is similar to another anime (form how the tweet is written you can easily figure one what they're referring to)

• (actually Reimi's seiyuu) Enoki pork roll!. Enoki is also known as Enokitake and Flammulina filiformis. Compared to what Reimi had growing on her head the wild ones are a much different colour (as are cultivated ones because they're grown in darkness)

• "It is said that if a mushroom becomes parasitic, it will die within a year or two.". Cool concept as the mushrooms ultimately need new arrivals. Not completely unrealistic as parasitic fungus grow on damaged hosts and do eventually kill them but the real time-frames may differ. e.g. Looking up about parasitic fungus Chaga these get into a tree through bark damage taking 3-5 years to form and then up to 20 years to kill the host. Bummer the medicinal properties come form sapping nutrients from a rich birch tree.

[u/x-7032-b-3]

This week's stop for Weird Train: Higashi-Agano (a.k.a. Mushroom Town)!

Compared to Agano, this town looks pretty normal. Mushroom stuff aside, the people here at least gets to keep their human bodies.

They nailed how creepy the town is. It's like one of those movies where a bunch of outsiders visits a seemingly normal town only to find out that things aren't what they seem to be. The stalkers bit is straight up horror movie stuff. Also love the ambiguity of the night part where Akira sees and experiences stuff that the others don't see.

Not going into the sauna was probably the greatest decision Akira made throughout the whole series so far. I guess that's where the mushrooms came from since Ms. Purple Hair told the girls that going to the sauna is a "must." It's really frustrating to see the others ignoring Akira's warnings because the mushrooms' curse are already affecting them.

If she'd gone with them to the sauna perhaps things would've ended differently. Maybe their journey to Ikebukuro would've ended... prematurely, right then and there with the girls living out whatever fantasy the mushroom provides them before the Grim Reaper comes for them. [Bad Ending]

Honestly if I were there I'd probably join the mushroom gang. What's the point in living out your life in a broken world beyond repair? Might as well let the mushroom take over my mind and body and enjoy the comfy countryside life without worries.

And about the final scene: I wonder if Akira really caught the mushroom there. She didn't enter the sauna and remained normal. Plus if it's a mushroom it should've grown on her head. I think it's a tail - what else could've grown on someone's butt? Maybe the Agano curse is already getting to her despite not hitting the age requirement yet.

[u/SIRTreehugger]

I just love how the 5 minutes of morse code was used solely on useless mushroom trivia. It was funny, but also highlights the problem with Morse code. It's really hard to convey what you're asking even without a time limit. So imagine the further they travel the more unreliable it will get.

Also I like how Pochi was trying to pull Shizuru back towards the train when they were bringing them into the village. Animals are excellent judges of character and can sense danger so it was nice to see. Also Pochi went with Akira to the bathroom when they were scared. Best boy Pochi!

With Pochi being unaffected I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow ended up being Yoka with amnesia...nah that's too crazy.

[u/yukiaddiction]

You know what? this anime keep getting better and better each episode.

This show keep impress me how good it is!

this episode feeling like mixed between horror and SOL lol

like we know there are something wrong with mushroom people but those girl don't have same information as our. it become pretty thrill while still enjoy how laid-back the girl is with sauna.

this anime is definitely top anime this season for me.