Review: Train + Train, vols. 2-3

Train + Train, vols. 2 and 3
Story by Hideyuki Kurata
Art by Tomomasa Takuma
Rated T for Teen (13+)
Go!Comi, $10.99

Train+Train is based on a cool idea: The most promising students in a futuristic society attend school on a special train in which classes are interspersed with unusual challenges to test their abilities to the utmost.

The problem with manga like these is that often they don’t live up to their initial promise. The manga-ka either runs out of ideas or loses any thread of plot, spinning out separate episodes for 20 volumes or more.

There’s no danger of that in this six-volume series. The story keeps moving, with new revelations about the characters and challenges for them to meet, although the main characters don’t seem to be breaking out of their established roles much.

Spoilers after the cut.

To briefly recap, in volume 1, ordinary-guy Reichi is dragged onto the special train by Arena, a feisty girl who is running away from her wealthy grandfather. Grandpa will do anything to keep her off the special train, including having her beaten regularly by massive thugs. At some point in volume 1, Reichi and Arena are accidentally handcuffed together and since Arena is determined to get on the special train, that’s where they go.

In volumes 2 and 3, the students are only faced with three challenges, which makes you wonder what makes the special train so special. The first is to turn 10,000 gold pieces into 100,000, and the only way the students can even conceive of doing this is to gamble. Arena doesn’t question this at all, just takes it to the next level, using her platinum card to get herself and Reichi into a high-stakes casino where she matches wits with the owner. Predictably, she wins but doesn’t get the money. There’s plenty of action in this sequence, but it’s disappointing that the best strategy Arena and Reichi can come up with is playing the standard game a little bit better than anyone else.

The second challenge is a more interesting: The train is stranded in a remote mountain pass, and the students are assigned to win the trust of the locals, who are hostile to strangers and too proud to accept help, even when they are starving. Things get ramped up a notch when an avalanche traps the train in the village and cuts off all power. Although they are left without heat or food, the villagers refuse to take any help, goaded on by their mayor, an unlikable demagogue. Arena lets her fists do the talking and knocks the mayor out, while Reichi befriends a local boy. This time it’s Reichi who meets the challenge, although he doesn’t get credit for it. And again, no one is really thinking outside the box. If this train is supposed to be carrying the next generation of leaders, Deloca is in trouble.

The last challenge is optional: The train stops in a city wracked by violence, and the students are told to venture out if they dare. Reichi plans to stay in the comfort of the train, but his computer avatar asks him to come out and meet her in person. As he and Arena wait in an outdoor café, someone tosses a Molotov cocktail and the place goes up in a cloud of smoke. It’s not exactly a cliffhanger—you can’t kill your two main characters halfway through the series—but it will be interesting to see how they survive.

In between the challenges we get some of Arena’s backstory and a few moral tales. Sister Lou reappears to assert the connection between violence and religion, and Reichi declines an offer to cheat on his exams. So far, Sister Lou seems to be the most original character in the book, although I’m keeping my eye on the principal, an ice queen with a past.

I suppose the real story here is the education of Reichi. In the first volume, he is forced almost (but not entirely) against his will to step out of his ordered existence onto the special train. In volume 2, the time-release handcuffs open up and he has the option to get off the train, but of course he decides to stay. That, however, is the only radical choice he makes. Befriending the mountain boy, refusing to cheat on his exams, and ignoring danger warnings to meet a girl are not exactly paradigm-shattering decisions, and anyway, we don’t really see his internal life at all, just his eagerness and his bland smile.

Art-wise, Takuma is a better master of gesture than expression; the characters look like they’re smirking most of the time, which gets old, and the shadows on their noses make everyone look like they have a cold. On the other hand, his action scenes are very dynamic, and he really conveys the massiveness and power of the train, using sound effects, speedlines, and details to make it feel real. My biggest complaint about volume 1 was that we didn’t get to see enough of the train, but I’m happy to say this is remedied in volumes 2 and 3.

The combination of fast-moving plot, fairly interesting characters, and dynamic art made these volumes a quick and entertaining read despite a certain lack of originality. Train + Train isn’t exactly thinking person’s manga, but it’s a fun ride nonetheless.

Now if only Sister Lou could get her own comic!

This review is based on complimentary copies supplied by the publisher.