Train Train 2 cover image

Comedy; Rated “16+ Young Adult”

Fresh out of high school, Asahi Saruta is ready to follow his dream of becoming a train operator like his late father, so he begins as a trainee at Minami-Kitazawa Station (aka MK Station).  What Asahi doesn’t know is that MK is known for being staffed entirely by good-looking guys (and one woman who looks like a cute guy).  There’s Kaiji Fujisawa, the ticket booth supervisor and former delinquent turned college student.  Hokuto Matsumaru is the fare gates supervisor and a free-spirited bisexual.  Hikari Furukawa is platform supervisor and the only female staff member.  Finally, “announcement supervisor,” Tsubasa Mashiko is also an actor.  Poor Deputy Akita, he is the deputy station master who has to keep an eye on this peculiar staff.

As Train Train, Vol. 2 opens, readers are reminded that Asahi is dirt poor.  Now, he’s learned to do without money, food, power, running water, etc.  Lack of food makes Asahi so weak that he’s late for work, but what is rich boy Hokuto’s excuse for tardiness.  Kaiji decides to make the two switch living arrangements – Asahi in Hokuto’s penthouse and Hokuto in Asahi’s impoverished apartment/hovel.  So how does Asahi end up homeless again?

In other fun: a new character debuts – Hayate Kakyouin, the flamboyant station master who is an incompetent legacy hire, but he’s talented at having fun.  Asahi meets a ghost, and the details of the rivalry between Hikari and Kaiji are revealed.

[This volume also contains a short crossover event featuring the stars of DokiDoki manga series, Train Train and Princess Princess.]

THE LOWDOWN:  “Cute” remains the operative word for Train Train.  That isn’t a bad thing for this shounen-ai (a boys’ love manga subset that is non-graphic in its depiction of sexuality) series.  Cute has rarely been done with such aplomb.  After all, the intended audience for this manga isn’t the ‘tween set, so the Train Train audience may tolerate cute if it is accompanied by a bit of sophistication, a dash of edge, and lots of comedy.

That’s what Train Train is – a workplace, situation comedy that has fun with the elements of boys’ love without parodying the genre.  The snappy dialogue, quirky scenarios, crass jokes, and comic innuendo are polished to a high shine.  The character drawings emphasize boyish, college-age males with girlish faces; their eyes are the cartoony version of “dreamy” eyes.  Plus, creator Eiki Eiki has given this young male cast the kind of thin, lean bodies that are CW- and NAMBLA-approved.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  All aboard!  Bishounen fans, Train Train is calling!

B+

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