Pending Train Season 1 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Episode 9

Pending Train Episode 9 drops us on a train bridge on May 1, 2026. Not only have the passengers lost three years, but they’re now in the year of the disaster.

The carload is immediately taken for health checks and debriefings. As each person tells their version, they note the impending disaster, sharing whatever proof they have from the future. Finally, they meet their families and Kayashima can barely hold it together.

At home, Kayashima meets Tatsuya’s girlfriend, who now lives with him in their home. He then heads to the salon to practice his skill but finds his hands aren’t as dexterous. Was it that final moment when his hand hit the wormhole?

Terasaki considers who she can talk to about the impending disaster but isn’t getting very far. Her husband has a friend in government who may listen. While Shirahama brings more evidence to the police who’ve been working on the case, but they don’t believe him. Additionally, they’re still investigating the knife murderer from car 6.

At the University, Professor Hasumi considers the evidence including the corroborating testimonials of the passengers. Meanwhile some of car 5 gather to share their progress on the disaster, all finding more closed doors. As they chat, Kazuma and Koharu confide they’re getting married but that their parents aren’t too happy – they’d wanted things to go back to normal.

In the outside world, the press jumps on the fact that Kayashima’s brother is a criminal as a means to discredit his story. But he’s got bigger worries, like the fact he can barely hold chopsticks let alone scissors. Tatsuya says he can support him but Kayashima won’t hear if it. While out with his brother, he misses Hatano who visits the salon, discovering that the shop owner is not Kayashima’s girlfriend. She leaves him a note with a hope of connecting.

At the fire station, Shirahama is back in uniform. His injured former colleague is now able to take a few delicate steps, telling him he’s better now and Shirahama can move on.

Meanwhile, the ‘hot stylist’ Kayashima continues to bring crowds to the salon, some bringing flowers others trying for a slick new social media story. While at home, Terasaki’s daughter is worried that people are calling her mother crazy. Kato notes that all of them now have social media profiles with people posting video about them, including Rena who was confronted by Akashi’s wife on video. Hatano confesses she quit her job for the sake of the students.

And at home, Kayashima’s long-absent mother appears on the news talking about her now-famous son. Kayashima is pushed to the edge as she specifically notes how the three of them got through previous trouble together and how proud she is of him. 

At a group meeting, Yonezawa tells the group of having visited Tanaka’s daughter. He had explained her father’s choice to her – and it turns out her childhood nickname was Meepo. She reinforced that Yonezawa has to save the future. As they ponder tactics, Kato thinks about how the plants he brought back can be incontrovertible proof that they were in the future, bringing the group some hope. Afterwards, Shirahama and Hatano visit the restaurant like they’d promised. The girl Shirahama admired is wearing someone else’s ring.

The two talk about happiness being having someone with which to share the good and the bad and Hatano can’t help but worry about Kayashima. Later, Shirahama runs into him asking about his hand but Kayashima comments that it looks like his career is finished. As Shirahama tries to convince him to join their group, reminding him of their responsibility to save everyone, Kayashima is spiraling in negativity. He wishes he could go back to the future, that he hadn’t left in the first place. Shirahama asks him about Hatano but he doesn’t budge.

The next day, Kayashima packs a bag saying he’ll lay low for a while. While at work, Shirahama answers a fire emergency. But at the scene, social media hounds prevent him from carrying out his duties. He gets called out for pushing a selfie-taker out of the way during the fire scene and is subsequently removed from duty.

Hatano calls Kayashima and confesses her feelings but, broken, he tells her he’s forgotten about her. And doesn’t care about anything anymore, including the future. Yet later in a bar Kayashima hears people talking about Shirahama pushing someone and shows up to console him at the station. They agree on how much the world sucks but Kayashima won’t let him wallow. At the same time, several unidentified objects are spotted in the sky.

The Episode Review

Now that they’re back with only several months until the disaster, things have gone downhill for pretty much everyone. While they were in the future, the rest of the world moved on and seems to have forgotten them. Three whole years.

Additionally, they’re labelled as cranks spouting weird nonsense about the future. And pending social media stars jump on any opportunity to make a name for themselves on the coattails of the crazy people, continuing to fuel the fire and making their claims sound even less likely.  How frustrating it must be to know what’s coming and not be able to do anything significant about it. While the rest of the world experiences blissful ignorance. 

As beaten down Kayashima and Shirahama wobble in focus, the others are there to continue the fight, everyone banding together and doing whatever thing they can do. They’re picking up the slack for each other in this new mission – just like they did as members of car 5 in the future.

Who’s your favorite crazy person from car 5? Has it shifted since the first couple of episodes? Let us know in the comments below.