Season 1 |
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Episode Guide
Episode 1 | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 2 | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 3 | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 4 | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 5 | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 6 | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 7 | Review Score – 3/5
Episode 8 | Review Score – 4/5
Episode 9 | Review Score – 3.5/5
Episode 10 & Ending Explained | Review Score – 3/5
Pending Train Season 1 (Netflix), is a 10-episode disaster/fantasy drama about a train that goes off the rails, landing somewhere in an unknown future. It’s not as pretty or as relieving as the lush green implies. The train’s passengers wake to find themselves in a vast leafy nothingness, the last thing they recall an earthquake alert on the train.
Now smashed into the future, the varied passengers must figure out how to survive and work out if there’s any way back to their former lives. As they dig for information on what happened, the recent past is looking bleak, showing signs of a major disaster and they, potentially, the sole survivors.
While survival is certainly the immediate focus, the bleak landscape offers no easy solutions for the basics – food and water. Luckily they have a scientist on board who’s able to discern some edible plants. And a few determined leader-types who use their own methods to drive action among the group.
With about 6-7 key characters among the group there’s plenty of side stories and skill sets, as well as distractions and disruptions. It’s like the writers mapped out key personality types and set them inside a terrarium to fight it out. And unsurprisingly, in a circumstance full of pitfalls with a decent-sized group of strangers there’s a ton of conflict as well as camaraderie and some uplifting comedic moments too.
Led by Yuki Yamada (Godzilla Minus One, Kingdom) as Kayashima, Eiji Akaso (Super Rich, Cherry Magic) as Shirahama and Moka Kamishiraishi (Pokemon the Movie, Mirai) as Hatano, the story grows with a healthy amount of cliff hanger at the end of each 45-minute episode. While the characters suck you in, the story sometimes lacks focus, going on tangents that distract instead of ramping up the grip. Of course, nothing will come up roses in a disaster drama – even if they have the perfect conditions for lovely foliage. But they could have tightened the story arcs here and there and spent more time deepening some of the less obvious relationships.
Still, it’s fun with some great support work by the main cast rounding out the story, like Kai Inowaki who plays geeky scientist Kato and Joichiro Fujiwara who’s the ever-sunny Yonezawa. They’re the comedy team, providing a little relief here and there and could easily have been given more time to delve into their backgrounds and thinking.
While Rena, played by Kotone Furukawa, who you may recognize from any number of roles including Ryûsuke Hamaguchi‘s award-winning Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Netflix’s Yu Yu Hakusho, is the itch of the group, constantly seeing the downside. Space to develop her character a bit more would have been welcome and given the futuristic fantasy a more natural feel. We can’t expect everyone to be on best behavior during a disaster.
Yet overall, while it may not be on the tiptop of your list, it’s an interesting watch and you will certainly find yourself cheering for many of the characters and laughing along with some of the others. To read a bit more about it straight from Fujiwara Joichiro, including the team’s daily walk up the side of the mountain, see his interview here. Wondering how things finished? Catch the Ending Explained section on the Episodes 10 review here.
Could there be a Pending Train Season 2? It seems unlikely – find out why in our ending explained story here. To read Joichiro Fujiwara’s interview (Yonezawa) click here.
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Verdict - 7/10
7/10