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Neon Genesis Evangelion
Wikipedia
- In the very first episode, all transportation routes are out of
service under the hightened alert status in anticipation of the Angel's
attack. A couple of monorail are highly resembling the 787 series
train of JR
Kyushu are shown briefly. This train was first commisioned in
1992 for the Tsubame
limited express service. It is now operated as the Relay Tsubame
service to provide access from Hakata (Fukuoka) and Kumamoto, the
largest cities in Kyushu, to the new Kyushu
shinkansen route to Kagoshima.
- Also in the first episode, we see an organge boxy train (see
below) being blown up while the UN forces try to destroy the Angel with
their conventional weapons. That train belongs to Hakone-Tozan Railway,
which is a popular route to Hakone, one of Japan's famous tourist
spots. On Evangelion,
Hakone has been extensively urbanized and militarized as Tokyo 3 (Daisan-Shin-Tokyo, or Third New
Tokyo) to serve as the home of the anti-Angel organization,
NERV. Since the real-life Hakone-Tozan Railway is designed
only for relatively small-scale transport of tourists, the rail line
has probably been upgraded -- perhaps to a maglev commuter line -- in
order to accomodate the increased transporation demand around Tokyo
3. Thus, the train blown up in the first episode was likely no
longer in service.
- Shin-Hakone-Yumoto (New Hakone-Yumoto) Station is where some of
Shinji's drama takes place. Hakone-Yumoto in real life (see
above) is the gateway station for tourists going to Hakone, and Odakyu Electric Railway's
limited express train (called Romance Car)
from Shinjuku, Tokyo, arrives at this station once every hour or
so. ...In the world of Evangelion,
Tokyo has been destroyed during a world-wide conflict following the
Second Impact, so the trains (which have been upgraded to maglev
trains) operate only up to Atsugi, where a US airbase is located.
- There is a commuter rail line that apparently encircles the city
of Tokyo 3, much like how the Yamanote Line
constitutes a loop around central Tokyo. Shinji in his depressed
state rides this Loop Line for hours listening(?) to his Walkman.
In the English dubbed version of the show, the line is simply called
the Tokyo Loop Line, but it is really called the Tokyo 3 Seventh Loop
Line in the original Japanese version. Rather than the
conventional electric rail system, the Loop Line appears to be a monorail
or maglev
(resembling Linimo ...see below) system.
- The name of Hikari Horaki, the class rep, comes from the Hikari shinkansen bullet train.
This is not a mere coinsidence because her sisters's names, Nozomi and
Kodama, are the names of the other trains on the Tokaido/Sanyo
Shinkansen route.
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Wikipedia
- The setting of Haruhi
is based on an actual place in the city of Nishinomiya near Kobe.
The rail line seen on this show is the Hankyu Koyo
Line.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Wikipedia
- The main setting of Ghost in
the Shell is Nihama (New Port City), a fictional city situated
off the coast of Kobe. Nihama seems to have a subway system.
- Although Tokyo has been destroyed in the world of Ghost in the Shell, a shinkansen
station is located at Shin-Tokyo (New Tokyo), which appears to be an
area somewhere to the east of the old Tokyo. The shinkansen
train, looking much like the real train in service today (see below),
probably operates on the old Tokaido shinkansen route to connect Nihama
and Shin-Toyko.
Fullmetal Alchemist Wikipedia
- As far as I've seen, all trains on FMA are steam-powered. Not much
else to say... I'm not an expert on European-style steam engines.
Zipang Wikipedia
- Kadomatsu, an officer of the Maritime Self-Defence Force who has
slipped back in time from the 21st Century to the WWII era, takes the
Yokosuka Line of the National Railway (currently JR East Japan) from
Yokosuka to Tokyo to see his grandfather and father in 1942.
Today, a large military seaport for the MSDF and US Navy is located in
Yokosuka. In the 1940s, Yokosuka was an important base for the
Japanese Imperial Navy.
- The high-speed express train of the South
Machurian Railway, called "Asia," appears in this manga.
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