Ginga Tokkyuu Milky☆Subway

I gave this a shot after having this recommended by Tristan Gallant (Glass Reflections), largely figuring it would be a quick and fun watch, but little more. And I have to admit, even given its short runtime, my expectations were exceeded. The animation is pretty good, especially for such a small team. You really get a feel for the ways different characters behave and move, and their models are largely pretty expressive. What Yohei Kameyama pulled off here is no small feat, and his voice acting team does a great job bringing these characters to life in both the Japanese and English dub. Narratively, this largely is a vehicle for shenanigans, giving us opportunities to watch the characters handle a variety of problems that crop up after they're arrested and forced to clean a subway car that runs away with them. Things do eventually get explained, but avoiding spoilers, it does feel a little absurd (even the characters acknowledge it). That's not a huge knock against it, mainly because the series just leans into the absurdity of its premise. Where this truly excels is in its dialogue and humor. The cast gels well and their varied personalities and archetypes play well (or poorly, as the case may be) together. They all get a chance to shine, and while we may not get to know them too much in 12 episodes, the series doesn't let any of them vanish into the background. And yes, I had more than a few moments where I was cracking up, whether due to line deliveries, absurd situations, or just where a given episode was cut. It's roughly 45 minutes long and available for free on YouTube. Watch it. Support this team. I'd love to see what else they put out.

I initially caught this show while channel hopping back in Tokyo a few months ago. While I wasn't too interested in the show (count it as anti-3D bias), what I saw in those 3 minutes captivated me. Great direction with a sharp sense of comic timing, the show packs more of a punch in 3 minutes than most shows could pull off in 20. I was sold. Describing how well the action, cinematography, and comedy flows would just do it a disservice. The whole thing is about 40 minutes, tops, and there isn't a dull moment in the show, whether it's hacking a robot or fixing some circuitry. Milky Subway is practically a solo endeavor, and you can really feel the love and passion from Kameyama. With full creative control, you can really feel his vision shine through in every episode. Milky Highway was a very nice graduate project, but it was still a graduate project at the end of the day. Subway on the other hand is definitely more fleshed out, and you can tell he's planned something like this out for a while now. I can only hope that we get more in the Milky series down the line. Not just because Kameyama is a capable director/writer/storyboard artist, but because I've become infatuated with the world he's created, and reading up on all the world building just makes you wanna explore the world he's created and find out what else he has in store. Don't sleep on this. This show is the most original I've seen in years. 8/10

Just a really fun short story with amazing voice acting, super fun and entertaining to watch, with a top-level 3D animation and great humor. Simply a fun, complete short show that you finish in like 40 minutes, and want more. Charismatic characters that have great chemistry between them and a way of speaking that really soaks you in the atmosphere. It's no joke, one of the best 3D animated animes out there. Also, there's a great direction work and you can feel the love put into this project. I rate it a 10 just because of how short but fun it is, you don't feel that there's a single second wasted. It started as a college project that evolved into a free-to-watch YouTube show, and I would recommend it to basically anybody since it also has dub and it's really short.

Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express is an odd series of web shorts about a group of delinquents trapped on a subway train coasting through the galaxy. With a total runtime of only 36 minutes and fairly brisk pacing in each episode, it’s a nice little bite-size bit of entertainment if you end up vibing with the characters and aesthetic, though that “if” is certainly doing most of the heavy-lifting. It’s not as though anything is particularly bad; in fact, I found the snappy dialogue to be rather charming and the imitation 80s color palette and costume design pretty distinct and eye-grabbing. I definitely need to give credit for the sheer detail of the animation and set design as well, with some of the best full-CG animation I’ve seen in a while. Aside from that…well there’s really not that much. The mild bits of characterization we get here and there give the cast their necessary depth, but it’s a depth you could easily stand shin-deep in. Perhaps I’m overthinking this one and it really is just about the vibes, and those vibes are nice. I’m not someone who actively seeks out an aesthetic of Blade Runner sheen, vaporwave rainbows, and tank tops poking out of oversized sweatshirts, but I don’t exactly dislike it either, and the way the action scenes are timed to the music is fun, if a bit corny. If anything about how this show looks or feels sounds like one of your favorite things, you absolutely should check it out, but even if it isn’t, it’s still a fun half-hour mini-mystery with charming characters.

This is tied as my favorite show next to Frieren. It was just so fun from start to finish. The performances were so fluid and natural. I speak Japanese and it honestly sounded like normal conversation while still being packed with character and emotion. Everyone was just so in sync. Talking over each other at the perfect time, falling silent at the perfect time, everything was so polished. And most of all, it perfected how to show, not tell. Nobody, not even once, directly stated how much they cared for another character. They always demonstrated it through action or reaction. It respected the audience's ability to fill in the gaps which made it seem so much realer, I genuinely felt like a fly on the wall watching real people. And the sheer amount of world-building they were able to pack into each line of dialogue is astounding, it's such a rich piece of art. Normally when watching any piece of media, it's easy to go into Analysis Mode and start saying things like "Ah, so that's why they're showing us this scene, they want to communicate this idea, which leads into this next event, and adds flavor to this character's development arc." That didn't happen once for me while watching this. It's just so captivating that dissociating like that wasn't even an option. And to do all this while making some of the most lovable characters I've ever seen is just incredible. Each character, from design to voice to behavior, makes you want to root for them from the first few seconds they're introduced. It's simply a masterpiece. I wish I was a mega-billionaire so I could shower this creator and studio with generational wealth to produce dozens of seasons of whatever they want.

Top notch voice acting. The natural Japanese is such a breath of fresh air from all the enunciation standard voice acting of most other anime. It works well because of the types of characters they are, but it seriously breathes a sense of realism with each character as you listen to them and their casual speech quirks. Every character was so natural and had so much life. It doesn't feel like you're watching the show. Their overlapping quips, their quirky blips and looser talking pattern completely immerse you into the world and the characters. Despite the short time, you can't help but fall in love with these delinquent goofballs. If you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, you'd end up being friends with them too. Not every anime can make me laugh like a maniac so many times. It's just so damn funny! The animation is also extremely well done. You might think it's some experimental 3D, but it doesn't feel forced or weird at all. It's extremely well animated and doesn't use any cheap tricks. The only reason it isn't perfect is because it's too damn short!!

Some people might not be okay with 3D animation, but it did not bother me at all, and on the contrary, it was very good here. The facial animation was especially impressive. It was expressive, natural, and very life-like. The voice acting was also very good, and the combination of strong facial animation and solid voice acting created a really strong overall impact. The story hooks you from the beginning, and both the story and the characters were surprisingly good for such a short anime. Each character had their own personality, some backstory, and even development in a very short amount of time. The comedy was also good and landed well. Overall, this was a very well-made anime and an enjoyable watch.

Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express takes the initial premise and solid foundation from its prequel short episode and converts that potential into a realized series. With a lengthier run-time, it manages to capitalize on its endearing cast, character interactions, and clever writing. For example, the communication in conversion, including dialogue exchanges, animated mannerisms, and voice-acting, were top-notch. Furthermore, the comedic tone has been nailed down. The early Japanese television programming aesthetic and credits were also great. The narrative and setting definitely take a supporting role compared to the aforementioned positives, though. And understandably, the overall flow moves rather quickly. Nonetheless, these mini-episodes were genuinely entertaining.

Western indie animation is really in its golden age, but it makes me sad indie anime like this is getting so little attention. While I wouldn’t put this up there with most of Glitch or Vivzpop’s work, I still have to give it a shout out. This is a beautiful show with fun characters and great humor. The best part is easily the dialogue. It’s so natural and funny, without any of the usual ‘anime accent’ you get in dubs. As someone who usually hates dubs, even good one, I have to put this alongside Black Lagoon with ‘the dub is actually better’. I recommend this for anyone looking for something short and fun, fans of indie animation and casual sci-fi, and people who want anime characters to feel more genuine and human. And I really can’t think of anyone I wouldn’t recommend this to. There’s really no serious flaws or difficult stuff to digest here. It’s just a lighted-hearted, fun show.

Exactly what you're looking for if you need a quick fix of laughs, because this show has comedy down to a SCIENCE. Every single gag in this show HITS and the timing of each joke is impeccable. Even in it's restrained 3-minutes-per-episode, it consistently managed to get multiple laughs out of me. Actually almost choked half to death because idiot me decided drinking water while watching was a good idea. The way this show uses abrupt cuts to make every joke multitudes funnier is also brilliant. The characters and dialogue are also very fun and witty, which really add to the rest of the more situational humour. The voice acting is excellent, too, adds so much to each joke. The direction and choreography were a pleasant surprise as to how good they were. The fight sequences, synced to the music, were all very entertaining and well animated. And, speaking of animation, this man Youhei Kameyama is an absolute POWERHOUSE if this is the level of stuff he can make on his own. The 3D all looks brilliant and each character is brilliantly expressive. Once again, as with Flow, I'm blown away by the capabilities of blender. Then, top all this off with the cherry on the cake that is the great music, and we have one of the most batshit insane fun short animations you can find — that too, free on YouTube.

For the incredibly short run time this show has, it puts in a lot of ground work. There are plenty of genuinely funny jokes, character moments, and pretty decent action scenes as well. It’s animated really well and the world of the show is so interesting and weird that it could easily spawn dozens of different stories set in this universe. Any criticisms? The short run time really leaves you wanting more. A lot of the characters tend to talk over each other quite a bit, making a few scenes pretty chaotic. That’s about it though really! Check this out if you have about 40 minutes or so to spare! It’s free and has a ton of language support on YouTube!

So... Ive binged the entire season in one go after finding out they made an anime from that fun music short. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the entire show despite the 3:30min short episodes of which the actual runtime was more around 3 minutes. It was honestly impressive how they managed to fit in a reasonable plot, a good setting, character building and puns that were actually funny to me. Given that all of this was very minimalistic and boiled down to one or two punchlines in the entire episodes the jokes around those were well buildup and also forwarded the plot and contributed to the character personality. They even managed to fit in an unexpected ending for me. So why did it not score full marks? DONT GET ME WRONG! i liked the show. it was good. BUT: To me while this show had everything that made it a good and enjoyable show, it just didnt have anything outstanding YET. In comparison to other shows it lacked overall depth that would turn a good show, into a fantastic show. The entire thing feld more like an extremly stylised movie that had been cropped into multiple episodes and in the end i just hoped to see more. Every episode is very minimalistic and boils down to a couple of punchlines which add more depth to the characters. It is really really well excecuted but i think in a longer series with more episodes that continue the story this could have worked way better. Personally i enjoyed myself and would love if more of this was produced, but as of now it is what it is.

With sharp comedic timing and a cast of charming characters, Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express delivers a hilarious and thoroughly entertaining adventure in just 12 short episodes, each under four minutes long. Along the way, it still finds time for action and emotional moments, and even if its limited runtime and animation don't allow those aspects to be explored in much depth, the series never loses the effortlessly natural pacing it establishes from the very first minute. What does it do best? The dialogue, without a doubt. The series makes perfect use of its short format with overlapping lines, chaotic conversations, and characters who never shut the hell up (complimentary). It's a key ingredient in the consistently funny tone the show maintains from beginning to end. At times, it gets a little too carried away and occasionally seems to think that people talking over each other automatically equals to peak comedy. Even so, none of that takes away from Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express' many strengths or from how badly it made me want to watch more of these characters doing dumb things and saying even dumber stuff.

This has been on my list for quite sometime. Now I feel like I should have seen it earlier. This was an absolute treat to watch. You can tell it's made by a small team however, that does nothing to detract from overall how enjoyable this is. The art style is enjoyable, the plot is interesting and I don't know how it would be possible not to fall in love with the amazing cast of characters. The animation admittedly does come across as a bit slow during the action moments, so if you're looking forward to that you might be disappointed by this furthermore, there isn't a lot of action or fight scenes to begin with. That being said I believe the interaction between the cast and the intrigue from the predicament they find themselves makes up for that.