Kara Dennison
May 13, 2024 
Train to the End of the World is a weird and wonderful new anime about friendship, forgiveness, growing up, and the eldritch consequences of advanced wireless technology. The post-7G world—or what still exists of it—has spread out wider than ever, and each town has its own strange fate. As our four heroines travel to Ikebukuro via a little train named Apogee, they see many of these strange transformations… and potentially face being transformed themselves.
This fresh new series is still chugging along, so there’s plenty of time to jump on! In the meantime, here are three freaky fates that locals have undergone in the series so far. Which one weirds you out the most?
Zombies
The most recent stop in Train to the World isn’t at a specific station; rather, it shows the dangers of wandering away from the tracks. Shizuru encounters a band of wandering zombies, led by their self-professed queen, Yukino.
The wandering is for a good reason, as it happens. Being a zombie ain’t easy, and staying too long in the wrong climate will leave you either rotted or mummified. Thus, Yukino and her subjects are hunting the perfect place to settle down. While being forever undead might not be so bad in the right atmosphere, getting there seems like a drag. And, you know, there’s also the fact that only the “queen” seems to have her wits about her.
Mushroom People
At first glance, the residents living near Higashi-Agano station seem pretty chill. Sure, they have mushrooms growing out of their heads. But in Train to the End of the World, that’s pretty low on the weirdness scale. But as the night goes on, the brainy Akira starts to see that there’s malice afoot.
Much like the mushrooms atop their heads, the locals are sedentary and short-lived. And they fully intend to make Apogee’s four commuters just like them. In this messed-up world, wouldn’t a short and easy life be preferable? That’s the argument, but the girls realize they would sooner face adversity than give up so easily.
Animals… Eventually
One of the freakiest transformations in Train to the End of the World is revealed right at the beginning, back in our heroines’ hometown of Agano. While the girls themselves appear normal, all the adults in town are various animals—intelligent and still possessed of their personalities, but occasionally prone to being more animalistic. And this is the fate that awaits all Agano youth when they reach the age of 21.
There’s something eerie about the fact that this is something looming over the girls, no matter how many strange and scary places they visit. We’ve seen what happens when one of their elders goes feral; and this is simply a reality they’ll have to live with. Being a guinea pig might not be the worst life, but the inescapability of it hits you sometimes as you’re watching.
Check out more original anime airing this season!
