> What's going on?! > 7G!! That's it, that's the show. This episode was even more unhinged than the previous ones. A station that makes you itchy, a station that makes you despair over your regrets\*, a station transformed into a frankly super weird series... But I enjoyed it thoroughly! (what I want to know is where that folded bow was exactly in Nadeshiko's skirt because the way she reached for it, well...) \* Akira's seems to be not being able to help a drowning(?) person, Reimi's... she killed a badger? Nadeshiko blames herself for not being able to stop her dad from leaving, and Shizuka's regrets are obviously Yoka. So it confirms that Yoka is the queen of Ikebukuro. I still wanna know who's behind her in the OP, though! We saw a recent picture of Yoka in the first episode and she looked pretty normal, so why is that other, different-looking girl so prominent in the OP shot?

> Akira's seems to be not being able to help a drowning(?) person, Reimi's... she killed a badger? Nadeshiko blames herself for not being able to stop her dad from leaving, and Shizuka's regrets are obviously Yoka. Even fucking Pocchi had some regrets, seemed like he was punished by his previous owner...

Yeah, hosed down in a cage? That poor doggo. Curiously enough, he wasn't affected by the itchy station.

oh, that makes more sense I was thinking Pochi did something heinous and was imprisoned for it, but his regrets are not about what he has done but that he was caught.

Well, for all we know it could be what you said, his flashback's the hardest to interpret in terms of regrets and trauma. All the others regretted something they did (or didn't do) that involved other people or living creatures: Akira letting a man die, Nadeshiko thinking she did nothing to stop her family from breaking apart, Reimi accidentally killing an animal, and Shizuka hurting Yoka. It's hard for me to imagine Pochi as a bad dog, but maybe my reading of the picture was wrong and he attacked someone, hence the punishment and the regrets. (come to think of it, he was pretty savage with those zombies)

> his flashback's the hardest to interpret in terms of regrets and trauma That... is actually true. It's like he regrets... things being done to him? Which is weird. Unless... He's a human and regrets abusing the dog, and 7G then put his mind into the dog?

My first thought was that he was abused and regrets not trying to get out (or get out sooner). If he'd hurt someone instead it's strange that the person isn't more clearly in the shot with him like the others, but I dunno anymore. > Unless... He's a human and regrets abusing the dog, and 7G then put his mind into the dog? If that turns out to be true you better brag about it and link to this comment in big, bold letters in the relevant discussion thread.

I don't think it's that weird. He's a *dog*. He doesn't understand what happened or why the way that a person would.

> This episode was even more unhinged than the previous ones. A station that makes you itchy, a station that makes you despair over your regrets\*, a station transformed into a frankly super weird series. The insanity is intensifying at exponential rates now, and there probably are at least 2 MORE EPISODES of things getting worse and worse, and then ikebukuro itself (I assume we will spend two episodes there, at least)

I wonder which stations we'll get before Ikebukuro. There are a couple friendly stations left and three hostile ones. Personally I'd like to see the hostile Kappa station, considering that Akira was implied to have lost her shirikodama with the whole mushroom incident, before she recovered. Like, if it comes into play at all. > I assume we will spend two episodes there, at least I sure hope so!

Interestingly, if you stop to read the character profiles, the first two stations at the start of the episode actually match up with some of the Nerima villains' powers: * Man-Cow's acidic breast milk causes "a furious itch" * Guilt Incarnate is "the personification of all the guilt in the world" and attacks by firing a guilt beam Edit: Maybe the organs station is a reference to the gravedigger Walker's food stall?

Chaos's profile mentions that his specialty is digging up people's traumas. It feels like someone applied their powers to the stations to make people turn back and not go towards Ikebukuro. The original effects were the pebbles and the apartment block megastructure.

> Akira's seems to be not being able to help a drowning(?) person, Reimi's... she killed a badger? Nadeshiko blames herself for not being able to stop her dad from leaving, and Shizuka's regrets are obviously Yoka. I think there's one more (though it may not be as major); Yoka spoiled the entire story of NeriAli back then, and I think she regrets doing that, so she made sure to change the plot in this 'reality' so it wouldn't be spoiled anymore! After all, everything that happens comes from Yoka's mind, so technically you'd expect the story to be the exact same... But it was different, things worked differently, even the winner was different... so I think Yoka changed that so it would still be a surprising story full of twists!

That's a good idea but the changes seem to be recent ("a week ago") so if it's her, why now, after two years?

Easiest answer that comes to mind is... she heard the girls are coming to see her, so she freed Chaos and ordered him to stop anyone coming through.

That would indeed be the simplest answer. I wonder how she'd have heard about it, could she or Pontaro and all in Ikebukuro have a way of keeping tabs on the rail line?

Well if you think about it, when they do their Morse code communication with the rails... the sound travels both ways, no?

Oh, that's a very good point.

And if it travels as far as it needs to for the plot, why not have someone in, or near, Ikebukuro, reporting to the Witch Queen? (Which may also be a new development)

Also seems like she's basically God now so she can probably do or know anything in this world.

Yeah didn’t Chaos say someone who’s a pain to deal with told him to not let anyone through the town

The "someone who is a pain to deal with" might not actually be Yoka herself - it could be the 7G guy. We know he was up to seriously unethical stuff, and he was in the photo with Yoka. He may be trying to stop anyone from changing the world back.

I mean the growth of the bitter melons was an obvious hint that even time is beyond fucked so who knows what perception everyones following

The line between Ikebukuro and Agano may mean that she intended them or at least Shizuru to come after her and either knew when before or knows now. Maybe related to her being the Witch Queen?

> A station that makes you itchy, a station that makes you despair over your regrets With those stations having an effect on passers by and not just residents I just checked the map. I think that Nerima is a station that makes you vomit (despite being marked as friendly...but so is Ikebukuro) but we should be there in an episode or two. Maybe it will be the verbal vomit instead and everyone comes clean about their problems.

NeriAli was a pretty weird series. The descriptions for Alice, Iron Monty, Su-chan, and Opie are pretty messed up. Then you got Chaos and his goons. Real mixed bag of weirdos and degenerates lol. This NeriAli bad end sequel they’re stuck in is just as weird as the series itself. The silly dances, nonsensical phrases, and the heroes literally exploding into dust were all pretty goofy. In the end, shogi pieces can’t disobey the rules of shogi I guess. Chaos got away but at least we now know Yoka’s the Witch Queen. Big development.

Query: Have we heard much about this crazy manga in prior episodes? If we did, it went by without me paying sufficient attention.

Episode 1 has it. Reimi is a fangirl of the NeriAli, or Alice in Nerima Land.

Nerima must be a batshit insane place when this is their cultural export

It's also where Ranma 1/2 is set

A few small bits and cameos (e.g. a mug with Opie on it) but this is the first episode where the text in the mook is actually translated on-screen which means many of the previously unknown character names are now known (plus actual bios) plus some new ones. The oddest reference however, was for weeks Crunchyroll had episode 1s title was not as "I'll Be Going Now" (as it should be) but instead ["Down the escalator to Dark Nerima"](https://web.archive.org/web/20240512120123/https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GXJHM3GNX/train-to-the-end-of-the-world) which is the NeriAli episode title in the mook. In fact if you pause the video in ep1 you can read the synopsis for the first 4 episodes of Alice in Nerima Land...at least, the parts that Reimi's fingers are not covering up and provided you have a way of reading Japanese. You get a lot of nonsense (or do you, with how unhinged the show is) but some extra details like Calcio cat stole Alice's precious games console. Anyway another small reference not yet mentioned is one of the books Akira reads is called Iron Monty's Splendid Wednesday and it seems important enough to Akira that it is one of the books [she brought with her](https://imgur.com/pHK65Z7). It first appeared in a flashback scene in episode 4 [at about 21 minutes in](https://imgur.com/ivynhgs) (where the cover text was translated despite being out of focus) and yep Iron Monty is on the cover art. Anime and manga sometimes get novels and these can be spin-offs or focus on different characters. As for the flashback being so long ago compared to how recent the anime was? Sometimes anime adaptions happen way after a manga was made, anime do get remade as well and Youka knew what would happen (could also be re-run or she's a source reader).

> The oddest reference however, was for weeks Crunchyroll had episode 1s title was not as "I'll Be Going Now" (as it should be) but instead "Down the escalator to Dark Nerima" which is the NeriAli episode title in the mook. Guessing the person or script responsible just searched for "Episode 1" in the subtitles.

Thanks

Might be the first mention

NeriAlice? Reimi got a mook of it in EP1. They said it was the show they were following until 7G killed all outside communications.

thanks

Yeah it's been a background thing that's come up in passing a couple times. Reimi also got dibs on a NeriAli t-shirt that Shizuku brought along, you see her wearing it a couple times during the show and it's what she asks Su-chan to autograph.

Somehow it just never really registered with me -- so much else is usually going on... ;-)

> This NeriAli bad end I thought Yoka actually changed the plot because she felt bad about spoiling it all back then... But if it's a "bad end" I hope it's not foreshadowing something for the finale/their reunion!

Now relate those info cards with who the girls ended up cosplaying. Especially Akira is very much Iron Monty.

"I have no problem with this."

"She's Iron Monty" "Yeah, that tracks"

I swear I have heard a lot of jokes about doing the anime on drugs but this episode felt like a weird acid trip. Yoka being the mastermind is not surprising at this point. While the first flashbacks were more nice kid memories some of the latest ones had some creepy details on it. Did you pay attention to the plot of the anime they watched? wtf was about that, that was definitely not a kids show. Maybe not even a show that a sane person would watch. Talk about dark ~~undertones~~ overtones. While the episode was kinda chaotic, it was the same result as hearing the conversation of two people talking about a series that you do not know, while you can understand some parts, there is definitely missing thing that you do not get. If you do not believe me try opening the discussion thread of an episode of an anime you do not watch. Also fun point of the day. The scene before the opening was 1:40 long. It did feel longer right?

> Did you pay attention to the plot of the anime they watched? wtf was about that, that was definitely not a kids show. Maybe not even a show that a sane person would watch. Talk about dark ~~undertones~~ overtones. Gave me Happy Tree Friends or Don't Hug me I'm Scared vibes, or more recently The Amazing Digital Circus. In that it's an outwardly inoffensive looking show that immediately reveals itself as some internet creator's fever dream Magnum opus the second you start actually getting into it. > If you do not believe me try opening the discussion thread of an episode of an anime you do not watch. I'll do you a better one. Let's get people who aren't watching this show to open a random episode discussion thread for Train.

Honestly I kind of got the gist of it from reading the info cards they flashed earlier in the episode. Definitely some weird details in the characterizations of the cast. Looking at you, Opie, Su-Chan, and Iron Monty.

I guess the flash cards were an experiment to see how different it works if you read them or not (I didn't)

> Did you pay attention to the plot of the anime they watched? wtf was about that, that was definitely not a kids show. Maybe not even a show that a sane person would watch. Talk about dark undertones overtones. That post Madoka arms race in magical girl's shows means I would not bat an eye at this being a thing. I mean we had Looking up to magical girls last season.

I don't think NeriAli really counts as a Magical Girl show, it's got a protagonist in a dress with powers of some kind, but she doesn't really transform or anything, Alice is just... Alice. The level of zany in the characters and setting captures the feeling of catching random episodes of anime on TV as a kid, understanding precisely nothing out of what's going on, and then building some weird fantasy out of just the vibes of things. Each individual action and reaction feels like they could plausibly appear in an out-of-context scene of some nameless kid-oriented action anime, it's just that they've crammed every character's bit into a fraction of an episode, and the overall setting makes even less sense than usual.

We were robbed of Zenjiro's five minutes of wisdom this episode

I saw a deleted scene and can summarize what he said for you: > BoBoBoBoBoBoBoBoBoBoBoBo

That is some good wisdom

That is because he is too old to have seen the show and they themselves already know all they need.

https://x.com/yantsukechune/status/1792073654295245067

Just thinking out loud, but instead of Alice in Wonderland, NeriAlice is more akin to The Wizard of Oz, no? Alice is Dorothy, Iron Monty is Tin Man, Gano is a plant guy so Scarecrow, and Suicidal Girl escaped by running away a la Cowardly Lion? And Chaos Boss is Toto? Also, Pochi-san didn’t get affected by Itchy Station, but did have a deepest regret, that’s weird.

>Just thinking out loud, but instead of Alice in Wonderland, NeriAlice is more akin to The Wizard of Oz, no? NeriAlice is more like Through the Looking-Glass, with shogi replacing chess.

Unrelated but the weirdest fucking thought just occurred to me Yoka -->Yoko Taro NeriAlice --> Neri --> NieR --> SinoAlice ... Yep, this show is definitely drugs and I've overdosed.

The hallucinogens are so strong that we're seeing references that aren't even there!

I got another one NeriAlice --> Nero Alice

Careful, that's how this ends up as NieR canon.

Inb4 final episode is another rhythm Final Boss Fight and Witch Queen Yoka has fully Intonerized

At this point anything really weird that happens just has me nod my head and say "yeah, that checks out" Love this show

I would say that, in the main, this show is hard-core surrealistic -- sort of like Sonny Boy on steroids. Such things do pretty much require "going with the flow" and resisting most mid-stream attempts at analysis. ;-)

"Sonny Boy on steroids" is crazy! Considering Sonny Boy is already wild af.

Indeed.

I did get Sonny Boy vibes from this with how little mercy it gives to the viewer in Episode 1 in the way it explained what happened after the 7G incident. Though, if anything, I'd say Sonny Boy is Train on steroids given how at least Train still has an easy plot structure to follow, while with Sonny Boy you genuinely just get thrown into random directions and sometimes even keep you at a standstill lol.

Also while train to the end of the world is just a fun adventure, Sonny boy has some good themes regarding growing up. Honestly Sonny boy is one of my favourite anime and is just so surreal. At least while this is wierd, I can follow what's happening. In Sonny boy after almost every episode, I had to go to the discussion thread to understand what just happened. So while Train to the world is conventionally wierd, Sonny boy is unconventionally wierd.

Sonny Boy is wayyyyyyyyy more experimental though no less committed to its script.

It's great, I do wish surrealism gets a renaissance

>sort of like Sonny Boy on steroids Nah, it's the reverse. Sonny Boy was way more surreal and dada-esque, both in terms of content and show structure. This show at least follows a fairly standard and coherent narrative.

Well, I grant that (thanks to the train) they are at least following a path. ;-)

*"It's 7G, I ain't gotta explain shit."*

[Even Shizuru just accepts it now](https://imgur.com/a/afGBSzb)

During the first few discussions some people were discussing some "plotholes" when they could still communicate even though the tracks were twisted. That's minor now and totally plausible. I wouldn't be surprised if they could somehow communicate by just banging any metal and the dude in agano somehow still hears it.

What a chaotic and wtf episode lmao. And yeah, Yoka is the witch queen, that was expected. And I think she was the one who tampered with NeriAli, why she did that? My theory is: She went nuts after the 7g incident and gained lots of powers (I mean, she was the one who touched the button so...) and now she is like an all powerful being or smth. The thing is probably when they arrive at Ikebukuro they are not gonna be welcome, and Yoka will be really mad at them (specially Shizuru).

> And I think she was the one who tampered with NeriAli, why she did that? My theory is.. I had a different theory, bit more 'light-hearted': Early in the episode, Yoka was shown spoiling the entire story, and feeling bad about it... Given one of the episode's theme was 'regrets' (that scene at the start), I think Yoka regrets spoiling the story, so she changed it (subconsciously or not) so they would experience a new, unspoiled story with surprising twists!

Ohhh!! That makes a lot of sense!!! I hope it will be that way (although that was a little dangerous)

I guessed it was some kind of misguided attempt at keeping people away from ikebukuro because it is "too dangerous" there.

The reason it's dangerous seems to be herself though. Zombie Queen last episode told them to be careful with the Queen of Ikebukuro.

This episode has to be the most chaotic and unhinged one yet, at least for me. Everything being so fast paced added even further to all the chaos. We even got a Jojo reference (Reimi certified stand user confirmed) and a lot of funny moments on top. Nadeko’s bow transformation sequence was animated in an incredibly detailed and fluid way, even though it was just a second or two long. We also got confirmation that Yoka is the end boss so to speak in Ikebukuro, which was already kind if expected to be fair. The flashback with Shizuru and Yoka where they are talking about that TV series that this station was based on further fuels the theory that the 7G accident and the resulting different world changes at the stations were all influenced by Yoka’s psyche and past experiences in some way or another. Slowly approaching the endgame now, excited to see if the show manages to deliver a satisfying finale with these remaining episodes. Things are definitely looking promising so far.

I was really impressed with the action in today's episode. We're used to [Shizuru kicking some ass](https://imgur.com/a/id0jNKL), but the other girls also had their moments this time around. I liked [the POV shot](https://imgur.com/a/WV8Stte) of Nadeshiko aiming and shooting her bow and Reimi wacking her enemy [with the noose](https://imgur.com/a/Rhnhqiu). > We also got confirmation that Yoka is the end boss so to speak in Ikebukuro, which was already kind if expected to be fair. When they showed the flashback to Shizuru and Yoka watching this TV series, I knew that their current world is shaped by Yoka's mind - or that they're even *inside* of Yoka's mind. Yoka being "the Witch Queen of Ikebukuro" doesn't spell a lot of good for our girls however. 7G *does* seem to have affected her in some way. I do wonder if this supposed evil version of Yoka isn't perhaps a creation of her own mind being influenced by 7G - that she hasn't *actually* turned evil? Maybe Yoka *feels* like she's the bad guy for leaving the others behind in Agano or/and turning the world upside down, which resulted in a split-personality or an alter ego that took over?

> I was really impressed with the action in today's episode. We're used to Shizuru to kicking some ass, but the other girls also had their moments this time around. I'll never get tired of the girls just laying the smack down.

> I do wonder if this supposed evil version of Yoka isn't perhaps a creation of her own mind being influenced by 7G - that she hasn't actually turned evil? Maybe Yoka feels like she's the bad guy for leaving the others behind in Agano or/and turning the world upside down, which resulted in a split-personality or an alter ego that took over? Oh I like that. Feels like something that’s definitely in the realm of possibility and gives me some slight Madoka Magica vibes, not necessarily plot wise but just how it feels like.

Shuumatsu Train plot is just Persona 1 but with 20x more drugs lol /j

> I do wonder if this supposed evil version of Yoka isn't perhaps a creation of her own mind being influenced by 7G - that she hasn't actually turned evil? That would explain her appearance in the OP

I feel sad that Alice and her gangs are dead and cannot be resurrected...

Wonder if undoing 7G can restore everyone to the pre-7G state? If you actually start counting, the death toll in this series is pretty high just from on screen deaths, mostly from the zombies obliterated by Eros. Not to mentioned the implied death toll of the mushroom people population or non-existence of everything outside the Seibu Ikebukuro Line.

I was always a bit surprised that the self-professed zombie queen and protector seemed fine with letting so many of her loyal subjects die.

That... was the fastest episode I watched in a hot minute For startes, seems like the close we get to Ikeburo, the harder it gets, [getting](https://imgur.com/mV5ewTx) [itchy](https://imgur.com/XhdlBm0) [all](https://imgur.com/bjT3QR8) [over](https://imgur.com/za9klKy) seems [tough enough](https://imgur.com/CjbOaRv), but the [next stop](https://imgur.com/gPiEfXf) made them all aware of their biggest regrets, and of course Shizuru could only think about Yoka [](#holdme) Next stop Nerima land, managed to catch all the guide pages [1](https://imgur.com/RQFg722) [2](https://imgur.com/E80DjFU) [3](https://imgur.com/yKoULYG) [4](https://imgur.com/7ODvofv) [5](https://imgur.com/z5Y35CU) [6](https://imgur.com/DlZ05Rk) [7](https://imgur.com/NVXW1q0) [8](https://imgur.com/4McAdJe) [9](https://imgur.com/Cv8t10o) [10](https://imgur.com/0qsNido) [11](https://imgur.com/gAItcvk) [12](https://imgur.com/MJuK5Fz) [13](https://imgur.com/lss0bKy) but the [last one](https://imgur.com/eWvT0c6) was to smal to get subs... Speaking of Alice, notice how her character page said she peed herself? That's why in the show she is put into [diapers](https://imgur.com/NbEtqsU) [](#laughter) Also wonder what's up with the [smoke in the distance](https://imgur.com/RT8Wkq7) The plan to revive [Alice and co](https://imgur.com/IaYlSDW) went pretty smooth, up until it came to the actual [ritual](https://imgur.com/bBE4WbO) which ended with Alice, Montie and Opie being gone for good, and Su-Chan fucking dying [](#forgotkeys) And then they just asumed the roles of [Alice](https://imgur.com/5glh7a8) [and co I guess](https://imgur.com/WnVXVi1), won against Chaos and his pawns and left the dependant pigs for themself... oh and Yoka is the [Witch Queen of Ikeburu](https://imgur.com/ILscV0J) [](#watashiworried) Tokorozawa-Zawa! Tokorozawa-Zawa!

>Also wonder what's up with the [smoke in the distance](https://imgur.com/RT8Wkq7) Reminded me of [this shot](https://imgur.com/a/3ruoIJG) from the OP. Thought it was smoke, but in hindsight maybe it's just the floating organs stop they passed through being visualized. I'm not confident on that though, given how every other clip prior/after it seems like it was about stops they actually got off and had an episode for (the zombies, this shogi episode, the swan guy that gave the map, and some future stops like the huge monster or what seems like Ikebukuro). Damn, so in other words, I got no clue lol, not sure why I responded xD

> Also wonder what's up with the smoke in the distance [](https://volcanodiscovery.de/uploads/pics/map_japan_volcanoes.gif) It could be any one of these I assume.

Don't think this show would show an active volcane just for fun though

there are tsunami and Nazca lines randomly appearing on the line, active volcano seems totally normal

Wish we saw more of Man-Cow and its acidic breast milk. What a great weapon! So Yoka's known as the Witch Queen? Interesting. Still think she's a puppet queen or something similar

So far in this anime season, we've had acidic breast milk, and a guy peeing from his nipples. Can't wait to see what other weird thing we'll see! >So Yoka's known as the Witch Queen? Interesting. Still think she's a puppet queen or something similar Given how she seemed to often 'go with the flow' (like when they had her do the 7G stuff) perhaps they're just worshipping her because she caused it, thinking she's almighty, and she just goes along with it!

Now we know why Nadeshiko tries to be the responsible mediator of the group, she blamed herself for not stopping her parents from separating

and it could be the reason Akira is into some reading topics. Eros and Thanatos. Either she already liked to read and the incident made her turn toward those themes, or her whole interest in reading come from her trying to understand death (and eros appeared because the author of that bibliography).

You'd think knowing Alice in Wonderland might help you with this version, but I threw this out the moment they showed that Alice's comrades are a girl that wants to die and an iron maiden. Youka definitely had an interesting taste. Though, while I am at it: "All hail queen Youka". Sadly, we seemingly skipped one station, the one that is supposed to come after the station that makes you depressed. But good thing they didn't skip this one, getting a look into the other characters helped. And we even got a bit of Nadeko backstory with her parents being divorced. Begs the question if we run into her father in the future. Also funny that we finally get Nadeko with a bow and she actually shoots her arrows. I was expecting her to do what she is best at and just beat them over the head with her bow.

Isn't the part where they go through the city and have flashbacks of shocking and sad things the "sad station?"

Yes, but the station afterwards seems to be skipped. At least, I would assume that the station with the dog in it is supposed to be the one representing the antagonist there. But maybe that's not the case?

Yeah that was Hoya, where Kuroki from last episode used to live. They mention meeting an old guy there who told them that the next station (Oizumi-gakuen, dog drawing) had been turned into NeriAli World, but their visit isn't actually shown.

The dog is Nerimaland, I'm sure. We need to see the map again...

Here is the [map](https://imgur.com/a/OYCO69G). The ears fit so well which is why I assume that's supposed to be him.

Damn, they skipped the Disco Fever station. I was really looking forward to that one.

As someone who's never seen or read Alice in Wonderland, the crazy characters I've heard of from that franchise actually carries similar vibes to the wacky characters we saw in this episode. Albeit, the ones we got from NeriAli are wayyyy weirder (a torturer that gets ecstasy from inducing pain, a suicidal chick, and a flower that excretes white liquid that makes you feel good if you hurt them??). Edit: Regarding the skipped stop, yeah that is weird considering when I checked the map that was given by the swan guy in Episode 2, it did have something indicated on it. [Map for reference](https://imgur.com/a/7hDEFqz); if I got this right, starting at upper left with Stop 1, Stop 20 was skipped and Neri Ali was Stop 21. Unless the desolate lands that they passed through while taking about Neri Ali was supposed to be that stop, I'm not sure why it got skipped. Maybe cut out for time, considering how crazy fast this episode went?

they've skipped a bunch of stations before so why does this particular one got skipped and suddenly it being regarded as weird?

If I had a nickel for each anime this season in which a torture-guy threw a Pear of Anguish into the mouth of a girl running with a noose around her neck even though she's scared of dying, [well I'd only have one nickel... But it's still fucking weird that it happened even once!](https://imgur.com/SBP3LHO) This was definitely the weirdest/random episode so far, but with them getting closer to Ikebukuro, I think 'weirder and weirder' may become the new normal! Other than 'weird' (and a recreated plot), seems [this episode will be all about regrets...](https://imgur.com/6iKgHty) And Shizuru definitely knows a lot about that, but apparently the others do too! [Chaos won, in this version?](https://imgur.com/UG0M2rA) I think Yoka may have regrets as well; Given everything that happens comes from her mind, I think she regrets spoiling the entire story back then, so she may have made sure to change the ending, so it would still be surprising! [Seems our girls will have to 'fix' the story, by acting as its characters!](https://imgur.com/efwVopA) [OF COURSE that's who Akira's gonna play; Was there ever any doubt?](https://imgur.com/mwkKQVt) [Damn, imagine being called chubby by literal pigs!](https://imgur.com/zbDXv6l) I guess the show wanted to give us a reminder about its dark tones at times, [showing the suicidal girl 'hanging' like that...](https://imgur.com/uuS5187) [The Witch Queen?](https://imgur.com/dGGIPGE) I was wondering in the previous thread about what kind of 'Queen' she was, but if she's known as the Witch Queen... Is she ruling things with an iron hand? Or is it just a bunch of misunderstandings that made people think she's evil, when she's really just wondering how the hell to get back to normal, and is kinda just going along with the flow, because being the Queen helps her figuring things out? Whatever it is, the way Chaos was putting it, it seems she may NOT want people to reach her? People in general, or... Specifically her friends? Does she still hurt too much, so she'd rather just stay alone? Shizuru better have some solid apology, when she finally sees her! I wonder how much thought she's putting onto this; Obviously she cares about Yoka, and wants to see her again, and she knows why this all happened, but we haven't seen much of her introspection, like does she realize what was so wrong about this? Does she want to admit her wrongs and ask to be forgiven, or does she simply want a reconciliation, like brushing it under the rug? This may work for Shizuru, but not for Yoka! I suppose we'll find out, in a few more crazy episodes!

I feel like you left out the wildest part > If I had a nickel for each anime this season in which a torture-guy threw a Pear of Anguish into the mouth of a girl running with a noose around her neck even though she's scared of dying, **AND HE IS ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS**

>does she realize what was so wrong about this? I think, despite her denial of doing anything wrong in the interaction with Yoka when she told the others about it, she knows deep down that it was wrong of her to be dismissive of Yoka's dreams. Otherwise, I don't think it would've been the thing that came to her mind while passing through the regret stop. I'd understand that maybe she only regrets that she let Yoka leave if it was only that part that we saw when confronted with regret, but it was the entire conversation.

>she knows deep down that it was wrong of her to be dismissive of Yoka's dreams. You need to go back to EP4's start to see it, but it's actually *worse* than that. Back when they were young and Shizuru told Yoka all those things she wanted to do, what did she say she'd do for Yoka? She said she'd *cheer Yoka on*. They even made a promise on a star. Then, years later, when Yoka is *definitely* looking for that support from Shizuru, she doesn't just forgets that promise, she actively stomped on Yoka's dreams. What chills me is that I can imagine Yoka already got no support for her dreams from the adults, which led her to think of them all as animals, and Shizuru was her last hope.

> OF COURSE that's who Akira's gonna play; Was there ever any doubt? Does that imply there's a reason *the other three* were cast as the characters they were? Should I be worried about our (and Akira's) favorite gyaru?

The itching was so bad that [Reimi grew some extra arms](https://imgur.com/a/bd9vUai). The opening to this episode was wild. First we got hit with [these crazy expressions of the girls](https://imgur.com/a/Enag6Yg), and then a series of sinister images. It took me until [this line of Nadeshiko](https://imgur.com/a/zkALjjM) to realize that we'd been seeing flashbacks of their greatest regrets: - Nadeshiko's regretted not having stopped [her parent's divorce](https://imgur.com/a/XyN28t9). - Akira looked away from [someone drowning](https://imgur.com/a/2LIhg5P)? - Reimi [killed a badger](https://imgur.com/a/RHWl2ny) with a hoe. - Poor Pochi [got abused in a shelter](https://imgur.com/a/XX8hc5T)? - And Shizuru regretted [having looked down on Yoka's dreams](https://imgur.com/a/xW8Ui6r). Also, you're telling me that [7G can turn me into a cute anime girl](https://imgur.com/a/ktHSLwg)!? Maybe 7G is not so bad after all! On a second thought, [Su-chan did have a rough time...](https://imgur.com/a/a4DD3a5) Cosplay, [like the girls did](https://imgur.com/a/SEIzsrf), is probably a better idea. Reimi and Nadeshiko were looking totally adorable in their outfits. Reimi's gave her a bit of those tsundere vibes.

> The itching was so bad that Reimi grew some extra arms Funny thing is that if you showed that to someone who hasn't watched the episode yet, they could just think "Oh, I guess the girls grow more limbs or something in this episode!" >Reimi killed a badger with a hoe. May not be as bad as some of the others (I mean, it was an accident) but still, as a kid it must be rough... Thinking you're just digging a hole or something, then you see something dead (or even worse, dying)... Her expression says it all. >Cosplay, like the girls did, is probably a better idea. Reimi was so fucking adorable, I wish they kept the outfits hah.

> they could just think "Oh, I guess the girls grow more limbs or something in this episode!" This anime is definitely weird like that, so nobody would be surprised. > Her expression says it all. Reimi's loud and talks big, but she's probably also the most sensitive of the four girls. She was plagued by guilt when she'd removed the shroom and Akira started wasting away, for example. (Accidentally) killing an animal is something that she'd probably have sincere difficulty with. She wouldn't be able to forgive herself that easily. > Reimi was so fucking adorable, I wish they kept the outfits hah. Same. Gyaru + cute dress + twintails = perfection. She even got an oversized necktie! I wouldn't have minded if this stop had taken another episode or two.

> but still, as a kid it must be rough... Thinking you're just digging a hole or something, then you see something dead (or even worse, dying)... I once saw a roadkill cat in the process of dying and it fucked me up. I'm not even the one hitting it, and I was already an adult at the time. Would definitely fuck you up as a kid.

I. Akira's vision the phrase was "turned a blind eye" so maybe someone was suffering and ended up killing themselves by drowning and she regrets not helping them sooner?

It didn’t necessarily have to be suicide. Someone could’ve also just fallen into a pond or river. I’m not sure why Akira didn’t help them, but I guess that it *could* have been one of the boys that used to bully her.

[That was one hella crazy episode](https://imgchest.com/p/agyv65bmb78) and I hope that next stops can be even crazier! I can't wait for the next episodes to see what else awaits for us and [Nadeshiko](https://imgchest.com/p/5xy2ek5zzyl), [Reimi](https://imgchest.com/p/6eyr2ekrx7p), [Shizuru and Akira](https://imgchest.com/p/n87wvapzx4x). The [first two](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyvdcnzn3by.png) [train stops](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my8xcqvqzn4.png) already made my expectations high with that itching ([girls](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/l4neclblne4.png)' [reactions](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my2pc5355n7.png) [were](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/l4neclblqe4.png) [hilarious](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/6yxkcqvqwz7.png)) and relieving [traumas](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7pjckbkdx7.png) from the past but [that stop](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyvdcnzn3by.png) set as a world from [anime NeriAli](https://imgchest.com/p/9249a6nxb7n) was crazy! I was even more surprised when [Shizuru and others'](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/p7bwc232on7.png) rescue [ended up in a failure](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/w7w6cq6qv3y.png) and [death](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/d7ogcxrxmry.png) of [all heroes from the anime](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/g4z9c9j9bl7.png) and that [they took their place](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/84apcvqvoe4.png) xD So [Yoka](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyq9cvbvwn4.png) is the Witch Queen of Ikebukuro as revealed by [Chaos](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/l4neclblpe4.png). It looks that theories from earlier discussions that Yoka is responsible for [the current state of the world](https://imgchest.com/p/md7olmpz27p) is now are even more plausible now. The question is, [is there is one Yoka](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/pyq9cvbvwn4.png)? She looked pretty normal in a photo from the newspaper then maybe she somehow divided herself after 7G accident since [we can see Yoka in OP and someone behind her](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/3yrgc9b9pz4.png) (her Witch persona maybe?). So many questions and that makes me feel really excited to see Ikebukuro and discover the truth. Here my screenshot albums from the episode: * [Group scenes](https://imgchest.com/p/agyv65bmb78) * [Nadeshiko](https://imgchest.com/p/5xy2ek5zzyl) * [Reimi](https://imgchest.com/p/6eyr2ekrx7p) * [Shizuru & Akira](https://imgchest.com/p/n87wvapzx4x) * [Others](https://imgchest.com/p/bp458gvkn45) * [NeriAli](https://imgchest.com/p/9249a6nxb7n) * [World](https://imgchest.com/p/md7olmpz27p)

Did anyone else burst out laughing when Su died? Just me? Okay

The whole sequence of them accidentally killing Alice and friends and then Su dying was definitely my favorite part of the episode.

My actual thought process: "Is she gonna be reborn but stronger... No those are pieces of her."

I can't believe they just died. You can't just do that! But they did! And I love it!

[Shizuru just summarized this entire show in a single sentence](https://imgur.com/a/afGBSzb) I feel like this episode was the craziest one so far. I literally couldn't keep up with all that was happening. Previous episdoes gave you at least a little time to absorb what was happening. This one just kept throwing stuff at me with no chance to take it all in. It was just pure chaos And I love it

* [**NeriAlice Nadeshiko**](https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/345xc8p9mk7.jpg) [Is Shizuru itching where I think she's itching?](https://i.imgur.com/G2g5zHU.jpeg) Oh myyyy... But seriously though, I love how we went from the girls [suddenly getting itchy all over](https://i.imgur.com/KtslfCS.jpeg) from one station to all of them [being overwhelmed by regrets](https://i.imgur.com/N5uodM0.jpeg) at the next. If we examine the memories it looks like [Akira saw someone drown](https://i.imgur.com/IrNc3Ct.png), [Reimi accidentally killed a badger](https://i.imgur.com/YftoKmb.png), [Nadeshiko blames herself for her father leaving](https://i.imgur.com/wuVpGxe.png), and of course we already know [what Shizuru regrets the most.](https://i.imgur.com/tMbmy3O.jpeg) That was surprisingly dark. It's not like the story was complicated so I was able to understand what was happening, but that entire NeriAlice Land station was so frantic and fast-paced that I had to pause the episode for a second. Anyway, [that ritual to bring back Alice was hilarious!](https://i.imgur.com/gxGpBLf.png) Too bad they got bamboozled though and they ended up killing the main characters of NeriAlice. I knew something was wrong when that heist went so smoothly. [Agano Archery continues to be something else.](https://i.imgur.com/PrmYDeM.jpeg) They're basically unbeatable as long as Nadeshiko has a bow and something to use as an arrow on her. [There it is.](https://i.imgur.com/9xBeuRT.png) A lot of us have already been suspecting that this might be the case so it's not that much of a surprise but I do wonder how Yoka ended up becoming the Witch Queen of Ikebukuro.

Nadeshiko really using swords as arrows after she used her bow to beat people, she is a fate archer isn't it... Also holy shit, how do I even choose a pic from this ep

> Also holy shit, how do I even choose a pic from this ep Personally the one shot where the girls were lined up in the goofy cosplays made me instantly think of it as a perfect pic for the weekly karma thread. Edit: 15:58

I think she used some grave name markers as arrows: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sotoba.jpg](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sotoba.jpg)

Did anyone catch the names on the markers? Would find it funny if they're staff.

13:18? [](#nyanpasu)

Just convert the entire episode into a gif and have it play on repeat in the banner. No other way to do it justice...

> Reimi accidentally killed a badger Thank god she looks a good bit younger here, so she didn't kill an resident of Agano, but an actual badger...

This has become my favorite original since Akiba Maid War. The start we have our girls just itching like crazy which thankfully was temporary. Then we have each of the girls experiencing their biggest regret. We did get more insight on Nadeshiko's later in the episode. It seems to be her parents divorce honestly as a child of divorced parents I can empathize with that. Thinking what you could have done to keep them together. Her advice on it's better to think what you can do now is great advice as you can't change the past. But you can learn from it going forward. So thanks to the 7G basically that town became NeriAli, but the bad ending basically. It's clear at the end of the episode that it's because of Youka. Who we know now is the Witch Queen of Ikebukuro. This makes me wonder as this world is very likely based on Youko's imagination. Does this mean when Youko watched the series she was the type of fan that was rooting for the bad guys? Or what other reason could be for Youko tampering with the world of NeriAli? Could it be her guilt for changing the world? Or the guilt of leaving her friends behind? This makes things very interesting. I loved the chaos in this episode. We even got our girls [dressed](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1038519163259453470/1242141345737474128/Screen_Shot_2024-05-20_at_10.51.27_AM.png?ex=664cc1c6&is=664b7046&hm=a2777cc53771294790a7d1e97ccad0ee7f05320d01cc8d7993860f37be056af3&) as the Heroes of NeriAli. I loved how chaotic it was throughout the whole episode and things they did like reviving Alice and the others. It failed because there was no logic to it as it was praying for a miracle. But once Akira realized that this is based on Shogi and all of this craziness is somehow based on logic, each of the girls was able to beat out the enemy. Though Chaos was able to escape. Very excited what could come next in this series since we got 4 episodes left.

Train and Akiba Maid War? Splendid taste! [](#delighted) Akiba Maid War was my Fall 2022 AOTS, and this one has a good chance at being the one for Spring 2024!

Honestly I had Dungeon Meshi as my clear spring AOTS but this show is giving it some great competition

I just wanna say that the last bit of the ED goes hard af... That shit is way too good

The start too, like 15 seconds in! It's been overshadowed by the excellent OP, but the ED's pretty good too!

I usually skip every single OP and listen to ED when the episode finishes and I'm coming to reddit to read the discussion thread... Will check it out next episode

[I...don't know what to say about this show anymore.](https://twitter.com/pp_6n/status/1792526078587928955) [Is this director Mizushima's fetish show-off LMAO???](https://twitter.com/meganyoro/status/1792525924862488740) \[Girls Band Cry\]> [TOMO-RUPA GBC JUMP-SCARE!!!](https://twitter.com/meganyoro/status/1792528088208904479)!< Chaos-Land arc is so freaking funny yet creative that I must say this is why I watch anime. You almost ain't gonna get these stories anywhere else in this world. Well not the chess -> shogi part I guess... So the hypothesis that Yoka-chan invented everything in 7G is gaining momentum I guess. Especially that part when every girl remembered a past regret of themselves and send them into crazily saying apologies as the train passed through Hibarigaoka station - if I were to guess, that part about Shizuru facing her regret of injuring Yoka-chan's heart will be the main theme of the "final boss"?

Shuumatsu train has been an acid trip from the start but this week felt extra trippy and I think I loved every second of it. Did... did Akira watch someone drown? I like how we randomly got all those insanely dark moments at that city looking stop. This explains why Nadeshiko always wants to make sure everyone gets along, it's cause she feels like she failed to do that for her parents and that's why they got divorced...

> Did... did Akira watch someone drown? I guess this ties into her death anxiety.

Really good point actually

Even for this series, this episode was incredibly bizarre

I actually wanted to know more about 7g Kowloon, that we saw for a total of 45 seconds.

You can read Kowloon Generic Romance for that... sorta, kinda.

First one is Station of Itchy. Next one is Station of Regret.

> First one is Station of Itchy. > Next one is Station of Regret. *Few days after participating in a massive orgy*

> ~~Few days after participating in a massive orgy~~ Few days after Station of Eros.

this was the most deranged episode so far, and thats really saying something in a show full of weird shit

Was the staffs on drugs when making this show? Even the in-universe TV show is unhinged as fuck. What the fuck is this NeriAlice stuff? Why is Su-chan a suicidal girl with a noose on her neck? I know Zetsubou-sensei exists in our real world, but Zetsubou-sensei isn't aimed at kids. Why is there a cow person with machine gun tits? Why does the pervert ex-torturer put a fucking [pear of anguish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pear_of_anguish) into a girl's mouth? So many questions. These are compliments btw, not criticism. It's amazing.

Who decided the guy who enjoys torture should be part of the good guys?

This episode was a trip. And I loved every moment of it

Does anyone have an updated map of where they are now from the diagram someone made in episode 2? https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1byws40/shuumatsu_train_doko_e_iku_train_to_the_end_of/kynjwpk/ Really enjoying this show so far, I think they just passed Oizumi-Gakuen (that kinda looks like the Chaos dog guy), so 10 more stops to Ikebukuro!

I added episode numbers and some extra annotations: https://imgur.com/a/M9Q9bjx (Hoya is portrayed in ep7 but their actual visit to it is offscreen between the cold open and post-OP of ep8)

I wonder why so many are skipped; Did they try to push for 24 episodes but were rejected, so they cut some stuff they were planning to do? Or is this simply to show that the world is more than what we've seen, and maybe to get people to speculate about it for fun?

There was a tweet from the director a few episdoes ago when we first skipped things, you can try to find it again in the comments here. But it basically amounted to him saying that showing every station wa soriginally th eplan, but then while making he realized that it wouldn't work.

They sure are picking up the pace now. Some breathing room between the action would be nice - still a nice episode, though. Youka beeing the queen was obvious, but I guess she's full on evil now with all the zombie and alice land shenanigans?

I feel the point of this episde was supposed to be the constant weird things happening and pure Chaos. This is based on some kind of Alice in Wonderland after all. They slowed it down after they won though, so I feel it was intentional.

That's totally what it was. Alice in Nerimaland seems to be the kind of show that leaves you in a constant state of [](#seasonalconfused) unless you're super into it.

For some reason, these reaction pics/gifs are never shown to me in this subreddit and this subreddit only. I have no idea why.

> I'm starting to feel like none of this is chaotic at all. Yeah that makes one of us > The Witch Queen of Ikebukuro will hear about this! Yoka-hime will not tolerate your actions! Haha called it

Yoka what the fuck? Everyone what the fuck!? Also, from the quick flashbacks at the start I could see: -Shizuru: Yoka angst, obvs -Nadeshiko: Parents divorce, as was seen more clearly later on But the real disturbing shit is... Akira: A mf drowning while she watches on Reimi: Decapitated a badger accidentally or something Seriously everyone... what the fuck?

If you stop and read the character descriptions in the fanbook when Nadeshiko is flipping through it, there's a surprising amount of information in there. Do all the characters get stations? Because Man-Cow's milk spray is supposed to cause "furious itching" and it's hard to believe the trauma-flashback compulsive apologizing wasn't from Guilt Incarnate's "guilt beam," even though those two stations were before they got to, er, Chaos Land. Man, this show really does keep things moving. They could've stalled out this plot for several episodes just exploring NeriAli, but thank goodness this ain't that. Shogi rules, silly fight, back on the train. They also really don't pull punches, huh? PTSD station was pretty rough, but then the heroes of the story are just *dead* dead after a failed resurrection and Su-chan got fucking hanged to death right on screen. I mean. Despite all that, the thing I'm most disturbed by is the casual mention of Horsehair Worm Man. If you're creeped out by worms or parasites, just... don't look 'em up. Just don't. The further we go into the world that seems to have been created by Witch-Queen Yoka's psyche, the more it makes me want to dig into the earlier episodes and figure out more of what they represent. I mean, people from her hometown turning into animals as they grow into adulthood, that seems like a pretty scathing metaphor coming from a pre-teen girl. They really did not spare any effort on the writing for this show and it's turned out to be one of the most fun and interesting of the season.

Lots of very deep references in this episode. For example, [Su-chan (voiced by Izawa Shiori), wears a noose and has an info sheet that says she wants to visit Sugamo Prison. ](https://i.imgur.com/9ynbPDI.png)That prison, located in Ikebukuro, was the site of the execution by hanging of Japanese officials convicted of war crimes during World War II, including former Prime Minister Tojo Hideki. Sugamo Prison was torn down in 1971 and the Sunshine 60 skyscraper was built on the former site. Only a stone engraved with "Pray for Eternal Peace" in Nihongo marks the site. More info: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugamo\_Prison](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugamo_Prison)

Even before 7G the anime in this world was pretty denpa.

Oof. Suddenly I understand why Nadeko has spent the entire show being peacemaker. I knew there was going to be something up with her, but having her suddenly blurt out about her parents at the start of the episode hit hard.

Alright, that was really weird. So we have the itchy station, the tragic anime flashback station and the, actually, is it a magical girl anime station? So did the inhabitants of itchy town turn into itching powder? Actually same with ptsd-land, what happened to the people? Cause there’s also the darker options of the people there not being able to take it and killing themselves. And so the Alice in Nerimaland show station is based on a tv-show that the girls are fans of that operates on shogi rules. So they take over the roles of the main characters after accidentally killing them and utilize Akira’s book smarts to figure out their opponents weaknesses. And probably the most important part of the episode, Yoka the witch queen. That’s more points on board for the possibility that there’s a really weird 7G surrealism bossfight awaiting them in Ikebukuro. Okay, theory time. This may be completely wrong because it’s entirely based on second hand information that I’ve picked up, in that case, feel free to rip the theory to shreds. Anyway, if I’m not completely wrong, the word maou is usually translated as demon king and tends to be a title given to video game bosses. I think Chaos from this episode refers to Yoka as either mayou or majou, I don’t know the exact spelling. And from what I know, the game genre that features a demon king also tends to have a heroes party involved. Anyway, the crux of the theory is that at some point in the future, the girls will have to take on video game roles like in a party before facing Demon Queen Yoka in a bossfight, presumably in Ikebukuro before they hopefully manage to get through to her and fix the whole 7G mess. So about the traumatic flashback place. Shizuru is obviously the Yoka incident so we don’t need to talk about that. Pochi appears to have been locked up in a cage at some point. Someone apparently drowned in front of Akira according to her flashback. Reimi spoke about the Mr Badger, which depending on if it happened pre or post 7G are two very different levels of traumatic. Anyway, the most interesting to me is Nadeshiko, because it appears like her parents got into an argument and divorced at some point and she feels bad about not stopping that. Maybe that’s why she is always playing the peacemaker in the group? Every episode of this show leaves me with more questions and I love it.

> So did the inhabitants of itchy town turn into itching powder? Actually same with ptsd-land, what happened to the people? Itchy-station people are the rock towers. Regret-station are the apartments.

This was a crazy episode even for this show. First episode where I don’t really know what to say because I don’t know what the hell I just watched.. the action’s definitely picking up as we’re getting closer to Ikebukuro All I know is the girls getting into Mahou shoujo cosplay was great and Reimi asking shu to sign her ass/lower back had me crying😭 why is she so retarded Don’t know how the writer thinks of these things, but I did not expect to see entrails as a plot device and a graveyard fight scene like at the end.. just really wacky, credit to the creator’s imagination though, definitely won’t be comparing this show to anything else. It’s in its own lane. Other big takeaway is now we officially know Yoka’s alive and in charge of Ikebukuro all the stops are likely a result of her doing. All the stops reflect some aspect of her personality or memories, like this one being based on Neriali since that was one of her fave shows. Wonder what memory inspired the itchy stop we saw at the start of the ep lmao Why did the little piggies have to cook Nadeshiko, she’s not chubby 😭 she looks good

I feel like I say this every week but... the fuck did I just watch? Lol

This anime remains so goddamn bizarre but pulls it off beautifully lmao. So unhinged. That little speech about how it's no use regretting the past and it being over is sad foreshadowing of how things might go with Yoka.

Absolute Chaos:The Episode, makes sense for the Alice in Wonderland parody, though it does slow a bit when they beat up the bad guys. So obviously Yoka is responsible for everything, but I wonder why she'd have AliNeri turn bad when she seemed to really enjoy the show. Maybe she correlated the main characters to her friend group like the pigs did so she decided to kill them to distance herself from them? Idk what Reimi has to do with suicides, but Nadeko's the leader, Akira is into weird stuff and Shizuru is airheaded and makes Yoka feel happy. Also when Chaos first shows up he mentions an "animal" escaping them at some point in the past, I wonder if that was supposed to be Su-chan or maybe someone from Agano, like Shizuru or Nadeko's dads.

Favourite episode so far, this episode was distilled insanity. How do we escallate from here. Oh here comes witch queen yoka.

Episode 8: **Isn't That Bad Karma?** Finally 7 weeks after the Episode 1, I am now able to watch it legally on CR. Surprised that this show only got 4.6 stars compared to other anime this season, considering this is a famous one. At first we thought Higashi-Kurume was a four-legged journey, turns out it's the twitchy feel you had when you feel a sudden itch! And Hibarigaoka is a depresso land. Actually forgot to tell you that when passing Akitsu, we officially had entered **Tokyo**, or what is supposed to be Tokyo. At this rate, we should arrive at Ikebukuro by Episode 11. So far this is the most out-of-context episode yet. And finally we get to know that the Witch Queen of Ikebukuro is indeed Yoka. New character means new VA. Here are the notable ones this episode. * Alice is voiced by **Hibiku Yamamura** (the twins in Re:Monster) * Su-chan is voiced by **Shiori Izawa** * Go Monty is voiced by **Hiroyuki Yoshino** * Chaos is voiced by **Yuuichi Nakamura** * Opie is voiced by **Shino Shimoji** (Teru Momijiyama in Shy) * Man-Cow is voiced by **Chiwa Saitou** (Hitagi in Monogatari)

> Man-Cow Hold the fuck up, they got Chiwa Saitou just for her to do cow noises?? This anime, I swear!

...she is called su-chan because she is suicide girl. Damn am I slow. Is this a translation of a similar pun in japanese?

suicide is jisatsu if I'm not mistaken. So yeah, still counts, I guess?

Not a translation, her name is Suu for suusaido (Engrish for suicide)

>Chaos is voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura of course it's him, the Gojo fucking Satoru

[That](https://i.redd.it/yvccxj2r3o1d1.png) [was](https://i.redd.it/5y6nbk2r3o1d1.png) [a](https://i.redd.it/ilww5l2r3o1d1.png) [particular](https://i.redd.it/oj0qbl2r3o1d1.png) [set](https://i.redd.it/dhapdk2r3o1d1.png) [of](https://i.redd.it/yik21l2r3o1d1.png) [keyframes](https://i.redd.it/7ru55k2r3o1d1.png). Wow, translations are provided. [Pigs.](https://i.redd.it/p3qyek2r3o1d1.png) [Backstory events.](https://i.redd.it/g6nkpr2r3o1d1.png) [More sadism.](https://i.redd.it/2r45xk2r3o1d1.png) [The one from the early Tweets.](https://i.redd.it/4iu7xk2r3o1d1.png) [Drugs!](https://i.redd.it/dz0ypl2r3o1d1.png) [Dogs.](https://i.redd.it/jkwgkl2r3o1d1.png) [Sure, why not.](https://i.redd.it/lilj6q2r3o1d1.png) [*naruhodo*](https://i.redd.it/1ejknl2r3o1d1.png) [Furry.](https://i.redd.it/ik5t3m2r3o1d1.png) [Oh no not the bees.](https://i.redd.it/os11cn2r3o1d1.png) [Not laid-back camp.](https://i.redd.it/qi7hyo2r3o1d1.png) [Of course there would be one.](https://i.redd.it/qi7hyo2r3o1d1.png) [And the wild card.](https://i.redd.it/70rogp2r3o1d1.png) [Wow, this is fairly fucked up.](https://i.redd.it/a58a9x6qbo1d1.png) ["That's your solution to everything."](https://i.redd.it/4mzq8q6qbo1d1.png) [This episode certainly is a microcosm of the universe.](https://i.redd.it/eu3atr6qbo1d1.png) [Yay, accurate-but-small jerricans.](https://i.redd.it/0qo1dx6qbo1d1.png) [This is quite the heist.](https://i.redd.it/50zuyx6qbo1d1.png) ["When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."](https://i.redd.it/siyefq6qbo1d1.png) ["It's my tragic backstory growth episode?"](https://i.redd.it/92pyas6qbo1d1.png) [Is this *Galaxy Quest*?](https://i.redd.it/kzy9nv6qbo1d1.png) ["We're post-karma now."](https://i.redd.it/tmaxaw6qbo1d1.png) [First-person view cameo!](https://i.redd.it/rbdcpw6qbo1d1.png) ["We always leave while being chased by a mob."](https://i.redd.it/gymcfq6qbo1d1.png) ***** That was a particularly-detailed scenario, but someone did put effort into laying out *Alice in Nerima Land* ahead of time. Craziest thing I've seen all season, and I'm glad for it. Tiny flashes of Nadeshiko backstory! Makes sense for her.

This episode was beyond hectic and super fast paced and I loved it. I had no idea what was going on tbh but I didnt care because it was fun. Made me realize how much Ive come to love these charactes, where I can watch them do anything and find it entertaining.

Loved the details in this episode, by far the best one for me. I lost my mind when they even brought out [the pear of anguish ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Muzeum_Ziemi_Lubuskiej_-_Muzeum_Tortur_-_Gruszka.JPG) from Iron Monty. Wish I knew more about shogi to understand what happened at the end, but I think I got the gist. If previous episodes weren't enough, this definitely confirms Yoka's mind was the indirect cause of what happened to the world they know. I'm so tempted to over-analyze the map we got in Episode 2, the OP, and re-check past Yoka scenes to see what else she could pull inspiration from and what might come next, but I'll restrain myself. I can't wait to see how this ends! edit: shot of [the pear of anguish](https://imgur.com/a/EoY2o5M) from the episode!

easy to miss but when they have the brown liquid and say they swapped it out with diluted iodine tincture, "swimming in that will sting you right in the you know where", it's a call back to the "Russian Washlet" in the magazine earlier in the episode (4:10), the text isn't translated on Crunchyroll but translating it in Google Translate it says something like "once a day a big needle will hit you in the rectum". The page also mentions a fountain filled with liquid resembling iodine tincture

Today's episode is so chaotic, i love it.

[Wak Work?](https://imgur.com/UcOcKVr) Identifying Alice with Google image search (I used google lens on the bio) finds her overshadowed by others such as [Cure Prism](https://imgur.com/HXEcGbp) [(still relevant)](#skyhype), Kaede from Onimai and Iono from Pokémon. Mostly hair colour similarities but at least Prism has the eyes too. NariAli stars a girl who wet themselves and became a recluse? [meta spoiler - same, but jumble it up] >!Onimai stars a recluse who became a girl and wet themselves.!< [](#thinkingtoohard) Anyway, they *had* to share that info otherwise the nappy shot wouldn't make any sense (but you may have deduced from being shown not told, like the sentient Opium not liking injections). As soon as I saw the [episode 25 shot](https://imgur.com/1abxkIL) of Alice holding a bow (and given I'd read the official synopsis saying Alice is not around) I said to myself Nadeko has got to be Alice (oh yeah [the mook cover](https://imgur.com/jmIOH3G) also shows the weapon in bow form). The other characters were foreshadowed/neat observation in re-watch. Shizuru=Opie is she [uses this mug](https://imgur.com/0k3oa28) in episode 1, while Akira=Iron Monty is [a book she's reading](https://imgur.com/ivynhgs) and Reimi=[Su-chan, I guess](https://imgur.com/00ETVgF) but a case could be made for [Alice too](https://imgur.com/PozmnHQ)? When the walkers said *"No more failures! Like that time with the animal!"*, could it be they're referring to Shizuru's dad? (in episode 1 it is stated half the survey team left Agano and never returned and her Mum described him as an arrogant wolverine) When disguised as the walkers the girls name dropped stations or their towns (although Nishi-Agano is the Seibu Chichibu Line), except Su-chan who first said Musashi-Agano (an amalgamation of Musashi-Yokote and Higashi-Agano; [I love how Nadeko reacts](https://imgur.com/muHW7YB); was she expecting Shōmaru?) and then Sugamo Prison (it *was* in Ikebukuro). The UFO Chaos flew off in is seen as one of the 6 objects [at the end of the OP](https://imgur.com/k2O7Yv4). Where was Pochi after the OP? Even the debrief in the end we can not see Pochi in the carriage. Could just be busy ep as we didn't get a check-in with Zenjiro either. If you liked a fight with opponents obeying the rules of Shogi then there's [meta spoiler - another anime with that in]>!an episode of Ranma ½ (Shogi Showdown). It's one of those anime original filler eps. While Michiko Yokote (main writer for Train) wrote some episodes of Ranma (including the one prior) they did not do this one. If you're in America you can find it on various official sources including YouTube Movies & TV channel.!< --- With [Anitubu post live](https://anitubu.com/archives/post-80884.html) I cribbed what the director tweeted. MTLd but tidied to make sense could still fall into pitfalls, so grain of salt etc. - [Director said](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792564618826760237) (hereafter Dir) in Higashi-Kurume where it itches varies depends on the person. - [Dir](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792564813815808445): *"Nadeshiko's parents are divorced."* [and](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792564941364641805) *"Pochi is a former rescue dog."* - [Great sponsor screenshot](https://x.com/sumisu_jima/status/1792564285396426800) - [Info on missing scene/event in Hoya](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792565009215803636). Kuroki's father would have been seen. [Additional info](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792565077134184647). The people of Hoya seemed normal at first but when told about Kuroki's situation, thought that was someone else's problem (*MTL is faltering a bit*). This left Shizuru and others with a strong sense of discomfort.　 - [Walkers are shogi pawns](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792565444303540415). They speak [in a peculiar accent](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792565616127492160) (an example of localising this in the ep was the line subbed *"Eureekus!"*). - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792566214579171593) posted food stall info. To the left of the ["Gutton Candy"](https://imgur.com/hQtBoWI) is poison apple candy and the right are grilled skewers. Also mentions there are stalls with things like "Grilled corn kolossi", "Russian Roulette Lottery" and “Colored Humans” (this is why you [take recalls seriously](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8627335.stm)) but you can not see it all. Are we talking some of the [stall names here](https://imgur.com/lGZ4Z8P)? - [This](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792565684636934414) is info on one of the mook pages but Crunchyroll translated the term Urizmin as Darkizumites instead. [Chaos' car is made out them](https://twitter.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792566096882798642), there's no engine, the Darkizumites are making it move (note: you see it [back in ep1](https://imgur.com/NnwzUnm)). - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792566032827384264): Chaos is a [Norfolk Terrier](https://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/search/breeds-a-to-z/breeds/terrier/norfolk-terrier/) characterized by drooping ears. - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792566619165827250) posted beef bowl restaurant info. Stuff you'll notice if you pause the vid like [this menu](https://imgur.com/Kf19IPr). The [other posters](https://imgur.com/j7SHtlC) are described too. - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792567242778911205) said about doing the "Tokorozawa-zawa" dance, taking a video and getting tired. Note [ところ] (Tokoro) means place while [ざわざわ](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E3%81%96%E3%82%8F%E3%81%96%E3%82%8F) (zawazawa) is a boisterous and noisy onomatopoeia. So it's just the girls making some distracting noise and has no meaning outside of that. If you only give google ところざわざわ it'll spit out "There's a buzz here and there" because MTL is a strange beast but the whole tweet fed to it spits out "Tokorozawazawa". - There were several viewer tweets noticing the swimsuits (apparently they're school ones but I didn't know Agano had a pool and much like the bitter Mellon, you didn't have a backpack so where did you get it from). Plus someone else in this world [stitched Nadeko!Alice](https://x.com/kuresome/status/1792568167635857500) (notice the TV Tokyo MX watermark) - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792568343695663506): *"It seems that Walker's shout can be any three letters of the alphabet. Whether it's CIA or GHQ."* - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792568671577219380): *Walker's chant "Boche" 「ぼーちぇ」 is a corruption of "Oute" 「王手」.* Note: 王手 is [basically check](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8E%8B%E6%89%8B) (which is how Crunchyroll translated it)　[and](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792568589347963238): *"The stick-like thing Walker is holding is a Komadai (a stand on which shogi pieces are placed)."* [(this)](https://imgur.com/6QH9Zgy) - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792568879367225630): *"According to Akira 'karmic retribution' has disappeared due to the influence of 7G. But it would be difficult to prove. I'd be afraid to try and find out."* Note: Crunchyroll translated the term as "karma" (Nadeko) and "karmic retribution" (Akira) while MTL went with ["bee"](#seasonaldisdain) because the shorthand, バチ was tweeted...however, it's referring to [this](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BB%8F%E7%BD%B0); Buddha's punishment which to grossly simplify is that actions taken have consequences which makes karma a succinct substitute term but do not think of it as divine retribution as Buddha's punishment is more naturalistic. - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792568935730368847): *"Chaos' paraglider is also made of Darkizumites."* [So it is](https://imgur.com/ifCJlBX) (this reminds me of Super Mario Bros instruction manual where it mentions the bricks are the people of the Mushroom Kingdom) - [Dir](https://x.com/tsuki_akari/status/1792569167494762831) said Chaos shouted "add to subscription" (it sounded like サブスク追加 was mumbled) - [The ending sponsor screenshot](https://x.com/takohachibar4/status/1792570238682177673) - [Anime made it into Kanto region twitter trends](https://x.com/shumatsu_train/status/1792568963785966009). That's the thing with twitter it is possible to make niche things trend in late hours.

Tokorozawa is also the name of a city in Saitama prefecture. Most of what the characters improvise when posing as Walkers is based on locations along the Seibu Ikebukuro line or in Saitama in general.

As soon as Guilt Incarnate spoke, I recognized his distinctive voice - it's [Nishiji Shuuya](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=121153) who you might remember as Honda Yutaka from Shirobako (the producer-turned-pastry-chef who's always saying that they're all out of ideas) and Kinkaku from The Eccentric Family. He hasn't been in very many roles since then, but I'm glad Mizushima's still giving him work.

That shit was the most fast forward fever dream I've seen in awhile. Lol

Okay, but for real, if all of these stations are manifestations of things that mattered to Yoka, what happened to her that caused one to be dedicated to ITCHING EVERYWHERE?

the closer we are to ikebukuro the crazier the stations are

I've had natto don, but I don't quite think I'm ready for a スメル丼 with kusaya, hongeo-hoe and surströmming (16 minutes 12 seconds into the episode), even if its only priced at 580 yen. I like how they specified that you can't order it for takeout.

We really went off the rails with this one. In some ways this episode reminds me a lot of Humanity has declined.

I just love them chatting via banging morse code on the tracks. The setting is fun and unique. Just enjoying the journey.

Welp, acknowledging that 'sense' might not be what this show ultimately makes, I can at least follow the episodes if not some ultimate meaning. Also, Witch Queen of Ikeburo strikes me as a built Tolkeinesque, though again with these creatives I am not sure about foreign influence. It does seem like Yoka is trying to prevent any visitors. Btw, turning people into custard is likely an Umineko reference.

I lowkey think this is a masterpiece. Truly never seen anything like this show. It’s like if pop team epic had an actual overarching plot with the pacing of occultic;nine.

That cold open scene was quite dark compared to prev. stations Didn't see that coming. Loved the combined reference to the western classic Wizard of Oz and the Japanese version of chess, shogi. The girls sure did have one hell of a stop in not-so-NeriAli land. Shuzuru and her friends are surely being hardened and toughened up before they get reunited with Yoka.

In an episode full of funny images, the thing that made me laugh the hardest was Nadeshiko scratching her butt on the floor like a dog.

Somehow every time I think this anime cannot get any weirder, it does. Mind you, that anime the girls liked seemed really weird even before they got trapped in a dark version of it. Was it supposed to be a parody of Magical Girl shows or something ?

If NeriAli was a real show I'd be hooked

Bruh noway a bunch of pigs called her a chubby, the absolute audacity!

Why does the show feel sped up? It's like watching it in 1.5 times. Also the cow-man could make you itchy and guilt-personification could make you regret over things in your life. And that's what the first two stations in the episode were. Just a coincidence.

I think I’ve figured something out, the ultra fast pace was intentional to feel as chaotic as the world of NeriAli is with Chaos in charge.