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Rail Romanesque Anime Gets 2nd Season, Adds Rie Tanaka to Cast

The staff for Rail Romanesque, the television anime of digital novel brand Lose's Maitetsu game, announced on Saturday that the anime will get a second season, and that second season will add voice actress Rie Tanaka to the cast. Tanaka plays Kaniko, based on the C11202 steam locomotive.

The 12 five-minute episodes of the Rail Romanesque anime premiered on October 2. Crunchyroll and Funimation are both streaming the anime as it airs.

Hisayoshi Hirasawa (Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki, Jingai-san no Yome, Miss Bernard said., Netsuzou Trap -NTR-) is serving as chief director and sound director for the show at the studio Saetta. Takayuki Noguchi (Cinderella Nine, Girls Beyond the Wasteland, Queen's Blade: Rebellion) is designing the characters. Kōichi Motomura is writing the scripts for the shorts. Ayumi One is in charge of music production, and Cloud22 is handling the sound. Amumo98 is collaborating on the production.

Sekai Project released the original game for PC globally via Steam in June 2018. The company describes the game's story:

Maitetsu takes place in an alternate reality in Japan, where railroads were the most popular form of travel and transportation. But the difference with these railways is that the trains were paired up with humanoid modules called “Railords.” Due to a popular new form of travel, the railroads were practically forgotten about and eventually, railways were discontinued.

Players will assume the role of Sotetsu, a recent high school graduate who, shortly after entering University, decides to return to his adoptive hometown to save it from water pollution caused by the proliferation of factories. By chance, Sotetsu reawakens “Hachiroku,” a recently decommissioned Railord. He becomes her owner and decides to assist her in finding her missing locomotive, the “8620,” while attempting to save his hometown in the process.

The story of the anime, which features new original characters, is set in the game's fictional southern Hinomoto city of Ohitoyoshi after its successful revitalization spearheaded by Hachiroku's tourism promotion. The city is now planning to host the first Maitetsu Festival to bring together Railords and their respective masters from all over Hinomoto. Inspired by the humans planning for the festival, the famed Suzushiro and other Railords are also hosting a "Railord Summit" at the railroad station cafe Amairo to share their collective wisdom.

Lose developed the original Maitetsu visual novel with art by cura. The game shipped in Japan in March 2016, and it is rated 18+ in Japan. The game then launched for PlayStation 4 under the title Maitetsu -pure station- in July 2018. The game also spawned a Nintendo Switch version on January 16 in Japanese, English, simplified Chinese, and traditional Chinese. The sequel Maitetsu: Last Run released on October 30 after a delay.

Source: Comic Natalie