Reviews for Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express

Super human Chiharu and cyborg Makina got arrested for breaking space traffic laws. They're stuck with a small crew of misfits and sentenced to clean up the interplanetary train – the so-called "Milky☆Subway,"as their community service. This show is fast and funny in the CGDCT world a perfect example of Manzai comedy at its finest. An original series from Youhei Kameyama based on a grad project from 2022 he does almost all the production work in this and I say well done. Nails the dystopian future without being sappy or sweet. Delinquents with attitude and a ramped up thrill ride with great voice work and dialogue.This is a CG 3D work so if you don't like that style probably not for you.

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 isa 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.

This anime is a labor of love from a very small team (all of the credits fit on a single screen), with a TON Of great voice acting for a multitude of languages. I've been watching the episodes for free on youtube, and the absolute CHARM of all the characters and the amazing dialogue has been SO surprisingly wonderful. The conversations between characters are snappy and clever and chaotic and real. Characters often talk over each other (as their character would dictate) and because the main cast are on the younger side, it's really refreshing to see how they all naturally interactwith each other.

The animation is fun, and stylized, and doesn't come off as CGI as much as other lesser quality shows, and there are even jokes that are created with specific animation choices or style.

I can tell the makers had a lot of fun with it, and the writing is subtle and hilarious, it doesn't talk down to the viewer which is always refreshing.

The tall "gangster" alien gal and the robot interactions in the last episode (episode 4?) were SO funny to watch, especially how you see the character instantly change how they act around one another from a moment of friendship. 100% worth the watch, I'll be watching every episode as it releases online.

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 fixingsome 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 feelthat 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.

I'm enjoying this anime a lot! Even though each episode is just 3 minutes long, it still manages to deliver a fun and engaging experience. I want it to be longer, but the short format may be working in its favor: it’s quick, easy to watch, and never drags. Every episode gets straight to the point, and the pacing keeps you entertained the whole way through. It proves that an anime doesn’t need long episodes to be enjoyable. And the characters so far are enjoyable, every single one of them, and the animation is smooth as butter, and the character designs are great and lovely. Iwant this anime to be longer, but so far, I have no complaints about it, and I'm loving every single second of it. I recommend it for everyone who wants to have fun watching something quick. And I will rate it a 10/10, not because it's a masterpiece, but because it's very enjoyable, and I rate things based on my enjoyment. I will definitely watch a 2nd season if we ever get one.

I am not a fan of the short episode format. This show irritates me as much as anything in the format, but I have to admit that it is very entertaining. I might have enjoyed it more if I waited until the whole series was done and watched it all at once. The story is a somewhat sequel to Milky Highway, a one episode show about the two MC’s. Addition of a few other quirky characters adds some real entertainment value to this series. So what makes this show so good? Simply the voice acting. The VAs are so good at the fast paced backand forth between the characters. You just constantly giggle at the ridiculous conversations that are happening throughout the show.

It’s definitely worth the time to watch it.

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 abilityto 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.

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 orso to spare! It’s free and has a ton of language support on YouTube!

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 situationalhumour. 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.

This was an interesting anime. The animation is done in 3D and it surprisingly doesn't look like crap. In fact, it's genuinely pretty good. And it's aided by really quick and artistic cinematography, especially in the more comedic scenes. But now to the premise. It's basically about a bunch of intergalactic criminals who are being punished. However, because the prison is too full, I believe, instead they're being forced to do community service, while being heavily monitored by the guards. Some of them are clearly adults, while others appear to be children as well, so these are clearly very strict laws in this world, althoughone of them basiclaly admitted to first degree murder to maybe not. It was tough for me to discern what exactly this story was in service of, but despite that it was surprisingly still mildly enjoyable. It was pretty funny. And the humor is often sublte too, but not so subtle that it felt try hard. And beyond that, I enjoyed watching the interactions between the characters. The series managed to humanize these supposed hardened criminals in a very grounded and laid back way, although I have to admit it might have been even more effective if we learned more about each of the characters crimes, (we learn some, but not all).

This series is funny and beautifully animated, but there's one thing that really confused me. I watched the first five episodes and noticed a major plot hole. The guys weren’t actually on the train. They were at a public stall outside, finishing their hair, when the chaos began. The train started moving with them still on the platform, alongside the police officer. The train began moving on its own because of the girls' antics inside, while the guys were still outside, watching it speed away and trying to figure out how to get in. But in a later episode (episode 5), they suddenly appear inside the trainwith no explanation. It would've made sense if the show showed how they got on. Did they run after it and somehow jump on (even though it was moving really fast), or did something else happen? Without that scene, the transition feels inconsistent.

I will definitely recommend it tho, cause the jokes slap.

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 thisfor 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.

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 alsogood and landed well.

Overall, this was a very well-made anime and an enjoyable watch.

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 togive 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.

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 thecharacter 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.