A marvellous work.

Still, having seen this theme a number of times --- apparently used railway lines under water, which seems quite unsafe --- I can't help wondering what it represents...

Claverhouse said:

A marvellous work.

Still, having seen this theme a number of times --- apparently used railway lines under water, which seems quite unsafe --- I can't help wondering what it represents...

My take on this artistic trend is all the abandoned local lines across the country. A symptom of "Demographic transition" as it is called which has hit Japan especially hard the past decade or so. Schools closing due to lack of students, towns dying, abandoned stations, and abandoned train lines. Not to mention dialects being lost to posterity.

Here's a recent example where a village's 370 year old kabuki tradition that is now down to its one and only new elementary school student: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/world/asia/kabuki-japan-children.html

Interesting, thanks.

Our stupid bastards just tore up the rails, back in the 1960s. [ Beeching Cuts. ]

And now we pay with only road transport to gutted-out villages and towns filled with people reliant on supermarkets and Amazon.

Regarding all the submerged tracks in anime art, my personal theory is that it has something to do with the influence of Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. The train scene is one of the most memorable parts of the film, and most of today's Japanese artists would have watched it as children.