Where Does the Doomsday Train Go? Anime Announced, Key Visual Revealed

Kadokawa announced on Friday that an original anime series titled Where Does the Doomsday Train Go? (Shūmatsu Train Doko e Iku?) is currently in production with Tsutomu Mizushima as the director. A key visual (below) for the series was revealed as part of the announcement that came on the 150th anniversary of Japan’s very railway.

Tsutomu Mizushima’s Work

If you’ve watched anime for a solid few years, or even if you’re just starting out depending on who’s giving you recommendations, anime fans have seen a least one of Mizushima’s works at some point or will eventually. He started off his career in 1986 by working as a production assistant at Shine-Ei Animation, more specifically on the iconic anime series Doraemon. But after some “selfish” mishaps through the years, as Mizushima put it, and even being demoted at one point, he made his series directing debut in 2001 with Haré+Guu, a gag-humor slice-of-life anime.

It wasn’t until 2004 that Mizushima would leave Shin-Ei Animation to become a freelancer. And from then on is when a lot of notable works of his started to appear, directing dozens and dozens of different series, including an award-winning original anime. Shirobako (2014) is among Mizushima’s best work that went on to win three separate awards that include the 20-2015 Animation Kobe Television Award, the “Animation Department Committee Recommended Works Award” at the 2015 Japan Media Arts Festival, and “Animation of the Year” at the 2016 Tokyo Anime Awards.

A year after Shirobako aired and was rated the best original anime for the Fall 2014 season (4th overall), Mizushima went on to direct the every-so-popular anime series Prison School, which was a direct adaptation of the manga created by Akira Hiramoto. While the series didn’t win the awards that Shirobako did, it still managed to climb to one of his top-3 most popular works, for more reasons than one. But above all else, Mizushima’s work on the hit horror series Another is what he’s most known for.

While the topic of Another being his best directorial work is extremely debatable, there’s no denying it’s without a doubt his most popular. The series is also ranked 52nd on MyAnimeList most popular anime of all time and 69th on Anilist. Another also joins 37 other anime and manga that are on the banned list in China as well. And if you search “Best Horror Anime” on either YouTube or Google, there’s an extremely high chance you’ll see Another on those lists, Blood-C being another of his you might find on those lists as well.

Where Does the Doomsday Train Go? Information

Where Does the Doomsday Train Go? is currently Mizushima’s only known directing work that will air post-2022. Since becoming a freelancer, he’s worked with plenty of studios including J.C. Staff, P.A.Works, and Production I.G. So there’s no telling yet until it’s announced which studio will be animating the upcoming original anime series. Be sure to follow me for more updates regarding Where Does the Doomsday Train Go?

Source: Official Kadokawa Anime Twitter