Rail Wars! Complete Collection

Many anime series feature abundant T&A, but in this occasionally steamy set (based on a book series) the “T” also stands for “trains.” Teen protagonist Naoto Takayama aspires to become an engineer with Japan's giant (fictitious) government-run railroad system, but instead his entire class of train-ees are conscripted into being apprentice workers in the railway security forces. Naoto's schoolmates in the Japan National Railways student academy program unsurprisingly happen to be a squad of outrageously curvy girls—most of whom are eventually attracted to Naoto, even though locomotive technology/trivia/timetables are his primary passion. The adventures have the characters dealing with bomb-extortion threats, a royal kidnapping, and typical Japanese “harem comedy” misunderstandings in which Naoto is accidentally caught in compromising positions with nude nubiles (at least the abundant train imagery resists the suggestive cliché of streamlined engines entering tunnels). Compiling all 12 episodes from 2014 in separate DVD and Blu-ray editions, rated TV-MA, and presented in Japanese with English subtitles, this oddball series is an optional purchase, at best. (C. Cassady)