In Koji Yoshimoto's new anime, a group of determined railway workers strive to keep alive and rebuild their small local railway after a huge tsunami sweeps away most of its stations and track.
In Koji Yoshimoto's new anime, a group of determined railway workers strive to keep alive and rebuild their small local railway after a huge tsunami sweeps away most of its stations and track.
It's real-life drama, based on the Sanriku Railway Co. and its workers, who have encountered setbacks and hardships following the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that devastated their beloved railway.
"I want many people to know how determined railway workers are in restoring their train systems," the 37-year-old animator said.
Yoshimoto is aiming to spread word about the dire situation facing the disaster-affected coastal railway in Iwate Prefecture. He will donate part of the royalties from sales to the railway company.
The first episode of the five-episode anime, titled "Santetsu," was published in the Oct. 21 issue of the @Bunch monthly magazine by Shinchosha Publishing Co. The remaining four will be featured in the magazine every month until February.
According to Yoshimoto, the anime will be published in book form on March 11, 2012, the first anniversary of the quake.
The anime depicts how workers at the railway company fought through their hardships to bring the railway back from the March 11 disaster. The railway lines run along most of the tsunami-hit coastline in the prefecture.
The railway company is categorized as a third sector railroad. Many of the railway companies under this category are typically small and struggling financially. On March 11, a tsunami triggered by the temblor swept away station buildings and rail tracks. To this day, more than 60 percent of the railway lines remain out of operation.
Yoshimoto visited the Sanriku coastal region in August to learn more about the area and its situation in the aftermath.
When seeing local high school students and the elderly, he reconfirmed, "So many people are in trouble with trains not running in the area."
"I want to support the railway company so that local towns will be revived," Yoshimoto said.
Yoshimoto has written a number of quasi-documentary anime such as "Black Jack Sosakuhiwa" (Stories on the production of the Black Jack anime). Black Jack is among the best-selling anime series by animator giant Osamu Tezuka.