Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express
| Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express | |
 Key visual | |
| 銀河特急 ミルキー☆サブウェイ (Ginga Tokkyū: Mirukī Sabuwei) | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Yōhei Kameyama |
| Original net animation | |
| Milky Highway | |
| Directed by | Yōhei Kameyama |
| Produced by | Yōhei Kameyama |
| Written by | Yōhei Kameyama |
| Music by | Kōhei Doi Shunpei Ishiguro |
| Released | February 28, 2022 |
| Runtime | 4 minutes |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Yōhei Kameyama |
| Produced by | Yōhei Kameyama |
| Written by | Yōhei Kameyama |
| Music by | yuugen6 Kōhei Doi |
| Studio | Shin-Ei Animation Titan Productions |
| Original network | Tokyo MX YouTube |
| English network | YouTube |
| Original run | July 3, 2025 – present |
| Episodes | 8 |
Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express (Japanese: 銀河特急 ミルキー☆サブウェイ, Hepburn: Ginga Tokkyū: Mirukī Sabuwei; stylized as Milky☆Subway) is a Japanese animated short series directed, written, and produced by Yōhei Kameyama. It is a sequel to Milky Highway (ミルキー☆ハイウェイ, Mirukī Haiwei; stylized as Milky☆Highway), a 2022 original net animation also created by Kameyama. The series debuted in July 2025, broadcast simultaneously on television and YouTube.
Premise
Arrested for violating space traffic laws, the genetically enhanced "super human" Chiharu and cyborg Makina are sentenced to perform community service alongside other convicts aboard the Milky Subway, a train used for interplanetary travel. When the train is suddenly activated, the group must resolve the situation before it escalates into an intergalactic incident.
Characters
- Chiharu Kujo (九条 千春, Kujō Chiharu)
- Voiced by: Mizuki Fumitsuki (short film), Momoka Terasawa (series)[1] (Japanese); Anja Taljaard (English)
- Makina Kurusu (来栖 真希奈, Kurusu Makina)
- Voiced by: Kana Kobayashi (short film), Anna Nagase (series)[1] (Japanese); Nancia Dorland (English)
- Ryoko Kanzaki (勘崎 両子, Kanzaki Ryōko)
- Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu[2] (Japanese); Bella Draper (English)
- Akane Daidoji (大道寺 朱音, Daidōji Akane)
- Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto[2] (Japanese); Bella Draper (English)
- Kanata Iwao (岩男 鉄多, Iwao Kanata)
- Voiced by: Makoto Koichi[2] (Japanese); Jada Dreyer (English)
- Kurt Cramer (カート・クレイマー, Kāto Kureimā)
- Voiced by: Koki Uchiyama[2] (Japanese); Conradie van Heerden (English)
- Max MacCallister (マックス・マカリスター, Makkusu Makarisutā)
- Voiced by: Yoshitaka Yamaya[2] (Japanese); Clayton Alexander (English)
Production
On March 19, 2025, it was announced that Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express would be developed as a sequel series to Milky Highway, a short film created by Yōhei Kameyama. Much of the series' production is handled by Kameyama himself, who serves as director, writer, producer, character designer, modeler, animator, and editor.[1][3] The series premiered on July 3, 2025 on Tokyo MX, with simultaneous streaming on YouTube, including dubs in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, French, Hindi and Russian.[2] "Gingakei made Tonde Ike!" by Candies is used as the series' theme song.[2][4] The series also features an insert song, "Tokimeki Meteostrike" (ときめき★メテオストライク, Tokimeki Meteosutoraiku), performed by Yukari Tamura in-character as Minami Miyase, a fictional pop singer.[5]
Episodes
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | |||
| Short film | February 28, 2022 | YouTube | |||
| 1 | TBA | July 3, 2025 | TBA | Tokyo MX YouTube | |
Short film (2022)
| Title | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|
| "Milky Highway" Transliteration: "Mirukī Haiwei" (Japanese: ミルキー☆ハイウェイ) | February 28, 2022 | |
|
The super human Chiharu Kujo and cyborg Makina Kuruse make an impromptu drive across the Milky Highway, an interplanetary highway system, which takes hours longer than either anticipated. While listening to radio music to pass the time, the pair are chased by a flying police drone car for speeding. The chase escalates into a shootout, with Makina destroying the drone with an energy cannon, before the pair are blocked off by several more drones and arrested. | ||
Season 1 (2025)
| No. | Title [6] | Original release date [6] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "All Aboard!" Transliteration: "Shuppatsu Shinkō" (Japanese: 出発進行) | July 3, 2025 | |
|
Chiharu is interrogated by police officer Ryoko Kanzaki over an incident that has left Makina in a disassembled state. In a flashback three days earlier, Ryoko supervises the recently arrested Chiharu, Makina, and four other local convicts: the cyborgs Max MacCallister and Kurt Cramer, and the super humans Kanata Iwao and Akane Daidoji. Due to prison overcrowding, the six are sentenced to perform one week of community service cleaning the Milky Subway, an intergalactic limited express train. | |||
| 2 | "False Departure" Transliteration: "Gohasshin" (Japanese: 誤発進) | July 10, 2025 | |
|
The six inmates are paired off to scrub the Milky Subway's carriages. In the back of the train, Chiharu and Makina discover a faulty control panel and a malfunctioning animatronic train attendant named O.T.A.M.; in one of the middle carriages, Akane and Kanata find a blood stain on the floor; and during a bathroom break, Kurt and Max discuss an urban legend in which several earlier inmates murdered each other aboard the train, which is believed to be cursed. Due to a miscommunication from Makina, O.T.A.M. automatically activates the train, which takes off with the inmates on board. | |||
| 3 | "Chiharu and Makina" Transliteration: "Chiharu to Makina" (Japanese: チハルとマキナ) | July 17, 2025 | |
|
Fourteen hours before the Milky Subway's accidental departure, Chiharu and Makina are held at a detention center, blaming each other for their arrest. Ryoko analyzes the pair's criminal record, which includes multiple accounts of Makina preemptively assaulting people for Chiharu's sake; she chastises Chiharu for enabling Makina's aggression, and cautions Makina to change her ways. Shortly after the subway's departure, a panicked Chiharu and Makina attempt to take control of the runaway train by retrieving a missing control key from the first carriage, quickly running into Akane and Kanata in the process. | |||
| 4 | "Eat, Fight, Repeat" Transliteration: "Īto In, Faito Auto" (Japanese: イートイン・ファイトアウト) | July 24, 2025 | |
|
Chiharu, Makina, Akane, and Kanata agree to travel together to the first carriage. While stopping for vending machine food in the dining car, Makina insults Akane and Kanata for their dubious backgrounds, and temporarily paralyzes Kanata with her taser when he becomes confrontational. Akane furiously attacks Makina, leading them to brawl until they realize they are both fans of the same idol singer upon noticing each other's matching accessories, which causes them to become friends. | |||
| 5 | "Haijo-kun" Transliteration: "Haijo-kun" (Japanese: 排除くん) | July 31, 2025 | |
|
The group encounters a security robot that mistakes them for intruders and paralyzes Kanata with its stun gun. They also meet Kurt and Max, who claim to know how to stop the robot but are uninterested in helping them. After waiting fifty minutes for Kanata to regain consciousness, the group becomes irritated by the robot's incessant music playing and formulates a strategy to deal with the robot themselves, but Chiharu and Akane are paralyzed as soon as they make the attempt. | |||
| 6 | "Kurt and Max" Transliteration: "Kāto to Makkusu" (Japanese: カートとマックス) | August 7, 2025 | |
|
Thirty-five hours before the subway incident, Kurt and Max are detained for smuggling illegalized sugar, which they claim to have been a delivery as part of their protection service job. Ryoko tricks them into installing cyborg interrogation devices disguised as candy, which compel them to truthfully answer her questions against their will. In an attempt for the pair to escape, Max uses a hacking device to shut the interrogation window, but not before they are forced to confess that they quit their ordinary jobs due to the thankless work and prejudice they have suffered as cyborgs. | |||
| 7 | "Labor and Reward" Transliteration: "Shigoto to Mikaeri" (Japanese: 仕事と見返り) | August 14, 2025 | |
|
Makina begrudgingly requests Kurt and Max's help against the security robot. The pair charge a heavy sum of 80 yen for their services, for which she pays an advance deposit of 40 yen. Within seconds, Max attaches his hacking device to the robot while Kurt bypasses its barrage of stun darts to activate the device, disabling the robot. Surprised when Chiharu earnestly thanks them for their help, Kurt and Max decline further payment and decide to join the group, though they refuse to refund Makina's initial payment. | |||
| 8 | "Tempura Shrimp Tail" Transliteration: "Ebiten no Shippo" (Japanese: 海老天の尻尾) | August 21, 2025 | |
|
The group takes a bathroom break when Makina's filter catches fire from blockage. In the women's room, Akane repairs the filter using mechanic skills she learned from Kanata. When discussing his other skills, Akane reluctantly admits he has none and that she simply allows him to follow her, likening him to the tail of a tempura shrimp. In the men's room, Kanata confides that he is aware of his uselessness and questions why Akane keeps him around. Suddenly, the train switches to its emergency power supply and shuts the bathroom doors with both groups inside, closing on Chiharu's head as she stands in the doorway. | |||
| 9 | "Delusion and Panic" Transliteration: "Mōsō to Panikku" (Japanese: 妄想とパニック) | August 28, 2025 | |
Reception
Kara Dennison of Otaku USA Magazine wrote positively about the series. On the setting, which she describes as "at once futuristic and retro", she noted that "We can believe that the characters have lived, worked, and commuted within this world for all their lives and consider it 'normal,'" adding that the use of "Gingakei made Tonde Ike!" as the theme song "brings some honest-to-goodness Showa era feel to this Reiwa-era production". She also praised the "natural feel" of the dialog, writing that the main characters "sound like real people, less beholden to the conventions of anime voice acting".[7]
References
- ^ a b c Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 19, 2025). "Yōhei Kameyama's Milky☆Highway CG Anime Short Gets Sequel in July". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cayanan, Joanna (June 25, 2025). "Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express CG Anime Short's 2nd Trailer Reveals More Cast, Theme Song, July 3 Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
- ^ 「ミルキー☆ハイウェイ」の続編アニメが7月に放送・配信 寺澤百花＆永瀬アンナが出演. Natalie (in Japanese). March 19, 2025. Retrieved July 8, 2025.
- ^ 「ミルキー☆サブウェイ」に小松未可子、内山昂輝ら キャンディーズの主題歌流れるPV. Natalie (in Japanese). June 25, 2025. Retrieved July 8, 2025.
- ^ Cayanan, Joanna (July 1, 2025). "Milky☆Subway: The Galactic Limited Express CG Anime Casts Yukari Tamura". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 3, 2025.
- ^ a b "EPISODE Ginga Tokkyū: Mirukī Haiwei" EPISODE 銀河特急 ミルキー☆サブウェイ [EPISODE Milky Highway: The Galactic Limited Express]. Official website (in Japanese). Retrieved July 3, 2025.
- ^ Dennison, Kara (July 17, 2025). "Milky Subway: Your New Favorite Bite-Sized Anime". Otaku USA. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
External links
- Official website (in Japanese)
- Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia