Fearing reprisal since he was a Japanese veteran, Chitose's father risks everything to get his family out of the north and to the US-occupied area south of the 38th parallel. While not as depressing as Grave of the Fireflies , this film still manages to grab your emotions for its duration. Chitose's father is not a sword-bearing ninja like Jubei from Ninja Scroll or a mystic sorcerer like the characters from Yuyu Hakusho , but he is just as heroic if not more so when he leads a small group of refugees over land to escape the menacing communist government of the north. Indeed, we start the movie seeing that Chitose has grown up to become a successful actress. So while Grave gave us tragedy without resolution, Rail gives us tragedy with hope.
Animation is above average for a television production, and backgrounds are extremely well done.
Character design slightly blunts the realism of the events, which is actually beneficial considering how dramatic the events can be, but succeeds in portraying emotions satisfyingly well as the faces are drawn very expressively. However, I do recommend this as a film for the young adult as it provides a very intimate look at a very obscure part of history and may pique interest in history. All in all, a well executed film which is worth viewing more than once. Violence, depiction of death of children.