Train + Train, Volume 1 by Hideyuki Kurata and Tomomasa Takuma

The Planet of Delouca is reknowned across the galaxy for its school system. School trains ferry students across the land, and feature stops in various cities where the kids get to learn more about their chosen profession. There are trains featuring normal professions, and then there is the "special" train.

Arena is a girl from an extremely wealthy family who wants more than anything else to take the Special Train. Her grandfather, the head of the family, is determined that she not do so, and has cut off her access to funds to try and deny her. But Arena is more determined than her grandfather knows, and has walked to Ideo, the Capital of Deloca, all by herself to board the Special Train. She also hasn't eaten in three days.

Reiichi Sakakusa and Liae Igarashi are two friends from the planet Migella, another artifically constructed planet like Deloca, who have come to board the Normal Train and be educated. Liae has romantic feelings for Reiichi, but hides them, hoping that he will eventually see her in the same way. But when she gets in trouble with an Alien called a Winzbeel by taking its picture and pointing at it like it is am act in a sideshow, Reiichi steps in to help her and must be rescued by Arena.

Arena is up front with both of them about how much she wants to board the Special Train, and Reiichi doesn't seem as enthused about his own choice, apparently boarding one of the normal trains because he feels it is expected of him. But when agents of her grandfather try and capture Arena and prevent her from boarding the Special Train, Arena and Reiichi end up literally chained together. And nothing, but nothing will prevent Arena from getting on the Special Train!

With no choice but to help her, Arena and Reiichi end up on the Special Train together. Now, Reiichi has a choice. The shackle holding them together will dissolve and open in 100 hours. Reiichi can chose to transfer to a normal train after that point. But being with Arena makes him really feel alive. Will he choose to transfer after knowing her that long, or will he, too, be won over by the charms of the Special Train?

I liked the idea of the Special Train, and even the idea of school trains. But the characters here aren't anything we haven't seen before in Anime. The sensitive nerdy guy who gets pushed and pulled around by the women who know him, and the strange, even "Yankee"-type girl who is good at fighting with a strong will who ends up with the nerdy, pushed around boy. At some point, I expect him to end up in a romance with her and decide he likes her better than his former friend, who also pushed him around while being much more sneaky about it.

But while the characters are nothing we haven't seen before, the Trains are something new, and I look forward to learning more about the "Special" Train and what it teaches. The implication in the story is that, as far as Liae is concerned, the "Special" train is for problem students. But maybe "Special" is more along the meaning of "Gifted". It's hard to tell so far.