Kana

Kana is a purple Japanese high-speed electric engine who works on the North Western Railway and the first electric engine to live on the Island of Sodor. She has two passenger coaches painted in the same livery as her.

Personality

Kana is an all-new electric high-speed rail train. She crackles with electric speed, lets out a sonic whistle, and often causes the trees and telephone poles to bend in her wake. Kana enjoys going fast and is always up for a game, but she also cares very much for her friends, and there are times when she likes to relax and be calm. Although usually up for any challenge, Kana is hesitant to deal with one type of obstacle in particular: Sharp turns. Aside from this, she usually takes whatever challenge she faces with determination and zeal. However, there are some faults that she still has some trouble with, primarily burning her battery levels by regularly speeding and trying to stay still as a statue.

Technical Details

Basis

Like many All Engines Go characters, Kana has no specific basis, however her design was inspired by the high-speed Shinkansen trains (better known as "Bullet Trains") of Japan. Unlike the real Shinkansen units, Kana lacks passenger windows and is powered by batteries rather than an overhead catenary. Said batteries, much like for all electric engines in the reboot, are charged wirelessly, unlike the vast majority of real world examples.

Livery

Kana is painted medium lavender with white and yellow stripes around her front and sides. She has yellow wheels and tinted-purple cab windows.

Her colour scheme was inspired by concept renders for the E8 Series Shinkansen, a high-speed train ordered to replace the ageing E3 Series. The first of these units was delivered at the end of January 2023, wearing the same livery as the original concept render.

Appearances

Audio Files

Horns

In the leaked sizzler trailer, Kana shares a horn with the Yellow Salvage Vessel from the original Thomas & Friends series.

Trivia

• Kana is the first and/or only of a few things:
  • One of the only two members of the new main cast who was not introduced in the original series, the other being Sandy.
  • The first and currently only main character to be powered exclusively by electricity in All Engines Go.
  • The first electric engine to live at Tidmouth Sheds.
• According to series writer Rick Suvalle:
  • Kana's original name was Akira. The name was inspired by the 1982 manga of the same name, which originated in Kana's home country of Japan.
  • Kana and Kenji were originally intended to be related, which is also the reason Kana's name begins with a "K".^[1]
  • In addition to being inspired by the E8 Shinkansens, Kana's livery may have also been partially inspired by the Evangelion series, which was in the news around the time Kana was being designed.^[2]
• "Kana" is also the name of a Japanese phonetic writing system.
• In an early version of the script for A Thomas Promise used for auditions in January 2020, it is revealed that within the series, Kana (then named Akira) is eight years old.
• Kana can use her electrified sparks to make emojis above her head.
• Kana has a extendable front coupling latch hidden within her front skirt.
• Glee Dango originally auditioned for the role of Kana, but received the role of Sandy instead.
• Unlike all of the other vehicle characters in the franchise, Kana's horn sound has a synthetic warble effect.
• Kana's favourite location is the Sodor Wildlife Sanctuary.^[3]
• Despite her design meaning that she has no separate "head", Kana is constantly animated so that the nosecone of her bodywork can contort in the same way the steam engine characters' smokeboxes can. She is the only non-traditional steam engine character with this trait, with all others having more limited contortions of their frames.

References