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Ride Back (TV).


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darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5515
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:09 pm Reply with quote
Ride Back (TV)

Man, Madhouse Studios on occasion adapts some pretty intriguing manga sources, and this new series Rideback definitely boasts some captivating premise (which you can read in the synopsis Wink ). The first episode is pretty much your usual introduction episode akin to those shounen action series where a protagonist discovers some "hidden talent" of a given gimmick, but thankfully the direction made this even more engrossing. spoiler[I mean we're talking about a girl named Rin Ogata who used to be a ballet dancer who then injured herself at an important recital, and then later quit ballet. Rin later then stumbled upon humanoid mecha/motorcycle hybrid known as the Ride Back. And then once she hopped on the Ride Back, it went out of control, but along the way she did show off some pretty impressive moves.

And all this takes place in world where an organization known as the GGP has pretty much taken over the entire planet. Let's how this would come into play! Surprised]


So far in this Winter season, this series is definitely something to look out for! Cool
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foxnewsnetwork



Joined: 25 Oct 2008
Posts: 14
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:40 pm Reply with quote
Rideback definitely feels like it has potential: judging by both Rin's current character and the setting, the anime has given itself plenty of room to develop into something amazing. Also, the opening is excellent.
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rainbowcourage



Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 1216
Location: what is commonly known as "hell week"
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 7:56 pm Reply with quote
Ha, you beat me by 50 minutes making this thread.

I've really been anticipating this series, and I had a really positive reaction to the first episode (though a couple of qualms). First...PRETTY Anime catgrin The scenes on the Rideback--holy shit. And the action was great; I also literally could feel Rin's joy her first time on a Rideback. The club members look like they're going to be a lot of fun. The beginning threw me a bit in terms of tone--I thought from the beginning that Rin was going to be a stronger, more confident female lead. She was very serious on the stage...and then she turned into this shy little mouse. Hopefully we'll see that transformation take shape, since that was my only major letdown.
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foxnewsnetwork



Joined: 25 Oct 2008
Posts: 14
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 8:22 pm Reply with quote
Actually, now that you mention problems with the show...

This is pretty minor, but some of character's face is slightly too long and their facial features (eyes, mouth, nose, whatever) are slightly too high up...even for this, more realistic, anime drawing style. Love the CG'd none-line-art stuff, though.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 9:59 pm Reply with quote
Just finished episode and I must say, the animation is up to the usual Madhouse par, perhaps even better at times considering this is an HD release. Compared to GONZO, Madhouse seems to have a firm grasp on how to use CGI well and blend it in with the 2d characters, kind of like how Production I.G. does it. I always try to go into shows being uninformed, so that the show itself dictates what I know about it, and this one seems like it'll be fun, or at least I should hope. On top of that, spoiler[I love the motorcycle-fu.]
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farruinn



Joined: 07 Dec 2008
Posts: 122
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:00 am Reply with quote
Put a girl on a bike-mech and she wants to... dance. This looks like it will be an intersting and fun series.

foxnewsnetwork wrote:
This is pretty minor, but some of character's face is slightly too long and their facial features (eyes, mouth, nose, whatever) are slightly too high up


I agree, I don't care for the character designs at all. Rin's roomate's face looks like an egg. Just a pet peeve of mine, but I can't stand characters that are blushing all the time either.
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pparker



Joined: 13 Oct 2007
Posts: 1185
Location: Florida
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:19 am Reply with quote
Yeah, I was hoping to start this thread as well. Definitely the best potential of the season so far. Lots of good impressions, but primarily the story kicks off in excellent, organic fashion. Ballet is a grueling, demanding physical discipline, far more strenuous than most sports (watch The Turning Point... it's a great movie anyway).

Professional football teams have been put through ballet training to improve their control, strength and reaction time. It finally makes perfect sense why a protagonist could mount a somewhat-mecha and immediately feel an affinity for it and be able to manipulate it, as well as communicate with it. She is even asking it to do ballet moves in her first ride, and her expressions are priceless. Her joy in riding it is wonderfully portrayed.

A bad CG integration can spoil an entire series for me, and this one is as close to perfect as possible. I hope Madhouse maintains this level of quality throughout, because at least on first viewing, the CG never stood out or looked non-integrated and never took my attention off the action. The rideback looked and felt human, or an extension of the human body, and blended entirely with the other elements.

This was not high on my list, as I'm primarily a comedy fan not a shonen (especially mecha) fan, but this and Kurokami are by far the best releases this season so far. The political setup bodes more serious action to come, maybe on a grand scale, yet already there is a light undertone from the club members that looks to balance impending melodrama (which is boring by itself).

The character designs, the roommate especially, were a bit off-putting at first, but it's just different. My attention went off it as soon as the action started. Just something to get used to, I imagine, like some of CLAMP's designs.

High hopes. If it continues in this vein, I'll be expecting R1 DVDs.
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Westlo



Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 1684
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 2:50 am Reply with quote
Gorgeously animated and easily the best first episode of the winter season, I would also say it knocks out the park any first episode from last year as well.

Madhouse have been knocking out quality show after quality show since Fall 08 and with Rideback and Ippo 2 this season they're keeping that up.

pparker wrote:
This was not high on my list, as I'm primarily a comedy fan not a shonen (especially mecha) fan


It's actually Seinen, so while it's still aimed at guys it's for ones of a higher age level.
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hentai4me



Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Posts: 1313
Location: England. Robin is so Cute!
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 7:52 am Reply with quote
I really enjoyed the first episode but I do worry about what the whole international GGP thing will do.

I'm probably not you're average anime fan, I like watching a show where the protagonists do something and enjoy doing it, sure there can be and should be challenges and drama and stuff on the way but at no point should it cease being about some people doing something they enjoy, real life is plenty depressing and the only reason for a depressing story bit to come up is for them to get over the adversity and that shouldn't take too long. (Wagaya no Oinari Sama is a good example of this, at no point did a major overarching villain exist or doing anything truly serious, several shorter thing s appeared but all the way through it was focussed on how much the people liked being together)

I'm sappy I know.

As long as this show doesn't get carried away with some rubbish about her/others being drawn into some government conspiracy or military nonsense and focuses on her just learning about and enjoying a new life.

But when they bring in ex-military hardware, suddenly amazing naturals and a recent military coup...I have worries about my fluffy feel good story...
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v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6230
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 10:39 am Reply with quote
i enjoyed the first episode, even though very little happened.

to those who read the manga: is there a story to this beyond racing? i'm just wondering, cause of the whole war backdrop.
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demonroach



Joined: 06 Dec 2007
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:09 am Reply with quote
#1 I won't lie. I only watched it because there's a cute girl.

#2 This totally reminds me of Air Gear............lol. <--- ^-_-^
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:10 am Reply with quote
I really enjoyed the first episode, myself. I'm looking forward to more of this show and to see where it goes and that's not just because it has the double-scoring impact of both MELL and Madhouse. Cool
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Westlo



Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 1684
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:20 pm Reply with quote
v1cious wrote:
i enjoyed the first episode, even though very little happened.

to those who read the manga: is there a story to this beyond racing? i'm just wondering, cause of the whole war backdrop.


Rideback is very political.
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hentai4me



Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Posts: 1313
Location: England. Robin is so Cute!
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:55 pm Reply with quote
Westlo wrote:
v1cious wrote:
i enjoyed the first episode, even though very little happened.

to those who read the manga: is there a story to this beyond racing? i'm just wondering, cause of the whole war backdrop.


Rideback is very political.


Oh...

Oh dear.

Sad

Don't get me wrong, I love the news, but that's real world, I don't want that intruding into my escapism too much.
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Jedi General



Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 2485
Location: Tucson, AZ
PostPosted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:34 pm Reply with quote
First episode impressed me. Not counting the first episode of Zoku Natsume Yūjin-Chō (since it's a sequel), Ride Back easily has the best opening episode thus far this season. The production values are flat-out gorgeous, and I SO want one of those humanoid motorcycles.

While not much was expounded upon regarding the political backdrop, I don't mind that at all as it will undoubtedly come on full force later.
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