RideBack

Synopsis:

Rin Ogata, the daughter of Yuki Ogata the famous ballet dancer, has devoted her life to following in her footsteps and become a talented dancer. But, during a dance competition, Rin made one fatal mistake and fractured her foot and also destroyed her future in ballet in the process. But, life goes on and when Rin enrolls at Musashino University where she considers joining the theater department but instead happens upon the Rideback Club... a group of enthusiasts of the RideBack, a half motorcycle/half robot machine. Scared and curious at the same time Rin decides to try and ride one with a little encouragement from the other members. Oddly enough she has no problem balancing and riding the most difficult RideBack of the bunch... a fiery red machine named Fuego and experiences one of the most exhilarating drives of her life. Rin willingly joins the RideBack Club not realizing that these machines that are mainly used for casual riding and sporting events, is about to play a major role in the future outcome of the country's security...


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 12


Review:

I've said it time and time before and I'll say it again, I just don't like mecha anime all that much. But, every once in a while a series comes along and takes me by surprise and RideBack is one of them. The title of the anime is that of the very mech that the show revolves around, a RideBack, it's kind of like a motorcycle and robot hybrid that is ridden in a piggyback fashion. In the beginning you watch as Rin displays her strange natural talent for driving the RideBack's and how her ballet training helps her to control the machine in a most unrealistic fashion. Now I don't know about anyone else, but I found this oddly appealing and while my own subconscious was saying "This is ridiculous!" I couldn't stop watching. RideBack then starts to take on a racing type sports angle where I found myself silently cheering for Rin to go out and kick some ass and stick it to all the other self-righteous RideBack jockey's!

About halfway into the series though, the plot takes a 180 and goes in a completely different direction involving terrorism, the government, and of course, the local authorities. When one of Rin's friends, Shoko Uemura, is caught up in a terrorist attack on a mall Rin decides to use Fuego (her RideBack) to go in and save her but as it turns out... the terrorists are also using RideBack's and she is mistaken for one of them during her rescue attempt turning Rin into a national outlaw. Bringing this into the storyline seems a little late and may have presented itself better had RideBack been given a longer season or even just used the political angle right from the beginning. But, as it stands things still work themselves out but not in the most satisfactory way leaving you feeling sort of empty in the end.

The animation is decent even with it's mix of CGI and hand drawn art work, but the character depth is nil because RideBack fuels itself on the plot instead that could have benefited from more episodes. As it is, RideBack is still a good show even though it couldn't make up it's mind whether to be a sports anime or futuristic government styled anime but instead tries to put them both together in a measly 12 episodes making for a shallow but entertaining presentation.

RideBack (opening)

Recommendation: |Above Average|