I’ve heard at least one person say upon finishing Rideback that they thought the series wasn’t very good. I am inclined to disagree.
I had no idea going in exactly what it was that Rideback had set out to do. At first I thought it would be a racing series, then possibly a political drama, then after episode 6 I badly wanted it to be an action series, and you can say it was a bit of those last two in the end. What was far more confusing was the motivations of the main character. How far would she go to help her friends? What would push her over the edge, make her happy, give her hope? Rin really held the show together. The entire cast was quite strong, the animation was very good, the story faltered from time to time but could be poignant and moving when it needed to be, but overall I’d say it was Rin that made the series memorable. This was especially true when she was riding Fuego, something that really needed to happen more often. The majority of the action scenes were simplistic, with nothing more than guys rolling around on their mecha-Segways shooting rockets at each other and wacking people to death with batons, but Rin’s battles on the other hand were completely brilliant. When she trashed those White-Rides in episode 6, I lifted up my laptop and yelled “OH SNAP, SON!” at my computer screen to let those guys know they just got served.
Sadly I forgot that people in my computer can’t hear me. Seriously Shouko, calm the fuck down.
This was practically the exact opposite of my reaction to her riding scene at the fountain at the terrorist base and her battle with the Grimoires in the final episode, at which point all I could do was sit back and smile at how well choreagraphed and beautiful the whole thing was.
I guess you could consider it a fault that I didn’t care about the GGP vs. BMA battle that formed the backdrop of the series, but this was less to do with that part of the series being particularly weak and more to do with everything else being quite strong. I think the series would have needed a longer run to improve on itself, as any complaints I have are with what it lacked, namely a better explanation of past events to help me understand characters like Okakura better. Any other complaints I have are silly, like Shouko’s hair looking retarded. Fuego randomly showing signs of sentience was cheesy, but I didn’t mind.
At the same time that I enjoyed the series, I’m not sure it has much rewatch value beyond 2 or 3 scenes, but I’d recommend it nonetheless. It’s already one of my favorites of 09, though I’m sure the Spring Season will throw something better at me. For now, I’ll bow out.
edit: ohfucks! How did I forget to mention the music! The music was great!
