Rideback First Impression

Unnecessary Slow Motion Mounting Procedures?  This Girl’s Got Style!

Slow start eh?  Well this was the one show that I had expected to reach out and grab me from what I’ve been told, but unfortunately with this first episode it wasn’t able to do that.  That doesn’t mean I didn’t like me, it’s just that it didn’t stand out from the pack anymore than the next series this season.  I guess this is what Megazone 23 would be like if Shogo’s dancer girlfriend Yui had taken his place in discovering the Garland and then ostensibly used it to try and upset the establishment.  I’m definitely getting some Garland vibes from the Scarlet Rideback, although there’s a difference in that one is clearly a transformable mecha to be used as a weapon while the Rideback is a recreational sports and hobby machine.  Oh that and the Rideback is composed entirely of gaudy CG that looks really awkard when you see a clearly traditionally drawn Rin riding on top of it.  Yeah I was pretty much playing spot the CG in the action scene throughout the last quarter of the episode and it wasn’t much of a game.

Anyway, so right now I’d say the theme of the series is going to be what Rin talked about in finding your own personal world in a harsh reality.  I guess the people don’t enjoy much freedom under the GGP rule if I am to understand Rin’s discourse, although that was barely explored this episode.  Anyway, in Rin’s case this finding your own personal world was explored through her losing her dream of becoming a stage diva via her love of ballet after a nasty tumble during her very first recital.  The scene where she was tumbling was well done in my opinion and I think the exact words that came out of my mouth during it were, “Awwwwwww that’s gotta suck…..”.  That was a career ending fall too, not just because of any poor reviews she might have gotten (although like the political side none of that was really explored), but because of a torn ligament that ruined her dancing legs and kept achieving her goal of becoming the next Yuki Ogata out of reach.

So what’s a girl to do when now forced to confront the cold harsh reality of an oppressive world?  Find a new hobby of course, and in this case it looks like purely by chance (or was it destiny) she stumbled upon the Rideback while looking for shelter on that rainy day and it appears that thanks to her ballet training she’s a natural at riding it.  Well she still needs some training to avoid crashing through barriers and guard rails, but the sequences involving Rin on the Rideback served to emphasize that she has a natural talent for this particular sport/hobby.  And I also hopped the metaphor of getting a new set of legs wasn’t lost on anyone.

So yeah, a solid if slow opener, but nothing that I would classify as earth shattering.  Especially when you consider the rather irritating school scene that came during the centre with all of the stereotypical gal pal dialogue that went on during it.  At least I like Rin well enough though and the first episode was good enough to at least warrant the three episode trial period I give to anything that doesn’t suck right out of the gate (coughakicoughkan).  And that as they say is that.