RIDEBACK - 01 January 12
OP Sequence
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
OP: 「RIDEBACK」 by MELL
Watch the OP! Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Summary:
In a tumultuous time in which a group called the GGP has taken over governing the world, a ballet dancer named Ogata Rin is in the middle of a big performance when she suddenly hurts herself. Sometime later, Rin and her friend Shouko enter college. Rin has given up on ballet and claims not to regret it, but she’s still not entirely comfortable with the subject, especially when the topic of her mother comes up. Her mother was also a great dancer, but she had died in an earthquake six years ago. Rin had wanted to be like her mother, but she was unsatisfied with her own ballet and quit after the injury.
On one rainy day, Rin stumbles upon the Rideback club and is mistaken by one of its members - a guy named Hishida Haruki - as a prospective member. He offers to let her ride a red one called the Type L Fuego and is impressed by how nimbly she mounts it. With some instruction and help from Haruki, Rin is able to start up the vehicle and move it, and it responds to voice commands. Unfortunately, some of the controls aren’t working properly, and the Fuego takes Rin away from the clubhouse. Although initially startled, Rin soon gets the hang of riding a Rideback and starts really enjoying it, even performing some ballet moves with it. When the Fuego goes into Spread Legs Form however, Rin loses control, and one of the other Rideback club members Okakura Tenshirou tries to help her from atop his own Rideback. He helps her regain control, but it’s too late to stop her from sailing off the edge of an unfinished road, and for a moment, Rin is soaring above everything on top of the Rideback.
ED Sequence
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
ED: 「記憶」 (Kioku) by ユンナ feat GOKU (Younha feat GOKU)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼
Well, the OP isn’t quite as good as I had hoped from the commercials (I hate to say it, but I mainly like the sound of the Engrish chorus), and I ended up enjoying the ED + the images/animation as a set a lot more. There are some interesting notes on the ED too. It’s by Younha who some of you may remember did Bleach’s 3rd ED and a few other anime songs. Well, she’s released some music in South Korea since then, and this song (in Korean) was one of those. She’s recently put her sights back on Japan, signing with Geneon Entertainment, and that’s how RIDEBACK came to have this song as its ED.
Wow, it’s rare that I get hyped about a series from its promotional material and/or manga, and then the series actually delivers beyond what I expected. For starters, the production quality is amazing. The ballet scene to start the episode was beautiful (the immediate contrast to war made it all that much better), and the certain parts of the sakura petals scene even reminded me of 5 Centimeters Per Second. Okay, not quite that good, but you get my point - RIDEBACK is really pretty. Here’s to hoping Madhouse can keep up the level of quality.
The story is nothing to sneeze at either. A lot of this first episode was introducing everything and showing off the Fuego Rideback in action, but they put in a good amount of character development into Rin (particularly in relation to her mother) and hint at the tumultuous state the world is in. They even showed the Ridebacks in combat which I wasn’t expecting till a bit later. It appears that this series is taking the basic elements and characters of the manga and presenting it in a relatively new way. So far so good.
Now normally I’d be keen on blogging a show with a first episode as impressive as this one, but my schedule’s already too crowded, so Trillian will probably blog this in the future (pending Trillian’s own interest in the show of course).
Yakumo-kun at 4:21 am on January 12th, 2009
I guess this would be well worth following! Look at the artwork, it is so detailed. Let’s hope production quality is kept at this level throughout.
Fat Cat Lim at 4:27 am on January 12th, 2009
I’m looking forward to this series too. The character designs remind me a little of Dennou Coil (long faces), but they are fairly refreshing.
AznCoffee at 4:47 am on January 12th, 2009
huh
http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/RIDEBACK/RIDEBACK%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
a dancer
http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/RIDEBACK/RIDEBACK - 01 - Large 03.jpg
a nuke
http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/RIDEBACK/RIDEBACK%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
and a motorcycle…
curious case of benjamin button anyone?
Shin Zero at 4:56 am on January 12th, 2009
I think this would be an interesting one to following. Nice character designs.
Somehow the rideback reminds me of the Aibar machine in Melody of Oblivion.
Kit-Tsukasa at 5:21 am on January 12th, 2009
i never planned on picking this up, but now I might
Xavier at 5:39 am on January 12th, 2009
woaaa an amazing and huge quality here… i must watch this one!!
Exia at 6:41 am on January 12th, 2009
ive been waiting to see this one too. i wonder how good it really is.
DmonHiro at 7:35 am on January 12th, 2009
Well…it DOES look beautiful, but if the story isn’t good, it’s all for nothing. SO far, I’m not impressed.
jahaa at 7:53 am on January 12th, 2009
Wow, the animation looks really good. They blended the CGI really well so it’s not hideous like most CGI-mixed animes. At first I thought the plot is going to be shallow due to my impression that it’s going to be a sports anime of some sort, but the plot may actually be interesting.
I hope you will keep blogging this Omni :).
Panther at 7:57 am on January 12th, 2009
Yes Rideback 01 had good animation and good plot quality, I like how they worked out details for the bike as well and how realistic sounding it is compared to most other anime series.
M11 at 8:08 am on January 12th, 2009
Looks good. I’ve been waiting for this to air.
Was a bit surprised to see the OP lyrics in English.
Lelouch at 8:29 am on January 12th, 2009
Well for me, Episode 1 is always well detailed. Let’s give this show 2 to 3 more episodes before we give any verdict ^_^
mutio at 8:49 am on January 12th, 2009
“RIDEBACK is really pretty. Here’s to hoping Madhouse can keep up the level of quality.”
Agreed, really good animation quality, the best I have seen since a while in a series. Looking forward to this show, all last Madhouse anime were good to me, so I hope this one won’t be an exception.
Espada at 8:57 am on January 12th, 2009
air gear but in motorcycles hmmmmm
Fanatic at 9:12 am on January 12th, 2009
@jahaa
Ditto…
I too hope Omni will keep blogging this series
xXichigoXx at 11:20 am on January 12th, 2009
uhhh what???i don’t really really get the anime man~~
E_I at 11:24 am on January 12th, 2009
Looks good…except that one girl in pic 15 with the green overalls. What the hell?
ark noir at 12:04 pm on January 12th, 2009
this will give my Gunbike fix in animation form!
aki-san at 12:37 pm on January 12th, 2009
i personally like the ending song with the japanese version. the korean version didn’t cut it for me even though the japanese version didn’t came out yet or i don’t think it did.
Kai-Kun at 1:39 pm on January 12th, 2009
http://randomc.maximum7.net/image/RIDEBACK/RIDEBACK%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2001.jpg
Chun Li anyone?