RIDEBACK Episode 1

My excitement for this show’s arrival was warranted.

OK. As I’ve seen a bit of a boost in visitors to the site from people searching for Rideback and then finding my earlier posts that heralded my excitement for this project, let’s throw a few words together about the first episode.

If you’ve seen the manga, the first thing you notice is that the anime isn’t a straight adaptation. In fact, it’s taking a few liberties with the story.

The manga skips over the early life of Rin to put her on the back of the robot bike as soon as it can. The anime on the other hand, builds on the details of her life, making the accident that ended her ballet career far more dramatic. It also adds an overly perky fangirl character and gives you more of the geopolitical changes in this alternate future straight out the gate. Finally, Rin’s first foray on the bike is much longer, and much more dramatic in the anime.

The addition of the fangirl and the melodramatising (is that even a word) of her ballet career calls to mind Airmaster for me, and does alter the tone a little from the manga. The moving around of the political elements has a similar effect.

However, I don’t think it’s to its detriment. And the bike scenes are definitely an improvement over the manga’s. The visuals are far better than you’d expect from a TV show, doing an especially good job of blending the 2D and 3D elements.

It’s certainly living up to my high expectations so far.