RideBack: A Review

Over the years I've reviewed quite a bit of anime and as I have done so I have observed a lot of tropes and recurring trends. Why does every anime have to have an irritating kookie character? Why are there so many animes that just stop rather than conclude? Why didn't it tie up any of the loose ends? Why the ditsy blonde girls with giant wobbling breasts that bounce merrily in all directions? Why do anime series so often drag on for far too long? As the years have gone by I have grown to begrudgingly accept some of the crap that comes with anime because there are still anime series I will enjoy immensely in spite of it. But in recent years I've been seeing anime that actually manages to completely avoid these standards and shine brilliantly as examples of how anime should be done. These have included 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' and the superb '5 Centimeters Per Second' . I can now add 'RideBack' to this list.

At its heart RideBack is a story of regret, passion and personal growth. Set in the very near future, Rin Ogata grew up with one ultimate goal on her mind, to be a famed and talented ballet dancer just as her late mother was before her. The anime lays very strong and simple foundations at the beginning, from which the rest of the plot is built. A recent military conflict has placed complete global control in the hands of a military organisation called the GGP. Alongside this background knowledge we see the graceful Rin dancing in a lead role on-stage, before an accident injures her and robs her of that dream.

RideBack has plenty of beautiful and elegant animated sequences.

The story takes place soon afterwards, with Rin and her best friend moving away to university together. It is here that Rin stumbles upon the University's RideBack club. The RideBack is a sort of cross between a motorbike and a robot. If you can imagine piggybacking on a robot ice skater then you've pretty much got the idea of how it works. Anyway it turns out that Rin's ballet skills make her an exceptional RideBack driver and as it awakens sensations she once experienced dancing, she finds herself taking quite a shining to this new pastime. But this passion comes at a cost as events place Rin in the middle of a growing conflict between the shady, militant government and a terrorist, resistance group.

I don't think I've ever factored this into a review before, but RideBack is visually gorgeous at times. I mention it here because the animation does so much to assist the story. With all the dancing and the RideBacking, movement and elegance really plays an important part in the story and is often used to express the mood of Rin or the tone of the anime itself. For an animation, something completely artificially produced, it is an extraordinary feat to choreograph so many sequences capable of eliciting real emotional responses.

Something I didn't really notice until towards the last few episodes is just how strong the supporting cast is. You will find yourself caring about the well-being of even the minor characters. Additionally, every character has a purpose. There's no filler or comic relief characters in there obnoxiously hogging the screen-time and generally getting on my nerves. In fact the entire story arc itself is very much like that. Concise yet deep and beautiful. It actually reminded me a lot of the incredible game 'To The Moon' that I reviewed a few weeks back, albeit without the tears. The series runs at only twelve 25 minute episodes which is the perfect length for it. This is about half the length of a traditional anime series and I'd like to applaud Madhouse studio for not padding it out to meet this trend.

As a protagonist Rin is perfect. She is a very fine balance of interesting, sympathetic and human traits. She is vulnerable but possesses the strength to overcome her trials. She is beautiful and elegant without ever being sexualized. She's passionate but never overbearing or tedious. She's a strong female protagonist but is never specifically or obviously pitched as one. And all of this aside her personal journey is sympathetic and engaging. The way the narrative weaves together her memories of her mother teaching her important dance and life philosophies and her present day trials as an outlaw are incredibly well realized. All the while the audience is acutely aware that she is unknowingly a part of something much bigger than herself. This is the story of a pawn in a large-scale game of chess trying to make it to the other side of the board and become a queen.

What RideBack reminds us is that anime doesn't have to always pander to silly archetypes and conventions. It doesn't have to be all panties and mood swings. Anime is just another form of expression and this is the kind of anime series I could confidently recommend to someone who has either no interest in anime or is openly critical of it. Oh and make sure you check out '5 Centimeters Per Second', you won't believe something so good could happen in just one hour.