[Ended] Ride Back: Up and Over

It seems that animes in general just can't keep themselves away from over-dramatize the glorious ending. In the case of Ride Back, though, it doesn't really hurt much in doing so. After seeing the final episode of Ride Back, it kind of reminded me the final episode of Macross Frontier. They tried to make the ending so impactful that they added in tons of dramatizing events that almost make the last episode feel somewhat detached from the rest of the story. But, I have no problem about that, as long as they don't get too far off track.

Ride Back is a story about how a series of unfortunate events throws an innocent yet talented girl right down in the middle of the political and military struggle. It's a very intereting and unique blend of politics and character development with the character being the main focus. Our heroine, like to do things without proper rationale, because most troubles she got herself into are completely avoidable if she had just calmed down and thought them over. It seems to be a flaw in her personality that the story doesn't bother address because overall, she doesn't appear to be a hot-headed person who would always make such ridiculous decisions.

Drama: 90 (Lots)

Comedy: N/A

Action: 93 (Great)

Art/Animation: 80 (Wasn't initially fond of its art style, but I learned to like it)

Sound/Music: 85 (Good BGM)

Character: 85 (Certain part of personality doesn't quite fit in with the character...)

Plot: 85 (Nice and straightforward)

Ending: 87 (Good enough)

Re-watch value: 60 (Stories like this usually doesn't hold much re-watch value)

Overall (not average): 91 ~ Very good...

Recommendation: If there weren't Viper's Creed I would award Ride Back the action-drama anime of the season. This is one of my highly recommended animes from this season.

Ride Back: Intensified

Currently finished: Episode 6

It was a interesting start, and it just keeps getting more and more exciting. It's like one of those stories that the main character always end up in the wrong place at the wrong time where she has to use her exceptional talent to get herself out of it, except in this case, instead of falling into the event, the main character kind of throws herself into it.

The story keeps a very good balance between the action in the foreground and the plot development in the background. The result is you get the excitement while watching it, yet don't have the feeling of emptiness afterward as most action flicks tend to do.

New score: 85 (Previous: 78)

[New January 2009] Ride Back

Info/download: http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/1365.html
Genres: Action / Drama
I've watched: 1 episode
Art style: Semi-realistic

Summary: In 2025, GGP has conquered the world. A girl has given up ballet because of injury came to a new school. There she found a new interest in "Ride Back", a robotic motorcycle that could respond to simple commands and body movement. (Sounds like a futuristic version of Segway)

First impression score: 78 ~ Interesting start

Personal comments: Supposedly the main story of this anime is how she's using Ride Back to go against GGP's dictatorship. So far it looks pretty interesting. Though I'm not very fond of its art style, it's somewhat acceptable.