Summary: >

If there is one thing to be said about anime, it is that it has variety. I mean there's probably an anime for just about everyone if they give it a chance - from goat farmers to car chase enthusiasts. While you goat farmers may have to wait, those wanting a car chase anime: your title has arrived!

Bean Bandit, also known as the Road Buster is a courier of sorts. If you need transportation, Bean is where it's at. Of course it may cost you tens of thousands of dollars, but if you want the best, you have to pay for the best. Needless to say, those willing to pay thousands for "transportation" typically have something dangerous to hide, or some danger to escape.

But for a man with Bean's skills it's just another day. And that's what he thought when he transported some guys from a bank heist that didn't go over well. Bean's next target didn't seem to hard either, just transport a little girl back home; but that's when it all started to go wrong. Bean was in fact set up by the bank robbers and now Bean is thought to be the kidnapper. You'd think that some simple explaining is all that would be required, but with everyone shooting at you, trying to run you off the road, and the little girl in the back seat screaming who would listen? That's okay because Bean is the sort of guy who likes settling things with action anyway.

Thoughts: >

This title has been out for a long time now, but I just never watched it. Why? because all I would ever hear about it is "Riding Bean sucks", "It's way overrated", etc. Having actually watched it now, I'm not sure where all of this came from. But talking with people I came to realize that when Riding Bean came out it was hailed as one of the best anime titles ever. Ever? Yes ever. It certainly isn't that, so I guess being before my time all I ever heard about it was the fallout from the hype.

That said Riding Bean isn't all that bad for an action title. Actually considering the general action formula: Introduction, Setup, Climax, Resolution - it does all of these pretty well. But before I get ahead of myself; Riding Bean is a creation from Kenichi Sonada - famed for the series Gunsmith Cats (one I rather like). Sonada has always done a good job with action type themes as far as interesting setup for action goes. He also has a habit of coming up with some pretty twisted villains, and in Riding Bean the underage love affair hinted at is a big hangup for many people. And if Chicago were half as dangerous and twisted as Sonada's fantasy, we would have nuked it ourselves. Aside from that Sonada is also a gun nut, and a car nut - that often means that you tend to end up learning more about the specific details of these things than you would normally care to know.

Characters were quite good actually. The designs were right on par with Sonada's trademark look that is a nice treat. Bean himself comes off as the sort of "always cool", always gets away type of super character. Rally is similar to how she would be in Gunsmith Cats later on. She obviously has an affinity for guns, but doesn't seem to be quite as over the top with her love of them; which makes her a bit less fun.

Animation was top quality for its day, and still shows through as superior after all of these years. And actually when you REALLY study the animation here, it kind of makes you pine for the days when anime had this level in attention to detail. Still you sort of wish the cars would drift a bit more, but honestly I couldn't tell you how a car that has been modified as much as Bean's would handle anyway.

Oh yeah, and the soundtrack is interesting. Not the sort of 80's Japanese go-go pop you might expect, but actually honest to god 80's hard rock. Now that was a bit unexpected and kind of a treat in how well it fit.

The biggest drawback of this anime is that... well it's sort of hard to cheer for a hero that always seems to be invincible. I mean his car has some sort of wizmo to get him out of every problem, and his jacket is bullet proof, etc. By the middle you're not really watching to see IF he's going to make it out, only to see what device will allow him to - and you know he has one.

Overall I'd say it's exactly between good and average. I flipped a coin so it says average. This title stands out with good animation and as a solid action title. But as a solid action title... it sort of lacks in most other area's as most action titles do. If you decide to pass on Riding Bean, I highly recommend looking into Gunsmith Cats.

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