Riding Bean

Original Title: ライディング ビーン
Romanized: Riding Bean
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

Bean Bandit, aka the Roadbuster, is the ultimate courier and getaway driver, plying his trade on the mean streets of Chicago with his crack-shot partner Rally. Bean's always on the run from the law, but when he finds himself framed for the kidnapping of a millionaire's daughter he's got both the police and a private army after him. It'll take some drastic measures just to get back into business as usual, and somebody's going to pay for the trouble.

Quick Review

Rating: 2 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2004-03-28

Riding Bean is a tribute to classic 70s-era action flicks, complete with all the trappings: Bean Bandit, the neigh-invulnerable anti-hero, plenty of fast cars (and the chases to go with them), big guns galore, a selection of attractive women, all backed up by a funked-up soundtrack. It also bears the distinction of being Sonoda Kenichi's first shot at creative control of an anime production, and the prototype of Gunsmith Cats. On the down side, Bean's more of a villain than a hero, he's annoyingly invincible, the plot is functional but far from realistic, and the whole thing lacks substance and, true to 70s form, is a bit sleazy.

If you like classic action movies you'll probably get a kick out of it. Otherwise, it never much distinguishes itself from it's kin.

US DVD Review

The DVD is a straightforward but solid production. All the basics are covered: Standard indexes, your choice of Japanese or English dialogue with or without subtitles, a gallery of stills and other artwork set to one 4-minute song from the soundtrack, and the trailer for the Japanese DVD (with translations of the onscreen text--not everybody seems to do that). The video looks good (particularly good for something this old), and although, as mentioned in the review, the dub audio has poor (almost nonexistent) stereo separation and sounds flat, the soundtrack is generally crisp. As with all AnimEigo releases, the DVD includes an insert of liner notes with lots of interesting trivia and complete song lyrics.

Content Guide

Fairly overt sexual themes and plenty of shooting knock this one into the 16-up range.

Violence: 3 - It opens with a couple of rather gory deaths.

Nudity: 2 - A bit of skin.

Sex/Mature Themes: 3 - Nothing graphic, but there are some very overt come-ons.

Language: 2 - Some profanity.

Notes and Trivia

Riding Bean is a standalone anime series, although it served as the prototype for the later and much better known Gunsmith Cats. Bean Bandit periodically appears in the comic version of Gunsmith Cats, but not in the anime version. This anime one-shot is not directly connected to Gunsmith Cats, however; it features characters who are basically the prototypes of Rally Vincent and May Hopkins, but their later incarnations are different enough that you can't really call this a prequel.

In addition to being an accomplished manga artist (Gunsmith Cats, Cannon God Exaxxion), Kenichi Sonoda did the original character designs for a couple of seminal '80s-era anime series (Gall Force and the earlier parts of Bubblegum Crisis). Despite his attractive and popular characters, he's not know for his originality--almost all of his characters are cut from one of a handful of molds.

Availability

Available in the US from AnimEigo on bilingual DVD (buy from RightStuf or AnimeNation). Was previously also available on subtitled VHS.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store