OverDrive/オーバードライヴ

Some info:
1) ANN
2) Wiki
3) Official Site

A little something different time, a sports anime that’s based on cycling, to be more exact, road cycling. And well, the opening of episode 1 is somewhat like the ending of tv series, with the main characters racing at Tour de France.

This 26 episode series is kinda short for a sports series, though it’s not the only one in the same genre with a smiliar duratoin. However, the painful part, is that a big portion of this series is spent on the first competition that Shinozaki, the main character participates in, after a mere month of learning + training how to ride a bicycle.

Yeah, it sounds kinda exaggerating, being able to do a crazy course of more than 180km after such a short time of training. Oh well, anime is usually exaggerated and more evidently so in sports anime. That aside, during the competition there’s also focus on other important characters of this series. Besides having intense racing during the competition, flashbacks are sometimes incorporated to allow viewers to get to know more about each of the main character’s ast and how it has affected their lives to want to cycle so badly.

I suppose there’s some level of accuracy with regards to cycling technicalities. There are quite a few cycling terms in the course of the anime and also how cyclists can optimise their speed etc etc. Most of it seems logical to me, other than the part where the characters seem to have infinite energy, stamina and endurance. Lol.

Surprisingly, the anime did not show how the main character became so great at cycling as the ending just “fast-forwards” to the opening of the anime, showing them at Tour de France once more. Apparently the newbie main character can be leading the pack, and the world. No idea how long they took to reach there, nor how great Shinozaki has become. Then the anime ends there. Kinda weird I think. Perhaps that’s why the anime isn’t all that well-received.

Ok lah, that aside, there also some funny scenes in the show, and sometimes they can be a little unsuitable for kids. Lol, then again it’s Japan so I guess it’s not all that big a deal. Hehz. Anyway, there are also indeed comedic scenes involving the characters. Though I normally favour comedy content, this time it isn’t helping the overall experience of the series very much. Most part of the anime can be a little boring, or draggy

Though I sound like I don’t like this anime, I’m sure people who love road cycling might have a better appreciation of what is going. Otherwise, I think it’ll be generally not very interesting to the average viewer who wants to try their luck on this series. I’m guessing most of you will not want to watch this anime as I think a great number of us can’t really appreciate all the beauty in the series. Haha.

p.s. What am I saying siah… Exam stress? Shrugs