The Rideback Home
I spent a majority of my weekend at my parents house. I try and be a good son, and come by every other weekend for a little awhile if time permits me. Luckily they only live about an hour from me so its not that taxing of a distance to travel. While I was there I got to do dinner and a movie with some friends and my dad and I watch a couple white sox games on TV. Unfortunately the visit wasn't all fun and games. My Grandfather who lives in Florida is getting very ill and now Hospice is involve to help make his last coming weeks as comfortable as possible. As something like this is always a moving target my family talked about how we wanted to handle this, and it was decided that my parents would go down to spend some quality time with him. In all honesty I wanted to go too, but I have things I need to do here, I can't up and leave a job I just started for an undetermined amount of time; that and I need to watch over things while my parents are away. In the last 10-15 years my grandfather and I haven't seen too much of each other, however I did spend a lot of my earlier childhood with my grandparents. My grandfather was one of the reasons that I developed a passion for the print industry. The one thing I am thankful for is I got a chance to spend sometime with him right before I started my current job so it isn't like I haven't seen him in years. So I will push forward as best I can, its what he would want.
On a completely different note, being a bit bummed out with how the weekend transpired it was a pleasant surprise monday morning to see the Rideback box-set sitting on my office desk. Now I will be the first to admit I got this series out of pure utter curiousity. When you watch the trailer you see motorcycles hybrids with robot arms and legs called ridebacks (hence the title), you got racing, ballet, girls in summer dress' aboard a rideback, and military coup d'etat's. That's a ton of completely different things that really should have nothing to do with each other all packed into a 12 episode series. Now these situations and theme's combined together could very easily reek of disaster, but for some strange reason it works!
The show starts off with our protaganist Rin who is a consider a prodigy in ballet. All she ever wished was to become a world famous ballerina like her mother, but on the debut of her biggest show she ends up tearing a ligament in her leg. She would still be able to dance after it heal but chances are she will never be able to be as good as her mother was. Rin decides to move on with life and goes away college with her best friend Shoko. On her way back to her dorm she ducks into a warehouse to wait the rain out and gets a first glace at a rideback. Given a chance by a member of the schools rideback club she takes one for a spin! Next thing you know she zipping around corners and twirling through the air like the ballerina she once was. Rin for the first time since ballet found something to commit to. The show starts off like a racing anime, but soon evolves as the government starts cracking down on rideback riders. Then something happens... something so big and unexpected that it changes everything about the show. I consider this scene one of the most powerful moments in a show all year. What once was a small protest becomes a rebal fight against a military dictatorship. The show as some quality voice acting too. Tia Ballard plays a very soft spoken Rin. Something I am not used to seeing with her. But I have to say it works and I think Tia has another type of character she can play instead of her normal hyper over the top roles she normally has. Rideback is not a ground breaking show, its never going win any awards, but its fun and moving at times and you know what? I'm okay with that.
On a completely different note, being a bit bummed out with how the weekend transpired it was a pleasant surprise monday morning to see the Rideback box-set sitting on my office desk. Now I will be the first to admit I got this series out of pure utter curiousity. When you watch the trailer you see motorcycles hybrids with robot arms and legs called ridebacks (hence the title), you got racing, ballet, girls in summer dress' aboard a rideback, and military coup d'etat's. That's a ton of completely different things that really should have nothing to do with each other all packed into a 12 episode series. Now these situations and theme's combined together could very easily reek of disaster, but for some strange reason it works!
The show starts off with our protaganist Rin who is a consider a prodigy in ballet. All she ever wished was to become a world famous ballerina like her mother, but on the debut of her biggest show she ends up tearing a ligament in her leg. She would still be able to dance after it heal but chances are she will never be able to be as good as her mother was. Rin decides to move on with life and goes away college with her best friend Shoko. On her way back to her dorm she ducks into a warehouse to wait the rain out and gets a first glace at a rideback. Given a chance by a member of the schools rideback club she takes one for a spin! Next thing you know she zipping around corners and twirling through the air like the ballerina she once was. Rin for the first time since ballet found something to commit to. The show starts off like a racing anime, but soon evolves as the government starts cracking down on rideback riders. Then something happens... something so big and unexpected that it changes everything about the show. I consider this scene one of the most powerful moments in a show all year. What once was a small protest becomes a rebal fight against a military dictatorship. The show as some quality voice acting too. Tia Ballard plays a very soft spoken Rin. Something I am not used to seeing with her. But I have to say it works and I think Tia has another type of character she can play instead of her normal hyper over the top roles she normally has. Rideback is not a ground breaking show, its never going win any awards, but its fun and moving at times and you know what? I'm okay with that.