ARJ: Here we go again...
Uncharted waters, but I don't feel so bad anymore :D I understand now.
Imagine, if you will, a world where large civilian robots, inspired by the designs of cars, roam the streets...and play basketball. That's the kind of world that Basquach is set in. Basquach! is a new anime from the directors behind Escaflowne on one end and Oban Star Racers on the other (DRAW NOSES THIS TIME OK!!!). The first had said before he started the project, that he wanted to do something much more light hearted. It premeired last week, and I have to say, I loved the first episode.
The first episode actually introduced us to all the main characters. The main character is named "Dan" and he hates a new sport called "Big Foot Basketball". He hates it so much, hes become a masked hero, who drives around as "Dunk Mask" with a scooter and a basketball, and when he appears, he smashes every public TV broadcasting BFB. In that first episode we aren't really told why he hates it so much, only that it has something to do with his sister, who is in a wheelchair and is very apathetic about the world in general. She also sits at a computer a lot throught the show, whenever we see her, she's typing. In the first episode, we also meet Dan's "Suport Crew", Bel and Ganz, who kinda look like a mixup of characters from other places, but I couldn't place where, and then they are somewhat well characterized. This is a shounnen anime though, so I don't expect those guys to be that well characterized beyond "Dan's Friends". In the first episode, we also meet a mechanic girl named Miyuki. Unlike Dan, who hates the robots called "Big Foots" with a passion, its her job to take care of them. As they talk, and Miyuki tries unsucessfully to get Dan to truly pay attention, we see the moon. In the world Dan lives on, the moon has become a big technologically advanced city. And Dan apparently wants to go there ("Beautifull girls!" "There's a beautifull girl right here you know!") not just for the fame, but to fix his sister's legs. Then Miyuki shows him a bigfoot (after a fair bit of fanservice and inuendo that started to make me think maybe Oh!Great was involved somewhere....) and of course, Dan tries to get to the moon with it, and he breaks it. So, after a short argument he wanders home dispondant. We find out that before he headded home, Miyuki handed him live tickets to a BFB leauge match. Apparently this is a big deal, as it looks way diffrent live, as we find out.
Do you remember those robots that play socker? I mean the humanoid ones. They can play the game, but they aren't very good (yet). They can't dribble the socker ball, most of them can't even run. That's what that BFB live match looked like really ( :P ) Not so much the fault of the players, but the machines they were using, Dan gets mega angry about this, because before he had commented that the game was boring already. He makes a lot of noise so Ganz orders Dan's pet. (btw, there are a lot of weird looking pets in this show, Dan has one somewhere between a cat and a lizzard, and it also doubles duty as his mask.) to knock him out. When he comes to, Miyuki is standing over him....and he suddenly remembers that she's his childhood friend from a long time ago. ("You just now figured that out?" "How would I!? With those huge boobs you grew!" "Dont insult big boobs~") So she gives him a chance to show everyone what basketball really looks like. So, "Dunk Mask" (his persona when he does basketball now, he had to hide his identity when he was doing his vigilante thing) appears, on top of a Big Foot. Now, this machine is apparently more advanced, Dan can dirbble the ball with it ("THE FIRST DRIBBLE OF BFB" "Dribbling is history?"), he even runs along the wall, as he plays, a soda-girl who had commented 'more boring men' looks on in awe. As Dunk Mask is about to dunk, a blue BigFoot gets up in front of him (We know who it is from the trailer, its 'Ice Man' a cool, calm, collected player, who is not surprised by anything) And Dan gets served....and arrested, but he did crush BFB (as he knew it) and about half of the stadium. That's a summary of the first episode.
Watching this, the way everyone moves, the way they use music, the imagery and style, it all reminds me of Jet Grind Radio. Thats a good thing, and it really fits the whole 'street' style they start mentioning in the seccond episode. I also feel like there was something diffrent about the seccond episode. It was hard to place, but it didn't feel as polished, like they had done it in a hurry. The music as I said, fits the style perfectly. There's also a really great ending track (And a brilliant animation to go with it)
None of the characters have gotten really annoying yet, but even in the seccond episode they reveal that Dan Miyuki Ganz and Bel had all been childhood friends and did all kinds of stunts, so expect more flashbacks about that. The world is also explained in more detail. I didn't see a subbed episode of the seccond episode, so I can't tell you what happened truly (not with my pigdin japanese). All I think is this, they are about to get Ice Man on the team. There ended up beign a lot of fanservice in this show, but not that much at all, they focus a lot more time on setting up for 'the game' that we all know is going to happen.
Overall, good mecha shounenn anime, that ends up being a little odd.
Imagine, if you will, a world where large civilian robots, inspired by the designs of cars, roam the streets...and play basketball. That's the kind of world that Basquach is set in. Basquach! is a new anime from the directors behind Escaflowne on one end and Oban Star Racers on the other (DRAW NOSES THIS TIME OK!!!). The first had said before he started the project, that he wanted to do something much more light hearted. It premeired last week, and I have to say, I loved the first episode.
The first episode actually introduced us to all the main characters. The main character is named "Dan" and he hates a new sport called "Big Foot Basketball". He hates it so much, hes become a masked hero, who drives around as "Dunk Mask" with a scooter and a basketball, and when he appears, he smashes every public TV broadcasting BFB. In that first episode we aren't really told why he hates it so much, only that it has something to do with his sister, who is in a wheelchair and is very apathetic about the world in general. She also sits at a computer a lot throught the show, whenever we see her, she's typing. In the first episode, we also meet Dan's "Suport Crew", Bel and Ganz, who kinda look like a mixup of characters from other places, but I couldn't place where, and then they are somewhat well characterized. This is a shounnen anime though, so I don't expect those guys to be that well characterized beyond "Dan's Friends". In the first episode, we also meet a mechanic girl named Miyuki. Unlike Dan, who hates the robots called "Big Foots" with a passion, its her job to take care of them. As they talk, and Miyuki tries unsucessfully to get Dan to truly pay attention, we see the moon. In the world Dan lives on, the moon has become a big technologically advanced city. And Dan apparently wants to go there ("Beautifull girls!" "There's a beautifull girl right here you know!") not just for the fame, but to fix his sister's legs. Then Miyuki shows him a bigfoot (after a fair bit of fanservice and inuendo that started to make me think maybe Oh!Great was involved somewhere....) and of course, Dan tries to get to the moon with it, and he breaks it. So, after a short argument he wanders home dispondant. We find out that before he headded home, Miyuki handed him live tickets to a BFB leauge match. Apparently this is a big deal, as it looks way diffrent live, as we find out.
Do you remember those robots that play socker? I mean the humanoid ones. They can play the game, but they aren't very good (yet). They can't dribble the socker ball, most of them can't even run. That's what that BFB live match looked like really ( :P ) Not so much the fault of the players, but the machines they were using, Dan gets mega angry about this, because before he had commented that the game was boring already. He makes a lot of noise so Ganz orders Dan's pet. (btw, there are a lot of weird looking pets in this show, Dan has one somewhere between a cat and a lizzard, and it also doubles duty as his mask.) to knock him out. When he comes to, Miyuki is standing over him....and he suddenly remembers that she's his childhood friend from a long time ago. ("You just now figured that out?" "How would I!? With those huge boobs you grew!" "Dont insult big boobs~") So she gives him a chance to show everyone what basketball really looks like. So, "Dunk Mask" (his persona when he does basketball now, he had to hide his identity when he was doing his vigilante thing) appears, on top of a Big Foot. Now, this machine is apparently more advanced, Dan can dirbble the ball with it ("THE FIRST DRIBBLE OF BFB" "Dribbling is history?"), he even runs along the wall, as he plays, a soda-girl who had commented 'more boring men' looks on in awe. As Dunk Mask is about to dunk, a blue BigFoot gets up in front of him (We know who it is from the trailer, its 'Ice Man' a cool, calm, collected player, who is not surprised by anything) And Dan gets served....and arrested, but he did crush BFB (as he knew it) and about half of the stadium. That's a summary of the first episode.
Watching this, the way everyone moves, the way they use music, the imagery and style, it all reminds me of Jet Grind Radio. Thats a good thing, and it really fits the whole 'street' style they start mentioning in the seccond episode. I also feel like there was something diffrent about the seccond episode. It was hard to place, but it didn't feel as polished, like they had done it in a hurry. The music as I said, fits the style perfectly. There's also a really great ending track (And a brilliant animation to go with it)
None of the characters have gotten really annoying yet, but even in the seccond episode they reveal that Dan Miyuki Ganz and Bel had all been childhood friends and did all kinds of stunts, so expect more flashbacks about that. The world is also explained in more detail. I didn't see a subbed episode of the seccond episode, so I can't tell you what happened truly (not with my pigdin japanese). All I think is this, they are about to get Ice Man on the team. There ended up beign a lot of fanservice in this show, but not that much at all, they focus a lot more time on setting up for 'the game' that we all know is going to happen.
Overall, good mecha shounenn anime, that ends up being a little odd.