Short Synopsis: Munto continues to try and get Yumemi over to his world, while Yumemi has her own problems to take care of.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 (Good)
Hehe, you were expecting Ride Back at this spot, no? To be honest, so did I before I watched Ride Back’s second episode, but then I started thinking: the show has 12 episodes, of which the first two were slow introductions that hardly did anything besides setting up the premise. It’s going to be a show about some teenagers riding motorbikes who somehow become involved in a huge war. How the heck are the creators going to get some good development in only 12 episodes? This is Madhouse we’re talking about: compared to some of its previous series Ride Back just isn’t as interesting.
Besides, the lack of realism really became jarring in that second episode: nobody finds it strange that these Ride Back things simply drive around INSIDE BUILDINGS? Nobody tries to complain about the noise that these machines cause? Nobody finds it strange that these machines tend to break down and crash a lot? Nah, I’d rather see a bunch of elves beating the hell out of each other.
So I’ve yet to see the Munto OVAs, but apparently I don’t need to do that anymore since the first episode copied about 80% of its content. That episode reminded me a lot of a poorer version of Noein’s first episode, with the big difference being that Noein spent lots of time in its first episode to flesh out the cast before diving into the action, while Munto dived straight into the action without letting the viewer get to know the characters.
Well, that problem was partially solved by this episode, which was very un-typical of your average second episode. Most of the second episodes after a huge eventful first episode are deliberately slow, in order to explain what the heck went on in the show’s start. Munto instead deliberately chooses to slow down the pacing, but doesn’t attempt to explain much. Instead, it starts fleshing out the lead characters. I especially was surprised that they immediately showed the story for one of Yumemi’s friends.
I also like that the creators are using the Noein approach. With most series where the lead character is transported into some sort of other world, the connection between these is really something sacred: it can only be crossed once, and the conditions for someone to cross are very vague and only serve as a plot device to get the lead character involved with the plot. In Munto instead that link is fleshed out a bit more, and it looks like it can be breached more often. Seeing as how Yumemi’s friends are going to be important characters in this series too, I expect that either the series will take place mostly in the real world with your occasional trips to the elf world, or Munto is somehow going to kidnap the three of them at the same time.
Now, about the lesser parts of this series… we have a delinquent who gets saved by a cute girl and they end up marrying. Am I the only one who was reminded of a certain other Kyoani series? I also fear that most of the elves are going to lack in personality: this episode hardly focused any attention on them.
“Besides, the lack of realism really became jarring in that second episode: nobody finds it strange that these Ride Back things simply drive around INSIDE BUILDINGS? Nobody tries to complain about the noise that these machines cause? Nobody finds it strange that these machines tend to break down and crash a lot?”
Are you being sarcastic or do you want me to point out why this is retarded?
Oh crap. Where did I screw up this time?
Umm, you know. psgels is just seeing how it would be realistically.
Of course there would be people that could be annoyed by that fact, but we have only seen two episodes, and since Ride Back seems to be only 12 episodes long there never might be people that we might see complainin etc. etc.
I’m clad that you have started to blog Sora o Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai, and I hope it will be worthwhile.
I don’t know why they desited to use the older OVA’s first with extended content that was never in the OVA’s, but I do actually like it in a way. Maybe they weren’t as happy as they wanted to be with the OVA’s or something, but we will see how it goes.
The new voice acting in some part’s is disturbing me a little, but that is just because I watched the OVA’s back in the days they came out.
I’m rather excited what will happen when they start to tell the story forward from where it left and I want to see the new scenes as well. 😛
Glad I’m not the only one who sees the Noein connection, though in my case I don’t want it to end the way Noein did. This description makes episode 2 seem quite promising.
Psgels watch rideback subbed as it totally different from what you say episode was!
what exactly is this show about? Is a shoujo? or shounen? Just not very clear to me for some reason
Ah, After watching the second episode subbed, I now see that I totally worded that the wrong way. *headdesks*
There were basically two moments that tugged on my suspense of disbelief pretty badly. The first one was where Rin made that strange pirouette in the air. To me, that made no sense even if she was a talented ballet dancer. The second was where the two of them crossed through that dorm. I mean, there are so many different ways that that can go wrong…
Jako: this series is either shounen or seinen, depending on what focus the fighting is going to take in the rest of the series, but my guess would be seinen (which basically translates as young male adults).
Huh. If they haven’t reached the climax of the first OVA yet, they must have added in a little new footage. Now I actually have to watch this ep subbed.
And yeah, Rideback 2 subs showed that the rideback club does indeed get complaints every time Tamayo goes through a dorm, even if she herself doesn’t care. And personally, I thought the pirouette was a nice touch, if pretty lucky for Rin to pull off.
Do we really need motorcycles with arms? Just keep your hands and feet either in or on the vehicle at all times. Besides, when you know how the animators will design the fanservice (since she wears either a skirt or dress) there is no point in watching, but the action is top notch.
Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai is something I will continue to watch because there were many unsolved mysteries from the OVAs. If this series can explain them, I’m one happy person.
At first I thought Munto was some weird fairy dude from Scotland. What?! He has the red hair and the bushy eyebrows.
(spoilers)
Come to think of it, the new versions of Munto give him the air of a jerky big brother, while the old version is an arrogant rash brat. humm, wonder if Dragon Ball Z art impacted the art work.
Actually new Munto has bangs covering the front of his ears.
Doggy ears