Kenichi Sonoda is a creator whose stamp is well-known on the projects he’s involved with, and Riding Bean was his first major one. It saw him contributing to the anime OVA to an unprecedentedly involved degree. Sonoda wrote the script, did almost all of the designs, and storyboarded the entire show himself. To hear the man himself tell it, Riding Bean is still Sonoda’s favorite of his works, and this new Blu-ray release from AnimEigo provides a fresh way for everyone to enjoy this cult classic.
As an anime, Riding Bean is a single 45-minute OVA—an action-oriented love-letter to American action and car-chase films of the era, such as Bullitt, The Driver, and especially The Blues Brothers. Professional getaway driver Bean Bandit and his partner Rally Vincent get caught up in a kidnapping conspiracy that quickly devolves into a sequence of car chases and gun fights until the bad guys are all blown up and they’re able to speed off past the cops to their next adventure. The action-movie formula is simple enough, its life being breathed in by all the details and effort infused into it by its creators. The show takes place in Chicago, with Sonoda basing backgrounds and streets on every reference material he could find(Google Street View not being readily available in 1989). The cars are all rendered in loving mechanical detail (even Bean’s custom, 100% fictional Buff), and of course, there’s Sonoda’s fandom for firearms shining through, with dozens of different guns showing up with distinct detailing during the show’s short runtime. This was Sonoda’s first chance to make whatever he wanted so he went with his vision in the style he loved at the time (and pretty much still does, to this day).
However, Sonoda’s less savory predilections, as well as those of anime and the 80s in general, are on display. There are a couple of disparate scenes of fanservice in the beginning, all a key indication of what kind of 80’s macho excess Riding Bean exists as an example of. Any 80’s OVA worth its salt wishes it could have a getting-dressed scene as lavish as Rally’s seen early on. Perhaps less par for the course is Sonoda’s penchant for including relationships with uncomfortably young-looking girls exemplified in the creepy coupling of lead villainess Semmerling with her young ward Carrie. Semmerling is an entertainingly unique villain, especially for the time, and her treatment of Carrie seems intended to underscore her sick, evil factor but still comes across as needlessly uncomfortable at times. It also results in a couple of scenes of sexually charged abuse so vivid that they merit a warning for anyone wanting to avoid such content. Several of these elements would be reiterated and re-explored in Gunsmith Cats, Sonoda’s successor series to Riding Bean—to arguably better and worse degrees. Thus, if you’re a follower of that later material, it’s at least interesting to glimpse some earlier take on it. The whole ride has always existed at the behest of Sonoda’s desires, and we go along with him on all of them.
However, for all its flaws in era-formula construction and weird authorial-appeal asides, when Riding Bean gets rolling, it really gets rolling. Bean’s Buff is a car that can’t go a few minutes without some hair-raising stunt, getting a lot of mileage out of its wild sideways-turning wheels, as well as emergency-stop wheel blades that make the whole thing play out like some hyperviolent Speed Racer. Gunplay from other characters, especially Rally, is sharp, detailed, and fun to watch. The show’s climactic battle in a parking garage is still an unmistakable classic of a sequence filled with ridiculous elements like a bulletproof headband and our lead character punching out a Mini Cooper. It’s all brought to life by vivid animation from a team of strong professionals. Particularly, from when the show’s big car chase scene starts all the way to the end, the animation’s detail and beauty absolutely ascend. Sonoda’s love for the production influenced the rest of the crew, and if Riding Bean‘s short run time makes it feel like only half an action movie in some ways, that half we get is exceedingly enjoyable for what it is.
If the OVA itself was a labor of love from its creator, then so too is this release from AnimEigo. The video has been expectedly cleaned up as much as possible for the HD Blu-ray treatment, and while there’s still some shake to the frames, it all looks remarkably crisp and smooth. Seeing the lovingly rendered Chicago backgrounds in HD and being able to pick out all the tiny, particular details of how things like the guns are drawn sells the appeal of getting a piece like this in this format. The audio is also sharp, with the distinctive gun and car noises coming through along with the show’s unique American-produced soundtrack. The old English dub is also included, but it’s a hiccup in what a clear early effort it is, with uneven volume quality, old translation mistakes still present, and even issues matching lip-flaps. It’s at least nice to have the dub in the interest of completion, but it’s not the best way to experience the show. While the modernized subtitles for the Japanese version have some issues with timing or staying on-screen for too long, they generally read as an effective translation. As a bonus, AnimEigo included new German and Catalan language dubs for this release.
AnimEigo has packed a solid assortment of other extras along for this ride. The disc also includes original trailers for the OVA, a fresh Blu-ray trailer, a new interview with Sonoda himself, plus an image gallery. It’s worth noting that the commentary tracks from AnimEigo‘s previous release of Riding Bean are not included in this release, as those were intended as exclusives to that version’s Kickstarter campaign. I do have to shout out one other bonus exclusive to this version, however: the new tagline on the cover declaring “Chicago’s only got room for ONE massive Bean!” Reportedly dreamed up by Coop Bicknell and Justin Sevakis at MediaOCD, I hope they know that line earns this release at least half an extra point on this review for sheer genius.
Riding Bean feels like a labor of love on all fronts, from its reflection of the enthusiasm of its creator to the polished production for this release. The OVA itself may be just above average, but the history and care behind it make it engaging. Riding Bean may not be for everyone, but for whoever it appeals to, this is a great way to own it.
