Whoo, it’s awesome that we got a race! So far we’ve been getting introduced to characters but it’s nice that we were able to get a little taste of how the show will handle the races. And…it was way crazier than I imagined, but very fun. Then again, I don’t think Appare is going to dismantle his car like they did today ever again, or else they’re going to be screwed. Still, it was entertaining at least.
The scene from last week was handled pretty quickly with Dylan handling the jerks. Of course Appare has to be arrogant and tells him that he’ll surpass him soon, and thankfully nothing came out of it. They take Hototo back to the warehouse and she recovers relatively quickly. Seeing as how she’s a Native American girl, I’m not surprised that the reason she’s looking for the man with the snake tattoo is because he was responsible for killing her father and tribe. Because history sucks but it’s true. Dylan seems to know who he is based on his reaction, so it looks like Hototo is going to stick around with the main duo for awhile. She seems to have befriended Appare rather quickly too.
This episode we get to meet a rich European boy named Al, whose family owns fake BMW. He becomes involved when Appare and Kosame are being kicked out of the warehouse because he’s the one renting all of the warehouses out for his supplies and equipment for the Trans-Atlantic race. He’s kind of a haughty and arrogant guy, flaunting his BNW car and being totally confident in it. He wants to win the race so he can prove his father and brothers wrong, and take over the family business. Being the youngest, it’s no wonder he feels that way. But Appare doesn’t want to get kicked out so they decide on a race to decide everything. Win and keep living in the warehouse, and get his BNW, or lose and Kosame loses his swords and Appare his segway.
Speaking of, Al freaking over the segway was funny. And I’m sure segways were not invented in this time so I don’t know why Appare won’t just…sell it. Become a proper inventor and entrepreneur and create his own segway business, he could become rich! This dude is really smart and a segway is honestly really cool and makes traveling much easier, but…ah well. Race it is, I’m not complaining.
Now, did Appare and Kosame really deserve to win? Did they cheat? Technically, no? The rule was to touch the tree at the end, they never really specified how they had to touch the tree. Just to touch it once they make it to the end, which Kosame did. Or maybe it should have been Appare that touched the tree because he was the driver? I guess you could see it that way. I’m actually pretty surprised that Al didn’t argue that and get real angry. He handled the loss better than I thought. Either way, the race was really fun to watch. I did not expect anything that happened on Appare’s part with the turbo and everything. I also think it’s totally hilarious how much Appare’s personality changes once he’s racing. He really is a maniacal genius, and I kind of feel bad that Kosame has to put up with him but it’s still funny. I couldn’t help but laugh when Kosame was literally launched out from the car. It’s just so ridiculous. I was, and I think other people were, expecting the show to be a little more “realistic” but this episode basically proved that it won’t really be like that, and it really will be more like an anime of Wacky Races. And I’m not even mad, I love it. In fact, the silliness I think is just going to make the Trans-Atlantic race way more entertaining and insane than I imagined, and I’m really looking forward to that.
Appare-Ranman! kind of falls into the same category as Fugou Keiji Balance: Unlimited. They’re both shows where I thought they would be kind of down to earth, with Appare focusing on a cool race with a tinge of historical accuracy. Fugou Keiji I thought would just be a fun and serious cop show. Instead of all that, both shows ended up being way more insane and silly than I thought. I can see some people being a little disappointed with both of them because of that, but from the first episode you could tell that you couldn’t really take either show that seriously, and honestly that’s not a bad thing. I personally find both shows to be so entertaining, and I can’t wait to see more of them…whenever that will be. The insanity is just too funny.
Starting now, Appare-Ranman! will be on hiatus until further notice. It’s probably my favorite show that I’m blogging so this makes me really sad, but the safety and health of the animators and all the staff working on this show is the most important, as well as all the people working in the other studios. I wish the best for them, and I hope you all take care as well. I still have other shows, but let’s all hope for the best in this strange time.
See you when we can, Appare!
