Oban Star-Racers

A little bit too long but I recommend this if you want to watch something very different from what Japanese productions usually deliver. This in summary is a an anime made by a half Japanese, half french production about a star ship racing championship that will lead to an ultimate prize. The aliens, ships and art style is very unique and well thought and although the main plot gets boring quickly and the main villain is kind of generic the suspense is interesting enough to keep you going and the deliver at the end is quite better than I expected.

I’m not to clear on the storyline much, though it is rather original to a point. It’s about a girl trying to get her father to recognize her when she was pretty much forgotten. The story is actually rather strong, even creating an ending that someone wouldn’t suspect. It’s rather deep and meaningful for a child’s show.

Eva is strong headed and rather pushy, yet she always thinks with her heart and not her head when things should be rather technical. She also seems to be hot tempered as any little thing seems to send her off her seat. Probably because of the Daddy problems. ... She is a lot like Luke from Star Wars in that she has problems with it. She also has a little Yoda character in Satis. He shows up whenever he wishes and gives some good advice.

Unlike a lot of these shows, this one doesn’t have everything go smoothly all the time which means you never really know what is going to happen mostly. It can keep you on the edge of your seat when it happens. Normally in Race type shows, the main character wins without any really big problems or problems he can overcome right away.

I don’t much like racing shows and was about to put this on the dropped folder after about three shows but this did get much better. I urge those who don’t really like sports or racing shows to at least try it out. I think it was after the 5th I felt more like I was watching it for the show and not just to review it.

The artwork is a bit off in a sense, making the characters look like they have no nose even when in profile view. The characters also have very large ears with no detail in them at all. They feel like they are rather flat. Characters pretty much have all spiky hair. I’m not sure where Eva got all the marks on her face, a star and a line. It just doesn’t look right and is rather distracting. The backgrounds aren’t even that well textured. This show is low on artwork but it makes up slightly for it in that it’s original. The racers feel a lot like from Star Wars including the sounds as well. The track also looks like it’s from Star Wars and I can’t get the feeling that I will be seeing Skywalker at any time. Strangely, the artwork and the 3D art work perfectly together.

The English voices are alright though not really standing out to me. They all feel just a little flat. I cringed a little at Eva’s voice, a rather raspy version of a child’s voice. She also seems like she has a small lisp. The jokes make some of this feel a little hard to get into more. The opening on the other hand is actually rather cool sounding in the English dub though I know it’s not the original.

I wasn't going to leave a review but since no one else is mentioning the problem with this anime so here I go.
Spoilers:
The best way to describe this anime is by calling it NTR on steroids. What makes it worst it is being pushed on kids. It could have been one of the best anime out there and they drop the ball. So I am going to talk about the story, its characters and my enjoyment of the anime and what i would change.

Story started of well and I really liked it, villain of the week style and ... inner conflict with in the main characters, than the ending happen and it change how I looked at the story. It went from a story about girl being heroic and trying to save the world while also reconnecting to her father, to spoil brat that is selfish, shallow has daddy issues and needs to grow up.

The MC is selfish she only really cares about herself. She is trying to rebuild her family by bringing back her dead mother. Her father abandoned her for ten years so long that he doesnt recognize her when she shows up at his work. Her thought maybe bring back her dead mother could make dad be a better father. He blames his awful behavior to his lost of his wife which I call BS, because she died because of racing and he is once again is managing racing. He also is fine with children risking their lives for the race but once he finds out she is his daughter he has a problem, let Jordan die speaking of.

My enjoyment of this anime is based on the treatment of Jordan. Jordan sacrificing himself for a girl that doesn't even like him is what the kids call these day an ultimate "simp" move. I would have forgiven the show if they weren't building up his crush episode after episode, have him just be a friend no romantic feelings, or have her like him. She likes the alien prince guy because she find him cute(super shallow), she keep talking about him and seeking out him out in most of the episodes she even told him she would go visit him on his planet in the future. There is a scene of him crying watching her fly off leaving him behind. The better solution would have been for the dad to be the avator. Would have been sadder. Father and daughter finally open up and he is going away again, he put these kids to risk their lives for this race he could have at least done the sacrifice his character wasn't even needed he can't fly or be a machinist. He was just there so there can be useless conflict with the characters. The father knew Jordan like her he could have done the whole Armageddon bruce willis thing, "look after Eva". Eva wanting to bring back to life mommy so they can finally be a family again was weird she is 15 still a child but come on she should grow up and start a family of her own. Her father abandon her for 10 years after her mother's death, he said he had issues still with his wife death but he was doing fine going back to racing it didn't stop him there winning titles smiling in flashbacks. Him staying redeems his character.

In conclusion skip this PG NTR