As for this movie, I felt it ends where you are finally start to have development and pure resolution, and a sense of direction for Bobby. The ending will feel anti-climatic, but it does take you by surprise. It’s nothing you really expected, but the ending made me felt nothing really progressed at some capacity, but I guess the ending does prove a point that what happens in this anime can happen to some people in real life, and I’m sure it has. And I feel the biggest quality this anime has is its realism. But that’s just me.
For establishment, I think it fails. Such as there is no official explanation of why he is called Bobby, and how he got his motorcycle to begin with, or anything of why he’s such a bad student or the kind of guy he is. I think if they showed Bobby in school, we’d get a better foundational idea of his personality and why he prefers motorcycles over academics. Other things I’d like to know about Bobby are: is he popular? Is he a loser? Or is he just that guy? Or is he just one those people that are naturally like that? Is he a symbol that he doesn’t want to live up to society’s expectations? I felt the anime needed to be more direct with certain things more clearly.
Well, don’t expect any fireballs or any exaggerated designs or hair colors. Expect more realistic characters clothing, hairstyles and use of colors like in Wangan Midnight, Initial D, and Hajime no Ippo. The designs are pretty good, and I guess because of it’s more realistic approach with the drawings, it won’t really stand out in comparison to Akira or Windaria in relation to it’s use of colors and background and costume designs. There’s nothing really to complain about it in terms of technical flaws rather than use of still shots and paintings.
The animation sequences are some of the best hand-drawn ones I’ve seen in awhile. Whenever they play a song sometimes or some montage, it’ll come across more as an 80s music video with the random drawings on a neon colored foreground. But it goes well with the atmosphere and the mood of the movie. And the way Bobby drives his motorcycle sometimes is breathtaking and the weather at times makes you wish you want to ride on that blue baby of his.
A majority of the cast is mostly singers and actors, and they were never seiyuus, and are still active in j-dramas and movies. So you can call Nomura Hironobu, the voice of Bobby, something of an Oguri Shun of 1985 who recently played Akio in Wangan Midnight, an anime I previously reviewed. And he was also a rising singer at the time and sang a few of the songs in this anime as well which were a nice addition and were more in direct relation to the story and mood of the anime. But I think he could have done better with Bobby’s portrayal such as make him more something of a punk, or come across as unsure with his life. It seems to me all he wants is happiness and not really success. Also, Shimizu Mayumi, the seiyuu who plays the girl who writes to Bobby sings some of the songs and sings the ending theme, a good cover to the 1960s hit, Bobby’s Girl in perfect English. I think they added the personality that the anime needed with both characters and music.
All I have to say is watch this anime for the music and visuals. You won’t regret it for that. The characterization I wouldn’t say flat out sucks, but with the foundation it had, it could have been so much better. I thought it could have been something along the lines of a Wangan Midnight of it’s time, but in terms of its story and characters, it’s no where near the league of how Wangan Midnight executes its character exploration and development. I guess what makes Bobby so interesting is because he’s not only just an everybody we know and/or relate to, he’s more of those 1/5 anybody’s we probably knew back in high school: A kid from a well off family who wanted the best out of him, but didn’t seem to know what he wanted to do with his life because he messes around. Despite that, there is some confusion of giving any indication whether or not he’s a delinquent considering how he resists his father’s demands, and that he’s a drop out. He doesn’t do drugs or get into fights. He seems like a mellow guy. Maybe I am making generalizations, but hey, I think this characteristics and the ending is what makes him uniquely human in some right.
