Bari Bari Densetsu (1987)

What Initial D is to car fans, Bari Bari is to motorbike fans. And that's the greatest compliment a racing series can get. Hell, the manga was supposedly so good that people started to join the Bōsōzoku (Japanese motorbike gangs) in droves! Strange?
Not really, since the same guy, Shuichi Shigeno, created Bari Bari Densetsu and Initial D - two holy grails of the petrol-heads. He also had assistance, in the form of his prominent student Jyoji Morikawa - the guy behind Hajime no Ippo.

You know a racing movie is good when it starts with a shot of an idyllic road. The morning sun is ... gently fondling the scenery and the birds are chirping. Suddenly the comforting scene is ripped apart by a raging motorbike noise. Two riders blast into the scene, taking the corners at a mind-blowing pace. They turn, they twist, they lean almost vertically as they literally eat the road.
The camera zooms in, shifting gears, the parts move, the engine shakes, and the bikes roar like furious wild beasts. The riders become one with the road, the lines they take paint a work of art and the sound from the bikes, revving up insatiably, creates a symphony of destruction.

When a movie conveys all this feelings, you know it's made by a driver, for the drivers. And Shuichi Shigeno is one of the rare people with a godly talent to make this right. The detail put in his work is insane, right down to the point, where you can hear the air getting furiously sucked into the intake.
And not just the bikes, great care was also put into making detailed surroundings. You will actually recognize segments of racing tracks like Tsukuba and Suzuka, if you're familiar with them.

Now this being a racing movie, you shouldn't expect a great story. And it really isn't, but by no means is it bad or boring. It's a tale that never gets old. About a young, fast but reckless, prodigy that wants to push his limits, and a rival, who challenges his skills and helps him transcend to the next level. There is also a girl, of course, who likes to stick around the fast boys.
It's a very down to earth, relate able story and you'll be rooting for everyone involved by the end. It all builds up to one of the greatest races ever, with intensity hotter than any fire.

This is all wrapped in a distinct 80's production, with the catchy music of the time. Fear not, there are plenty of moments where you'll be listening to just pure sounds of motorbikes being pushed to the limit. Also, this being partly a motorbike gang movie you'll get to see some action moments too. The most glorious one has to be where the main protagonist punches someone trough a closed car door (it's as awesome as it sounds).

Speaking of motorbike anime, it's strange that so few were made, since the Bōsōzoku were quite a popular theme in the 80's Japan. Sure, biking is present in many of the classics of the time, like Akira, Megazone 23, etc., but only Bari Bari Densetsu seems to be fully devoted to it, besides Bobby's In Deep, which is a bit short and experimental, but also a great biking movie.

Just like with Initial D, I can only end this review with the following words. If you're a racing fan, you'll scream with enjoyment while watching this. If you're not, you will become one.

*SPOILER FREE REVIEW*
Bari Bari Densetsu comes to us from the original creator of Initial D. The story follows illegal street racers on their path to professional races. Like Initial D, these teens ride on Japanese mountains swooping around corners at breakneck speeds. Additionally, if you loved the dynamic camera angles featured in Initial D, they're even better here because it's 100% hand-drawn and painted.

Although Bari Bari lacks the uniformity of CG art, it depicts each race from numerous camera angles. Whether it's looking straight ahead, checking the speedometer, engine shots, or close-ups as riders lean around corners with their knee an inch away from ... the pavement; you're bound to be impressed by its creators' artistic vision. However, my favorite mid-race animation is how the camera rotates around riders causing the scenery to shift. I'll admit, it's not perfect, but creating the appearance of a 3D space using only hand-painted sheets of plastic is worthy of praise. Furthermore, these complex camera angles occasionally extend to non-racing scenes and create a beautiful cinematic experience throughout the entire film.

The story primarily follows Hideyoshi and Gun, two rival teens who will stop at nothing to one-up each other. They come from vastly contrasting backgrounds. My favorite is Hideyoshi due to his tragic background. Despite being in his teens, he lives alone with his sister since their parents' death in a car accident. He sees racing as his means for providing for himself and his sister. On the other hand, Gun receives the most screen time but is characterized as an antagonist. It's very easy to dislike him, considering how he's played out as a disheveled jerk who constantly antagonizes Hideyoshi for no apparent reason.

Supposedly, Gun comes from a wealthy family, but they didn't explain that well aside from the fact that he's got an expensive bike. Maybe the 38 volume manga goes further in-depth on that. In fact, there are many characters and plot points introduced that the movie doesn't have enough time to flesh out fully.

It feels like there should be two romance arcs, a love triangle, more in-depth characterizations for its side characters, and some backstory for how Gun and Hideyoshi met, but the movie is only 85 minutes. As you would expect of a racing movie, the plot builds up to a major race in its final chapter, and I think it's a high point for the film. Not only does this race test the rider's skills, but also their endurance considering it's a long race on a sweltering day.

This immense challenge brings out the best in our characters as they push their limits as far as they can, some even crash and continue the race. In addition to the physical feats presented during this event, the struggle causes our characters to develop, leading to a fulfilling and emotional conclusion....which I absolutely hate...Seriously, this might be one of my most hated anime endings. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. I just strongly disagree with what happens and how that makes me feel.

Overall, I give Bari Bari an 8/10. While this movie only covers a fraction of the manga, I think the directors and planners did a great job of spacing everything out as not to feel too rushed, though it's obvious this should have been at least a 24 episode series. I also didn't like how Gun was given the superhuman strength to kick a guardrail with enough force to cancel his momentum and crumple the steel-like aluminum foil.

story 7
art 9
sound 7
character 7.5
enjoyment 8
overall 8

VROOM, MOTHERFUCKER. VROOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Motorcycles are so fucking cool, dude. Seeing these ones animated so well when they might be obnoxious CG blobs today makes me happy.

The story was pretty basic, and interesting to think about in connection to the mangaka's later work, Initial D. I think Initial D First Stage is damn near perfectly paced with great stakes because it all comes down to Takumi's relationships with the 86 and his rivalry with well-defined opponents. Bari Bari Densetsu doesn't exactly have that. It feels a lot slower when they're not racing and the original author's portrayal of women he was clearly not too interested in writing ... is even thinner here than in Initial D. The movie stops dead for weird fan service scenes featuring the pink-haired girl (pretty cute design within this style, but it's not my favorite style), and one of those scenes is an attempted rape at knife-point. Where the rapist is even—I shudder to write this—attempted to be redeemed as a person immediately afterward. That doesn't work.

But, even then, the fact that the racing is mostly semi-pro here takes a bit away from the Initial D formula, because there's no defined antagonistic opposition. The dynamic is that the two main rival characters have a love-hate relationship and they work together to win a qualifying race. That means there's no inter-race commentary or "I have to beat him" or psychoanalyzing the action. The race starts, it looks good, and it's over without you getting really invested in it. Of course, I think they realized this when it was initially being written because they added some crashes to make things more interesting.

I understand there's probably more street racing in the manga, and I understand this is actually a summary of a 2-episode OVA, so there's more for people who want more. But I enjoyed the art a bunch and was otherwise left a bit wanting by it.