Over Drive

Mikoto Shinozaki is a high school student lacking in social awareness. In addition, due to his untidy appearance and low self-esteem, he is an easy target for bullies. Regardless, any misfortune that falls upon Mikoto is partly his own fault—at least, that is what Yuki Fukuzawa, the most popular girl in class, believes. With this assumption, Yuki invites Mikoto to join the school's bicycle club, in hopes he can improve himself and gain new friends. Motivated by feelings he has for Yuki, Mikoto has no reason to decline her offer—except for the fact that he does not know how to ride a bicycle.

Despite his lack of even the fundamentals, Mikoto cannot get over the image of himself on a bicycle. Eventually, he succumbs to his curiosity and sneaks into the school grounds at night to practice. This begins Mikoto's journey as he pedals his way through the vast world of cycling, where the scenery of his life changes in ways he never thought possible.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shinozaki, Mikoto Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Yamato, Takeshi Main

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Fukazawa, Yousuke Main

Yasumura, Makoto Japanese

Fukazawa, Yuki Main

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Terao, Kouichi Main

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Hyoudou, Naoto Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Asahi, Kaho Supporting

Yahagi, Sayuri Japanese

Sakurai, Yoneko Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Suzuki, Yukiko Supporting

Honda, Youko Japanese

Kurata, Maki Supporting

Hisajima, Shiho Japanese

Chino, Takatoshi Producer

Kumagai, Takuto Producer

Takahata, Yuuichirou Producer

Nishizawa, Masatomo Producer

Reviews

Apr 28, 2008

nugget05

Recommended

First off, I must start by saying that I may be a little biased when reviewing this anime because I'm totally a sports anime fan. And having watched quite a number of sports animes, Over Drive came as a refreshing change for me.

_Story_
The protagonist of the story is your typical weak willed, unless, low self esteem guy in school. But what is different about his character to other similarly carved sports lead characters is that he has a sense of humor. Unlike other characters, he does not dwell on his uselessness much, which is definitely something i appreciate a lot, since these dwellings can drag ... on long and slow. Zzz. (Refer to Eyeshield21)

The race (there is only one) in the anime is surprisingly exciting and interesting. I just could not stop watching episodes after episodes of the race. I mean, a race of bicycles must be boring, right? NOT. Though it lacks special effects that other sports anime have, the scenes are realistic and appealing.

_Character_
Furthermore, character development is cleverly embedded into the series by means of flashbacks during the race. You can get more than a glimpse of each main characters during the short 26 episodes, which is quite satisfying already. From the flashbacks, you learn why they enter the sport and why they are so passionate about it. And throughout the race, you enter into the anime and star rooting for all the characters unconsciously because all the main characters are so likable!

_Art_
The art is very simplistic in this anime, but easy on the eyes, and I came to like the art style a lot.

_Sound_
Not too sure about this, too absorbed in the story.

_Enjoyment_
Loved it! An anime that can capture my attention for almost all the episodes, and make me sit up and watch is certainly an anime I enjoyed much.

_Overall_
I would recommend all to watch this anime. It's comical at the right times, and touching at others. But I must say that the story borders on corny at times, but fret not, it doesn't happen often. And I am dissatisfied that the series is so short, I wished it continued on longer and showed us their journey through the Tour de France. Maybe in their next season?

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Apr 1, 2009

mistah-manila

Mixed Feelings

Yeah this anime is about bikes, no it isn't great, but no it isn't terrible. What I'm trying to say is this anime has great humor and some great dramatic moments, but once they start that whole bike race thing YUCK! Sure it's very dramatic, BUT YOU ONLY THINK THAT FOR THE FIRST FIVE EPISODES OF THE RACE. After that, you realize that this is going to be HELLA boring. The story sticks to the bike race and makes it even worse as they make tiny sub-stories about the characters' pasts for over 15 episodes!

Let me break this down.

-The little comedy in here 10/10
-Action 7/10, ... drags on way too long.
-Romance is 6/10, mostly because the chick is a jackass after the race, and feelings are never really affirmed.

Overall 6/10, don't expect much.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 15, 2014

elleyonce

Not Recommended

Ah, the puberty. A time in which we obsess over teen idols, or get angry about nothing, but above all, a time where we want to be acknowledged. So how does one get acknowledged? The best way, of course, is to prove anyone to be the best in something. After all, victors write history.

But it’s losers like Shinozaki Mikoto who are history.

Over Drive follows the protagonist and his journey on the bike, alongside the other members of the Sakura Bicycle Club. Their big dream is to participate in the Tour de France. But of course, it’s a long way until then – first, there ... are 11 episodes about Shinozaki learning to ride a bike and swooning over his crush Fukuzawa Yuki, introducing Yamato as well as the captain and Yuki’s brother Yousuke. Needless to say, it’s too long, and in my opinion a chore to watch. Once we get to the race – which is pretty much the rest of the show – the pace picks up, very slightly so though, because not only that the race is dragged on, there are also flashbacks which make the race even longer. There’s even a meaningless filler which takes the entire second half of one episode, and that goes too far for me.

The race itself was pretty unrealistic in my eyes, especially when I take Shinozaki into regard. In the first two episodes, he wasn’t able to ride a bike, and twenty episodes later, he is suddenly able to win a checkpoint. What’s even worse is that it is mentioned in a flashback that Shinozaki used to ride a bike as child. That makes the whole beginning part illogical. And how was he able to evolve into such a good rider in such a short amount of time? There is only one thing I consider to be kind of realistic, and that is the way the race ends for him – but that’d be a spoiler.

The other racers are very generic character for a sports anime. We have Yousuke, who’s an arrogant captain who thinks he doesn’t need a team, and of course he changes his ways over time. There’s Shinozaki’s friendly rival Yamato, who’s the usual cool and aloof character with, of course, the corresponding flashback. There’s the inconsistently written crush Yuki as well as the antagonist Hyoudou, who’s also pretty generic. And then there’s Yousuke’s assistant Terao, who gets fleshed out and developed only in the very last part of the show, and it’s truly a shame because by the time he does get fleshed out, we see that he isn’t really a generic assistant. The whole cast and their interactions feel awkward, and by the time the cast is likeable, the show is over. At this point I can’t even determine what the worst part about Over Drive is, but the cast plays a big role in my low enjoyment.

The soundtrack is not very good either, mostly because no tracks quite fit to the mood, save the fiery guitar riffs that weren’t often played, sadly. The soundtrack sounds like it came straight from the 90s. 90s sound is generally not a bad thing, but if it’s a background music to something what’s supposed to be a fiery battle, then it is a bad choice. The opening is very good, the endings were alright as well, but what’s truly worth mentioning is something else. In Yamato’s flashback, he is supposed to be in France and have language problems. In France, people speak French, right? Not in Over Drive, because they were all talking Japanese. So it made it look like Yamato has trouble processing what he hears or him simply being deaf. Needless to say, it was ridiculous, very much so. The other aspect that had poor budget was the animation. It was from 2007 and the animation is aged, yes, but the CG still looks awkward and bad.

My enjoyment level was, as previously mentioned, not the highest. The first eleven epiosdes were plain boring to me. The race was a tad more enjoyable and I genuinely enjoyed the flashbacks between Yousuke and Terao. The theme of being the strongest and the desire to be acknowledged by friends and elders is not the most unique, not even to sports anime. The way it was presented was good at times, but not very much for the most part.

Overall, Over Drive is a sports anime that sounds average in theory and sub par in practice. The characters are generic and average at best for the most part, some developments simply unrealistic, and the sound not very fitting. Its themes are nothing new and the CG animation bad. There are very little redeeming values to this show, such as a tad more enjoyment in the race and some character development for one character only as well as a nice opening. Should you watch Over Drive? No. There are better anime out there, and certainly better shows in this genre. Because sadly, even though losers are history, there’s a reason why they’re forgotten.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Over Drive Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Faust721 - Jan 21, 2008	51 replies	by Ashhk »» Oct 4, 2023 4:51 AM

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