Two Car

If I had to describe TwoCar in a word, it would be frustrating.

While I am happy to see a racing anime that isn't just an angst-ridden teenage boy completing the Shonen Hero quest by car, TwoCar never quite lived up to my expectations with mediocre racing and a sloppy plot.

First off, it isn't a racing series the same way Initial D or Capeta is. A lot of the wheel-to-wheel racing was just flat-out mediocre. While the riders made realistic motions, the bike models always looked a size too big for the environments. Initial D figured out how to make decent racing sequences back ... in 2004, so there's no excuse for this in 2017.

TwoCar is really an anime about the riders and it's not successful at that either. The main girls do little more than bicker over a man they can't have, it pretty much hand-waves an abusive relationship, and we know little about the other riders, since the "explore a team's backstory" plot is abruptly dropped halfway through the series.

If you're thinking the series reverts to the status quo within one or two episodes, you would be right. The frustrating thing about TwoCar is that every week with a strong episode would be followed up with one or two mediocre episodes which would undo the progress made in a formulaic manner. We open with the main girls Yuri and Megumi fighting, then switch to a team of the weeks' backstory, then back to the present, then to lesbian power couple Mao & Hitomi, then back to the team of the weeks' backstory, before going back to another Yuri and Megumi fight. Roll credits. That about describes the middle block of episodes up until episode 9.

It's a damn shame, since there's some good human drama. The teams we do get to see each have their own dynamics between members. There's a nice twist involving the man the main girls are chasing and I loved how the Mao & Hitomi skits would subvert our expectations for anime couples "in love".

Still, TwoCar does enough right to justify a >5 score. It respects the craft - it had quite a few clever nods to racing like the twins from Motegi (Twin Ring Motegi circuit) or rolling out the Gulf Racing livery - yet it approached the topic in an accessible manner without being condescending. The engine notes sounded crisp and had the necessary rasp expected from a motorcycle engine. As someone who's well-versed in auto racing but not motorcycle racing, I found it a nice jumping off point to spark my interest in learning more.

Credit must be given for the non-racing art - character models are tasteful and well-drawn, plus the backgrounds are lush and do a good job putting a Japanese twist on the Isle of Man TT environments. Bonus points go to picking an actual place where this could theoretically be held - volcanic activity be damned.

Ultimately, TwoCar is frustrating because it has the basic ingredients to be "good" but it never quite rises to the occasion. Instead, it chooses to be content with spinning its tires in place. It's a high-6/ low-7 series in my book.

Two Car. The show about cute girls in motorcycles that nobody asked for.
*SPOILOR FREE*
TLDR: not worth watching

Story: 4
Nothing new or interesting. 2 girls with no control over their emotions race in side car motorcycles and overcome all kinds of relationship problems... sort of... actually they almost never overcome anything.
Story is totally cliche and uninteresting. The main girls basically love the same man (their coach) and also they sometimes race. That's it. It's completely riddled with unnecessary and annoying drama. On top of that most of the problems that arise in the show are never resolved and it feels very unsatisfying to watch.

Art: 6
It isn't terrible ... nor is it ugly, but it is unoriginal and uninspired.
Character designs are OK. Generally no characters stand out or are at all note worthy. The settings/ backgrounds are also OK. Nothing very pretty or worth talking about. At least the show isn't an eyesore.

Sound: 4
OP and ED are both mediocre and are unmemorable. Background sound is exactly the same. The hype song that plays when they race adds to the ambiance a little bit but not much. I don't even remember what any of the other background songs sound like.

Character: Somewhere between 2 and 5
Not all the characters are as annoying and insufferable as the 2 main characters. But yes the main characters are awful.
Basically the two main characters are exactly the same person but they look different. This is kind of an ongoing gag in the show where everyone says "You two are so similar!" and of course they deny it because they hate each other. Yes the main characters who are childhood "friends" hate each other. Mostly because they love the same man. The main characters are best described as loud, irritating and immature.
Again not all characters are terrible and some of the side characters are actually pretty nice or funny, despite having little screen time.
There is a lesbian racing pair who is always very funny to watch, which is perhaps the only reason I didn't drop this show.
There is also another pair who has a rather good (though short) arc about friendship and trust. As cliche as that may sound... it was kind of nice.

Enjoyment: 4
Not worth watching. This show is a whole lot of needless drama and not a lot of sidecar racing. Main characters ruin this already bad show. An unsatisfying watch through and through.

Overall: 5
I don't know why I give it a 5 and not a 4. Maybe because 2/12 episodes were actually quite nice and well thought out?
Well anyways unless you are in love with motorcycles and anime girls do not waste your time on this series.

Two Car is a sidecar racing anime following the the high school duo Yuri and Megumi as they race against fierce rivals in order to make it to the Isle of Man. Or at least it would have you think. Instead, we are given a rather episodic show where they would follow the formula of introducing a team and presenting a problem they may have that prevents them from competing in top form. The next episode would then have them solve their problem while improving their bond with each with the help of our power couple, who ironically hate each other (or at least that's ... what they say. In reality, they have a pretty decent relationship as rivals in love and partners on the racetrack.) The races are a side thought, and instead could be thought of a metaphor for how each pair's relationship is currently doing with their performance getting better once they have solved their problem, but sadly most of them are in the same position as before they even had a problem which makes it questionable if any of this meant anything. Even worse is our power couple, Yuri and Megumi improving from the frustration they have with each other and toward anything that may be a nuisance to them. To make matters worst, all character development that occurs for our two protagonist is instantly dropped during the last few minutes to keep everything at status quo.

Story: Terribly boring as nothing is really happening for the most part except for the racers to work out their problems that doesn't really contribute to anything and practice racing for the qualifiers that happens at the end of the series.

Art: It's pretty average and run-of-the-mill. I heard it was supposed to be Silver Link.'s 10th anniversary anime, but it is honestly nothing special to look at.

Sound: Nothing too memorable except for the final insert that plays during the actual race. Motor sounds were okay I guess.

Enjoyment: Initially I was pretty excited to see some racing with this sidecar gimmick as it had looked quite interesting in the trailer, but sadly my expectations were not met. I will admit that it was quite enjoyable at times, but as a whole, absolutely terrible.

Characters:Our main characters were okay, as it was interesting to see their hatred drive them to victory along with the unexpected best duo Hitomi and Mao who have short scenes almost every episodes where they will do some type of gag involving their love toward each other.

Overall, I would not recommend this and would advise anyone who is interested to stay away. If you're looking for a CGDCT anime, they're a plethora of others that can at least be mildly amusing or short enough to make for a quick watch where you can be braindead.

Score: Two (Car)/ Ten