Super Cub

*This review contains some spoilers*

For the first time ever, I felt compelled to write a review for an anime that has just finished airing. For somebody like myself who just doesn't do this sort of thing, it speaks volumes to how either brilliant and memorable the experience was or the exact opposite, an incredibly off-putting and/or insulting viewing . Unfortunately, I am of the latter for this series. Super Cub. What I was initially hyped for turned out to be one of the most soulless watches I've had, coupled with shameful advertisements of a product throughout the show.

For a slice of life anime to really ... shine bright, IMO, it generally comes down to a couple of major things. That is the setting of the anime and especially the characters driving it. Super Cub failed pretty miserably in both these aspects. An insipid, uninspiring experience.

Super Cub is set in some small bland rural town, actually no, that's not entirely right. Super Cub is set in some small bland rural town schools bike parking lot. That's better. I guess there are a few scenes where they show off the insane capabilities of the Super Cub whilst driving 35 mph through town (exciting) and even venture out further a couple times, but the vast majority of our viewing experience is severely limited to a minor few places where nothing interesting happens (her school, her home, etc). A rural setting can be great by the way, hell, I really enjoyed Non Non Biyori. That anime has a wonderful cast to compliment the setting though, and oh boy, we cannot say the same here.

The main Female MC (Koguma) has to be one of the worst MCs I've ever had the displeasure of watching. The "story" follows an independent (well, codependent with her stupid Cub later on, as she seemingly can't live properly without it) young Highschool girl who has no family or friends to speak of. She is very stoic and standoffish by nature, a girl of few words. The first few episodes actually do a decent job in developing her character further as she meets her first real friend resulting in her slowly but surely breaking down her walls she's put up, but for some reason her personality and development stagnates and she continues to be this quite unpleasant, unfriendly person in the later episodes. There are scenes where you just want to scream at this moron for not understanding and acting accordingly to the situations that she's in (episode 11 for example where time is of the essence). And I've heard the excuses to her actions "oh, she's from a rural town, they aren't used to social interactions that much", lol I'm from a rural town as well buddy, I can socialize just fine. Terrible scapegoat. If I'm being honest, she comes across as mentally ill, but nothing of the sort is explored, her mind, her past, etc. Who the hell wants all that in a cutesy slice of life anyway? It would defeat the purpose entirely.

Next we have Reiko, an energetic girl who befriends MC thanks to their mutual interest in riding Super Cubs. She just so happens to be extremely knowledgeable about all things bikes and teaches the MC the ways of the Cub. Best part of the anime right there, the little teacher/student thing they had going on, the small info dumps on how to clean/maintain your bike, the bike parts that came with it, the extra parts that were sought after etc. Pretty interesting overall, it did remind me of Yuru Camp (that's where the comparisons start and finish for me there lmao). To finish of the trio of young bike enthusiasts, we have Shii-chan who is sadly ultimately used as a plot device to further advertise the Cub. Scenes are set up in place for this entirely. A cute shy girl who is relegated to play the damsel in distress trope. Very one dimensional and lacking in any originality whatsoever.

The art was alright, different, but tolerable. Pretty bog standard for your anime in 2021. The color palette and character designs were ugly mind you. The sound was probably the best part of the anime, the OSTs fit very well with most situations and were generally very easy on the ears. A plus there.

And now to my main gripe with this show. There are examples of Honda's advertising throughout this series, it's not exactly difficult to notice. And it wears on you after the umpteenth time. Where it differs from other anime that advertise product is that it's much more "in your face" and with more frequency to boot. What I thought was truly the most shameful scene though was when MC's friend rides her push bike down some trail, slips and ends in a small stream/river and seemingly can't get up and calls MC to come get her. MC takes her sweet time and screws around with the poor girl, even slapping the crap outta her, finally chucks her in the front basket of the Super Cub (very dangerous) and drives off. A very idiotic scene that should have never happened in the first place, but it's the script that gets me the most...

"Don't thank me, thank the Cub" and other cheesy/horrible dialogue that went with it. "My Super Cub is on it's way" Oh, thank the Heavens and the Gods for the almighty Super Cub, hallelujah! What she's pretty much saying is "this wouldn't have happened if you didn't have this amazing vehicle with you, idiot". I'm surprised she never broke the 4th wall and literally told us, the viewers, to hurry up and go buy one already. They're only $2500 USD brand spanking new!!! You won't regret it!!! Shii Chan sure didn't, as expected, she bought one the next episode.

Overall, a somber experience. One of the worst offenses an anime can make is to simply be boring. And that's what this is. If you're boring a massive slice of life fan, then something is wrong here. Couple it with the two paragraphs above and you have my least favorite anime of the season.

Super Cub is an Honda advertisement effort to sell those shiny and useless motorcycles, and it does a good job about it! First of all, I'm not being paid from Honda for this review, so I'm going to be completely impartial about it. Honda is a great company and I have the most respect out of their employees, so if you work for Honda I tell you, have a good life.

Now, going into the review, Super Cub features a glooming teenager called Koguma, whose life is as boring and middle of the pack as it can be. Koguma have no parents, money or friends at ... the start, which the later is not surprising at all because she probably have some high into the spectrum autism as we can see later in the series. Her life got better when she got her Super Cub, since her life could start to take some colour (Like literally, everytime they wanted to show us that she felt good they changed the colours. That gimmick was alright at the start, then it got annoying as fuck)

The art of this anime is ok, the characters are somehow normal which I like, they look like they would be an extra in your favorite action anime, that's the point i guess. The CGI usage is somehow cheap, I have no problem with CGI honestly, the time reduction that it gives is extremely worth it so I have no desire to talk shit about it. The only problem is that it broke the continuity of the scene many times, since the models and the drawings didnt feature the same features (Like ground and shit, whatever). The music was alright too, the usage of classical music like the change of colors got old very fast for me, hearing i dont know who because im a shitty ignorant behind a motorcycle motor was extremely jarring too, but who cares

The main problem of this anime is then the interactios between of characters. The plot, as it is a slice of life, shouldnt be an issue. Koguma travels, buys some dumbass equipment and then her life get better. Not something to worry about. The problem is then how those characters act besides the cubs. You have Reiko and Shii, the other two characters, and while Reiko is a charming and engaging characters that synchronize with the deep into the spectrum Koguma, I don't see the same in Shii. There is no reason for Shii to keep Koguma and Reiko near them, the purpose of her is to sell us the Cub, and then when she got introduced the ad levels of bullshit got so high that it was unbearable.

In my honesty, Shii would have served better as a contraposition of Koguma and Reiko obsession, not as someone who wants to get into their own frequency. That way we would get out of the monotonous tone that this had. The problem is that she doesnt, and she doesnt because this is an ad.

I won't say anything about episode 5 and 11 because they were clearly subject of brain damage writing

That would be it. If you want something calm to watch, watch this. Skip episode 5 to not get mad because it is also almost pointless, and turn your brain off in episode 11 to have a better day. The only salvageable aspect of this is that it was a good ad, so I will give it a 4 out of 10 for the execution

This show is not even worth reviewing, but I'd have liked to be spared wasting my time on it with more accurate reviews, so here I am. Plus, I need the catharsis.

I was enjoying it a lot. It reminded me of Laid - Back Camp, which I really liked. And who doesn't love a main character who has no friends or family? One of my favorite kinds of characters - automatically so sympathetic!

Episode 5 came along and was bafflingly stupid - did Reiko completely forget how to ride or something?? But at least Koguma said it was stupid, and that Reiko was stupid.

... And ... here is where it starts becoming clear why Koguma has no friends. Once she loosens up enough to start being herself, she's a massive bitch. All those previous social encounters where she seemed so stiff and unfriendly, which I chalked up to shyness and social awkwardness - nope, turns out she's just cold and unfriendly, kinda mean. Other reviewers have suggested she's on the spectrum - nah, she's just a bitch: superior, condescending. A teacher repeatedly offers her tea and she always demurs, which in any other anime would be due simply to shyness or a desire not to impose - deep down they would really want to say yes! Not Koguma. She finally does have to say yes once but seems indifferent to the teacher who offered it, if not straight up contemptuous.

She and Reiko, who previously seemed like good, nice girls (which was a huge part of the charm; it was adorable to see these good girls riding around on motorcycles), start acting like smug, rude biker chicks. They snicker while being scolded by teachers and instantly disobey the one rule they were given. There's a strong whiff of contempt in the whole way they regard the cultural festival and their peers' excitement about it. When asked for help, they blow it off unless they can use it to try to rub in how superior they are just because they ride motorbikes.

In the final minutes I watched before giving up in disgust, they basically bullied the other girl who appears in the credits (as if she's their friend, which other reviews indicate is misleading) for being "uncool" enough to ride an ordinary bike (you know, just like Koguma rode at the start of the show, and would have been undone to be bullied over).

There's just nothing to like about these characters at all, and still less the longer the show goes on. I looked up reviews at this point to see if others were seeing what I was seeing and whether it was likely to get better. What I saw in the few reviews that acknowledged the show's weaknesses convinced me I'd be better off stopping there, that if anything, it only gets worse.

Then there's the whole advertising aspect. I was beginning to gather in the final episode I watched (as they also bullied this girl into buying a motorbike too - even as they insist to this person they don't know at all yet that she couldn't handle it, anyway, because of course only they are cool enough to be able to handle it) that maybe it really was simply a long - form advertisement, paid for by Honda. If so, it would explain the inconsistency of the characterization and the way literally everything good that ever happens for anyone in the show and the only thing that makes them happy revolves around their Super Cubs. Pretty gross if so. It occurred to me in the first episode that it could simply be an advertisement, but then they said Koguma's Super Cub is no longer even in production so I dismissed the possibility, then the longer I watched, the more it once again seemed like that, as every character somehow was required to own one.

I love a slow, gentle, charming show like Laid Back Camp featuring nice people doing things that interest them, and until Koguma's character started becoming clear once she started interacting with other people, it seemed like this show could be that, but by the time I stopped watching, it was quite clear it was not. It's slow, all right, but far from charming. I'm not even sure what the point of it was, except advertising. It's a real shame, because despite the excessive focus on Super Cub! Super Cub! Super Cub!, it could have been cool.

Overall, anime had its moments, but I’m not as satisfied with it as I expected.

This was like riding cub up and down the hill with one last look at the peak. The story had a great message - nurture resourcefulness and friendships against any obstacle. The cast was likable and inspiring, while the atmosphere left me motivated and relaxed. It had ASMR, too. And after the midpoint, my enjoyment went downhill. Now at the bottom of the hill, I can only reminisce about the view from the top.

Summary.
Since cub instantly brightens her lonely life, Kagura buys it and grows invested in mastering it. ... As a novice driver, most of the first episodes were about her figuring basics and finding needed gear. It’s a gear-per-episode pattern, but everything isn’t about gear. It’s about patient resolve to find solutions when you lack knowledge or funds.

Characters.
I loved the friendship between Koguma and Reiko - the way it operated on unspoken mutual fondness. Reiko was a great to the show's message about resolve. Her attempting to climb Mt Fuji and not letting failure get the best of her is my second best episode in a season. She is a badass motorbike aficionado and a natural risk-taker. Reiko is a great friend and a well-written character.

What did I like the most?
The peak of the season has to be a school trip episode. It unites all the experiences from the previous ones and adds a sense of pride and accomplishment. It was like watching your kid making the first big step into life. Left me feeling proud, nostalgic, and hopeful.

Why so low score?
The slope began after the 2/3 of the season. At first, the episodes were ok, but they failed to make an impression. Character improvement was little to nonexistent. Then the third main character was introduced - a generic shy girl who only kept breaking initial allure. Koguma became closed off and somewhat apathetic, making the whole dynamic feeling off. The story became less engaging and boring than moving or relaxing.

When the infamous episode 11 happened, my emotional investment was very low to fire up my pitchfork. I get Koguma internalized that she can’t depend on any authority, but that was dumb and unrealistic. For me, even problematic since nobody older and wiser say anything bad about her act.

Ending.
The last episode had some of the initial magic in it, but it felt more like a commercial for Honda. The feeling of real-life accomplishment for the main characters didn't show up for the party.

Animation.
The first two episodes have some very ugly CGI when it comes to people. Luckily, things do improve after the second episode and bad CGI is rarely seen. When it comes to employing CG in showcasing cubs in greater detail, I don't any criticism.

I started watching when I rode a motorbike. I liked this anime at first even though the friends were acting weird to each other and awkward because it was funny. Then I got in motorbike accident. I flew off it because a car that was going wrong way hit me. I wore goggles too instead of a face shield and broke a couple bones in my nose and now it's sideways. Broke my leg pretty bad too. Had to get 3 surgeries. This anime doesn't show how really dangerous it is. The time when that girl went riding in the mountain is very not accurate, ... my friend was driving in the mountain a year ago and fell off like she did but just once, not over ten times like in the anime, and he had to go to hospital right away because of injuries, even though in the anime she just got some scratches. Not as fun and safe as this anime makes it seem. Don't recommend it.

In the opening, Koguma describes herself as having nothing, no friends, no parents, no money. At the end of the anime, after she makes “friends,” she repeats this exact line (including that she has no friends!!!) but adds that she now has a cub. What was the point of her spending time with the other characters then??

Koguma is a very flat MC with her only qualities being that she is self-centered and likes her cub. That’s it. My biggest issue with this show is Koguma’s treatment of Shii, who is supposed to be her friend. Koguma and Reiko, the other cub owner, tell ... Shii they’ll only come visit her at her family’s cafe if the coffee is free. She gives them free coffee and snacks all the time because she admires them, but when the girls go to Koguma’s house, Koguma gets upset that they use a boiled egg each. She literally does not want to share 2 eggs.
Minor spoiler: Shii falls off her bike into a stream in the middle of winter and calls Koguma instead of her parents or an ambulance. Koguma finds her, tells her to get up with zero emotion or sense of urgency, puts her in the basket IN FRONT of the windshield, and takes her to her apartment. If this was not anime, Shii would at the very least have frostbite. After Shii takes a bath, it is then that Koguma doesn’t want to give her an egg. Seriously. The worst friend.

I love slice of life. I think the best qualities of slice of life are relationships between characters, coziness, and big or small adventures. The only thing this show has is the small adventures part. You can’t call the three main characters friends and there is almost nothing cozy. The MC literally eats cold packets of curry and other prepackaged food on top of rice the entire anime and lives in a room with no decoration or personal items. Coziness level 0 on Koguma’s part. There are a few cozy scenes at Shii’s cafe (which is overshadowed because you know they’re using her for free coffee) Reiko’s house, and a few other random parts.

There’s some janky CGI of the girls on the cubs, but other than that the art is fine. When Koguma is happy, the colors become vivid which makes for pretty backgrounds. But it doesn’t have the desired effect since you can’t really root for the MC since she’s a jerk with no redeeming qualities. Essentially, this is a very long advertisement for super cubs that is not worth your time.

i was initially excited, i've been interested in scooters lately and wanted to learn more and since there's an anime for everything i searched one for scooter/bikes and found this one.

To keep it short my problems with the anime were:

- everything is too white, pale, faded, dead: i dreaded every episode cause everything looks so dead and hurts my eyes on how white it's , that's pretty bad for an iyashikei anime that was supposed to be the genre about healing and bringing new meaning to life, there was barely any life in the visuals of this.

- the girls are boring: they have no other ... personality outside their designated archetypes and their love for cub bikes, i never look forward to seeing more of them or they interact, it's not engaging.
(plus the main character's lack of social skills get me annoyed, all i know is that i can see why no one wants to talk to her and the anime shows no signs of wanting to work on this).

- propaganda: i found out this anime was about this scooter company cub and i was okay with it at first, since yuru camp also was a propaganda and it was awesome, but in this anime they preach so much about how the bike is better than any other bike company every episode, it started getting to my nerves.

- not educational: since the main character got their first scooter ever without knowing anything about it i thought we'd be learning a lot and that's exactly what i wanted, but they skip the whole getting the driving license part, they skip the parts they try to teach about other stuff like oil changing (they literally only showed her taking the oil off, no new oil back).

i can't recommend this for iyashikei/slice of life fans or scooter fans or anyone tbh, skip this one entirely.

There is only word to describe this seasonal anime and that is to put it bluntly, boring, in fact it is one of the most boring animes ive ever watched to date.

So let me summarize my experience with the show.

The story:
The show has a very simple but very boring plot to it. Girl named Koguma has no hobbies, friends or money that is until one day she goes browsing for bikes and she is sold a Honda cub for 10,000 yen. Then life is good, she meets a friend who also has a cub and thats as far as things go mostly.

I found ... myself for most of the show with the exception of a few episodes screaming that something would happen. Something tragic, sad, a conflict between the characters. Something that would shake things up and break from the insanely repetitive routine that is each episode. Alas this only happens a small handful of times and only in a grand total of about 3 episodes. In other words only 20 minutes of the 4 hours of watch time was of any actual interest.

The characters:
Koguma who is the MC is honestly one of the most dull stick in the mud characters I have ever seen in all the shows I have watched. If she isnt obsessing over her cub or giving that weak smile she usually does when things get slightly exciting shes being a big stick in the mud about everything. I blame her entirely for dragging the show down and not making the show nearly as fun as it can be.

Thank goodness for Reiko, if it wasnt for her the show would be quite unbearable to watch. Friend of Koguma she at least has a personality and is willing to shake things up to entertain the viewer.

Last but not least there is Shii. Absolutely adorable, kind and full of spirit. Shes the only other character that makes the show remotely worth watching.

Summary and some extra thoughts:
Despite me not watching Bakuon outside of Youtube clips that show looks infinitely more entertaining the bike show despite having a much lower rating.

As someone who has ridden bikes before it really annoys me how Koguma tells Shii not to ride a cub because it will "bite back" as if its a Honda Fireblade and not a motorized bicycle that is the cub. The worst you will do is either stall it or miss second and go into neutral. Its a 50cc to 110cc model not a 600cc plus sport bike.

Last but not least is the complete disregard for safety in the later episodes such as not dressing properly for the conditions, riding in the snow with no helmet, riding in unsafe conditions, racing up a steep mountain and crashing. How the girls were never close to being seriously injured or even killed is beyond me.

I like anime. I know a little about art, and, with that knowledge I can say: The first episodes of this anime are something incredible. They're, without a doubt, a work of art. They don't even need dialogue in the first chapter; everything is conveyed perfectly by the animation and the protagonist body language. I cannot stress enough on how amazing are the first episodes of this anime, they really make you feel things and appreciate every single frame... Then I got to chapter 7 and I felt like somebody had ripped the Mona Lisa apart with their own 2 hands without any remorse whatsoever.
The ... anime turns into "Yu-Gi-Oh" but with bikes; everything in the life of the girls revolves around bikes. And, ok, the anime is literally that, an anime about bikes, ok, I understand, that's literally the anime premise, ¿but how? ¡¡¿How can you make the BEST first episodes of all time with the same premise and then, all of a sudden, throw everything to the trash and put a biker in charge of the script?!!
I was destroyed, I couldn't belive how could someone take a piece of LITERAL ART and transform it into such a bad show. And it gets worse ._. Yes, it gets WORSE in the final chapters when the protagonist cares more about her bike than her friend that is literally dying of hypothermia inside of a river. I.... I.... I just can't.
To everyone out there that has some sort of self-love, just watch the first 4-5 chapters and cherish them, those are a 10/10 experience for slice of life fans. Don't go any further or you'll suffer

In Super Cub, at least every other episode they manage to find an excuse to fit in the line “with a Super Cub, you can go anywhere you want.” Which isn’t exactly wrong, by all means, they could go anywhere, the only problem is that the main character we’re stuck with is entirely disinterested in doing so.

To wind back a bit, Super Cub is named after the Honda Super Cub, a specific model of motorcycle that is purchased by the main character, Koguma, which I would say sets the story in motion, but there isn’t really a story. To get it out of the way ... now, it is very obvious that Honda had a hand in the creation of this series, it’s hardly a coincidence that when she goes to buy her Super Cub, the only other bikes on offer are also all by Honda, and alongside the aforementioned statement about “being able to go anywhere”, they also manage to include plenty of other lines about just how great the Super Cub is, sometimes to questionable effect, as was the case when Koguma puts a box on the back of her bike to put supplies in, and comments on how great and convenient this feature on the Super Cub is, as if to suggest that the Super Cub somehow conceptualised the idea of putting stuff in boxes. I would hesitate to compare Super Cub to the likes of Pepsi Invaders, as these references to how good the Super Cub is are largely incidental, however a much bigger problem with the series is that, despite being centred around a vehicle, it never actually goes anywhere.

If I had to pin Super Cub down to a genre, it wouldn’t be a slice of life or road movie, the two possibilities you’d expect (i.e. want to see), it’s more akin to Norwegian slow television or a YouTube vlog series. In any given episode, Koguma has an issue with her Cub, so she goes to the store and buys something, and that’s it. As a character, Koguma is very lacking, I am lead to assume that her seiyuu’s only previous work in the industry was just reading the side effects of medication for adverts, because she does very little to enunciate or verbally express any level of emotion. To make matters worse, it seems like the writers were downright hostile to the idea of her ever actually developing, she may not say much to evoke a real change in character, but she does manage to make a couple friends and go from never having touched a motorcycle to becoming generally knowledgeable about her Cub, and by extension having found herself a new interest. So, on account of that fact, I really cannot conceive any good reason as to why they would decide to make the closing lines of dialogue for the series a repeat of her saying “I have no friends, no money and no hobbies or interests” as she did in the first episode, but that does make for a good illustration of just how little attention they put into Koguma as a character. By her own admission, the events of the story have had no impact on her, and it was completely pointless.

To make matters worse, the actual driving sequences, which you would expect to be the schwerpunkt of the series, are profoundly uninteresting. There is clear professionalism in the first episode, wherein they make full use of the audio-visual medium, and after that first episode, I thought I was actually in for something good. Therein, in Koguma’s home, her movements are almost catatonic, and a complete absence of music or ambient noise accentuates the severe boredom that is her home life, something that is completely changed once she acquires her Super Cub. However, if they want to say that having a motorbike opens up Koguma’s world, then it’s also imperative that they convey that feeling through the cinematography. This isn’t the case, as it’s all conducted through wide, static shots, predominantly against completely flat terrain. I mentioned road movies earlier, and, as it also featured bikes, Easy Rider would seem like a natural point of comparison, and it’s worth noting that the driving sequences in that film are against empty roads and deserts, barren spaces without any real significant landmarks or points of interest. But they are able to convey plenty with the cinematography, wide shots of the landscape to suggest a sense of atmosphere and adventure, and tracking shots of the main characters from seemingly any distance or height, and they’ll also use editing to further the ideas that begin through the cinematography. Back to Super Cub, the cinematography consists of medium close-ups of Koguma’s face, stationary long shots from far away as she drives towards it, and that’s about it. At least, all of this is true for 11/12 of its episodes (if you want to be pedantic, 10/11 since she doesn’t get the bike until the 2nd), as for some inexplicable reason within the last episode, my two main complaints, namely that they don’t explore any new locales with their bikes, and that the cinematography is exceedingly bland, are not applicable. It’s kind of shocking that they would wait until the absolute last episode of the series of what is supposed to be a series about travel before they travel any considerable distance, but this episode is legitimately well executed. The scenery changes as they get closer to their destination (it might sound obvious, but it’s the first time in the series they actually get to see anything new), and both the characters and camera focus upon these new places as they appear, there is a level of excitement in seeing what lies ahead, something completely unheard of hitherto.

But to get back to the points they got wrong, another major flaw of this series is how exceedingly generic its soundtrack is, not an aspect I usually bring up, because I usually don’t have to. I don’t really remember them using any genre beyond slow, vaguely melancholic piano solos, I also don’t doubt that there’s plenty of other instruments they used, but I have no recollection of any of it because it must have been the most mediocre soundtrack I’ve heard, it’s just stock music, the kind of thing you can throw in anywhere and it’ll do a passable job of conveying the vague emotion you’re going for. Even in the closing episode, the only good one, there is no getting past the fact that this is a profoundly boring soundtrack, but at least it’s thematically appropriate, a mediocre soundtrack fits right in when the cinematography and characters are completely lifeless too.

Ultimately, Super Cub doesn’t really have anything going for it. It touches on real aspects of driving and maintaining a motorcycle, but not anywhere close to a degree where I could call it edutainment, its main character has less in the way of temperament than her motorcycle, and it seems to suggest elements of being a slice of life, and a story about learning to enjoy motorcycling, but it never commits to either. It seems to suggest typical slice of life story beats, such as exams and culture festivals, but it constitutes a passing mention at best, “oh by the way I had exams yesterday”, neither these events nor their significance are ever really incorporated into the story. If you take it as a story about learning to enjoy the great outdoors and vast landscape that Japan offers, it is a failure there as well, because there is no exploration to be found. Super Cub isn’t even something I can hate, it is just mediocre, and there is no worse fate than being mediocre.

Mild Spoilers in a marked section

"I have no parents. No money either. Nor do I have any hobbies, friends, or goals for the future. But, where I didn't have anything in my life before.... now I have a cub."

I have always considered myself as a Slice-of-Life enthusiast. I have hardly rated any Slice-of-Life anime lowly but Super CGI has done it. It has broken my streak and that isn't a good thing.

I’m just going to begin with the art. Wow, the character designs are ugly. Just take a look at how Studio Kai draws lines. The lines on Koguma's face makes me think that ... a cat showed up and scratched her face. Why did the cat do that? It probably couldn't handle staring at a moe blob anymore. Or maybe the cat had some of the Grappa that the anime staff added "Caution: too much makes it alcoholic and actionable." But there’s more… The lines drawn on the hair reminds me of someone who pulled out their sturdy fingernails before deliberately scratching a chalkboard! My eyes cringe just as much as just looking at the characters of Super Cub. Continuing on, there is so much CG in this anime. I understand with the Super Cub but using CG for almost every background character and switching between animating the Cub motorbike rider as half 2D and half 3D is just too much. Even if the CG is considered fine, I’m sure the blatant usage of reused animation will get anyone’s disapproval. The one scene that always gets reused is Koguma arriving at school. There will always be the presence of two girls walking together towards the right with two other male characters, one walking towards the camera and the other also walking to the right as the camera pans to the right as Koguma arrives on her Super Cub. I should’ve counted how many times they used this one scene in particular. Throughout this anime, there are many moments where Koguma is just driving around on her Super Cub for entire minutes. The same backgrounds were used so many times, especially at that one intersection and that road she sees outside of her classroom. All in all, the shots and scene durations all made this anime feel like I’m watching the same episode over and over.

Speaking of loops, I did not care for the music. There is recycled 'sad' or 'peaceful' oriented music playing for Koguma as she drives around. But these scenes are so long and Koguma’s thoughts are so bland that I don’t care for the music. Many times this music failed to impact me at all since most of it tends to follow a specific formula: 1. Find a cool 2-4 second part, then just keep looping it, 2. Take one finger and play something on the piano that sounds like a song, or 3. Combine 1 and 2! Very creative I say. This even applied to the opening! To start, we hear Duu 40 times in the beginning of the opening! It won't be getting out of my head any time soon even if I duu try. Also, when the characters are talking with music playing in the background, I feel that the music is more important than the actual dialogue (which I can't quite disagree with this). Most interactions between Koguma and others make me feel like I’m waiting in the elevator while trying to ignore the conversation next to me or I’m trying, and failing, to listen to my online Zoom lecture because I fell asleep.

Finally to the plot of the anime. Sad girl gets a Super Cub and finally makes friends. I think that's all you need but I will persevere. Koguma is a girl living alone with no parents, income, goals, or friends. She then makes an impulsive decision to buy a Super Cub without having a license. Thankfully, a sudden time skip happens so she can get her license real fast before getting a one minute driving tutorial from the seller. First off, where does she get her money to buy it? How did she learn road rules before learning what gasoline is? I have so many questions without any logical answers. There is another person at her school who notices Koguma’s cub, therefore wanting to befriend Koguma. Moral of the story: Super Cub makes Super Friends. Koguma then learns more about her Cub and runs into possible issues of not having the right gear nor a full understanding of her Cub. However, whenever these problems arise, there is always another random background character that shows up that just so happens to have the answer she needs. Wow, so realistic.

Koguma is a very flat and basic character. As Koguma continues to understand her Super Cub, the noises she makes whenever she runs into any issues has gotten on my nerves. I’m sick of hearing her whining and I’m sick of her always looking at herself in the Super Cub mirror for no reason. How was she able to take care of herself for so long if she decided to buy a whole cub and not read the owner's manual (or even search up information about the vehicle) online? Later, as she is able to meet a friend, she starts to smile more. Smiles like these in Slice-of-Life anime are generally meant to be touching for the audience since the character is finally portraying actual happiness past all that they have been or are going through. However this smile was not that. It looked ugly and I did not ever feel for Koguma at all. This smile was not character development nor showing us more about her. It was a forced, placed in smile with no emotional impact whatsoever. I have an easier time smiling with the opening song’s super creative background lyrics of Duus than with Koguma.

Reiko is kinda better than Koguma. She is a Super Cub enthusiast who desired to be Koguma’s friend because of their similar interest in Super Cubs. Reiko is the bright, happy friend that contrasts Koguma’s sad, quiet character. However, that's really it to her. She becomes such a side character that she's basically there for Koguma to have lunch in the same spot in their Super Cubs every single episode.

[Spoilers]

Reiko is revealed to dream about being able to climb Mount Fuji with her Super Cub. There's one episode dedicated to this where she is constantly trying and falling off her Super Cub all while boss battle inspired music is playing. Wow it's like the mountain is her final boss, it's as deep as the river in episode 11. Two questions come up during the montage, why is she not looking for bumps in the road to avoid? Why doesn't she just slow down a bit? I think the real question is: Where did she learn how to drive? Sure the bumps and not being able to slow down can be because of the incline of the road but if she doesn't know how to deal with it, then why doesn't she practice and learn how to properly deal with these issues safely? I'm sure off-roaders didn't just up and go one day to begin their new hobby up a steep mountain. They most likely build up to something more dangerous or risky. But no, Reiko decides to just go all the way. Also, why did the adults just keep letting her go on a road that is easy for her to fall to her doom? Well she has a Super Cub so she'll be safe even if she herself is being unsafe about driving it. What Reiko really needs to do is pick up a new book about proper off-road driving instead of reading the same random one over and over in class.

[End of Spoilers]

Overall, this anime is one of the worst Slice-of-Life anime I have seen (To make sure I am clear, I have nothing against actual Super Cubs in real life). Honda really should’ve done better. Now at least I know where to find a real life CG Super Cub if I really wanted to drive one. A character whose name I forgot once said, "Please save me again with your Super Cub." Let me rephrase it: Please save me FROM this Super Cub.