Rio: Rainbow Gate!

Hmmmmm, where do I begin with an anime like this. There's a lot to say... so how bout, I start with the reception it seems to have received for once. Rio: Rainbow Gate is probably one of the most hated anime of 2011. I've been trying to look at the reason for this from an objective stand point (at least... trying to put in as little of my own bias as possible), and I think I may have figured out why this anime doesn't work. Its a jumble of parts from different anime. Let me explain.

What are probably the 2 main complaints of this anime? ... From what I see, they would be A). The plot is breaky, un-coordinated, and not really flowing, and B). The characters are unrealistically proportioned, and the fan service is out the roof. Personally... when I analyzed the plot, you know what I thought of right away? Slice of life.... That was the first thing that came to mind. The anime, is structured like a slice of life... a series of episodes, each with their own neat little story that gets wrapped up within an episode. It doesn't so much follow a strict plot line as just follows the daily life of a certain character. This can be a somewhat effective story telling method, people seem to love shows like Aria or Azumanga Daioh, and those have about just as much continuity as this show does. The problem is, is part B.

Generally, people who really enjoy slice of life style anime, don't enjoy a very perverted ecchi style like this. I think it goes both ways as well, I think fans of this comedic style, generally prefer a better plot. Now... its not like harems or ecchi comedies generally have all that GREAT a plot line... but they are at least structured from start to end (with some filler). That is to say, you should probably watch from episode 1 all the way to the end in the right order for it to make any sense. In a slice of life style, usually you just have to watch the first episode or 2, then you could really watch it in any order and it would make sense. Its this kind of mix that can really throw off both sides of the debate and make a whole lot of people hate the anime in question. This is probably the main reason why this show got such a bad rep.

But that can't be it really can it? Well sure, what about the characters themselves. Lets ignore the fan service style of the characters for now. Personally, I don't really care much about the design of the characters. Sure maybe they're over the top a bit in the fan service department... but hey its a show about a Las Vegas style casino... of course there will be tonnes of fan service. Anyways... the actually personality of the characters is rather hit and miss. While each character seems to have a fairly decent personality, and could possibly be even considered enjoyable... the show really ditches the idea of introducing them to us. The first episode catalogs the adventures of a 10 year old girl wandering around a casino (bad parenting? whats that), and briefly bumping into what will be each of our main characters. The problem is, you aren't given enough time to identify or understand any of them. The characters are just kinda thrown out at you, and as the show goes on you see what their character traits are... but it just took you 5 long episodes to figure it out. So while I won't say the characters are bad... I'll say their presentation was terrible.

So you've read all this and you look back up at the score I gave it and say... Hey if there are so many flaws with it, how can you give it a score like that? Well I'd respond... because there's one thing that this show does quite beautifully... and that's over the top animation backed up by... semi decent humor. What I found to be the most enjoyable quality of this show, was the strange over the top presentation of freaking casino games. Like in episode 2 where they play roulette on a roller coaster size roulette wheel, using bowling balls instead of the regular ones. Its got an idiotic campy feel to it... The way it goes so over the top about poker and betting. Like somehow she is able to WILL the ball into the right place, or stop cards from entering her opponents hand. Really, I'm gonna say that her super power is just that she is incredibly lucky. Its this kind of idiotic humor that made the show... somewhat enjoyable for me to watch. Taking such a simple thing and putting it on a grand DBZ style scale really makes you crack up at the lunacy of it all.

So again... the anime is pretty bad. Its plot is mis matched, its characters are decent but hard to get to know, and its humor... while usually getting a laugh once or twice an episode... is usually pretty predictable... But its got a bit of charm to it. You can tell that the animators had fun creating this one, building grand scale casino items, and doing over the top gambling battles. I can't blame you if you hate it, quite honestly I think I SHOULD hate it. But that little bit it added, made me feel like I must see it to the end at least.

Rio rainbow gate is about a dealer named Rio at howard resort the whole story is about Rio player casino games and winning cards. I don't understand this anime its story is kiddish like its characters but its ecchi. Who is this anime for anybody who likes ecchi is old but the story for kids its just crap. I don't hate this show just found it boring.

Okay, first of all, I admit it, I kinda enjoyed the 2-3first episodes, I thought the plot was kinda interesting, it's actually about collecting special cards that a random dude gave to the 13 best casino dealers in the world, the main character being one of them, to collect them, you can challenge other "gate keepers" to a "gate battle", so far so good. But the way it goes is just stupid, she keeps winning gate in the stupidest way possible in the stupidest battles. that anime is simply sexy girls in a child anime, that's it.

EDIT: I'll have to change my review after watching ... episode 7, the plot is turning out actually quite good, it's really a shame that the battle system is that stupid, it could've turned good after all.

also, the tentacle rape scene wasn't necessary.

First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile.
------

✦Story
Start was bright and intriguing, woman of luck being successful dealer in a mega casino. But as episodes went by, it became more far-fetched, chaotic in a bad way and thus from my point of view, it lost it's value and became quite boring. The subplot of main character and her search for someone and that conclusion was as well quite odd. Point being, story was with promising start and then it went downfall. Was potential game/casino Anime.

✦Art & Sound
Pretty, colorful and fun. Also character design of ... "western babes" and clothes. Point being, was good enough.
As for OST & Music, they were okay, but didn't really matter much. Meaning that they didn't leave lasting impression.

✦Character
Aside main girl and pseudo-daughter character, rest were random compost of side-kicks. Did enjoy most of the time characters, whilst some were really tiresome. So overall they were quite okay and somewhat interesting.
Did exist some character development as well, but nothing worthwhile.

✦Enjoyment & Overall
If it wouldn't gone downhill, might have actually gotten 7. Did enjoy, but from episode 6 or so I just started fast forwarding.

Are you ready to place your bets? Because you just might "have a lucky day" with Rio: Rainbow Gate!

I'll be straight and say the concept is ridiculous, but that's where its charm comes from. Set in a casino resort where over-the-top duels occur and a dash of fan service for some spice. The main premise is the only iffy thing here, which is your typical "magic item collecting" scenario. My problem with it is there's not a whole lot to it that makes it any interesting. I also had a minor issue with the shift in the story's progression. This happens around halfway through, and ... while it's not that big of a concern, I just wished we had more time for other things before getting to the big picture.

If you're looking for any type of character development, then you're out of luck. The only ones that get such treatment are the main character and her childhood friend, though it's nothing too special. Everyone else mainly just sticks with their set personality traits, staying that way throughout. Even amongst them are those that are only there just to fill the screen. We get some that make reappearances at certain points, which is better than just adding new characters.

I'd say the animation is the one thing that didn't really have that many flaws. If there was, it was probably a few drops in quality, but those were minimal, at the very least. Other than that, the character models were concise. Occasionally, we get some nice fluid movements (especially the "jiggle physics"). In terms of looks, it's pretty generic, but something like this doesn't need any extravagant designs

I may have sounded a bit critical, but overall I did enjoy this series. I love the concept as well as the characters. If there were any changes I would make, that would be to remove the whole item collecting plotline and any other plot devices that didn't necessarily have to be there. I probably would have enjoyed it more had it just been about the casino and the wacky matches that went on between all the characters. Still, for what we got, it's good enough.