The story started with a young girl whose life takes a drastic turn when her dream of becoming a ballet dancer came to a complete halt when she was very young after an incident that prevents her from performing anymore. During those time, the world is experiencing a series of changes brought about by an organization in possession of a powerful new vehicle that will guarantee them military victory and political power for years to come. Years later, the young girl eventually becomes a young woman going in college with a very uncertain future. But, after she accidentally tumbled to a college club in possession of the same vehicle and learned the dynamics of it, she found passion in this new hobby of her and will lead her in a series of events that will make her the focus of many conspiracy theories as she struggle to win against herself and against the people trying to exploit her. The pacing of the episodes are good, it never feels boring. The story is told gradually and has the right amount of details in each episode to keep me excited to watch the next episode. The most exciting parts are probably the middle episodes when Rin uses her Rideback and the media, the police and the general public began noticing her.
The animation was probably one of the strong points of this series; the environment is well detailed, the sceneries are beautiful, the lighting effects that are used looks superb as it produces really great background arts, and movements are very fluid. The production in general is of high quality and the use of CG in many parts of the series (especially when the Ridebacks are involved) is very good in my opinion as it blends really well. The character design itself is good; it feels appropriate for the story. The color tones give the impression of seriousness. The fights scenes are nicely choreograph. The designs of the Rideback are fairly unique and gave me a really hard time whether I should classify this series as a mecha anime or not.
The OP theme is tuned in a modern beat but it’s not catchy enough for me. The ED theme is a bit mellower and it matches the overall mood quite well. The BGMs is not really noticeable, however there are few that I remember which feels good to listen when watching the scenes it is played upon.
The series has a good cast of characters. The heroine of this series is not your average one, Rin has a strong personality and although her dream of becoming a ballet dancer came to a halt. The Rideback pave way to her comeback as the famous mystery girl riding on a Rideback showcasing very good stunts as well as pushing the said vehicle to its performance limits. The other cast are also well develop, especially the people close to Rin. It is very nice how the series has able to develop their characters, the story of Suzuri is a good example, as well as others, such as Rin’s bestfriend, another is a former revolutionist, and the likes. It is good to see how everything connects together. Voice acting are also very top-notched, I like how the voices matches the characters they are portraying.
Rideback is a mecha, sci-fi anime that offers a more serious plot, drama is also evident but not over the top which is good, nor are over-powered robots, the series is well balance. Overall I like Rideback, the story is great, the inclusion of mecha, sci-fi, and drama in a college-life environment is particularly refreshing. More importantly for me is that the main character is a girl and has a strong personality, pretty uncommon because most of the mecha anime that I watched always has a male lead or group of male leads, so it is refreshing seeing a heroine doing some kick-ass actions. I would recommend this series to people who want some good mecha anime that has a decent story and a good balance of action and drama.
