Story:
Our tale is set in a fictitious version of the Meiji era, so around 1870s since it seems to be pretty early on. In this time, there's an eccentric young inventor named Appare. He gets into some trouble at home and sets sail in a steam boat where he's pursued by the young samurai, Kosame. This results in the pair being propelled forward and going all the way to the United States where they eventually decide to take place in a cross continent race called the Trans-America Wild race because Kosame wants the prize money to return to Japan and Appare just wants to tinker with cars.
The whole narrative is a balancing act since it's largely more light-hearted and comedic but it does bring up some pretty serious things. And it's one that's actually executed pretty well. They basically take the route of letting the darker elements be very subtle and mainly conveyed through insinuation in order to maintain the light-hearted aesthetic. It also helps that nothing too bad happens to any of the major characters. It is refreshing to see a work that can manage to maintain its light-hearted aesthetic while also having some content that delves into more serious territory. Especially given how many things I've seen fail at it.
The biggest issue with the series has to be that they try to do a bit too much with the time they have. There are a lot of plot elements and flashback that aren't really taken advantage of and are generally under-developed. Like, the stuff with the Thousand Three is barely touched on given how much of the plot it helps drive. It's also a bit bizarre that the series starts around the end of episode five and then goes back to the beginning. It's one of those "Yes, that's me. Wanna know how I got into this situation?" openings but with no apparent reason for it.
With that said, the series is charming and entertaining. The whole idea of the eccentric genius and his more grounded companion isn't anything new, but this series does put its own spin on it and it uses the concept very well. I also do think the comedic elements are well done. Particularly the jokes based off of major cultural differences.
Characters:
The major characters in this have a surprising amount of complexity. They have various motivations for what they're doing. They have little bits of back story flavour. Which does make them more relatable and likeable. The big exception is the antagonist who has this vague "might makes right" philosophy and is just kind of evil for the evils. There are a lot of good interactions and dynamics as well. The dynamic with TJ and Dylan is really good, for example. So is the relationship with Appare, Kosame & Hototo. Nice of them to use an actual Native American name for their Native character. Although I admittedly don't know enough about the Hopi to know if he's portrayed accurately in other ways.
Art:
The biggest issue with the art is that it has the shounen style character designs with bizarre hair styles and other design elements that just look odd. Appare's hair, the thing TJ wears over his eyes, also his hair. There are quite a few. And, when it comes to certain characters, these over the top design elements could be seen as mildly racist. I actually wouldn't go that far in this case, but I can sort of see why some other people might.
Sound:
The acting is well done. Hanae Natsuki, Yamashita Seiichirou, Yuuki Aoi, Amamiya Sora and the other actors all give strong performances. I'm not completely sold on Evan Call's music for the series but it works fine, I guess. I think my big issue with it is that it's very modern but the anime is set over a hundred years ago and I kind of prefer for historical works, like this one, to base their music around the time period.
Ho-yay:
There is some stuff that comes across as a bit gay. Like, towards the end Kosame and Appare develop a dynamic that comes across the same way Holmes and Watson do in their more ho-yay moments.
Areas of Improvement:
1. The music should be more suited to the time period. Modern day hip hop is just weird in that context.
2. The series could benefit from a little more time on the background of the Thousand Three and some of the other under-developed elements. Maybe this should have been fifteen episodes. Maybe it should have spent less time recapping the previous episodes. Either way, it could have managed its time a bit better.
3. Just start at the beginning. You don't need to show where the series is going right from the start especially in a short series like this that moves fairly quickly.
Final Thoughts:
I actually enjoyed this series quite a bit. Its strong sense of fun, solid comedy, surprisingly complex characters and fast but well paced narrative made for a satisfying viewing experience. I'm going to give it a solid 8/10.
