There are many factors that motivate people to achieve their dreams; power, fame, money, recognition, and also, love. Okay, maybe love may not be the best motivation but I guess you would do anything to impress the person that you have feelings for right? Introducing a show called Two Car, an anime set in a volcanic island of Miyakejima where main characters Yuri Miyata and Megumi Meguro compete in the world of sidecar racing in order to get the affection of the same guy they have have fallen in love with. What intrigued me about Two Car is the fact that there hasn’t been a side car racing anime to date and also because it would involve cute high school girls (and I have a fatal weakness to that as I have revealed it several times in my previous posts) so I decided to watch this throughout its run.
Like Magical Girl Racing Project, Two Car has a huge cast of characters from all walks of life with their own agenda on why they went with sidecar racing, complete with a two episode arc plus back-story for almost all the racers competing in the tournament. This is a great distraction since the focus will shift to the other racers and not always with the main heroines giving them some screen time for character development so the viewers will understand each team and grow attached to them. I also like the fact that the girls will help one another in times of need which is shown when one of the team’s racing vehicle got badly damaged and they all worked together to repair it to pristine condition in which the show teaches us the importance of sportsmanship, friendship, and camaraderie.
I also like the animation, which is great, especially for the racing scenes in which it is always heart pounding and action packed every time the sidecars would accelerate and turn in every angle in the race course. I think they used a combination of 2d and cg for the characters during the races and it blended smoothly without any concerns on the quality. But of course, Two Car is not without its flaws and let me elaborate them as detailed as possible. The races are only regulated to one course in Miyakejima, and I was hoping to see more than just one track that they will use for the tournament for variety. Also, there’s ample supply of practice races which is nice to see and I know it is important in order for the teams to tune up their vehicles in top shape but it gets boring on seeing the same thing after a couple of episodes.
Some of the teams are there just for the sake of comic relief or to make up for the number competitors for the tournament not to mention one team whose back story is just a plain case of tsundere complex syndrome due to being jealous and overly possessive of her team mate which is as interesting as a rock to watch. And because the teams are overly polite and nice to one another, there’s hardly any room for a real rivalry to blossom among the female racers which I would like to say that this is the major flaw of the show: no real antagonist. But guess what? You don’t need any rivals anymore because the show actually has two, and they are the maidens in love.
Because of that, the real problem the main characters Yuri and Megumi are facing, is the internal conflict they have been duking it out since the start of the show; they may have the same goals but their rivalry at one another gets in the way although surprisingly with minimal damage. This internal conflict escalated to a crisis after losing to someone far greater to them which now made them question themselves if it is still worth trying to pursue their dream which is good because this gave the girls time to reflect on their motives. In the end, they still managed to pull through and settle their differences though briefly.
Conclusion
Overall, Two Car is not a good show nor a bad one, but the plot of having two girls caught in a love triangle made me feel I’m watching more of a soap opera instead of watching a racing anime which left a bland taste in my mouth because it robbed most of the focus on the race course. If there will be season 2 for this road wreck, they better go full throttle without hesitation, and I mean it.
First posted in https://myanimeroom.wordpress.com/ last 03/30/2018. Visit https://myanimeroom.wordpress.com/ for more anime review and crazy s***.
