I was very excited when I first started to watch this series because the art looked amazing and I had heard good things about the series and in many ways Rideback met my expectations.
Story-6
This is where the series fails to satisfy. The series is only 12 episodes and the series needed more like 24 episodes to tell its story properly. I suspect that the story's short comes were a result of the anime directors blunders and not the person who wrote the manga since the manga was a fair length. The viewer spends the first few episodes being introduced to the main characters, ridebacks and the wonderful society which the people seem to like in. A few hints of the main story are put in but when the main story finally begins it feels rushed. You haven't seen enough of the villians to hate them properly and don't know enough about the past to really care about the revolutionaries or the government. This in part is why the main story feels separate from the main character's story.
Art-10
Possibly the thing I love most about this series is the amazing character design. It is hard to describe what makes the art so unique but I think it has to do with the realistic shape of the body, imperfect hair an beautiful eyes. In addition to the wonderful character design the landscape and ridebacks have a sleek look to then though I do admit that sometimes the machines don't seem to fit with the lush world which they inhabit.
Sound-10
I thought the soundtrack to the series suited it well. I wouldn't say that it was not without flaw but the flaws were just a question of the level of drama it was able to convey. The opening and ending songs are suited to the adventure, peaceful and violent natures of the show which is wonderful to see.
Characters-I will be honest and say that I felt disconnected from most of the characters by the end of the series. The characters in the beginning of the series were very clear and well formulated however near the end it feels that the rationalization is no longer clear. In add there were characters that the viewer never gets to know which leads to a "what the heck" moment at the end of the series that leaves the viewer dumbfounded. I found the characters overall like able but they could be improved if the series was longer.
Enjoyment-8
I was excited to watch each episode to see what happened next however, near the end of the series I started to lose interest because it was clear that there was no way that the series could have a solid conclusion just because of all the lose ends which had yet to be addressed.
Overall-8
The series is a fine, quick series to watch but it isn't a series that you will likely be re-watching. I have never read the manga however I think I might pick it up only to see the level of missing information in the anime with that knowledge I suspect that many of the gaps that I had were because of the rush nature of the series. If you are a big fan of storylines this show isn't for you but if you can sit through the first episode I recommend at least finishing the series.
