Today I’m reviewing Riding Bean (OVA Series) given to me by AnimEigo. Is Riding Bean worth watching? Keep reading to find out:Bean Bandit is one of the best couriers in Chicago. Bean plays for both sides of the law. For a price Bean has you covered. In the anime, Bean and his partner Rally Vincent get framed for kidnapping Chelsea Grimwood who is the daughter of Mr. Grimwood, president of the Grimwood Company. The villain in this series is a women named Semmerling who puts things into motion as to originally kidnapping Chelsea and with the help of her side kick Carrie, and with the help of other nameless helpers. Through various disguises and tricks, Semmerling puts Bean and Rally in this crazy predicament. By putting the blame on Bean and Rally Semmerling thinks that she could get away with the 2 million dollars in ransom money that she got for kidnapping Chelsea. Will Semmerling and her goons get away with all that money?
I really liked this series. I found out that the Mangaka behind this series Kenichi Sonoda had a falling out with Toshiba EMI so the planned anime series never came out, only one episode of the series came out which I’m reviewing right now. Plus the manga was never finished due to the cancellation of Monthly Comics Noisy (the magazine Riding Bean was in).
Bean reminds me of the typical shonen character that we see a lot of today. Rally plays the independent female character role, but she isn’t a stranger to using guns. Bean’s car means more to him than life itself (my thoughts as I watched this series). Bean and Rally would save the day by bringing Chelsea back to her father and got the 2 million dollars that Semmerling originally got as ransom money. As for Semmerling and her nameless goons well… Just watch the series and you’ll find out *Laughs* and a good ending did come for Semmerling’s sidekick Carrie.This is a must watch for sure! This series reminded me of Lupin the Third for some odd reason. I forgot to mention there is a character in Riding Bean named Percy that is obsessed with catching Bean, really funny stuff. My few complaints is that the English dub sounded weak in some scenes when the dialogue should have been more intense. Also there is a scene in the anime where Semmerling shoots Bean at point break range in the forehead and he doesn’t die. It was never really explained how the heck it didn’t affect him, I just had to assume that he had metal in his headband that he wears on his forehead.
Riding Bean gets a 8.5 out of 10. A very good anime from the late 80s’. Wish the series would have continued because Riding Bean could have been a classic like Lupin the Third. Kenichi Sonoda did make a spin off series called Gunsmith Cats if you wanted to check that out.
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