#i didn't burn or cut myself which is a refreshing change of pace | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ukaiknowsbest · 3 years

Text

Review: Two Car

After years of watching just sports anime with boys I've become increasingly bored with every new release. My main problem is that the tropes among animes are just recycled over and over again. Moreover I have developed an aversion to being able to identify male voice actors across different works. Watching animes have sometimes turned into a "guess the voice actor" game with myself and eventually I hated it.

Therefore, since 2021 I have started watching sports anime that feature girls.

Anyhow the first anime I'm reviewing is called Two Car [CONTAINS SPOILERS]

Setup

Highschool girls. I forgot what year they're in. They live on this island where racing is a Thing. Their school is a powerhouse for sidecar racing. And sidecar racing enthusiasts all over japan go there and hang out. Basically their whole island is a sidecar racetrack. Their culture revolves around it. Yuri Miyata and Megumi Meguro are the best highschool racers in their island, and also in japan.

The team is composed of these 2 athletes, 2 technicians and their coach. Before the series started, their coach left them to pursue his dreams of being a pro racer in the Isle of Man in England. He could leave the girls behind coz they were already skilled af and they had a local lady coach who could handle things. Now Yuri and Megumi may be partners but they are also rivals. They want to beat each other guts. Think momoshiro and kaido from prince of tennis. They work quite well together coz they're so competitive with each other.

Now make no mistake, Sidecar Racing is an extreme and dangerous sport. People legit die from this irl. The trust between pairs (a driver and passenger) is important because they need to balance each other AND the vehicle or else they'll steer off-course and crash (and then die).

From what I remember, this 12-episode anime focuses on the national competition in sidecar racing. Therefore the best pairs all over japan have come to the island to be the national champion. 5 other female sidecar pairs are introduced. For some reason, the drivers and the passengers are housed separately, but the pairs train and plan together.

The anime follows the histories and conflicts of each pair as they all practice to get used to the race track. This culminates to the final battle at the end of the series.

My Rating: 3/5 -the plot is pretty meh. I was honestly curious about how it will unfold though. The characters are weird and meta af, combine that with girl power and "female flavor" (for lack of better word), it's a different POV on things honestly.

Art and Animation

It's pretty decent ngl. I enjoyed watching the racing sequences and how the sidecar pairs moved while operating the vehicles. It is smooth and the colors are pretty.

Technicality

I'm not into vehicles but there were technical aspects discussed. Modifications and etc. are often shown and you can see how the characters manipulate the different parts of the vehicle (like clutch and accelerator handling, etc.) Techniques to improve speed and handle curves/bumps are also briefly explained among other stuff. I dont know how realistic or legal some of the stuff they're doing tho so..watch with a grain of salt. XD

Characters

I'd say the characters were interesting. The main characters aren't beginners and are smh treated as pros even in their own island. So you dont get that "dumb beginner idiot with freaky abilities vs loner genius" partnership that is so common and overused in shonen series.

It's refreshing to see adults enjoy the same sport too and they also help the characters.

next part is under cut because [spoilers]

The MC's rivalry is honestly so..uh...petty and icky if you think about it. Both of them got this crush on their coach (help me pls) and they want to defeat each other to become their coach's partner in the sport. It's honestly so childish? but also reminded me of CLAMP/CCS bullsht and if I survived CLAMP then this plot point is basically peanuts.

They have healthy competition tho. Both of them grew up together (childhood friends) and developed love for the sport together because their moms were the og teammates. (yeah their parents participation and love for the sport is a big thing in this series).

The other character pairs are interesting too:

announcers

twins

master-servant

lesbians (like legit sailor neptune and uranus type)

osaka girls

and etc.

Each had their own drama and they resolved it within the series.

Realism

Honestly this show is more meta than sport. Like... it's not for casual viewing. I remember there was some deep psychological issue which the twin pair portrayed. There's a lot of drama okay? HOWEVER!!! I've only been exposed to Shonen type of drama (like the USTs and hero complexes) so whatever Two Car had was unique to me!! Girls are really written differently. It easily reminded me of my interactions with fellow girls (albiet more extreme).

Fanservice

They are always shown to be in the onsen after every practice day but honestly it doesnt count as fanservice. Only their busts are shown.

You'll have to get used to shots of the butt especially in sequences of the passenger manuevering the vehicle tho. I guaranteet that there is no excessive boob action sequences and other sht.

Look I have seen stuff over the years and since this show didn't provide see-through-shirt stuff, Two Car is "fine" in my books.

HOWEVER There is a dream sequence (one of the characters dream stuff up) which is straight up bdsm (i think that's in ep 6). NGL I dropped this show for a while because of that but hah it's honestly just a few dreams for one episode.

I TOLD YOU THIS SHOW IS META ALREADY.

Final Notes

Would I recommend this show? Honestly...no. But watching this was an Experience. Against the highly sanitized world of shonen anime, it's an interesting change of pace.

First of all, in girls sports, there is a lot of casual skinship because it's normal and comfortable. And there is more communication. Maybe it's a writing flaw that conflicts aren't as dragged out but idk, we dont have a lot of decent female sports anime to see what really works. Because I am often frustrated with how slow burn most shonen are, seeing characters resolve conflicts BY TALKING IT OUT is the most rewarding experience.

Honestly I really had fun watching the whole thing. The ending made me want to flip tables tho but the rest was quite enjoyable.

Personally I think ppl have more freedom in writing girls/women. There is just so much you can do with them.

you can see my live reactions in this twitter thread lmao

#two car #anime #sports anime

1 note · View note