Subculture Anime Blog

Look out, Kobe.

Summary:

In Rollingtown on the planet Earthdash, a boy named Dan JD terrorizes the city with the help of his two friends Bel and Ganz. After making money from parts stolen from the surrounding television monitors, Dan implies his distaste in the program that had been airing on the screens. This was the sport basketball, being played by the large robots known as Bigfoots. Using his reward, Dan purchases a small cat-like animal for his younger sister Coco. When she expresses her not needing of such a thing, however, the creature is soon eaten by Dan’s companion Spanky. Dan enters a local court to let out his frustration with basketball, becoming extremely annoyed with the nearby Bigfoots performing construction. Dan is soon met by a girl named Miyuki, who explains to him the various roles Bigfoots have in the current world. Miyuki sees that Dan does not like Bigfoots, but as Dan corrects, he simply does not like their playing basketball.

Having gotten wet because of one of her pranks, Dan follows Miyuki to her home that night. While she does his laundry for him, Miyuki introduces Dan to a particular Bigfoot. After getting caught up in piloting the robot, Dan quickly gains excitement. Reaching for the moon in a high jump, however, Dan’s night ends in a crash. Before he leaves, Miyuki offers Dan a set of tickets for a future basketball match. This brings Dan and his friends to the said event a few days later, though as they quickly learn, this does not turn out to be as exciting as what is put on broadcast. Dan begins to express his annoyance with the sport, and eventually, he realizes that Miyuki is the childhood friend that was once separated from him. Miyuki offers Dan the chance to pilot a Bigfoot once more, bringing him to do just that. Displaying what true basketball is to the fans around him, Dan again avoids the police to put on his amazing display of skill. Before he can make a finishing shot though, a certain player stops him in his tracks. After being released from confinement just a day later, Dan discovers that he has become a legend. In the streets surrounding him, citizens of Rollingtown have taken to playing basketball in Bigfoots.

ED: “free” by Yu Yamada – I didn’t like the song at first, but it did get pretty catchy after a few minutes. I also like the style of the animation, despite how typically simple it is. I’m much more looking forward to hearing the OP next week.

Preview: Let’s play some mecha b-ball!

Impression:

Uh oh, we be stompin’ in our Air Force Ones Bigfoots now!!! I’ve been pretty excited about this series ever since seeing some of its early promotional material a few seasons ago. (I mean, mecha and basketball? What’s not to like?) Add this to the ridiculous cast list and great production, and I’m already hooked after episode one. Of course, with Nike supporting the production, I couldn’t expect anything less.

The first episode was very fast paced, and felt very much like shows like Gurren Lagann or other high style animations that have aired recently. I absolutely loved this aspect of the show, as I never felt a terribly slow part. The concepts set off some of my artistic alarms just as quickly, with the play on futuristic drink bottles, the transitions, and the high focus on the moon in particular, being just a few of the things that caught my eye. I could go on about the cast for quite some time, but I’ll spare the essay. From Shizuka Itou to Kana Hanazawa, this show brings several of my favorite seiyu into one place. I can’t wait to see Hayami Saori’s debut, especially with the new group Eclipse performing the OP.

We only got hints of the overall plot so far, but I am loving what we’ve been shown. Dan’s distaste in what has become mainstream entertainment is such a contemporary theme to play on. The focus on the moon is fascinating as well, especially with how it supposedly plays in with the high technology city. I do have to give a few minor complaints though. While the sexual innuendos were humorous, Miyuki’s 20 second boob shot was just ridiculous. I also hate how she suddenly became the surprise childhood friend, which Japan simply can’t seem to get away from. Several other parts of this episode, mostly character and plot-wise, were extremely cliched too.

Still, overall, this series is turning out to be really fun. While not something I could consider particularly deep, I can definitely see myself enjoying it each week. Oh, and I’m totally thinking about buying the shoes Nike plans on releasing to tie in with the show. Oh yea!