To race or not to race, that is the question.
What They Say:
Episode #6: “Lightning Speed”
Chiaya’s back, but they lose Yukina as things come to a head in old Aichi and old Mie. How will they ever learn to coexist peacefully?
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Six episodes in to The Rolling Girls and a pattern has emerged with who owns magical stones and why they eventually give them up. Each Best was once was gifted the stones by the strength of their convictions. When they loose these convictions conflict rears, and they’ve been willingly giving up the stones that were once the representation of their strength of heart made manifest.
Himeko and Tomoki used to have those dreams. They both had moonlight stones and the desire and drive, for himeko it was to create and for Tomoki it was to race. Over time both lost that inspiration, and their reunion is beginning to kindle a different sort of desire between them. The bad blood between Mie and Aichi doesn’t extend to the unofficial Bests of both groups. They have no desire for conflict… their supporters on the other hand do.
After much conversation Tomoki agrees to participate in the race to decide the future of the district. However, his vice captain uses it as a coup attempt and his Mie Motors Rests capture him and lock him up. The vice captain instead enters the race in his place.
But more importantly, Chiaya found her way out the fridge! This show had received several complaints that the leads are bland and uninteresting, and I think the point is their supposed to be average girls. Well, as average as you can get in a world as weird as this new post-apartylyptic Japan. Unfortunately that does result in them not being the catalysts for change in this story. They are our narrator, the fellow travelers on our tour group exploring strange new places. Nozomi tries to return a missing backpack to Mamoru, only for the old man to think it was his daughter sneaking in. He gives her a rousing pep talk before he notices it’s not his daughter in the room but the Rolling Girls. Touched by his words the girls take to his studio to try to make the shachihoko themselves. Yukina, the artist of the group, hangs back during the first attempt, which results in an orca, and then takes over.
Yukina has a very unique art style, and when a news crew catches the sleeping workshop off guard and broadcasts Yukina’s shachihoko out it spurs Himeko to come back and make a proper shachihoko. Her grandfather opens her backpack and discovers something which makes him rush back to join her in creating a new set of regal shachi.
We learn that for both Himeko and Tomoki that their passion eventually became work to them, they forgot that they used to do what they did because they enjoyed it. Quite simply, they were burnt out. With renewed vigor they both push to achieve their combined victories, with a rousing race which brings both the old and new together to give their city turned town a new unified identity.
And yes, the rolling girls actually did help in their own way. They aren’t completely useless after all!
In Summary:
Shrimp, motorcycles, and shachihoko, and a new day dawns for Nagoya. I think The Rolling Girls has found it’s grove, as a slice-of-life adventure to new and different reimagined realms of Japan. It’s not the action packed show that some people wanted it to be, though it has plenty of action. The goofy, light hearted nature of the conflicts provide a nice relief from darker, more serious shows. It has a quirky sense of humor and a style I enjoy. I’m still curious to see what exactly Chiaya is, and what the moonlight stones might mean for her. It’s just enough of a hook to provide a unified ultimate goal.
Episode Grade: B +
Streamed by: Funimation
Review Equipment: 27” iMac running OS 10.10.1, via Safari 8.0.2, FIOS 15/5 Mbps connection. Your milage may vary.
