May 25, 2016

Bakuon -- retrospective

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It's a lot more pleasant watching anime stored on a flash drive than it is on my NAS, you know that? The NAS ain't blazingly fast at the best of times, for one thing, and if I stop using it for a few minutes the drive spins down. Which is what it's supposed to do, in order to increase the drive life. It's just annoying because sometimes I try to use it and have to wait ten or so seconds for the drive to spin up again.

Anyway none of those things get in the way when watching from the flash drive. So I decided to go back and rewatch all of Bakuon! this afternoon, in part because I wanted to grab and post all the eye catches. But along the way I spotted something that annoyed me a bit the first time and still annoys me.

OK, this show is a farce, and when you watch a farce you turn up the "suspension of disbelief" dial to 11. I understand that. But it still didn't work in this case.

Some background: Rin's bike is a 400cc Suzuki Katana. There are a range of sizes of bikes sold under the Katana brand name, ranging from 50cc up to 1100cc, as far as I can tell. Part of Rin's character is that she's pretentious. So one day the bike club decide to go out for a touring ride, just because the weather is nice, and Rin decline to join them. She really wants to go but she wants someone to beg her, and no one does. So she follows them and pulls in at the destination shortly after they arrive.

But when accused of following the other girls, she claims she's there for another group. Onsa points out three guys with full-size Katanas and asks if that's them.

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Well, she's stuck. So she rolls her bike over to them and says, "Hi, fellow Suzuki riders. Mind if I join you?"

And they snub her. Her bike is too small.

No. Not a chance. I can't buy that. Yes, it was a funny scene but even the rule of funny doesn't excuse this.

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There isn't any chance that those guys wouldn't immediately try to hit on a girl that looks like this, especially when she went to them instead of the other way around. Of course, if they had done that it would have been really creepy and this isn't that kind of show.

Oh, well. That's what I get for refusing to turn my brain off. Now, as to the eyecatches, they're all fan service, each featuring a bike which doesn't appear in the show and one of the girls dressed as a race queen. And they all look good. One thing that's nice is that Hane is always with a Honda, Rin with a Suzuki, Onsa with a Yamaha, Hijiri with a Ducati, and Lime with a Kawasaki. So there have been 8 so far and they're all below the fold.


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The manga has a lot of bike porn, too. Every chapter begins with a picture of one of the girls posing with a motorcycle. I'm sure that's what gave the director the idea to do this for the eyecatches.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 06:07 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 543 words, total size 3 kb.

1

Another thing I wanted to say: When you first start watching the show, it's easy to come away with the impression that Hane is a complete ditz.

I don't think it's true. Rather, I think she's innocent. And that isn't the same.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 25, 2016 06:29 PM (+rSRq)

2 The Big-Katana snub worked for me because they're so full of themselves that they never even looked at the girl, just the bike. Like many of the bike-culture jokes, you get the feeling that this is a spot-on parody of real behavior (hmmm, whatever happened to Gaijin Biker, anyway? I suspect he could fill us in). Ditto the Small-Katana riders checking out everything except the stacked blonde in tight leather.

As for Hane's innocence, I wish they'd cut to Onsa's face when she realized Hane had no idea what her peace-sign explanation meant. (the still of her counter-offer is my current background screen)

-j

Posted by: J Greely at May 25, 2016 09:35 PM (ZlYZd)

3 Damn, that short-haired gal sure knows her sexy poses!

Posted by: Jaked at May 25, 2016 10:22 PM (lhyE4)

4

Black hair or brown hair?

Brown hair == Hane
Black hair == Onsa
Blonde == Rin
Purple hair == Hijiri
Helmet == Lime

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 25, 2016 10:52 PM (+rSRq)

5 J, I see your point. Since Rin is a Suzuki otaku, part of the joke is her being rejected by some people who are even more obsessed Suzuki otaku.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at May 26, 2016 10:28 AM (+rSRq)

6 I keep wanting to make a bathroom joke out of it, but it just won't jell...
"She was snubbed because the guys identified as Suzuki-sexuals..."

No, not quite there...

Posted by: ubu at May 26, 2016 11:56 AM (SlLGE)

7 That's be Onsa; it never crossed my mind Hane had short hair but yes, you're right.

Posted by: Jaked at May 28, 2016 03:08 PM (lhyE4)

8

"Another thing I wanted to say: When you first start watching the show, it's easy to come away with the impression that Hane is a complete ditz.

I don't think it's true. Rather, I think she's innocent. And that isn't the same."

The same can be said of Yui in K-On!.

I'm wondering what a meeting between Lime and Rin's father would be like.

Posted by: muon at May 29, 2016 11:12 PM (IUHrD)

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