Bobby ni Kubittake

Bobby’s in Deep iis actually based on a novel that came out in 1980, and does have some significant differences in the anime release that came out 5 years later. Some of those differences are that in addition to Bobby’s passion for motorcycles, he’s also a beach bum surfer and it was more emphasized that he was more of a surfer than a biker, and he got a job at a surfing shop rather than as a waiter. Plus, it’s also elaborated in the novel by this girl who is writing to Bobby is suffering from an illness while it’s pure curiosity in the animethat drives her to write the letters. Sorry for the spoiler, but I felt I needed to point that out As for this movie, I felt it ends where you are finally start to have development and pure resolution, and a sense of direction for Bobby. The ending will feel anti-climatic, but it does take you by surprise. It’s nothing you really expected, but the ending made me felt nothing really progressed at some capacity, but I guess the ending does prove a point that what happens in this anime can happen to some people in real life, and I’m sure it has. And I feel the biggest quality this anime has is its realism. But that’s just me. For establishment, I think it fails. Such as there is no official explanation of why he is called Bobby, and how he got his motorcycle to begin with, or anything of why he’s such a bad student or the kind of guy he is. I think if they showed Bobby in school, we’d get a better foundational idea of his personality and why he prefers motorcycles over academics. Other things I’d like to know about Bobby are: is he popular? Is he a loser? Or is he just that guy? Or is he just one those people that are naturally like that? Is he a symbol that he doesn’t want to live up to society’s expectations? I felt the anime needed to be more direct with certain things more clearly. Well, don’t expect any fireballs or any exaggerated designs or hair colors. Expect more realistic characters clothing, hairstyles and use of colors like in Wangan Midnight, Initial D, and Hajime no Ippo. The designs are pretty good, and I guess because of it’s more realistic approach with the drawings, it won’t really stand out in comparison to Akira or Windaria in relation to it’s use of colors and background and costume designs. There’s nothing really to complain about it in terms of technical flaws rather than use of still shots and paintings. The animation sequences are some of the best hand-drawn ones I’ve seen in awhile. Whenever they play a song sometimes or some montage, it’ll come across more as an 80s music video with the random drawings on a neon colored foreground. But it goes well with the atmosphere and the mood of the movie. And the way Bobby drives his motorcycle sometimes is breathtaking and the weather at times makes you wish you want to ride on that blue baby of his. A majority of the cast is mostly singers and actors, and they were never seiyuus, and are still active in j-dramas and movies. So you can call Nomura Hironobu, the voice of Bobby, something of an Oguri Shun of 1985 who recently played Akio in Wangan Midnight, an anime I previously reviewed. And he was also a rising singer at the time and sang a few of the songs in this anime as well which were a nice addition and were more in direct relation to the story and mood of the anime. But I think he could have done better with Bobby’s portrayal such as make him more something of a punk, or come across as unsure with his life. It seems to me all he wants is happiness and not really success. Also, Shimizu Mayumi, the seiyuu who plays the girl who writes to Bobby sings some of the songs and sings the ending theme, a good cover to the 1960s hit, Bobby’s Girl in perfect English. I think they added the personality that the anime needed with both characters and music. All I have to say is watch this anime for the music and visuals. You won’t regret it for that. The characterization I wouldn’t say flat out sucks, but with the foundation it had, it could have been so much better. I thought it could have been something along the lines of a Wangan Midnight of it’s time, but in terms of its story and characters, it’s no where near the league of how Wangan Midnight executes its character exploration and development. I guess what makes Bobby so interesting is because he’s not only just an everybody we know and/or relate to, he’s more of those 1/5 anybody’s we probably knew back in high school: A kid from a well off family who wanted the best out of him, but didn’t seem to know what he wanted to do with his life because he messes around. Despite that, there is some confusion of giving any indication whether or not he’s a delinquent considering how he resists his father’s demands, and that he’s a drop out. He doesn’t do drugs or get into fights. He seems like a mellow guy. Maybe I am making generalizations, but hey, I think this characteristics and the ending is what makes him uniquely human in some right.

Bobby's in deep is certainly a very interesting work - short and experimental, but it holds a lot of content, animation and background themes wise. Which is a bit surprising, considering the fact that the anime was largely produced to promote a young pop idol, who voiced the main character. Bobby has a pretty plain personality and he's also a man of few words. This somehow rubs off on many of the anime's characteristics. It's interesting, that most of what we get to learn about Bobby is not from him personally, but through the girl that is writing him letters, trough his father that's scolding himand through dialogs between other characters. This kinda fits Bobby's simple, carefree character and creates a care-free mood for the anime. At the same time, it projects the genuinely increasing boredom within the youth in those (and todays) times. Some viewer might complain about the fact, that we only get to know as much about Bobby as he interacts with other people (almost nothing). On the up side, because of this, we are put into an interesting perspective of a random observer and all the other pieces, like in real life, are left to our own judgment and assumptions. Another interesting case of this perspective of a random observer appears in the fact that we only get to see a silhouette of Bobby's secret admirer. This way, her looks are left to our own imagination and we don't get to know about her any more than Bobby does. It certainly is an interesting technique, which lowers the cost of animation and at the same time it maybe even feels more rewarding to the viewer than the classic character presentation. If you've got a sharp eye, you'll soon notice that Bobby's in Deep contains a few social critiques. Bobby's mostly indifferent character (except when it comes to his bike) is a way of criticizing the important Japanese belief, which pushes the youth to educate themselves as highly as possible and land a job in a respectable company - at all costs. The school system is also criticized, when Bobby says: "The school only knows how to send the notes to home, because it's the cheapest." In truth, no one really wants to bother with the problems of youth and lend a helping hand, which sadly mostly holds true even today. The animation in Bobby's in Deep is quite special and it would be unfair to write it off as cheap. It's true that the story is often represented through a slide show of hand drawn pictures and the animation is abstracted. But I like to imagine it's a representation of Bobby's slightly confused view of the world, and in this way the viewer experiences it through Bobby's eyes. Most of the second half of the movie will be greatly appreciated by the biker fans, as it includes a few sunny scenes with the motorbikes in their element. Towards the end, there is an exceptionally unique riding scene, where the camera switches to first person view and the picture falls apart into simple black & white lines and sketches. There is no music, just the sound of the bike and the tires screeching. It's awesome and definitely worth a watch. The ending is debatable and a bit provocative. Some people may be disappointed and state that it falls short. I, on the other hand, find it quite catharsic. Bobby is a rebel against the norms of society, the strict tradition, the school system and the whole anime is dipped in his beliefs. But, as no one in the world is perfect, the ending represents the other pole, which favors the general rules of society and the system. All in all, Bobby didn't do anything wrong, he lived by his beliefs and acted as he saw fit. After all, there is a thin line between a carefree and a careless attitude which, in a series of unfortunate events, can result in a fatal outcome. Even so, the ending is quite open. It just serves as a reminder, that life isn't always one-sided and compromises are often necessary. P.S. You can read more about Bobby in this great article on ANN: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-05-17 .

Having just seen Bobby's In Deep for the first time, and having read the reviews that have been posted for the film to date, I feel compelled to post a review of my own in praise of the film for several strong positive qualities which others seem to have missed. To my understanding, Bobby's In Deep is a 45 minute short film from 1985 adapting a 1980 novel by the same name. The main character Bobby (real name Akihiko Nomura) is a 17/18 year old motorcycle enthusiast who has toured around Japan taking photos and submitting them to amateur motorcycle magazines. The movie opens with Bobbyreceiving a fan letter from a girl who has seen some of his photos and has been moved by the power of the imagery. The girl's voice narrates the letter, and Bobby narrates his reply as he sends her his answer back to her, setting up a romantic back and forth exchange of love letters which plays out as events in Bobby's young life start to rapidly unfold, starting with his decision to drop out of high school two weeks before summer vacation. The school notifies his parents of his absence, he has a confrontation with his father, and he winds up thrown out of the house to fend for himself and live with the consequences of his decision with nothing but his motorcycle and the clothes on his back. I feel compelled to note that there isn't any indication in the movie that Bobby is a juvenile delinquent. He doesn't hang out with a bad crowd, or do drugs, or even talk back to his parents when they yell at him. He just seems to be a free spirit that doesn't value the kind of lifestyle that higher education and the traditional Japanese value system have to offer him, so he accepts his parents' disapproval and goes out into the world to find his own path to adulthood. Bobby's In Deep has a rather thin story for an anime film. It is barely 45 minutes in length, after all. To deal with this, the film dispenses with the backstory and focuses on present events. We don't know how Bobby picked up the Western nickname, where he got the motorcycle, why he's such a bad student, or his other potential aspects as a character. What we do know is that it is the early 1980's, the peak of Japan's post-war miracle economy, and Bobby is a very nontraditional young person traveling the country on his motorcycle, coming of age, and maybe even falling in love in the unique environment of that time and place, and everything the movie does with that in 45 minutes is rather impressive. What Bobby's In Deep lacks in story, it more than makes up for in creative direction and visuals. The film is no Angel's Egg (released the same year, interestingly) but deserves some recognition as experimental filmmaking for its skillful inclusion of still photography, brush-like watercolors, and imaginatively rendered representation of light and shadow into every exquisitely hand-drawn frame of the animation. It is a brief experience, but remarkable if you are looking for it. In 1985 Bobby's In Deep may have been an unexceptional short film with some shiny animation, meant to promote a book and the careers of some aspiring J-drama personalities. Thirty years later, it is a time capsule of 1985 Japan with the power to transport you back and give you an idea what it felt like to be young, rebellious and in love in the sunset years of Showa era Japan, even if you are too young to have ever experienced anything of the kind yourself. For devoted Japanophiles it is a real gem. If you let the film's unique perspective slip by you, worrying too much about why Bobby's grades are poor, then you have really missed out on something special.

Bobby ni Kubittake is bland and uninspiring slog through 44 minutes of the most contrived romance and terrible characterization that the world has ever seen. It goes for the "rebel boy" Image with their main character, Bobby, who's blandness is one of the 8 wonders of the modern world, but they fail because the "rebel boy" image is so tired and overused, it just seems like he's conforming to a tired stereotype. The main word I like to use when discussing this pitiful display is "tired", there's just nothing to say about it. It's so bland, that bland can't properly summarize how bland it is.It's blander then a meal that has been boiled, left unseasoned, and served with a side of Wonderbread, complimented by "I can't believe it's not butter!" on the side. If only there were more to say, but this leaves so little of an impact that saying anything more would be futile, and stretching the boundaries of plausibility. Please don't watch this, don't even try to MST3K it, you'll run out of material to talk about soon, and eventually fall asleep. There is one scene that does catch the eye though, and reflects what madhouse would be doing for the rest of it's long and illustrious career as an animation studio, and that is when bobby is driving a motorcycle recklessly fast on the freeway. It is shot in first person, and is particularly disconcerting and even (gasp) thrilling! If only the rest of the show where at all that memorable, we might have had a good anime on our hands. The soundtrack is also, as I've said about the majority of the anime, "tired" to say the least. That's all that needs to be said about the soundtrack, it's tired. And now I am, this literally put me to sleep, unless you want to join the unfortunate cadre of unsuspecting citizens who have sat through this atrocity, then don't watch this, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, unless they really had to got to sleep.

You can feel the *potential* in this short story, but ultimately there's no message conveyed here - no meaning, no resolution. In the end, you are left asking, what have I learned here, what is the message? And coming up empty. It's not so much as a "story" as it is a "mood" or "feeling". It would be easy to look down on Bobby as a no-good, do-nothing slacker that is letting his future slowly slip away from him. But to be honest, there was some of that in me as well when I was younger,without any direction in life and not caring. To use the gift of hindsight and look back thirty years to when I was his age and yell at him for some of his stupid decisions would be a bit hypocritical. So, yeah, Bobby's in deep, as he sort of slinks through Summer. He has a slacker job, there's a secret admirer that is writing him letters that is never seen (except through the words of the letters), and at the very end it seems like there might be an "out" - but then the final event (no spoilers), leaving the viewer just simply wondering. In some cases that could be seen as an interesting twist (like the fade-to-black at the end of Sopranos), but in this case, it's just plain frustrating. The artwork and animation are decent enough, and in some cases delve into the experimental, like the vertigo-inducing A-ha Take On Me scene. The color palette shifts increasingly to blue as the OVA continues (on purpose), and the storytelling style matches the main character -- lackadaisical, carefree, breezy, and a bit morose.