Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu

Ummm...Long Riders, LA thinks Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu will like to have a word with ya..... Biking anime has been on the "rise" and this is anime feels like an above average endevour for this biking "sports" anime niche. Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu is about a group of girls wanting to form a bicycle club in Minami Kamakura High School and through happenstance, challenges and tribulations they ride to form their club and look at the sights of Japan. In terms of characters, we have our typical archetypes cast for this kind of anime. We have Hiromi Maiharu voiced by Reina Ueda, the main protagonistand our typical ditz and genki, Tomoe Akizuki voiced by Yuuki Hirose, our smart and stern one that keeps everyone in step, Fuyune Kamikura voiced by Natsumi Takamori the ojou tsundere and Natsumi Higa voiced by Natsumi Fujiwara the athletic one. LA will say the obvious, but the characters chemistry just has something that clicks for LA and this just isn't because of the unified hobby of biking, but that have interaction not just about biking bringing in the character chemistry all the more better and even better once the club's camaraderie through the trials and tribulations comes into play. There is another character that comes into play, that being Sandy McDougal voiced by Emiko Takeuchi that puts a bit more of a dynamic to the group once she enters the club. The supporting characters aren't just expositional fairies and they have a bit of a personality outside of just being exposition (as in they have lives outside of the cast) that being Shiki Mori voiced by Sayumi Watabe, their teacher and advisor and Korone Hououji voiced by Yurika Kubo, the owner of Cycle Flats. The character cast is typical yes, but they have that character chemistry and the supporting cast not just being expositional fairies just lecturing us really making the anime interesting or just passable at worst. In terms of animation by JC Staff and A.C.G.T, the animation's character designs are ok and decent at best though LA had a strange irritation with their eyes (mainly because their pupils being too big the majority of the time it inadvertently put attention to it). The background designs are decent to gorgeous as well though it feels like the animation's put more emphasis on it's technical bicycles and the characters riding them than the backgrounds at times. No LA isn't saying that the backgrounds are awful by any means but it seems that the animation just tends to focus more on the it's technical bike scenes than the background at times. On speaking of which, the CGI also done by JC Staff and Xanthus is passable a best as the animation tries to keep using it's traditional style and only use the biking scenes only when it needs to (though in latter episodes it starts to become blatant). Overall the animation is decent enough for LA not to be too annoyed by it either way and the CGI isn't annoyingly obvious. The voice acting is above average for this anime, what with the ever ditzy genki Reina Ueda as Hiromi to some ok standouts like Natsumi Fujiwara and Natsumi Takamori and Yurika Kubo. Some of the more unique voice cast would easily go to Emiko Takeuchi as Sandy McDougal, what with her broken Japanese and occasional sprinkles of Engrish/English here and there just remind LA alot of Nao Touyama or Yukari Tamura from her. On speaking of reminding, Sayumi Watabe reminded LA ALOT of Shizuka Ito's mature non-femme fatale vocals and her vocals CONSTANTLY reminded LA of Shizuka Ito!. Overall decent voice cast but not enough to either rage about or praise the heavens either. LA should mention that Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu has an extra segment near the end of every episode, pretty much bringing us a live action segment with two voice actors from the show and essentially lecturing and talking about bike safety and biking 101 like a TV special, it was interesting and unique to say the least and this segment kinda brought up the entire reasoning as to why Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu doesn't do the entire lecturing about biking 101 and gets right into it (though yes, Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu still does exposition about biking but more to it's situations and integrates and blends them to mask it's exposition not making it any more blatant). If what LA first above statement is anything to go by, LA definitely prefers Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu over Long Riders, sure they both have the same elements of girls and biking together and seeing the sights and whatnot, but LA feels that Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu had a bit more in the background and foreground to make the anime a bit more interesting than it's lackadaisical Long Riders. For one, how the anime structures it pacing with the girls pitted as the underdog of sorts and trying to get through their own tough trials and tribulations to get their biking club is a strong point making the sense of urgency of them biking have a cause to it, unlike Long Riders' "let's just do it because delicious food". Secondly is that the characters have a life outside of their hobby in some respect, sure the main cast are hooked on biking and that's just what they do every single episode, but we still learn more about the main cast AS well as the supporting cast members as well making them less expositional fairies and more developed in some respects. Lastly and most obviously is that the anime's animation is at least above average (not perfect or amazing) than Long Riders is. *ahem*...Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu is a slightly above average anime about biking, sure it still has the same pitfalls of girls with biking anime LA has ventured into what with our reward effectively being the beautiful backgrounds and what we need to get it are characters talking with each other on bikes here and there, but even with this, Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitensha-bu is still a decent anime about biking and a welcome step forward for biking animes, though they do kinda need to step it up even more than this though... God damn it, Hane Sakura's anime about biking outdid Rin Suzunoki's anime about biking.

Firstly, let me say that I feel this anime would have done much better had it preceded Yowapeda, as I imagine a lot of people will be interested in this anime after already having seen the aforementioned and wanting more glorious bicycle action. Also, this is my first review and it's more than likely to contain a few accidental spoilers. Now that that's out of the way, onto the review. I went into this anime with fairly low expectations but I was pleasantly surprised. Minami Kamakura focuses on the fun side of cycling, touring around, sightseeing, and just enjoying yourself with your friends or by yourself.It's a nice change from the other sports anime that I've seen which have been very competitive focused. As this is the case however, it's going to lose a lot of it's audience for the same reason. It's difficult not to compare this work to Yowapeda despite them being wildly different anime, and because of that it kinda... loses a bit of its majesty. Many people like their anime to be competitive focused, but this one is more about the slice of life aspect, which I personally think is a good direction for it. Yes, the anime is a little dreary at times. There were a few parts where I got a little annoyed at the anime, majority of the time during the race. Should you watch this? Honestly, the anime is fairly average. I quite enjoyed it for the most part, but I think the rating is fairly accurate. There's nothing that's exceptional about the anime, but I do think it's a very good entry level cycling anime. Pros: - Very definitely marketed towards women and non-cyclers - All the brands were correct (tfw Cannondate) - The club supervisor actually has an active role in the club - It's a very good instructional guide on how to cycle, and how to get into cycling - It shows off cycling as fun, rather than just for the competitive sporty aspect - Cute girls - Sandy's voice actor had an excellent accent which really fit the character, which is a change from other VA's voicing an "American" character - The background animation and the way the bikes are animated are really nice - The terminology used is easy to understand for those who aren't into cycling Cons: - Very definitely marketed towards women - The race was really lackluster - The odd obsession with mummy bikes - The mummy bikes being equal in speed to the road bikes??? - UNICO - The animation for the mostpart seems quite lazy, especially during the race - The way the faces look just... isn't good - Nothing really stands out about this anime - Sandy's reason for being in Japan If you haven't seen Yowapeda I think this anime is a really good entrypoint into the world of cycling. If you have, try not to compare the two or you might just drop it when the race comes along. I've given this anime a 7 because I feel like a 6 isn't doing it justice, and it's definitely a decent anime.

I'm sure every person here has, at one time or another, gorged themselves on something sickeningly sweet and ended up making themselves feel really ill. Well, this anime has the same effect. The main character is one of those nicey, nicey types who smiles with their mouth wide open. It's supposed to make them look adorable, but actually creates the impression that they're a brain-dead halfwit. A lovable one, of course. This anime was so annoyingly nice, and everyone was so loving and friendly, after only a few episodes I wanted to set fire to my television. It was cringe-worthy.And yet the worse was still to come. In episode 8 an American appears. Sally. For those who can't abide dubbed anime because the horrible, valley-girl accents make characters appear one dimensional, dim-witted morons, her inclusion is horrifying. Although she speaks in Japanese, they made her accent that of a dubbed anime character. That's right, she spoke with that infuriating, moronic valley girl voice that has ruined translated anime since the dawning of time. I still don't know how I got to the end without shooting myself. It was horrible! Please, give this anime a miss. There's a fair chance it'll make your flesh crawl. Excuse me, I need to go and throw up.

Minami Kamakura Koukou Joshi Jitenshabu, in my opinion, only has 2 things going for it. It's incredible art design and background details, and how well they cast English speakers in their Japanese dub. Of all the characters in Minami the only one I truly liked was Sandy, which is a shame since she only appears as a main cast member (and having any lines outside "KUMA!") starting in episode 8. Emiko Takeuchi did an amazing job making Sandy sound like an America who is fluent in Japanese but with a very obvious accent. Sandy's English was also incredibly well done as it sounds authentic. Anime generallyhave Japanese VAs who have very obvious Japanese accents dub English lines, or they miscast the character completely (an American having a British accent for example). Minami not only has a very well cast main character but even the tourists in Episode 13 who speak English have proper accents and pronunciation (assuming they are stereotypical Americans). Speaking of characters... Hiromi, the first character we meet in the entire anime, is a complete an utter moron who is so stupid its irredeemable. She shows her stupidity many times throughout the anime but the worst is in one of her very first scenes in Episode 1: She forgets how to ride a bike and is shocked to remember bikes require pedaling. How does someone forget that bicycles require you to pedal them? It's ridiculous. Having a dim main character can be endearing but dear god. Hiromi herself knocks many points of this anime because she never shows to grow as a character or anything, outside learning how to actually ride a bike again. The artistic direction is sometimes breathtaking and quite unique. It can be a bit jarring seeing super cartoony anime characters superimposed over a very detailed, realistic back drop but it somehow works most of the time. Other than these few points Minami is fairly mediocre and sometimes boring. Besides Sandy, Hiromi, and to a certain extent Sensei, all the characters are rather bland and the sounds design is pretty meh. Not amazing but Sandy saved it for me. 5/10 because of Sandy, otherwise would be a 4/10

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