Rideback (manga)

Summary

Rideback (stylized as RɪᴅᴇBᴀᴄᴋ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tetsurō Kasahara. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Ikki from April 2003 to October 2008, with its chapters collected in ten tankōbon volumes. Set in Japan in the 2020s, it follows the story of college student Rin Ogata, as she comes across a two-wheeled automobile robot known as a Rideback. It was adapted into a 12-episode anime television series by Madhouse broadcast from January to March 2009. In North America, Funimation licensed the anime series for English release.

Rideback
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Rin Ogata and her Rideback, Fuego
Genre
Manga
Written byTetsurō Kasahara
Published byShogakukan
ImprintIkki Comix
MagazineMonthly Ikki
DemographicSeinen
Original runApril 25, 2003October 25, 2008
Volumes10
Anime television series
Directed byAtsushi Takahashi
Produced by
Written by
  • Hideo Takayashiki
  • Ken Iizuka
Music byTakafumi Wada
StudioMadhouse
Licensed byCrunchyroll
Original networkChiba TV, TV Saitama, tvk, KBS, Sun TV, Tokyo MX, AT-X
English network
Original run January 12, 2009 March 30, 2009
Episodes12 (List of episodes)
Novel
Rideback: Cannonball Run
Written byBoncho Kuga
Illustrated byTetsurō Kasahara
Published byShogakukan
ImprintGagaga Bunko
DemographicMale
PublishedJanuary 21, 2009

Plot edit

In the year of 2020 (2025 in the anime), an organization called the Global Government Force (世界統治軍, Seikai Toushigun, lit. "World Government Army") (GGF)[a] has taken control of the world. Rin Ogata was a promising up-and-coming ballet dancer but suffered a serious injury while dancing and decided to quit. Years later in college, she comes across a club building and soon finds herself intrigued by a transforming motorcycle-like robotic vehicle called a "Rideback". She soon finds that her unique ballet skills with balance and finesse make her a born natural on a Rideback. However, those same skills also get her into serious trouble with the government.

Characters edit

Musashino University Rideback Club edit

Rin Ogata (尾形 琳, Ogata Rin)
Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)
A college student. Being the daughter of a talented dancer, she was therefore expected to be their natural successor, having participated in dancing competitions from a young age. However, she fractured her left foot while dancing and subsequently decided to leave it, later enrolling in the theater department of Musashino University, where she first comes across the Rideback Fuego.
Tamayo Kataoka (片岡 珠代, Kataoka Tamayo)
Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese); Stephanie Young (English)
Third year student in the French literature department and a senior to both to Rin and Haruki. The Rideback champion of Japan.
Tenshirō Okakura (岡倉 天司郎, Okakura Tenshirō)
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese); Bryan Massey (English)
Head of the Rideback team. Possessing a strict character and a large nose.
Haruki Hishida (菱田 春樹, Hishida Haruki)
Voiced by: Yūji Ueda (Japanese); Micah Solusod (English)
Second year student in the English department and Rin's senior. An enthusiast of Ridebacks.
Shōko Uemura (上村 しょう子, Uemura Shōko)
Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese); Kristi Kang (English)
Childhood friend of Rin's.
Suzuri Uchida (内田 すずり, Uchida Suzuri)
Voiced by: Megumi Matsumoto (Japanese); Trina Nishimura (English)
First year student in the sociology department. Being a huge fan of Rin, she is extremely enthusiastic.

GGP (GGF in manga) edit

Romanov Kallenbach (ロマノフ・カレンバーク, Romanofu Karenbāku)
Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese); Jason Douglas (English)
The corrupt commander of the GGP. He runs the government with a dictatorship approach. He is shot and killed by Misawo. He is an anime original character.
Misawo Yokoyama (横山 みさを, Yokoyama Misawo)
Voiced by: Risa Hayamizu (Japanese); Jennifer Seman (English)
Lecturer at Musashino University's department of literature and adviser to the Rideback team. In reality, however, she is a member of the GGP.

BMA edit

Note: BMA is an acronym for Borderless Military Alliance (国境なき軍事同盟, Kokkyō Naki Gunji Dōmei).

Kiefer (キーファ, Kiifa)
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese); Robert McCollum (English)
A soldier of BMA, who rides a black Rideback. In his early years, he served in the same GGP unit as Okakura and Kallenbach before later defecting to the BMA.
Kenji Ogata (尾形 堅司, Ogata Kenji)
Voiced by: Kazuma Horie (Japanese); Jessie James Grelle (English)
Rin's younger brother.

Other characters edit

Yuki Ogata (尾形 遊紀, Ogata Yuki)
Voiced by: Mie Sonozaki (Japanese); Leah Clark (English)
Rin's mother. A talented ballet dancer who died six years before the series' story.
Megumi Yoda (依田 恵, Yoda Megumi)
Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi (Japanese); Cynthia Cranz (English)
A freelance journalist.
Ryunosuke Kataoka (片岡 龍之介, Kataoka Ryūnosuke)
Voiced by: Hidenobu Kiuchi (Japanese); J. Michael Tatum (English)
An executive of the Metropolitan Police Department and Tamayo's older brother.

Media edit

Manga edit

Rideback, written and illustrated by Tetsurō Kasahara [ja], was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Ikki from April 25, 2003,[3] to October 25, 2008.[4][5] Shogakukan collected its chapters in ten tankōbon volumes, published from May 28, 2004,[6] to February 25, 2009.[7]

Volumes edit

No. Japanese release date Japanese ISBN
1 May 28, 2004[6]978-4-09-188471-8
2 July 30, 2004[8]978-4-09-188472-5
3 January 28, 2005[9]978-4-09-188473-2
4 May 30, 2005[10]978-4-09-188474-9
5 December 26, 2005[11]978-4-09-188307-0
6 June 30, 2006[12]978-4-09-188325-4
7 December 26, 2006[13]978-4-09-188350-6
8 June 29, 2007[14]978-4-09-188367-4
9 December 26, 2008[15]978-4-09-188430-5
10 February 25, 2009[7]978-4-09-188455-8

Anime edit

An anime adaptation was announced in April 2007.[16] The 12-episode series was animated by Madhouse and directed by Atsushi Takahashi.[17][18] It was broadcast on Chiba TV, TV Saitama, tvk, KBS Kyoto, Sun TV, Tokyo MX and AT-X from January 12 to March 30, 2009.[19][20][b] The opening theme is "Rideback", performed by Mell, and the ending theme is "Kioku" (記憶, lit. "Memory") by Younha featuring Goku.[18][21]

In North America, Funimation announced the license to the series at Anime Central in May 2010.[22] Funimation released the series on Blu-ray and DVD on June 28, 2011.[23] The series made its American television debut on July 26, 2011 on Funimation Channel.[24]

Novel edit

A novel, titled Rideback: Cannonball Run (RIDEBACK―キャノンボール・ラン―, Raidobakku Kyanon Bōru Ran) was released by Shogakukan, under its Gagaga Bunko, on January 21, 2009.[25]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Global Government Plan (世界統治構想, Seikai Toushi Kousou, lit. "World Government Plan") in the anime.
  2. ^ Chiba TV listed the air dates for the series on Sunday at 24:00, which is effectively Monday at 0:00 a.m. JST.[19]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Høgset, Stig. "Rideback". THEM Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  2. ^ Miller, Evan (July 17, 2009). "Madhouse - Otakon 2009". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on July 29, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2019.
  3. ^ 月刊 IKKI 2003年 6月号 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on October 27, 2003. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  4. ^ Kasahara, Tetsurō (October 25, 2008). 炎舞 [Flame Dance]. Monthly Ikki. Rideback (in Japanese). No. December 2008. Shogakukan. ASIN B001I9XUD6.
  5. ^ Kasahara, Tetsurō (October 26, 2008). もえつきしんどろーむ. kasaharatetsuro.hatenadiary.org (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 11, 2022. Retrieved July 11, 2022.
  6. ^ a b RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 1 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  7. ^ a b RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 10 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  8. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 2 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  9. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 3 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  10. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 4 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  11. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 5 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  12. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 6 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  13. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 7 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  14. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 8 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  15. ^ RIDEBACK-ライドバック- / 9 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on July 25, 2017. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
  16. ^ Loo, Egan (April 29, 2007). "Ride Back Motorcycle Robot Manga to Be Animated for TV". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on May 2, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  17. ^ Loo, Egan (December 10, 2008). "Rideback Anime's TV Ad Officially Posted Online". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  18. ^ a b Loo, Egan (December 18, 2008). "Rideback Motorcycle Robot Anime's 2nd TV Ad Streamed". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  19. ^ a b TVアニメ『ライドバック』がチバテレビほかU局系にて、2009年1月放送開始!. Mynavi News (in Japanese). Mynavi Corporation. December 3, 2008. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  20. ^ "RIDEBACK". Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  21. ^ 2009年冬期(新春)放送開始の新作アニメ一覧. Gigazine (in Japanese). December 5, 2008. Archived from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2020. OP:MELL「RIDEBACK」 ED:ユンナ featuring GOKU「記憶」
  22. ^ Loo, Egan (May 15, 2010). "Funimation Adds Rosario + Vampire, Chaos;HEAd, Regios". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  23. ^ Manry, Gia (September 17, 2020). "North American Anime, Manga Releases: June 26-July 2". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  24. ^ Funimation Channel (July 6, 2011). "FUNimation Channel – Weekend Roudup (7/1 – 7/3) The Uber Late Edition". Funimation. Archived from the original on March 29, 2012. Retrieved November 26, 2011.
  25. ^ RIDEBACK―キャノンボール・ラン― (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved July 16, 2021.

Further reading edit

  • Chavez, Ed (March 5, 2009). "RideBack". Otaku USA. Archived from the original on March 14, 2019.

External links edit

  • Rideback official manga website at Monthly Ikki at the Wayback Machine (archived 2015-03-19) (in Japanese)
  • Rideback official anime website at Tokyo MX at the Wayback Machine (archived 2017-02-11) (in Japanese)
  • Rideback official anime website at Funimation
  • Rideback (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia