HOLY CRAP, a post that’s not about Sailor Moon Crystal or Korra!

So, uh, first off… I had to get my VCR replaced.  That used Sony unit I got at Sacramento served me well, and I’m surprised that the reason it had to be retired was NOT due to the loading mechanism, but rather something with its video output and the RF.

Anyway, after I got a working VCR, I had problems getting the audio.  Ultimately, the problem was my tuner and microphone fighting over which one of them could be active… with neither of them being active if only one of them is plugged in, meaning I have to have both of them plugged so I can disable the one that I’m not using.  It’s rather absurd all around.

Anyway, this week’s title is something on my list of anime that was released on VHS and LD but never got a DVD release.  And funnily enough, DVDs are getting rather hard to come by now too.  So, strap yourself in for… Shonan Bakusozoku!

We start off with a pompadoured man named Jun talking about the future with a girl named Miyabi.

Jun and Miyabi… are NOT the main characters of this anime.

Our main character is Eguchi, a similarly pompadoured high schooler who also takes an interest in embroidery.

Seriously, his entire schtick is that he’s a charismatic tough guy that likes something considered girly and adheres to a certain code of chivalry and hot-bloodedness that I can’t quite decipher.   By the way, that code of manliness?  It’s what this entire anime is about.  It lives and breathes this theme to the point that I seriously doubt it was really based on a manga and not an essay about youth biker culture.

We’re introduced to Eguchi in the present, then we cut to the rest of his biker gang talking about him and having flashbacks to when they first met Eguchi.  It’s kinda sloppily done, really, and in the end I just don’t find myself giving a crap about any of the characters.

It doesn’t take long before Eguchi shows his nice side to his love interest, the indescribably unremarkable and mildly naggy Tsuyama.

Here’s how their romance breaks down: In their first scene together, we see that they know each other, Eguchi teases her with a generic eyelid-pull, tongue out maneuver, and Tsuyama gives a light “hmph!”  In the flashback scene, we see that they joined the embroidery club at around the same time.  And in their second present-day scene together, Eguchi gives her an embroidered cloth as a birthday present.  After this scene, they walk home together as a romantic image song plays in the background.

Honestly, I’m not sure what to say about that.  I guess the goal is to encapsulate youth and not make a big spectacle about starting a relationship.  I respect that, but still… there’s just no sense of a payoff and I barely know these characters yet, so I’m just left with not knowing how I’m supposed to feel.  Is the intended audience older people?  Are they supposed to look at them and go “ah, youth!”

Oh, but guess what?  That’s right, our main character is in a bike gang.  Nearly forgot about that.  Yeah, we rapidly shift gears over to Gonda, leader of the rival Hell’s Legion gang.

Basically, Gonda’s a big tough guy obsessed with beating Eguchi and makes trouble for him.  Eguchi challenges Gonda to a motorcycle race, and Gonda is in over his head, but hey, at least he has the balls to follow through, even if he pisses himself and nearly passes out while driving unprotected at 110 mph.

Skip to a police station, where we see Jun and Miyabi from the beginning.

Jun and Miyabi are the leaders of the Rustle Jets, another bike gang.  They’re preparing to go to America, so they decide to disband the gang and let the other gangs in the area know about it.  Basically, they want to make a clean break with no bad blood.  The plan goes rather well, too.  Jun has a chat with Eguchi (and I’m utterly shocked that they aren’t related) and Jun feels like he’s leaving the area in good hands.

Unfortunately, Gonda devises a plan to dress some of his men up as members of Eguchi’s Bokusozoku gang and beat up some of the Rustle Jets, thus framing Eguchi and marking them for a brutal beating.

Eguchi finds out about the alleged attack and figures he’s being set up.  But rather than try to make peace, Eguchi prepares his men for a hot-blooded street fight.  Because… youth.

Oh, right… somewhere along the line, one of the other embroidery club members hooked up with the red-haired member of Eguchi’s gang.  Just out of nowhere.  I’m not kidding.

So the 5-member Bakusozoku goes to meet with the 200-member Rustle Jets, and Eguchi kinda half-heartedly tries to say he’s innocent in the vaguest way possible, then says to split up (each member of his gang only needs to fight 40 men).  But then Gonda has a change of heart and puts an end to the fight before it even begins.  Because if the Rustle Jets beat Eguchi’s gang up, it’s not really a victory for Gonda.  Also, it’s kind of a scumbag thing to do.

Meanwhile, the girls are heading to the area to put a stop to the fight, completely unaware that everything’s okay now.  How is everything okay?  Well, Gonda and the Hell’s Legion was about to get completely wiped out by the Rustle Jets, but Eguchi yells that he’s still hot-blooded and suggests the three leaders have a bike race to the pier.  Because that’s how those gangs settled things: either with a massive brawl or a high-stakes race.

Of course, EVERYONE ELSE joins the race after the leaders.

I neglected to mention that Jun had this (I guess) moving epiphany about finding his future driving in the desert highways of America, and Miyabi sees a glimpse of Jun’s vision when she sees the three gang leaders racing.

In the end, we don’t even see who wins the race.  Possibly because it really doesn’t matter.  The whole thing just kinda ends on an image song with Eguchi looking at the ocean, then the credits roll and the ending credit song plays.

Yeah, that’s it.  That’s Shonan Bakusozoku.

According to AnimEigo’s legendary liner notes, Shonan (or Shoonan, as it’s printed in the notes) Bakusozoku “is somewhat of an experiment for AnimEigo, as it is part of a genre of Japanese animation that is almost unknown in the United States.  If you liked it, and would like to see other films in the Shoonan series, please write and tell us.  We particularly like the one where they go up against a rival gang of vampires…”  Wow, sounds like the later episodes were awesome.  And yes, people had the opportunity to tell AnimEigo whether or not they should go forward with licensing a series.  It’s a strange practice that might have a chance of flying now, but looking back, you have to wonder what the hell AnimEigo was thinking.  In 1993, anime was niche as fuck.  Of that niche audience, few were going to blindly buy Shonan Bakusozoku.  And who knows who out of those buyers liked what they saw enough to mail to AnimEigo asking for more?  But to think, there were 11 more episodes of this… and one of them was a freakin’ vampire episode!  Why couldn’t we at least have had that?

AnimEigo CEO Robert Woodhead responded to my email and told me the experiment was to test the viability of the genre.  The release actually made money, but there were better options for a return on investment.  I have to say, I’m surprised it made money.  1993 must have been a different time indeed.

Emotion: 2
I could see what the anime was going for, but recognition doesn’t equate to effectiveness.  It works as an encapsulation of a type of youth culture, but not much else.

Comedy: 2
There were some scattered comedic scenes throughout the episode, but the humor just falls flat.

Pleasure Rating: I Can’t Believe I Watched the Whole Thing!
Not particularly bad, really.  Not really worth watching outside of general curiosity, either.  And it’s not like it’s necessarily boring.  Just pointless.

Rewatchability: 2

Music: Catchy Image Songs

Marketability: 2
Pretty forgettable character designs all around, though there is a tiny bit of potential with the motorcycles and eye-catching hairstyles.  I was utterly shocked to learn that unlike most of the anime I review here, there’s actually quite a bit of merchandise out there for Shonan Bakusozoku.  Seriously, just do an eBay search.  Maybe it got a lot better in those 11 episodes.

It’s really hard to judge this anime considering I only saw the first episode.  It was sloppily done, but I get the sense that was for the benefit of later episodes.  We do eventually get a sense of what Eguchi stands for and the depth of the biker culture outside of stereotypical tough guy punks, but it just wasn’t very enjoyable.  There were actually times it felt more like a documentary.  Its main draw seems to be that it represents the underrepresented genre of biker gangs (how is this a genre?), but in just a few short years, the more popular and notable Shonan Junai Gumi would hit the scene, itself being overshadowed by its own successor, Great Teacher Onizuka.  In the face of that, Shonan Bakusozoku lacks a great deal of competitive edge, overlooked or not.  But hey, if nothing else, the sole English release stands out as an interesting and unique curiosity of anime history.