Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Original anime ideas are a rarity these days. Back in the 80s and 90s they were pretty much everywhere but as time went on and anime’s growing popularity it became much harder to be original. When you’ve done just about every idea under the sun creating something new is tough, so you focus on telling a good story with characters people can relate to. However, every now and then, Japan dishes out an original anime that’s worth checking out. One of them being Appare-Ranman. Thought up by Masakazu Hashimoto, Appare-Ranman was an original anime produced by P.A. Works (Angel Beats and Charlotte) a studio that has a history of making original anime. When it was announced there was definitely a lot of excitement around it. The characters looked interesting, the concept was fun, and of course it was original. When the anime came out in 2020 it delivered on the hype as everyone who watched the first episodes enjoyed the story and concept. But tragedy would strike when the anime went on hiatus due to the pandemic. Because this was an original idea there was no manga to tie us over so all the hype for this series died down big time. While the anime would return three months later it was too late, the damage had been done. People stopped talking about it and didn’t seem to care that it had returned. And we’re here to look at it and see if they were right to do it. Let’s get those engines revving. This is Appare-Ranman.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “I got it!” by Mia REGINA. It’s a fun and lively song to listen to. The beat is good it shows off all the characters and matches the atmosphere the anime is trying to create the viewer. This is a song telling you to have fun and enjoy the anime.
The ending is “I’m Nobody” by Shoutarou Morikubo. Man I never thought I would hear Japanese country music and I never thought I would say this but I need more of it in my life. The song really does capture the music of this anime’s time period. An American western tale involving Japanese people. A perfect example of a culture respecting another culture.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts with our main characters starting a car race (man the Wacky Races reboot is looking good). We then flashback to one year earlier where we meet our first main character Appare voiced by Natsuki Hanae (Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul), a young eccentric boy who seems to be a genius when it comes to engineering (imagine Ed from Cowboy Bebop except a boy and not as childish and crazy). The only problem is his inventions always cause trouble for everyone and he doesn’t care. As a result, he gets thrown in prison, but quickly escapes by picking the lock and going home (scene here: https://youtu.be/he_AC3xVljI?si=2Xan_sz3Jr1iFlzz, screw you guys, I’m going home). In order to keep him in check he’s given a tutor named Kosame voiced by Seiichirō Yamashita (Takahiro from Walkure Romanze), a cowardly samurai who teaches at a dojo. Once word gets out about Appare escaping prison, the samurais are sent to find him so he can be severely punished. Kosame finds Appare in his workshop just outside his family’s house where Kosame tries to reason with him but has no luck (scene here: https://youtu.be/zp6bhf5MnKk?si=2mRvOX_Tj3lG2fcp, you can’t reason with the eccentric. (Mira): Oh trust me, we know). Appare followed by Kosame uses an underground tunnel to reach the sea where we see Appare has created a steamboat with a modified engine (he did all that himself? Damn, don’t hold this kid back, let him go crazy). He plans to set sail and see other cities to one day realize his dream and travel to space (this kid is ahead of his time). As Appare sets sail Kosame and other samurais try to stop him and fail with Kosame winding up on the boat and accidently pushing a lever which sends the steam engine into overdrive. They soon become lost at sea with the engine burnt out and no food (yeah, they dead). 8 days pass and they get saved by another steam-powered ship courtesy of America (fuck yeah~) who give them a ride all the way to Los Angles (before it became corrupted by Hollywood).
In episode 2 Kosame and Appare are stuck in America with not enough money for a trip to Japan. The captain does give them a hangar to live in, so at least they have a roof over their head, and they start to make money on the streets. While Kosame wants to get home as quickly as possible, Appare seems to be enjoying himself especially when he discovers cars and hears about the Trans-American Race, a no-holds-barred race across the country from Los Angeles to New York City (back when racing actually meant something and tested the skills of drivers. Now it’s just driving in a circle for hours). Appare decides he wants to enter the race, but he’ll need to build a car. In order to get a better understanding of them, he and Kosame break into a racing track to examine one. While there they meet a Chinese woman named Xialian, a mechanic who wants to be a racer but isn’t allowed to because she’s a woman. She doesn’t tell anyone about Appare and Kosame’s trespassing and the two manage to leave the racing track unnoticed. As the episode ends Kosame sees an Indian boy getting attacked by some Americans (come on guys, we already stole their land) and tries to come to his aid, but he freezes when he sees a gun because his mom was shot as a child.
Episode 3 starts with Kosame getting saved by Dylan a racer who’s the favorite to win the Trans-American Race (and who I’m sure will return as a plot point down the line). After this, we focus on the Indian boy named Hototo whose dad and tribe were murdered by bandits. Hototo is now out for revenge where his only clue of the bandit who killed his dad is that he has a snake tattoo on his neck (urgh~, neck tattoos are so strange). Hototo sticks around with the group who are getting evicted from their hangar as a foreigner from Europe bought all the hangars. We meet the foreigner whose name is Al and his handler/babysitter Sofia who are representing BNW (this world’s version of BMW) in the Trans-American Race. Al wants to win the race in the hopes of showing his dad and older brothers that he’s worthy of being the heir to the company. Kosame and Appare approach him in the hopes that he’ll let them keep the hangar, but he says no, so Appare challenges him to a race saying that if he wins they get to keep the hangar and as an added bonus they get Al’s car (that is a sweet deal). If Al wins he gets Kosame’s katanas as well as the Segway that Appare built later on in the episode (he really is ahead of the curve). The race will take place in 10 days and since Al is so confident that he’ll win he lets Appare choose the course for the race and everything (Al you are making a huge mistake and I love it). They go to Xialian for some used parts who tells them it’s impossible to beat a BNW but Appare says that’s what makes it so interesting (agreed. Long ago they said that nothing would surpass Dragonball Z and then years later One Piece came and surpassed it in terms of both quality and story. Years later One Piece was outsold by Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen something that everyone thought was impossible. Imagine what will surpass these two and how interesting it’ll be). 10 days pass and the race takes place in the desert where Appare has converted his boat into something that honestly deserves to be in the Whacky Races (get used to hearing that, that’s going to be a running trend in this show). The race begins where Appare knows his car can’t match the speed of Al’s BNW, but thanks to the rules he’s made his team still has a chance at winning. In the final leg of the race, Appare hits the nitro which sends Kosame flying to the goal and he wins the race for his team (so many rules were broken, but I’ll allow it). Al accepts his defeat with grace and gives them his car saying that he has a better car he’ll be using for the race and Appare gives his Segway to Sofia.
Episode 4 focuses on Xialan. After a bunch of engineers and a racer named David insult her for wanting to race she decides to quit the race track but not before she kicks David’s ass in a race (there’s no doubt in my mind that she could kick his ass outside the track too). Xialan is given a car for the race but the engine is faulty and none of the engineers there want to work on it for free, so she takes it to Appare hoping he can help (sure, as long as you don’t mind picking up the pieces once the race is over). Appare wants to put in an accelerator engine but Xialan says no as she wants to beat him using her own skills. Appare then just sends her over to Al and has his men do a tune up on the engine for free (das cool). On the day of the race, they do 10 laps around the racetrack where Xialan proves her skills are legit as she shows she was the better racer than David. On the last lap just when it seems like Xialan will win, David plays dirty and rams her from the side where she almost crashes into the wall but is able to maintain control. David wins the race but the owner punches David and praises Xialan’s driving skills. He allows her to keep the car so that she can enter the Trans-American Race which is only 3 months away. We fast forward 3 months where the race is only a few days away and get to shine a quick spotlight on the racers where this race isn’t about who’s the best driver, but rather which car company has the best cars.
Episodes 5-9
It’s the eve before the race in episode 5 and the group has been invited to a party to celebrate the race. They get stopped at the front door because of their appearance but get let in when Appare befriends TJ another racer in the tournament and one of the more dangerous ones. In the past, he was a member of a group of outlaws called the Thousand Seven, seven men who each carried the strength to take on a thousand men before splitting up. Four of them are dead now leaving only TJ, someone else, and Dylan. Not gonna lie, out of all the racers we’ve seen so far, TJ might just be my favorite because of how out of place he is in this anime (he’s more out of place than Appare). His car is crazy, his hairstyle and look is a homage to the hip-hop culture of the late 80s and 90s, and he carries around a record player that’s in the form of a boombox that plays hip-hop music (if this was Watanabe you would have called it genius). While at the party they hear the rules of race: no changing vehicles, no using the railroads (like in Mario Kart 64), and you can’t leave a supply point for 8 hours (this gives a huge advantage to the big companies). Before the sponsors can give a speech, in walks Gil the butcher the final living member of the Thousand Seven (and easily the most intimidating of the three) along with his partner Chase. Hotoro talks to Dylan about the man with the tattoo that killed his father where he finds out that the tattoo is a symbol for those who swear loyalty to Gil. Dylan says he doesn’t know which member of Gil’s gang it is but if Hotoro wants revenge he’ll have his chance at the supply points where Gil’s men will be on standby for him. After this, a fight breaks out between the racers for pole position where they do all sorts of crazy stuff such as arm wrestling, food cutting, and the highlight is Dylan and TJ getting into a close quarters gunfight with each other (scene here: https://youtu.be/0YczuqsqgC4?si=1sl25e_I9cDaOEvV, this anime is so fun to watch). The next day comes and it’s finally time for the race where everyone takes off (let the Whacky Races begin).
At the start of episode 6 it’s the first leg of the race where Appare catches up to the group by using shortcuts thanks to the guidance of Hotoro. However, Appare’s steam engine just can’t keep up with the other cars (it’s like having a shootout between a AK-47 and a revolver, the revolver just can’t keep up). Al leads the pack followed by Dylan and TJ but loses the lead when he’s forced to stop at a train stop while Dylan and TJ instead drive off road to beat the train (reminds me of that one stage in Crusin’ USA). Appare also drives off road to beat the train as it’s passing by using math (scene here: https://youtu.be/SSsBAuWdJGA?si=qRFRllc58PwOPAX7, yeah math, bitch) and is now in third place where he tries to execute a plan to take first but gets cut off by another driver named Richard and almost crashes causing him to drop to last. In the end, Dylan wins the first leg of the race followed by TJ and Al (who cares about the rest). Everyone can leave at around 12:07 am where they plan on cutting through Death Valley to get to the next checkpoint. While spying on Gil’s group to find the man who killed his tribe, Hotoro finds out that Gil’s group plans to block the entrance to the valley and plant dynamite in order to slow other racers down (and we found our Dick Dastardly and Muttley for the anime). Hotoro gets captured and tied up and Kosame goes looking for him but has no luck. In fact, he almost risks getting his head blown off when he confronts Gil and his men. When it’s time for the waiting period to be done, Appare gets ready to leave Hotoro behind as well as Kosame who was opposed to leaving without Hotoro. But, Appare can’t bring himself to do it (he’s too big of a softie). As the other racers reach Death Valley only to find it blocked by Gil’s men, Kosame manages to find Hotoro who was thrown into a box and escaped along the roadside. He tells Appare and Kosame about Gil’s plan but Appare isn’t concerned at all as his car has been reborn.
At the start of episode 7 Appare reveals a hybrid engine that combines steam and gasoline (Mira: Yeah, that’s not going to work in the long run). While gasoline increases the output of the steam engine allowing them to go faster, if it’s used too much it could damage the engine. Appare manages to catch up to Gil where at first he plans to leave the other racers behind, but Kosame and Hotoro convince him to warn the others. Appare warns the others and they’re able to foil Gil’s plan but Gil gains a huge lead over everyone , Dylan and TJ are forced to drive around the valley due to Gil’s explosion, and Appare’s engine gets damaged during the explosion making his car stop running. Luckily, Al and Xialan come back to help them by pulling their car to the next supply point as they want to win fair and square which puzzles Appare as what they’re doing defies logical thinking (humans are illogical creatures Appare). They don’t make it to next supply point by sundown, so they’re forced to camp outside where we see Appare is pretty useless other than working on cars (we’ve all got our strengths and weaknesses). The next day, the group arrives at the supply point just as Gil and a few other cars are about to leave, but they get in front of his car to stop him from leaving. They reveal Gil’s plot, but there’s no rules that prohibit him from playing dirty and this forces everyone to move before they get run over. However, Hotoro refuses to move as he wants revenge for his family (kid, it’s not worth it). People get mad at Hotoro and begin throwing rocks at him which angers Gil who takes off his mask and reveals that he’s not Gil but instead an outlaw named Tristan. It turns out Tristian and Chase are brothers known as the Bad Brothers who were just using Gil’s name to scare people. They reveal that they didn’t kill Hotoro’s family as they don’t kill women and children and don’t know who killed Hotoro’s dad. With that business settled, the Bad Brothers get ready to leave, but Appare tampered with their car forcing them to stay behind and fix it (scene here: https://youtu.be/wNwhTNA8L08?si=vSzxQs7E2N-101OC).
Episode 8 gives us the much-needed Kosame character development that we’ve been waiting for. As the group takes off to catch up to the leaders, they find them all on the road with their cars damaged and only one driver still alive. It turns out they were attacked by Gil’s gang who plan to kill everyone in the race (I’m guessing they don’t have the prize money). Seeking revenge, the group follows their trail to a town (with no name) where the residents aren’t too welcoming and refuse to talk to them. Gil’s gang finds the group and surrounds them where one of the members has a tattoo on his neck (you found your man Hototo). Blinded by rage, Hototo tries to attack only to get knocked out along with the others except for Kosame who was too afraid to pull his sword out (you failure of a samurai). Everyone gets taken away except for Kosame as he’s not worth it in their eyes. This leads us to a flashback where we find out that when Kosame was a kid, his mom was killed by a samurai right in front of him and it haunted him. He doesn’t know why his mom was assassinated or even who did it, but even years later the event still sticks in his head as he couldn’t protect his mom (so just like Hototo you’re a slave to your past. The difference being is that Hototo has a chance to get his revenge while you unfortunately won’t. Be the Batman to his Robin and help him get his revenge). After receiving some words of truth from a bartender (the sages of the modern day), Kosame heads out to save the others who are about to be hanged (geez, you guys took your sweet time. It’s sundown). Kosame fights against the bandits chopping their guns in half (that gives you an idea of how faulty American steel was back then) and even slicing a bullet in half before taking out all the bandits and saving everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/6MjogHDF6Fo?si=nF_d-XBpK1Jq932x). With the bandits defeated, the group gets back to the race where there’s only 7 cars now remaining and we find out the driver who was spared at the beginning of the episode is Gil.
In episode 9 a meeting is held between the remaining racers and Seth the race commissioner to address the race after the incident from last episode. It has been decided that the race will continue, and the racers will instead take a different route the next day to keep everyone safe. This means that everyone gets a day off to rest, relax, and if need be perform extra maintenance on their car. We see Gil drop out of the race saying it’s too dangerous for him (bye, I look forward to you returning and trying to kill everyone). During this downtime, we learn a little bit about Seth and how he was once a bright and cheerful engineer who got the joy sucked out of him. He would always try to go the extra step and improve cars, but the suits were not interested in improving car efficiency (what mattered them to was how much is this going to cost them and how much money will I make?). Seth soon came to hate his job and worked to get to the point where now he’s a suit (becoming the thing that held him down) and getting in the way of car efficiency and innovation. TJ gets into a drinking contest with Al who goes down after one shot of tequila (and I thought Baron was a lightweight) and Sophia steps in where she drinks TJ under the table (scene here: https://youtu.be/NQehUzNoMo0?si=K5VnpPjH3D2lvn9g. No lie, she is becoming my favorite character in the anime). As Appare wanders around town thinking of ways to improve the engine, he winds up entering the house of Thomas Edison giving us one the funniest and unexpected scenes in the anime (scene here: https://youtu.be/aL0_qAhlAOY?si=iuEGTwXMIHtkPolN). In another part of the episode, they actually manage to work in a hotsprings scene where we see the difference in cultures on full display here as Kosame and Appare enter naked into a hotspring that allows mixed bathing and we get some funny moments with the guys while the girls relax. The next day, the race resumes where Appare has put the finishing touches on his hybrid engine and Sofia is in danger as Gil is riding with her.
Episodes 10-13
The race is back on in episode 10 where the racers are racing against the train to see which one can cross the bridge the fastest. On the train we see Gil talking to representatives of the railroad association. These are the guys who hired Gil to sabotage the race as they’re afraid cars will replace railroad tracks (they weren’t wrong. For the most part). We get a good laugh with him literally throwing one of the representatives out of the train’s window (it has nothing to do with the story, but this made me laugh hard when I saw it). After this, the episode gets dark quickly. Gil and his men take control of the train and bring the race to a screeching halt where they take the passengers hostage and demand 1.51 million dollars (if you think that’s a lot now, back then it was a lot more). Gil demonstrates his power by beating TJ and Dylan (and possibly killing the Bad Brothers with a train cart. I seriously doubt it) saying he doesn’t care if it’s cars or railroads that control the future, in the end he will rule because he’s the strongest. He has his men shoot up all the cars and even takes a shot at Appare where Kosame protects him by taking the bullet (not so cowardly anymore). Gil and his men take their leave on the train where they keep Sofia as a hostage (don’t blame him. That’s one hell of a woman). Kosame’s life is in grave danger as he’s losing a lot of blood and we actually see Appare panic for the first time in this anime as he has no idea what to do (and that’s when you know we’re screwed).
At the start of episode 11 we see that the Bad Brothers are still alive (they have the devil’s luck those two). They take Kosame to a hospital where they treat him, but they’re not sure if he’ll pull through because of the blood he lost. After this, there’s not really much to talk about in the episode. Al scrambles to get his car up and running again so he can rescue Sophia. Seth tries to get the police to help them track down Gil, but they want nothing to do with him and refuse to help. As if that wasn’t bad, he gets an estimate on just how damaged the cars are and it’s not good. We learn about Dylan and TJ where we find out that the two were both in love with a woman named Claudia who ran an orphanage and would commit heists in order to get money for the orphanage. In the end, Claudia chose Dylan but it was not meant to be as the enemies of Dylan attacked the orphanage killing Claudia and the orphans. Appare gives up blaming himself for what happened to Kosame and wanders around town depressed until he finally goes by the river and cries (the tinman has a heart). Things start to look up near the end where we see Kosame pulls through (the samurai spirit lives on) and convinces Appare not to give up. Seth calls for a meeting between the racers to discuss cancelling the race, but Appare says no. He says he’s going to fix up everyone’s cars, save Sophia, kick Gil’s ass, and then finish the race. This fires everyone up (including Seth) as the mechanics agree to get to work and fix up everyone’s cars no matter the costs.
Episode 12 is an action-packed episode from beginning to end. With the cars all fixed up and Kosame rejoining the team, the group head out to face Gil and his gang in an abandoned town. Everyone gets their chance to shine in the episode as they take down Gil’s men (aside from Seth, but the moral support is good). I like how Chase fakes his death in order to find where Gil and the hostages are and uses flare guns (or an early model of flare guns cause I don’t know if they were around this time and I’m too lazy to research) to tell everyone where the hostages are. I enjoyed the female fight between Xialan and the only female member of Gil’s gang. I liked how Kosame and Appare teamed up to take down one of Gil’s elite gunman (Appare once again is ahead of his time). Dylan and TJ were gunning down people like badasses. My favorite part of the episode was when Tristan shoulder tackled this one guy through a building, fence, and slammed him into a boulder before hitting him with a German Suplex (it’s so silly yet so cool at the same time). I also liked Al’s determination in rescuing Sofia (showing us how he sees her as more than just a caretaker, but someone he truly cares about and can’t imagine his life without her).
In the final episode we start with everyone (besides Dylan and TJ) taking on Gil. They incorporate some good strategies to try and take down Gil, but he’s just too strong for them (it’s got to be the crazy eye he has. Seriously, what’s the story behind that?). Gil reveals that Sofia is on a bullet train heading to Chicago set to explode in the train station (classic villain trick. I like it). Dylan and TJ arrive to take on Gil while Appare, Kosame, Al, Xialan, and Hototo go to stop the train and save Sofia (we can’t lose best girl). Al and Xialan jump onto the train and save Sofia but can’t stop the train so it’s up to Appare to stop the train. Appare uses his own car to stop the train at the last minute saving everyone (now arriving at the Windy City. Enjoy your stay). Meanwhile, Dylan and TJ have a good fight with Gil (it’s not an epic fight but it’s well choreographed and the animation is good) where they manage to win. Rather than kill Gil, they decide to show him they’re better than him and hand him over to the police (can we at least shoot him in the leg for good measure?). In the second half of the episode, a month passes and the race is back on where it’s in the home stretch and everyone is neck to neck. In a last ditch effort, Appare’s team activates the booster and they win the race (with Xialan and Al coming in second and third. Good for them). We get the aftermath of the race where Al and Sophia are going back to Europe (Al: I’m thinking of starting my own company. We’ll call it BMW). Xialan becomes the first official female racer (and she’s Chinese too? She’s breaking all kinds of ground) and is heading back to L.A. Kosame found a ship back to Japan, but Appare has decided to stay in America where his goal now is to build an airplane and fly through the sky. The next day comes for Kosame to leave where he doesn’t say goodbye to Appare and this leads to Appare pouring his heart out saying he never wanted Kosame to leave. In an obvious twist, we see Kosame decided to stay as he still wants to go on adventures with Appare.
Final Thoughts
This was a fun series to watch. I haven’t seen an anime centered around cars this good since Initial D. The story is fun, whacky, inventive, and doesn’t try to be more than what it is. While the characters aren’t really that deep and some of their character arcs go by fast they are a very colorful cast of characters with their own personalities. Appare is an eccentric genius who once he decides to do something won’t change his mind and through the course of the anime starts to realize that there are some things you can’t explain scientifically. Kosame was a good foil to Appare. While Appare was brash and straightforward, Kosame was hesitant and cowardly until he finally turned it around and became the samurai he was meant to be. Like I said before the rest of the cast is good as well. Al was a good rival for Appare and Xialan represented the female audience and showed off that women can do what men do as well. I like how the Bad Brothers weren’t really bad people and had a sense of honor to them. Dylan and TJ brought the gunslinging action to the anime and were badasses in their own right. Probably the weakest character of the bunch was Hototo. His whole story arc was get revenge for his dad and after that arc wraps up his character just felt rather pointless to me as he quickly gets pushed to the background. While Gil may not be that strong of a villain, he played his role well and did manage to add an air of darkness and malice to the series. I’m really curious about his eye. I really wanted to know the story behind it.
The animation is good. They did a fairly good job capturing the time period the anime takes place in and had some good backgrounds put in place to make the landscapes look appealing. I like all the various cars we got to see and how they matched up well with their driver. My favorite was TJ’s car because just like the driver himself, it’s so crazy and out of place even for this anime that you can’t help but love it. The action in the last two episodes was good as well as Kosame’s fight in episode 8. Music was good, I especially liked TJ’s theme as it sounded like something from Samurai Champloo and the comedy was spot on as each episode had a number of funny scenes that got a good laugh out of me.
Final Score
The final score for Appare-Ranman is a 7/10. A good anime with a fun and well executed idea that was a blast to watch. If you’re looking for something original and whacky to watch, check this anime out, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.