Riding Bean

This is one of the first anime flicks I ever saw. I bought it on tape and wore it out. So many have already pointed out the inside jokes pointing to the Blues Brothers and other things. One thing nobody's pointed out is Semmerling is the name of the character and also the compact pistol she uses. It's a real gun, Semmerling LM4 pistols are the smallest .45 caliber semi automatic pistol made. They are no longer in production but were when this show was made.

I had never heard of this OVA, but when I saw the trailer I was immediately interested. This is a fast paced action comedy that is entertaining all the way through. Once the film gets going it doesn't slow down.

The director Kenichi Sonoda got a lot of his influence for "Riding Bean" from American action films and American action movie heroes, which explains Bean's over the top character.

I really enjoyed the hand drawn animation. It's some of the best I've seen for this era. The music in this movie is also great. The director traveled to USA specifically to produce music for this OVA project to fit the American setting of the film.

If you're a fan of 80s and 90s action films or hand drawn anime I highly recommend this OVA movie. You will not be disappointed.

This is a movie that is almost all action from start to finish. Our unlikely hero Bean Bandit and his sexy partner Rally Vincent keep us entertained all through the movie with non stop thrills and chases. Kenichi Sonoda, the creator is a big fan of American action movies, and incorporated that style into the movie. The scene when the chase goes under the elevated railroad tracks is taken almost frame for frame from the Blues Brothers. (NOTE: watch the licence plates of the cars and you may fins some gags on them. )

Based on the manga created by Kenichi Sonoda (who did the mechanical designs for the original Bubblegum Crisis and later created Gunsmith Cats in response to Riding Bean being canceled), this one shot OAV chronicles the antics, shenanigans and misadventures of the title character, [Riding] Bean Bandit.

Bean Bandit, AKA: the Road Buster, is a superhuman outlaw courier who transports pretty much anyone/everyone and anything/everything for the right price (except drugs). His partner in crime is Rally Vincent, a woman with a big gun and a sharp eye on their bank account. Naturally, they're not really villains, they're just good hearted people on the wrong side of the law. When Bean is asked to transport the daughter of a millionaire, he and Rally get framed for kidnapping by a child molester named Semmerling and her little girl slave Carrie. This begins a high speed conspiracy chase with Bean determined to settle the score and reunite the girl with her father. Relentlessly pursuing Bean is Percy, a deranged police officer who's obsessed with either capturing Bean any which way he can or killing him.

Good mindless testosterone fun. Bean's such a lovable goof-ball that it really breaks your heart that his antics were discontinued. A redesigned Rally later became the heroine of "Gunsmith Cats" and a slightly different looking Bean made a few appearances in her alternate universe books.

"My my my, all those nice men pointing guns at us. I wonder what they all do when they're not so busy." - Rally Vincent

"Eat, drink, smoke, watch TV and gamble. It's a tradition." - Bean Bandit

This movie rocks. Car chases, explosions and everything else that make an action movie good is in this. It's a fun watch about a guy whose a criminal courier whose just taken a bad job. But now he's going to $2,000,000. Plus interest! Great movie but still I prefer Gun Smith Cats. And hey: Rally Vincent is in this movie. (talk about continuity)