Riding Bean

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)

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. )

Your typical Anime with cars, action, women, crazy policemen, and invulnerable hero. The main hero, Bean Bandit, is a bit too powerful ( is he supposed to be a robot ?) His car is crazy in a good way and basically this film exists on its car chase scenes.

The main character needs more than a stun gun to the neck to wake up in the morning, and I thought that was a nice and efficient way of making him instantly relatable.

Riding Bean is a fun blend of comedy and action that gets pretty bloody at times. Its plot revolves around a duo that's set up to take the fall for a kidnapping scheme, only they catch onto it and try to make their way out of the whole scenario, preferably with a large sum of cash that's also tied to it all.

It's an excuse to have lots of car chases and over-the-top characters; I guess when the runtime clocks in at well under an hour, you kind of need everyone to be pretty simple character-wise, but it mostly works. It's a good way to spend some time, and never takes itself too seriously while never slowing down; it's pretty fun.