Tokyo Override

Tokyo Override is one of those shoes which baffles me in various ways. It opened to a silent debut, no advertising to aid its showing, and has shown little fanfare from the distributors itself. Yet the show took half a decade to release, and was officially partnered with major motorcycle teams; top that with the great graphics and well designed characters and you're left with one question: Why like this?

This is one of those shows which, was it released a decade ago on satellite channels, would have run for 12-24 episodes before being renewed for a new season. It would have had one-off episodes and character bonding specials. Throughout the scene we would have seen the backstories and motifs behind each character and the world of Tokyo would be carefully crafted as a visual sandbox. Unfortunately, this was not how the show was released. Instead, we got a 6 episode streaming release and it shows. 6 episodes which kept me hooked but left yearning for more.

Beside Kai, we learn the most about Hugo, a fellow member of Suma Garage. This isn't to say we learn particularly much about him though. Despite hints at what makes him tick, what made him the way he is in the series, he's left as a rather two-dimensional character with an obvious three-dimensional history we'll never see. This extends to Spoke who is worse off for this than Hugo for we never get to see the glimpse of his backstory. Watari (and to an extent her father) are virtually non-existent character wise and live only to further the plot.

Speaking of plot, it's perfectly okay. I enjoyed the mystery at hand and it progressed nicely. However, because of this, we got so little time on the world and characters themselves. I would have binged 6 episodes of the members of the garage just completing deliveries. My best comparison to this is that of early Star Wars Rebels with Kai as Ezra Bridger, except imagine he joined the Ghost Crew, saved one group of people then took down Vader.

I could go on how the three departments (the ministry of Justice, the Narcs, and Suma Garage) mesh really well. I could mention the gorgeous animation style and character design. I could sing the action sequences praises and I could even go on about the motorcycle designs. However, my one lasting thought on this series is how much I wish it was more. I wanted to love these characters, I wanted to fall in love with the world it showed me. You just can't do that on 6 episodes (25 minutes at that!)

All in all, great premise and a good watch, couple with gorgeous animation and scenes to match, it's let down by what is too straight forward a season. Suggest you watch but don't get attached too early, it'll only make that last episode sting more.

P. S: I cannot believe there wasn't a single AKIRA slide all film...

A teenage hacker joins a crew of motorcycle-riding rebels in a futuristic Tokyo that has no room for rebellion.

I watched this mostly by accident. I was looking through Netflix's catalog of stuff labeled as adult animation, and a stray click caused this series to start playing. "Alright, why not," I thought. I guess it was fated to be.

In general, I liked the art, but when I saw how cutesy the kids were drawn, it kind of tanked my interest. I'm really not a fan of that sort of thing. It usually means that whatever I'm watching is going to be all cutesy and targeted to either kids or young adults.

Sure enough, our protagonist is a kid who has superhuman hacking skills. She basically snaps her fingers, and every electronic device in her vicinity instantly does whatever she wants. It's basically a magic power. OK, that's find for kids' stuff, but I was looking for something a bit more mature.

I was a bit annoyed with the protagonist from the start, I guess. It just kept getting dumber as time went on. Eventually, I realized this wasn't the story of a group of cyberpunk rebels who take in a kid, it was the story of a kid who takes in a group of cyberpunk rebels who need her to solve all their problems.

It reminded me of computer games like Skyrim, where you join a faction at the lowest tier, and the other members are a bit suspicious of you. But by the end of one in-game day, you've become the leader of the faction, and everyone loves you. It's ridiculous and breaks immersion, but it's a fun fantasy, so people go along with it.

Like video game protagonists, the kid ends up doing crazy epic things that really don't make any logical sense. In one scene, she's not even sure if she likes motorcycles. By the end of the 25-minute episode, she's the best motorcycle stunt driver in the world. Again, OK for kids' stuff, not so good for something targeted to audience older than 7.

I started to think that maybe I'm being way too harsh about a kids' show that I happened to watch by accident. So I checked the age rating, and the IMDb says it's TV-MA. As far as I can tell, this isn't meant for kids. It's just written poorly.

Some of the characters are likeable, though, and they get a tiny bit of depth. Alongside the nice art, they make it watchable, and I think you'll be able to make it to the end. It's just six episodes, so it's not a big ask. It does raise the question of why they didn't make this a single 2 hour movie, though.

In the near future, Tokyo has become an AI driven society with optimized efficiency. Even people are data points with maximized efficiency. Kai Koguma is a young rebel hacker unwilling to submit to the programming and encounters a like-minded group of bikers. They are being pursued by government operative Narcs.

I like the world building. I like it but it's nothing new. The plot is a bit episodic for a little while. The reveal is a little disappointing. The conclusion is pretty simple. I like the one turn in one of the big characters. I'm not sure about the trap. It gets wrapped up after six short episodes. I don't know if Netflix is continuing with the series.

Motorcycles. Cyberpunk. Corruption. That sums up this series. Thankfully it's a short 6 episodes; they get the story told relatively fast and at the right pace. They didn't stretch a thin plot out to a painful 16 or 24 episodes. Creds for that. The length is just about right.

The characters aren't well-developed. They tell us enough about the individuals to get us interested, but no real filler.

I don't understand how anyone could find fault with the animation. Methinks this generation is becoming far too demanding when it comes to CGI and animation. The animation here was interesting and sufficient to the task.

The plot: cliche to the extreme. This will appeal to people into motorcycles and cyberpunk. Maybe. But don't look for cerebral fiction here. The whole six episodes is pretty much a continual chase scene.

Primary downside: ridiculous-level hacking, and pretty much the same hacks over and over and over. Break through a barrier. Create new paths. Override equipment. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This is cyber-fiction. Nobody, but nobody has these kind of hacker skills. This is the equivalent of someone figuring out a complex security door password using an entry card tied to a scanner. Pure fiction, carried to an extreme. This is the cyberpunk version of jumping a very big shark, repeatedly.

If you're looking for an adrenaline rush, eyeball junk food, and a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon, this will suffice. It's a step above mediocre so I give it six stars, but the hacking and road scenes were so repetitious that I can't give it any more than that.

I will give them credit for the plot twist. No spoilers, but it was a pretty good one. ; )

Expecting a show with decidedly different tones, I found myself watching an animated series that although full of potential never really reached a sufficient level of depth.

The message of the series is the only clear narrative element while the facts, the characterization of the characters, the objective of the antagonists, the quality of the dialogue, and the resolution are a disaster.

Frankly, I also did not always like the quality of the animations, which, although rich in characterization and wonderful visual elements in some scenes, often lacked personality.

Probably the animated series that has least engaged me in recent years, the ending however is enjoyable even if predictable and trite.