RErideD: Derrida, who leaps through time

Over a year ago, I came upon a curious trailer that was shown from Anime Expo 2017. Originally, it was a cryptic project going by the codename “Project D’. What got me curious were the two staff that were announced at the time. First, there was director Takuya Satou who previously worked on Steins;Gate. Then, there’s Yoshitoshi Abe who designed the characters for the infamous Serial Experiment Lain. Flash forward a year later and we got much more in-depth information including the plot, more staff, and the cast. What RErideD actually ended up being though is far from an intriguing sci-fi thriller. To even useword ‘intriguing’ to describe this show is an insult to science fiction itself. Initially, it felt like the show had some innate potential. The idea of a science fiction thriller mixed with adventure themes easily takes my attention in. Furthermore, we got a bit of mystery content about this girl named “Mage”. The first few episodes sets up the main plot as Derrida is thrown into a labyrinth of conflicts. Not only does he get thrown into a post-apocalyptic world in the future but he also has to take care of Mage. The main issue also stands as we don’t know much about Mage at all. In fact, I’d say the creators’ attempt to make Mage a relevant character degenerated from the start. She feels less and less prominent with each episode and by the half way point, I almost forget the character exists. At somewhere after watching half the show, I also noticed the strange pacing of the series. It continuously jumps between themes to the point that it sometimes feels like a thriller, sometimes like a mystery, sometimes like a science fiction, and sometimes like a survival adventure. Because let’s face it, Derrida’s life is always in constant jeopardy and he has few allies to rely on. The people he encounters hardly trusts him in the beginning such as Yuri or Vidaux. It’s not until they risk their lives for each other that they develop a growing trust. The show occasionally dedicates screen time to grow these supporting characters although most of is easily forgettable in one way or another. The only person from the group that I find relevant is Vidaux as he plays key roles in their survival. An anime like this can’t be complete without antagonists, right? The rogue gallery honestly looks pretty blend with the legion of robots and automata. However, there’s one name I can recall often and that person is Donna. From the start, she plays an assassin-like role and attempts at every chance to kill Derrida. In later episodes, we find out about her past and real motivations. But honestly, Donna is no more than an antagonist built with flaws. The way they reveal about her character didn’t make me care about her to begin with. Honestly, does anyone give a damn about Donna? To make matter worse, it took an entire episode to reveal her origins. The show already suffered pacing issues from the beginning and it didn’t do justice at all to concentrate so much on an uninspiring character. For what potential it had, the show also has time travel. You’re probably wondering if this contains a similar style of storytelling to Steins;Gate. Considering that Takuya Satou directed both shows, that thought also came to my head more than once. However, this anime is nothing like Steins;Gate and I don’t mean that in a good way. It’s more of a tragic way that you shouldn’t feel sorry for. The story suffers from a lack of care with its character cast in particular for Mage. It’s void of any humorous content and instead tries to make the story as moody as possible. I also confess that the emotional value the show sells is incredibly underwhelming. This failure results from the consequence of its character chemistry. There’s hardly any that exists and most of it is overshadowed by the show constantly trying to appeal to its sci-fi thriller plot. And that’s a major slap in the face. By technical standards, REride doesn’t house a name that makes people curious. Before this show aired, I had no idea that GEEKTOYS was producing it. I literally had to look it up since its animation quality and character designs didn’t remind of any other similar shows. It’s a good thing White Fox didn’t contribute into this show though. Because honestly, this anime looks plain average at best. Character designs looks one dimensional without anyone standing out from each other. Most of the characters’ expressions also reminds me how each lack personalities. I’m not going to lie, it’s really hard for me to tell what kind of person Derrida really is. By the end of the show, I still have no word to best describe him. This year honestly had a lot of shows with sci-fi themes. Original science fiction series even took a step forward such as the extremely entertaining Planet With. Other established names like Steins;Gate 0 got attention for the good and bad reasons. What about RErideD? To be honest, it doesn’t even deserve to be on the list.

So...the first Fall 2018 seasonal series to end significantly early...so what are we left with? With big names such as Steins;Gate director Takuya Satou and Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmei character designer Yoshitoshi ABe, you would expect them to do the same formulas that they are well-known for...right? Unfortunately, RErideD is not a series that justifies the expectations that we were RErideD with, and all that is about to be revealed. And if you thought that this is good for even a single moment, I don't blame you, but please reason yourself. Story: See that insanely long synopsis on MAL? That's just the basis of how RErideDstarts, and interestingly but (obviously) baffingly falls apart towards the end.; Nothing is coherent in this staged timeline of events that just happens for some random reason that I can (or actually can't) discern. Now, I get it that since it has Takuya Satou's now famous sci-fi time-changing mechanic, but to be honest, you are better off watching Steins;Gate than this bullcrap fest. Gliding along in this time lapse, is the fact that action-intensified tension doesn't seem to exist. If it really did happen (sic), it would feel indifferent, and raises alot more questions than answers with progression. Maybe Satou-sensei's idea was that beyond this horribly written story, we would sympathize with him. I'm sorry but nope, we're not gonna buy your plea. Characters: I had much faith in ABe-sensei to produce good character designs, but once the PV and images came out before the anime started, it drabs mediocrity. Nevertheless, I was hoping the anime would do both sources justice, and...it was pretty much what I've got. Now don't get me wrong, the character designs were leagues way down what ABe was confident of, that was somewhat decent, but it's the personalities of the characters that makes this series a drag to watch. And we start off with the MC behind it all: Derrida Yvain. Despite his technological superiority that is inhabited with his father's idea of robots taking over humanity for the good (along with his colleague Nathan Bilstein), all I saw was a MC who just literally follows the motion between events, whether he was pursued by enemies of trying to understand the vague reasons for Mage (that 8 year old girl that was Nathan's daughter, turned 18 year old who holds the key to everything) trying to follow his footsteps, and showing emotions that just reflect that of typical daily life humans. Yuri, the girl with Mage, before everything went busted, she really seems like the kind of needy girl, who like Derrida, is also trying to find information about Mage's whereabouts after she had part from Yuri some months before. Both were a pain to watch and the mediocrity sinks in when the story goes deep. (Spoiler warning) The equations gets worse then both of them finally catches up with Mage, only to leave more things unanswered on the plate than clearing up the mess. The good part (at least for me) were the stories of Vidaux and Mayuka, the atypical lost child hidden in the clutters, and then found by some random stranger. Vidaux was bad-ass (along with the Knight Rider-esque AI car Graham), a fearless warrior who is like any other competent soldier of his time, saving Derrida's ass (if there's any worth in compensation), and Mayuka in helping Vidaux regain his composure, as if they were family. Honestly, if there was one thing that this anime can be dived upon is more of both of them. The other characters (Andrei, Schmidt and Donna/Angelica) felt somewhat of a wasteland, a way to move the plot with significance behind the reasons why they act this way (well, a yes for Donna/Angelica, but barely). Worse still, the series doesn't really try to explain why they act this way, but moves us deep with the plot before we have any chance to understand. Bad move. Art and animation: More than just a new studio, the first production for Geektoys, the whole series fleshed out as a passion project, an original one at that. But after watching the much abhorred CGI and the less-than-stellar art and animation, this is pretty much a BIG FAT F (for fail) when production is so highly contested for original work. And what's better is that for veterans like P.A. Works, yes they had their share of failures (I'm looking at you Glasslip), but when they succeed with it (just look at Irozuku this season), this ain't a contested competition, but more of a comparison complexity. So, along with bad character design comes production so woefully underwhelming, but only to the point where it is barely watchable. Music: This is the ONLY area where the anime excels at, or rather the OP itself. If you know QUADRANGLE from Joker Game (their OP is awesome), expect the same quality of music they have here. With a dope-ass OP, I have to say that this has been one of my favourites for the Fall season. The ED is pretty much a winding-down of events, but it is by no means bad. The action-packed OST is really just a meh fest. Nothing truly ever is exciting, if going by feels. Regardless, the decent area of the bunch. All in all, RErideD was somewhat of a work that promises much, but bares very little to the recognition of famous people's works past and honestly doesn't deserve the placement that it does. Is it any good? No. But is it watchable? Only if you feel like you have nothing to watch, and get ready to face the ridiculous levels of mediocrity you have ever watched in your life. And get this: this is bad Sci-fi. Oh well, that's one important marketing plea to understand and note: Don't plaster big names and deliver a sub-par show, it just destroys the fanbase of popular people and their reputation even further. Regardless, it's an immense failure of a high-profile project, through-and through.

Oh man, I'm a collector of train wrecks at this point. Here, we have a masterclass in doing everything you can possibly do to ramp up the carnage. What starts off as poor decisions escalates into a multi-train pileup, during rush-hour, at the busiest station, during Christmas. That last bit sounds like a stretch, but it's plot relevant so just run with it. While you're preparing your suspension of disbelief for a REVIEW of something that will shatter it regardless, I'm going to run with the train metaphor. It's all I have left to enjoy about this one. Story: Time travel gone wrong. Okay, how do youscrew that up? No seriously, I've seen my share of cobbled together time travel plots. What the hell even happened during the story boarding for this? It's NOT a disjointed episodic narrative you're supposed to piece together. It IS a disjointed Frankenstein's monster of story beats without any of the life and character of the monster. Characters come and go at the pace of bullet trains, one minute you have a villain the next you're stopping at the airport for a scenic garden tour. Just as abruptly a steam engine plows through on the same track and you have a kidnapping plot plodding along with film noir dialogue and espionage tropes. I'm not even going to touch the shipwreck that blasts it's horn at the tracks before colliding with everything at a landlocked train station. Art: I'm sure someone could pull some decent still frames out of this, I don't envy the level of patience that would involve. There are some neat designs buried in the background, you just have to ignore any characters present on screen and pretend you're looking at specart. None of the character designs are particularly impressive or memorable, and the scary robots that are supposed to be significant tension feel the least bit threatening. Nothing has any impression of weight. Nothing, outside of that metaphorical cruise liner barreling down on a multi-train wreck, rush hour, Christmas nightmare I just finished witnessing. Sound: Sound is apparently where they put the animation budget. Nothing was amazing or stood out, but it wasn't the ear bleeding cacophony of death, suffering and, dismemberment you would expect from any other description I've offered so far. Character: Just like the plot couldn't pull of Frankenstein's monster levels of compelling, the characters barely snuff up to archetypes. It's probably due to the terrible narrative directions. Train wrecks are chaotic and disorienting with just one train. You only get to know a few characters in singular moments, before they get thrown off the tracks and go careening through entirely different archetypes and genre tropes. The one interesting character is Donna, and that only works as well as it does because of the imminent landlocked shipwreck that eclipses the absurdity of the Christmas rush hour station multi-train pileup. Enjoyment: 10 if you're into this metaphor, and need something to watch while absolutely hammered. For the rest...if you're still reading this review I can assume my efforts to dissuade you are meaningless, or I'm enticing you to indulge in some twisted form of schadenfreude. Overall: Shipwreck, landlocked train station, multiple trains collided, during rush hour, on Christmas. Whew, this was the most painful thing I've endured since my last review.

So, to sum it up: this show is just one mediocre mess. RErideD was one of these shows that kept me watching despite it lacking in almost every department. I did have some hopes, the plot was semi-interesting and the idea's it explored was something I thought to be pretty cool, but I was let down. I think it's a shame that these ideas were put into a show that obviously had little to no budget, and maybe if a better studio and more budget was put into this, I think it could've done well. Some things that were okay (i guess??): - The ideas were interestingand the story itself was enough to keep me intrigued, it explored things like AI and the idea of how AI could impact war along with the more sci-fi theme of time travelling. - The ending was actually satisfactory, it didn't leave us on any cliffhangers and didn't really leave us with a lot of questions. - This is kind of weird but I enjoyed the sound effects, they were weirdly nice to listen to. - The ending song was really good, it's relaxing and it was nice to just ease out of the episode by listening to it. The things I dislike: - THE CHARACTERS! Derrida is literally as bland as you can get, he's the most boring mc to watch and the supporting cast aren't much better honestly. I'd say my favourite character was probably Donna since her backstory was interesting and pretty well thought up. Other than that though, none of the characters are memorable at all. - The pacing was all over the place, the story itself was an absolute mess, after every episode you're left questioning whether or not you should stick along with the series or not. - I watched this show as it aired and had hope for it to improve, the 20 minutes each week weren't really much of a drag for me but if you're someone who plans on binging it, please don't: the whole show will just bore you to death, literally. Overall, this show is just mediocre and not worth the time. It's just not good ?? I don't really know how to explain it but the show itself is in fact weirdly intriguing which is why quite a lot of us stayed around until the very end, but not being able to even like the characters due to how bland they are and the story overall being messy just leaves you thinking "OK, I guess" by the end of it all. Anyways, I'd advise you all to not waste your time on this show, it's for your own good.