English Dub Review: APPARE-RANMAN! “The Eve, and…”

Overview:

Appare and Kosame attend the banquet meant for the start of the race.

Our Take:

The time of the race has started, and Appare and Kosame are shown to be completely out of the loop. While all of the other teams are treated with respect (or at least deference), the main two are newcomers. Even Xialian is treated slightly better, even if it’s probably just being a commodity, because she follows the code of conduct. By comparison, Appare and Kosame aren’t really interested in the formalities behind the race. Because they have no connection to the major three companies, or to American culture in general, they don’t really follow the codes. In fact, Appare only shows up because he wants to get some free food.

Of course, this seems to only make TJ like them more, especially when Appare is pretty standoffish to one of the main officials who is pretty rude to them. TJ already seems like a wild character. He seems to have his own code and way of doing things, but he also seems like a lot of fun. He doesn’t prefer to do things the traditional way (no surprise, considering he used to be an outlaw.) and would rather go about things in the most interesting way possible. Such things include keeping his own fashion style, dress code be damned, bringing his own boom box for music, and proposing that the race be decided in a very different manner than was expected.

What follows is a wild and really fun experience. The racers decide who will be at the start, the most advantageous position, by means of combat. Dylan and TJ have a gunfight, Al and Kosame have a cucumber cutting contest, Xialian kicks someone in the face, it’s great. The banquet is in chaos. By now, all of the named characters will very likely go on to the finals, so it’s not a question of who will be eliminated. It’s just a wild, bombastic time… that Appare doesn’t even participate in. It’s fun, and it reminds me that this show has a lot of character and energy that I like.

In the end of course, it comes down to racing. We have more than half of the show to go, and I’m really curious about what the race will have for us in store. I’m curious to see what will happen!