MovieChat Forums > Oban Star-Racers (2006) Discussion > Beautiful animated series...

Beautiful animated series...

posted 16 years ago by master_agent1
10 replies | jump to latest

I just had to say this.This show is simply wonderful. This user review(not done by me) sums it up:
'Theatrical-quality animation, beautiful design and fun, engaging characters make this a must-watch for anyone interested in this art form. The story, an unexceptionable coming-of-age adventure framed around a series of contests, is consistently enlightened by great dialog and well-rounded characters who grow and change. A myriad of small details--of dress, speech, professions, weather--make for an imagined science fiction world of great richness and charm. The violence is of the cartoon action type, with a fair amount of gunplay but no excessive gore. The animation, by a co-partnership of French and Japanese studios, is simply excellent. This show is too good to be compared with the normal run of United States cartoons. '
I'd also like to mention fabulous voice acting, with special mention for Molly/Eva and Don Wei.
This show and Avatar:The Last Airbender (also the DCAU) convince me that there is much unexploited potential in non-Japanese animation. It makes me want to rip my hair out that such great animated shows are rarely seen out of Japan. I mean sure this show was co-produced with French and Japanese studios, but the creator and supervisor was French.
Btw, Kudos to Savin for having stuck with his ideas until the very end. It payed off, as you can all see.
One thing bugs me though: why does Molly ALWAYS wear those goggles except in the flashbacks where she's a kid? I mean even in the very end of the final episode she still has those goggles!
Everybody who enjoys animation should watch this. Any similar good not-entirely-japanese shows to propose such as Spawn?

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] master_agent1 15 years ago

Finally a response!
I get that paragraphing comment a lot in my school work too... :-/
Anyways I personally find that this show is not nearly as popular as it should be. Even though it's been passed since 2 years it's still fresh as a rose-a true mark of a great show.
To be frank I'm not a big fan of racing, real-life or otherwise, but this show really had me hooked, partly because I knew this show was about a lot lot more then racing.
Again, if you're reading this board without having watched the show, please do so-don't be fooled by the 7.2 score on imdb.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] deadrabbit2 15 years ago

Don't know if its quite 'theater' quality per se, but it's certainly not bad. Better then alot of other series out there.

This is definitely and underrated and under appreciated series.

[–] LorneMalvo 15 years ago

Hopefully it'll grow with time deadrabbit. Some shows are eventually brought back from the dead after strong cult fandom demand.

Let's hope this follows suit. I would love to see OVAs or a whole new series based on the characters in this show.

"Well the good news is the whiskey works...." - Bill Murray as Bob Harris in Lost in Translation

[–] Malvale 15 years ago

I stumbled onto the reruns of this series one night and found myself hooked, which is rare. This show is dope. Perfect blend of action and character development, cool art and even some interesting ideas. I was actually sad after the finale, and to be honest I felt a little bad for Jordan. Seems to me the really great shows rarely last long. I figure that's part of why they're good. :(

True power lies within.

[–] sdws17 15 years ago

Yeah, I ran into Oban Star Racers merely as a coincidence and at first thought of it as nothing more than the show that plays after X-Men and Jackie Chan Adventures on Toon Disney, but one day I thought "This doesn't look mesmerizing, but I'll give it a shot". I did, and I think it's a really great show.

Cartoon Network or someone should pick Oban Star Racers up, more people need to see this show besides people who incidentally run into it during Toon Disney's graveyard slot.

[–] mmcghee2 15 years ago

I agree, this was a wonderful series from the characters to the plot to the animation. I was just a little upset that a lot of the other characters didn't get as much attention as they should have, (like my favorite character Jordan) but it was still a great series non the less.

[–] lowegoes 14 years ago

Just finished watching this series and loved every minute of it. Great characters, writing, action and design. So many small details that makes the show's universe very unique. Loved all the exotic alien races and technology.

It was actually something of a blind buy - I'd seen bits of episodes but never got to see the show proper. I saw the box set dirt cheap on Amazon and thought, "why not?" Thank goodness I did.

[–] super-staff 10 years ago

One of the good ones. One of the good ones...

One thing bugs me though: why does Molly ALWAYS wear those goggles except in the flashbacks where she's a kid? I mean even in the very end of the final episode she still has those goggles!

It's a cute character quirk.