Over Drive

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: OverDrive

Japanese: オーバードライヴ

Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 26

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 4, 2007 to Sep 26, 2007

Premiered: Spring 2007

Broadcast: Wednesdays at 01:30 (JST)

Producers: Sotsu, Pony Canyon

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Xebec

Source: Manga

Genre: Sports

Theme: Racing

Demographic: Shounen

Duration: 24 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 7.52¹ (scored by 20,499 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1813²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #3307

Members: 44,590

Favorites: 212

Available At

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Resources

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Synopsis

Mikoto Shinozaki is a high school student lacking in social awareness. In addition, due to his untidy appearance and low self-esteem, he is an easy target for bullies. Regardless, any misfortune that falls upon Mikoto is partly his own fault—at least, that is what Yuki Fukuzawa, the most popular girl in class, believes. With this assumption, Yuki invites Mikoto to join the school's bicycle club, in hopes he can improve himself and gain new friends. Motivated by feelings he has for Yuki, Mikoto has no reason to decline her offer—except for the fact that he does not know how to ride a bicycle.

Despite his lack of even the fundamentals, Mikoto cannot get over the image of himself on a bicycle. Eventually, he succumbs to his curiosity and sneaks into the school grounds at night to practice. This begins Mikoto's journey as he pedals his way through the vast world of cycling, where the scenery of his life changes in ways he never thought possible.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:

Over Drive

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Shinozaki, Mikoto

Main

Kaji, Yuuki
Japanese

Yamato, Takeshi

Main

Taniyama, Kishou
Japanese

Fukazawa, Yousuke

Main

Yasumura, Makoto
Japanese

Fukazawa, Yuki

Main

Nazuka, Kaori
Japanese

Terao, Kouichi

Main

Nojima, Kenji
Japanese

Asahi, Kaho

Supporting

Yahagi, Sayuri
Japanese

Hyoudou, Naoto

Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Chino, Takatoshi

Producer

Takahata, Yuuichirou

Producer

Kumagai, Takuto

Producer

Kato, Takao

Director

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Opening Theme

"WINDER ~Boku wa Koko ni Iru~" by Shonen Kamikaze

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Ending Theme

	1: "Saihate no Parade" by Merry (eps 1-13)
	2: "Koi Suzumi" by DEL (eps 14-26)

Reviews

Apr 28, 2008

nugget05

Recommended

First off, I must start by saying that I may be a little biased when reviewing this anime because I'm totally a sports anime fan. And having watched quite a number of sports animes, Over Drive came as a refreshing change for me.

_Story_
The protagonist of the story is your typical weak willed, unless, low self esteem guy in school. But what is different about his character to other similarly carved sports lead characters is that he has a sense of humor. Unlike other characters, he does not dwell on his uselessness much, which is definitely something i appreciate a lot, since these dwellings can drag ...

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Apr 1, 2009

mistah-manila

Mixed Feelings

Yeah this anime is about bikes, no it isn't great, but no it isn't terrible. What I'm trying to say is this anime has great humor and some great dramatic moments, but once they start that whole bike race thing YUCK! Sure it's very dramatic, BUT YOU ONLY THINK THAT FOR THE FIRST FIVE EPISODES OF THE RACE. After that, you realize that this is going to be HELLA boring. The story sticks to the bike race and makes it even worse as they make tiny sub-stories about the characters' pasts for over 15 episodes!

Let me break this down.

-The little comedy in here 10/10
-Action 7/10, ...

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Oct 15, 2014

elleyonce

Not Recommended

Ah, the puberty. A time in which we obsess over teen idols, or get angry about nothing, but above all, a time where we want to be acknowledged. So how does one get acknowledged? The best way, of course, is to prove anyone to be the best in something. After all, victors write history.

But it’s losers like Shinozaki Mikoto who are history.

Over Drive follows the protagonist and his journey on the bike, alongside the other members of the Sakura Bicycle Club. Their big dream is to participate in the Tour de France. But of course, it’s a long way until then – first, there ... are 11 episodes about Shinozaki learning to ride a bike and swooning over his crush Fukuzawa Yuki, introducing Yamato as well as the captain and Yuki’s brother Yousuke. Needless to say, it’s too long, and in my opinion a chore to watch. Once we get to the race – which is pretty much the rest of the show – the pace picks up, very slightly so though, because not only that the race is dragged on, there are also flashbacks which make the race even longer. There’s even a meaningless filler which takes the entire second half of one episode, and that goes too far for me.

The race itself was pretty unrealistic in my eyes, especially when I take Shinozaki into regard. In the first two episodes, he wasn’t able to ride a bike, and twenty episodes later, he is suddenly able to win a checkpoint. What’s even worse is that it is mentioned in a flashback that Shinozaki used to ride a bike as child. That makes the whole beginning part illogical. And how was he able to evolve into such a good rider in such a short amount of time? There is only one thing I consider to be kind of realistic, and that is the way the race ends for him – but that’d be a spoiler.

The other racers are very generic character for a sports anime. We have Yousuke, who’s an arrogant captain who thinks he doesn’t need a team, and of course he changes his ways over time. There’s Shinozaki’s friendly rival Yamato, who’s the usual cool and aloof character with, of course, the corresponding flashback. There’s the inconsistently written crush Yuki as well as the antagonist Hyoudou, who’s also pretty generic. And then there’s Yousuke’s assistant Terao, who gets fleshed out and developed only in the very last part of the show, and it’s truly a shame because by the time he does get fleshed out, we see that he isn’t really a generic assistant. The whole cast and their interactions feel awkward, and by the time the cast is likeable, the show is over. At this point I can’t even determine what the worst part about Over Drive is, but the cast plays a big role in my low enjoyment.

The soundtrack is not very good either, mostly because no tracks quite fit to the mood, save the fiery guitar riffs that weren’t often played, sadly. The soundtrack sounds like it came straight from the 90s. 90s sound is generally not a bad thing, but if it’s a background music to something what’s supposed to be a fiery battle, then it is a bad choice. The opening is very good, the endings were alright as well, but what’s truly worth mentioning is something else. In Yamato’s flashback, he is supposed to be in France and have language problems. In France, people speak French, right? Not in Over Drive, because they were all talking Japanese. So it made it look like Yamato has trouble processing what he hears or him simply being deaf. Needless to say, it was ridiculous, very much so. The other aspect that had poor budget was the animation. It was from 2007 and the animation is aged, yes, but the CG still looks awkward and bad.

My enjoyment level was, as previously mentioned, not the highest. The first eleven epiosdes were plain boring to me. The race was a tad more enjoyable and I genuinely enjoyed the flashbacks between Yousuke and Terao. The theme of being the strongest and the desire to be acknowledged by friends and elders is not the most unique, not even to sports anime. The way it was presented was good at times, but not very much for the most part.

Overall, Over Drive is a sports anime that sounds average in theory and sub par in practice. The characters are generic and average at best for the most part, some developments simply unrealistic, and the sound not very fitting. Its themes are nothing new and the CG animation bad. There are very little redeeming values to this show, such as a tad more enjoyment in the race and some character development for one character only as well as a nice opening. Should you watch Over Drive? No. There are better anime out there, and certainly better shows in this genre. Because sadly, even though losers are history, there’s a reason why they’re forgotten.

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Poll: Over Drive Episode 18 Discussion Trie - Oct 20, 2007	17 replies	by EsieEyen »» Feb 16, 2:08 AM
Poll: Over Drive Episode 17 Discussion Faust721 - Oct 12, 2007	13 replies	by EsieEyen »» Feb 16, 1:56 AM
Poll: Over Drive Episode 24 Discussion lowell - Jan 9, 2008	15 replies	by supermario4ever »» Oct 17, 2023 12:25 PM
Poll: Over Drive Episode 23 Discussion lowell - Dec 16, 2007	20 replies	by supermario4ever »» Oct 16, 2023 1:52 PM
Poll: Over Drive Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Faust721 - Jan 21, 2008	51 replies	by Ashhk »» Oct 4, 2023 4:51 AM

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