Bakuon episode 1 has all the weight and substance of cotton candy, focusing on nothing but cute girls and cool motorcycles and feeling good. It’s the kind of anime that gives you a sugar rush and an upset stomach at the same time. Episode 1 of Bakuon is only interested in cute moe girls bouncing through happy funtimes all the way home, and passes up every opportunity it has to say anything meaningful. If you want moe, you got it, but if you wanted even a dollop of something sturdier to go with all that sugar, you’re out of luck.
What makes Bakuon slightly more distinct from the myriad other “cute girls in a cute afterschool activity being cute together” anime out there is its choice of activity: motorcycles. Motorcycles aren’t traditionally feminine, so the contrast between the cute girly-girls and the motorcycles is rife with potential. But Bakuon uses the motorcycles as set-dressing, as vehicles for sponsorship money and to titillate gearheads and show off the animation team’s talent, not as vehicles for exploring what the bikes might mean to these girls.
Bakuon’s lack of interest in exploring anything deeper about its most interesting choice is parodied within the episode itself, when Onsa spends a full scene trying and failing to come up with cool-sounding platitudes that might motivate her new friend Hane Sakura to join the motorcycle club. Bakuon can’t summon anything more meaningful than “it feels cool” and tries to pass this shallow affectation off as a revelation. Bakuon seems to be almost afraid of exploring the connection between girl and bike as anything other than a joke, as if doing so might compromise the girls’ cuteness and femininity or the show’s light-heartedness. The missed opportunity is a void at the heart of an otherwise staid example of the genre.
Bakuon’s character designs are cute in a non-remarkable kind of way… with the exception of the girl we first see on a motorcycle, Onsa Amano. She has a really different, Rosie the Riveter-style look, her cloud of dark curls accessorized with a bandana headband knotted into a bow. Her personality reminds me a lot more of Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho than any recent female character I can think of. She’s loud and super-expressive, with the kind of unapologetic and goofy high-spiritedness and enthusiasm that’s rarely given to anime girls. Bakuon’ s choice to spend episode 1 following her airheaded friend Hane on her first ditzy journey into motorcycles, rather than following Onsa, seems to herald its direction.
Luckily for an anime that tries so hard to be funny, Bakuon really is amusing, with light sexual jokes that never cross the line of what’s acceptable for moe. When Hane gets on a motorcycle and blurts out “my butt’s vibrating,” you have to chuckle, just as when she gets smacked in the face with the driver’s flowing braids. The cycling nerds Onsa derides early in the episode flying into the distance in the wake of a motorcycle’s dust is another entertaining touch. Almost everything Onsa says or does is gold, even when she’s sidelined. As for Hane, she’s ditzy, but not so ditzy she’s incapable of functioning. She wears a little thin even in just one episode, though.
Bakuon ’s humor extends to visual gags too, like Hane’s driving instructor, who’s drawn like a kid’s anime mascot. There are the requisite breast size jokes, which are more eyeroll-worthy than amusing. But the best joke comes from the bike Hane learns to ride motorcycles on, which has the voice and demeanor of a sexually experienced older woman. When Hane is told to “communicate” with her bike, her seductive bike advises her to always check how many credit cards are in a man’s pocket and what color they are. Onsa’s dramatic JFK monologue is another highlight of the episode.
Should you watch ‘Bakuon’?
While Bakuon is almost guaranteed not to explore anything substantial with regards to what the bikes really mean to these girls, it’s still a cute and funny show whose gimmick differentiates it enough to make it worth watching. Add in what feels like an actual sense of humor, good snappy pacing and about as many lovingly detailed shots of motorcycles as Suzuki and Honda could throw at the studio, and Bakuon is a pleasant enough diversion. If you can’t help but see its missed potential, the aftertaste is a little hollow, though.
Bakuon streams on Crunchyroll Mondays at 12:00 PM EST here .
