Ex-Driver - Downshift (Vol. 1)

Rating:
Summary: Almost fell asleep...
Review: ....
First of all, the plot was just ridiculous. How hard is it to shoot gray globs onto an out of control vehicle, and if it was even hard, WHO REALLY CARES? The villian's motives for causing havoc on the city were just not that interesting or realistic. Once again you find two predictable female characters in anime. One that is determined to prove herself to the world (much like Osuka from Neon Genesis, Evangelion). While there is the counter female character who is sweet and innocent, who does not realize who own beauty (much like Rei from Evangelion).
The first two episodes were badly written and hard to get into. It did not get remotely interesting until Volume 2.
The only thing going for this series was decent dialogue, semi-interesting main character and nice cars. It was a complete disappointment.
If you like cars you may find this series interesting. If you like looking at women with big knockers in cars you will love it.
If you want a nice meaty anime with all the fixings, pass on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Anime!
Review: At first, I was having second thought of buying Ex-Driver. Boy, am I glad that I bought it because if I didn't, then I'll probably be regretting about it. After watching Ex-Driver, I would like to considered this one of my all-time favorites anime. Let me break down with the pros and the cons for this anime. Let's start with the pros first:

Pros: It has a great story, awesome unique cars, comedy, hot babes, and a non-stop heart-pounding thrill ride!!! For any Otaku(s) that are seeking those above, then you should try to pick up a copy of Ex-Driver.

Cons: Not much Cons here except that it only has 6 episodes total. (3 on the 1st DVD). I just wish that they would've make more episodes, because after watching one episode, you'll hunger for more.

Rating:
Summary: For Younger Car Freaks Only
Review: I am a fan of Koosuke Fujishima's OH MY GODDESS manga,
and when I saw that he was the writer for the EX-DRIVER
series, I was intrigued and picked it up.

Fujishima is a "gearhead" and his stories often rotate
around cars, motorbikes, and other vehicles. EX-DRIVER
is completely focused on cars. It imagines a near-future
Japan where fuel-cell-powered cars are driven by robotic
controls using GPS, sensors, and communications links.
Occasionally one gets out of control and an elite group
of "Ex-Drivers", at the wheel of superhot gas-powered
cars, has to rope it in.

The three Ex-Drivers in the story are two girls named
Lisa and Lorna and a boy named Souichi. They're all
high-school students who dash off from class in their
superhot cars when an emergency rises. Lisa is wild,
noisy, and obnoxious; Lorna is serious, measured,
and sweet; and Souichi is a boy genius, really
junior-high age but several years ahead in his education.

On the plus side, EX-DRIVER is a a shiny production
job, with a particular and loving emphasis on the
gleaming machines and their workings. It also has lots
of screaming car-chase scenes on which a good deal of
effort was expended.

On the minus side, the stories in EX-DRIVER range from
"weak" to "embarrassing to watch". Partly it's the story
concept, since the idea that high-school kids are
doubling as elite superstar drivers is a bit hard to
swallow for anybody older than junior-high age. Even
ignoring that, the stories are uninteresting and silly.
Silliness wouldn't be so bad if EX-DRIVER were
*supposed* to be silly, but it's really not being
played for laughs.

It probably would have worked much better if it had been.
Apparently EX-DRIVER is popular in Japan and there are
EX-DRIVER models, toys, and a videogame. I don't know
if the videogame came first or not, but this DVD
feels like a video adaption of a videogame, with a
slapdash script thinly painted on top of the game concept.
I have yet to hear of any video based on a video game
that works. Usually it's more fun to watch someone play the
game, and certainly less time-consuming.

It's puzzling as to why such good work was put into the
package but nothing was really put inside. All I can think
of is that it was specifically designed to appeal to its
target market, adolescent boys who are car-crazy, with no
particular interest in appealing to anybody else. I have
to admit that the car artwork and the chase scenes are
well-executed and striking. But if you're not into that
sort of thing there's not much else here of any interest.

Incidentally, the menu scheme for this DVD reinforces
my suspicion that "cutesy" interfaces that are designed
without any thought for usability are becoming more
popular. I'm a technophile, I found it confusing, what
would have happen to someone who had no affinity for
machines? "OK, you gave me this little stick-shift,
with no explanation of what any of the shift positions
are for, so I have to poke through them all, and every
time I bring up the menu I have to sit through the
lights going red-yellow-green and listen to someone
gunning the engine."

This DVD also does tend to reinforce the belief that
heavy-metal music is beyond the Japanese. They do well
enough at snappy pop tunes, but the heavy-metal touches
in the soundtrack for EX-DRIVER end up sounding like ...
snappy pop tunes pretending to be heavy-metal music.
"Ahhhhh ... needs work."

Rating:
Summary: Light Hearted and Fun
Review: The premise is a bit outragious, but what anime isn't? If you are a fan of Kosuke Fujishima's animes (Ah! My Goddess, You're Under Arrest, etc), you won't dispointed. The animation is top-notch and the quality is excellent. The series is a short 6 episode "Original Video Animation". There is a movie for the series however there hasn't been a North American release yet. The story is a bit inconclusive, and the characters are not really developed at all. However, the car chases through the city are what really caught my eye. Excellent detail to all the cars and just seeing some current and vintage cars racing through the streets along side of futuristic AI cars is just fun!I would recommend this to anyone who's new to Japan Animation, or a fan of Fujishima's work. The 2 volumes is very reasonably priced for North American releases these days. However, if you consider yourself 'hardcore' anime fan, then rent the titles first.

Rating:
Summary: Animated Car Chase Heaven
Review: What makes a great car chase? Impressive cars, cool lens effects, famous movie stars in the driver's seat? Well I sure don't think so. I feel that recently in hollywood movies we've seen car chases with overpowered cars, special effects to make look like they're accelerating REALLY fast, slow-mo effects (WAY too many) to emphasize key moments, and plently of stuff that's just plain boring. Just what am I getting at?

If you agree with me that great car chases are about realistic engine sounds, cars behaving realisticly, beautiful exotic sports cars, incredible driving skill, close misses, huge powerslides, and innocent bystanders jumping out of the way in the nick of time, you will love this anime. What can I say? I love car chases, and these are WAY better than what you see in the average american movie nowadays. More like what you'd see in one of the excellent (and highly recommended) short films BMV made as part of it's commercial series "The Hire". Truly great stuff.

This anime also features tight animation, and fantastic japanese voice-acting. It's also worth mentioning that the engine sounds on this show are outstanding. If you love hearing exotic engines rev, you'll love the sound on this dvd.

All in all, you only have to ask yourself one question. Do you mind the fact that these car chases are animated instead of live-action? If you answer yes, I feel sorry for you. But if you dig car chase action whatever form it may take, this is the anime for you.