I confess to a certain surprise that Appare-Ranman! joined the list of postponement casualties after only its third episode, considering that its first two were done and released before the end of March. That makes this a bittersweet piece to write for obvious reasons. Even middling series take on an added importance in a season so starved for content, and if this one were sticking around I’d certainly watch it. Would I cover it? It would be on the bubble, to be sure, but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out.
This show is rather goofy and pretty messy, to be sure, but that’s a part of its modest charm. I’ll say this much – I certainly didn’t expect to see a massacre of Native Americans depicted in anime, much less in what’s basically a comedy (I could say something about the Ainu and glass houses here, but there’s plenty of guilt to go around). If that was incongruous, seeing Appare riding around on a Segway in what’s supposed to be turn-of-the-century America gives it a run for its money. But photo-realism is clearly not what Appare-Ranman is going for, and there’s no harm in that.
While we start off with Dylan G. Ordene in the spotlight, the main driver of events this week is Al Leon (Saitou Souma). He’s a rich European brat who’s just arrived with a fancy “BNW” motorcar and a pretty chaperone, and he promptly takes possession of all the dockside storehouses and kicks Appare and Kaname out. If he’s supposed to be German his name doesn’t give it away, and BMW didn’t start producing cars until decades later than this setting – but never mind, it’s all in fun. Eventually Appare manages to interest Al enough to get him to accept a bet on a race, with use of their storehouse – and ownership of Kaname’s katana – as stakes.
The dynamic for the rest of the series (whenever it happens) is already starting to slot into place here. Hototo – lacking anywhere else to go and having come to admire Appare – effectively joins the team (I see a navigator role in his future) while he searches for the tattooed man who killed his father (no word whether he has six fingers). Al is the first in a string of numerous rivals, to be sure, and Appare’s genius is going to be the fuel to power whatever absurd machine they end up racing in.
On balance I found this ep more fun and engaging than the first two, though Appare still annoys me, especially the way he treats Kaname. Still, Kaname’s faults don’t go unhighlighted here, starting with the way he condescends to Hototo. He represents rigid Japanese inflexibility, Appare freedom and dangerous uncertainty – in that sense he’s probably a much better fit for the U.S. than Japan, not least at this point in history. It’s not a bad premise, and I could see Appare-Ranman developing into a fairly engaging story. But it’s obviously a moot point for now, a distressing pattern that’s repeating itself at the moment.
