BLOG || ABOUT

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Ganbatte!

Shakariki!, the Japanese cycling movie, is coming out in September. Watch a teaser here.
According to www.cyclelicio.us, the movie is based on シャカリキ!Shakariki!, a popular comic manga featuring high school kids:

These kids suffer, they have bad hair, they sweat and snot runs from their noses as they push with all their might to be the fastest kid to climb the mountain. They have no friends -- only rivals who sabotage them, coaches who berate them for their failures, families who don't understand their passion for bicycling. They somehow manage to ride with second hand jerseys, bikes and headbands from the 80s.
The movie, on the other hand,


features the "D-Boys," a pretty boy acting troupe of young men with corporate sponsorship, great hair, great teeth, no sweat, and no snot who limply wave their wrists in the air as supportive and attractive friends all cry "Ganbatte!" while dramatic music crescendos and they all win some sort of prize.

Any chance that we'll get to see this in US theaters?

* * *

Continuing with Japanese cycling shows, below is the opening song of the animated series Over Drive. The show revolves around first-year high school student Shinozaki and his goal to become the greatest cyclist in the world and winning the Tour de France.
The show begins when, while feeling a deep crush on Yuki Fukazawa, Shinozaki decides to get into his high school cycling club as Yuki's suggestion, even though he has never practiced any sport before. Ironically, the club's leader is Yousuke, Yuki's older brother and a renowned road racer from his town. Yousuke's long time cycling partner and club's vice president Kouichi Terao sees in Shinozaki all the potential and courage necessary to become a road cycling legend.
This sounds hilarious, for so many reasons... (Remember, this is Japanese anime.) I will post some episodes over time.

No comments: