Available to Purchase on Amazon USA or direct through MediaOCD
Technically, the only thing new in the re-release of Riding Bean is the interview with creator Kenichi Sonada. What he offers are some anecdotes regarding what inspired him to make the anime, and subsequent manga sequel, and he also shares what he loved back then, which he brought over to this series. For example, he talked about I Dream of Jeanie and also Terminator. I won’t give away the deets, but upon checking out this bonus video first, and this short film again, I agree about the latter’s influence. As for the former, that was a “Really?” moment.
Although Sonada-san didn’t say much regarding who he was drawing from for Percy, the police commissioner who is after Bean, I’m guessing he takes after Edward Rooney (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) along with Walter Peck (Ghostbusters). They share similiar manic characteristics! He’s why I love this short film so much.
This fond classic uses the same masters from the previous Blu-ray release, and with a few new dub and subtitle tracks (German and Catalan), this MediaOCD release one-ups AnimEigo’s previous edition in one good way. After watching this OVA, I revisited my Gunsmith Cats Kickstarter edition just to have a night with Sonada’s best solo work. I backed that campaign way back when, and although I missed out on the Bean’s High Octane version, which had some cool swag at the higher tiers, that’s okay.
All I would want is the patch and art book. The model kit of the Roadbuster would’ve been cool, but not everyone will have the same resources as Robert J. Woodhead did when outsourcing this bonus; the prototype that would eventually become the model to 3D print / build as a garage kit looks awesome! This was a reward to crowdfunders who broke the bank afterwards!
And unless I want to scour the shops in Akihabara, Tokyo, I’m sure Buff the Roadbuster might be parked in some hole in the wall hobby shop! Or for those dedicated model builders, here are the specs from a forum post on Anime UK News, and crediting ANN: It’s built on a Porsche chassis with a Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray engine block. The body is made of 5 mm battleship armor plate and the windows are a combination of bulletproof glass and Lexgard. One reason Bean’s courier rates are so high is because Buff costs $1,000,000 to build and gets lousy gas mileage.
As for this re-release, the quality of the Blu-ray video does not differ from its previous. We have a new menu design, and the sound shook the house when I powered up both subwoofers rather than one. Technically, no update was done to the 2.0 stereo mix. I can only imagine the difficulty of upgrading this track to surround.
Overall, for those folks who missed out on the Kickstarter campaign, they can be glad that this retail version is back on the shelves again. After Sonada-san created his own crowdfunded project to produce a pitch video for a sequel, not much new information has been provided since. Road Buster Bean Bandit isn’t as good due to the limitations of a smaller production team involved in making it. Sadly, what he explained regarding independently funded projects is becoming tougher to realise And although some works are getting a resurgence (Ranma 1/2), not everything from this silver age can make a comeback.
Thankfully, the team distributed a Blu-ray (see above) to those who supported this creator’s dream project. While the future for this IP is uncertain, at least I have nearly everything presently available that is Bandit related.
4 Stars out of 5
Riding Bean Re-Release Trailer
