AniMAY: Riding Bean (1989)

May is upon us, and with it I am bringing back a previous month of reviews with AniMAY. Not just for the fun pun, but it also gives me an excuse to watch and review some anime films which I will never turn down a chance to do. And I’m kicking off the month with a short or sweet film that I had never heard of before watching it, and that is Riding Bean (1989). The film follows Bean Bandit, a courier for hire who are framed for the kidnap of a wealthy businessman’s kid. He then needs to return the child to her parent as well as find those who set him up to carry out justice.

The film being released in 1989 plumps it firmly in an era that is absolutely chock full of classics in the genre. I don’t feel like this film will ever be held in the same conversations of many of those, but the hallmarks of many of those film (mainly Akira (1988)) are there to be seen, mostly in the animation style. It is a style that I have a big soft spot for, but this film manages to also feel very slick especially in all the action sequences. The way the film animates its car chases and gun fights is exhilarating and a lot of fun but also likes to delve into somewhat extreme violence and gratuitous nudity which is par for the course in many of the films of this era. And with this film only clocking in at 50 minutes, it is effectively an extended action scene, so it flies by, ending almost as soon as it starts. The narrative is fairly simple but solid, and to be honest it could quite easily have been extended out to be a feature length film. Would that have improved the final product? I think so. Because while the film is a lot of fun it is not perfect, and I think the short runtime does hamper the ability for the narrative to fully hook you in by fleshing out these characters. Also, going back to the gratuitous nudity, it is fully unmerited in the film, especially an extended scene where we watch Bean Bandit’s partner getting changed. But for the tone and style the film is going for I can see why it is included. It feels very macho in that way. And I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a lot of fun with it overall.