Riding Bean is an odd little OAV. Much of the film is strictly in Lupin territory, with shifty (but caring) crooks battling nastier crooks while avoiding an obsessed police detective. There are also weird forays into superhero and soft core territory, and some of Kenichi Sonada's Pulp Fiction-style situations. Sonada's no Quentin Tarantino, however, and Riding Bean ends up as a muddle.
Most of Riding Bean is a fun action OAV, with plenty of car chases and shootouts. There's nothing to make you think, and the action sequences are done about as well as those in a typical made-for-cable action film. Sonada's character designs are also fun to look at. The Bean Bandit looks like a muscular version of Elvis Presley and Rally Vincent (not to be confused with the Rally in Sonada's Gunsmith Cats) is a well-drawn anime heroine. Some of the comedy is good, and the over-the-top superheroics towards the end fit in well with the "anything goes" story line.
There are problems with Riding Bean, however - problems so serious that one hopes the film doesn't fall into the hands of anime haters. For a start, there's gratuitous female nudity, most of which occurs in the first 10 minutes. It's as if Sonada wanted to make sure he fulfilled his quota of naked women as soon as possible. More serious than the fan service is a subplot involving pedophilia and prostitution. While the scenes involving this are well-written and disturbing, they certainly do not belong in an otherwise lightweight picture. They require a serious dramatic treatment, and should not be used to spice up a formula action picture. Both the above flaws are common to many live action low budget thrillers as well, but since Riding Bean is animated, it's worth pointing them out in detail.
The biggest problem with the OAV is that it really doesn't go anywhere. The film ends abruptly, and leaves many questions unanswered. While on the surface the film is very stylish, on a deeper level it's artless. The character designs and draftsmanship do not compensate for the lack of a good story or even any truly memorable scenes. Riding Bean is derivative and unlikely to win any new fans to the genre.
Sonada did better work with his later Gunsmith Cats manga and, to a lesser extent, with his Gunsmith Cats: Bulletproof OAV. Sonada fans who want to see his early work may enjoy Riding Bean but for the rest of us, its an acquired taste that may not be worth the trouble. Stick to Sonada's manga for more fun.
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