#circuitangel — Public Fediverse posts

#268 : Circuit Angel: Resolving Starting Grid

A girl and her motorcycle… in the realms of classic anime I can name a few. Miranda from Venus Wars, Priss from Bubblegum Crisis, Houquet/Rook from Mospeada/Robotech all emerge from my memory and yet, there are more including this one, Mariko Okazaki. Who is that you may ask? She is not a name that many will recognize because she comes from one of those single release OVA titles that you really have to dig down into the more forgotten pile of releases to find. Sounds good to me, so what is the name this release? Why none other than Circuit Angel: Resolving Starting Grid.

Slightly tomboyish, yet also exuding an aura similar to that of a more hot headed Madoka Ayukawa from Kimagure Orange Road, Mariko is a working class girl who has a couple close guy friends that love to tour on their motorbikes. Coming back to KOR again, these friends also resolve around a local cafe/coffee shop but this one is run by ex-racing ace, Raita Nagase, a quiet and slightly mysterious man who is very much a hero to our young protagonists. A question now arises, why did Raita quit racing even though he was so talented and fast? That question does get resolved, but I will let your viewing of this OVA reveal it’s answer 😉

Mariko’s biking shenanegons often times gets her into trouble with her strict yet very protective father who has to eventually take the keys away. Mariko who is also very sneaky and crafty decides to steal them back to join her guy friends for a morning ride in the hills. While out and about on the open road they come into contact with  another young man who brings on a rivalry provoking our lady into a race to prove a point. After all this ‘botchan’, pampered rich boy, needs to be shown his place to prove that he can’t always get away with things… plus it will show just how skilled Mariko is on two wheels! Only problem is that she has no racing experience… but there is a way.

Sadly, I have to draw the line here as I don’t want to say much more as this 1987 OVA release is a short one. Anymore detail and I will spoil everything and honestly, that’s no fun. 🙂 For those of you who have a passion for speed, motorcycles, or very obscure titles here is a quick one and done release. Sadly the only transfer seemes to be a VHS rip and even the animation quality looks more closer to a higher budgeted TV episode than the more famous cinematic look of many popular OVA of the 1980s. So don’t expect super glorious production like say a Gunbuster, or Bubblegum Crisis. Yet it holds it’s own very well despite being mostly average but hey… it was a nice find, fun and a simple story. Sometimes thats all you need from an anime, you know?