Having read several volumes of the “ばくおん!!” manga by Orimoto Mimana, was looking forward to the anime adaptation of this silly school comedy that tells the story of several girls who meet through their mutual interest in motorcycle riding.
“Bakuon!!” focuses on student Hane who soon joins her school’s motorcycle club after being entranced by her classmate Onsa who commutes to school on her motorcycle. The well-established tale of an aloof, lively girl that joins a club on a whim and befriends fellow students with a similar passion resembles series such as “K-On!!” or “Hanayamata”.
Like those shows, “Bakuon!!” includes typical characters like the wild girl, the air-headed ojousama or the reliable upperclassman. Whether any of the girls in “Bakuon!!” will ever break out of their respective templates remains to be seen, am however convinced they likely will not, considering what I have seen in the manga so far.
Enjoyed the first episode of “Bakuon!!”, it hit all the right notes in term of comedy, pacing, character interaction and animation quality. It was unfortunately rather predictable and did not really offer anything new to the viewers, save perhaps for its focus on motorcycles. Did appreciate the work by studio TMS Entertainment in rendering the facial expression of the girls, especially the many silly faces of Onsa and Rin were priceless.
The primary audience demographic of “Bakuon!!” are those who enjoy the typical school comedy, or slice-of-life shows centered around a group of girls doing cute and silly things. The franchise is likely to appeal to those who have an interest in motorcycles considering they do showcase various bikes and highlight key bits about motorcycle riding.
In an anime season where the slice-of-life genre is heavily represented with near a dozen shows, “Bakuon!!” is sure to provide fans a fun, albeit typical slice-of-life school comedy that is guaranteed to entertain. Alas, it will likely end up being middle-tier and risks being eclipsed by several other, stronger contenders in a season packed with plenty of slice-of-life anime.
You can watch “Bakuon!!” on Crunchyroll.
