Anime

Absolutely and utterly incompetent storytelling. We jump into a race with a bunch of characters we've barely heard from (and plenty we haven't) with no sense of stakes, that lasts a full half of the first episode, during which time we almost exclusively get commentary from the announcers. At no point in the race does it seem like the anime or the announcers are trying to build up tension, it's just round and round until the favorite wins and the second favorite comes in second. The main character herself is only in the final couple minutes of the episode and we get barely anything from her. The substance we got from this episode feels like it'd be the first few minutes before the OP in a much better written show, which is not a good sign.

I do like the car designs, and I think they show off some personality (or at least I imagine they do, since we know very little about the people racing them) and they look very distinct, which will make it easy to tell them apart on the track. The CGI characters also look pretty good, but it's a shame we didn't get to see much of them.

Overall, 1/5

Side note: is there really a point to having AI racers in these sorts of sporting events? I'm not a racing fan or a sports fan in general, but isn't the point usually to watch the limits of human capability and/or to follow the human drama of wins and loses? It feels like an AI just wouldn't be interesting for the target audience.

It's kind of weird being excited about watching CG cars statically vibrate across the screen in the guise of racing cars rumbling across tarmac, but that's how I feel about what the racing action consists of.

This NEX racing series has a couple of virtual idols who do all the announcements, pre-race build up entertainment, and so forth, but they oddly look more realistic than the racers themselves.

When they first show up, I wondered how magical girls figure into this story (they don't)

The first 2/3 of the episode is the last race of a season that we're just launched into.

The series title is sewn up, nobody really doubts who will win this race either.

For a non-event competitively speaking, it's not a bad watch. There's overtaking, crashes, pit strategy, although I'm sad that they've discarded human pit crews in favor of nondescript automated tire changing bays.

The worst part is watching the CG characters walk and talk. The character designs are nice to look at when still, but they're overwrought and non-functional. As are the cars themselves.

The idea that the Champ wins because he's the best, and not because that his team's car has some hidden technological advantage, is a slap in the face to how actual racing works.

Then we jump forward to qualifying for the first race next season, and are introduced to our future heroine who, other than her pink hair, seems pretty generic and indistinguishable from the other racing girls, and there's no explanation of how she was chosen to drive a very expensive racing car.

The writers played it smart by showing us the best of what this show has to offer: The racing.

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It was so boring I stopped watching halfway through the episode. I guess maybe F1 fans will find it more captivating?