Riding Bean (1989) (V)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Directors:

Yasuo Hasegawa
Osamu Kamijoo

Writer:

Kenichi Sonoda (writer)

Genre:

Action | Animation

Plot:

A superhuman outlaw courier and his female partner/manager are framed for the kidnapping of a millionaire's daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Kidnapping | Super Strength | Frame Up | Chase | Anime

Cast

David Arnold	...	George Grimwood (voice: English version)
Mary Boucher	...	Chelsea Grimwood (voice: English version)
Marc Garber	...	Robber, Morris Grey (voice: English version) (as Mark Garber)
Adam Guzman	...	Dick (voice: English version)
Jun Hasumi	...	George
Megumi Hayashibara	...	Carrie
Chieko Honda	...	Chelsea
Jean Hrdlicka	...	Waitress (voice: English version)
Michitaka Kobayashi	...	Robber & Morris (as Sanshirô Nitta)
Jûrôta Kosugi	...	Guard
Mami Koyama	...	Semmerling
David Kraus	...	Percy (voice: English version)
J. Patrick Lawlor	...	Bean Bandit (english dub) (voice)
Barbara C. Lewis	...	Semmerling (voice: English version) (as Barbara Lewis)
Brennan MacKenzie	...	Rally Vincent (voice: English version)
Tomoko Maruo	...	Waitress
Naoko Matsui	...	Rally Vincent
Susan McQueen	...	Carrie (voice: English version)
John Peckham	...	Guard (voice: English version)
Kôzô Shioya	...	Guard
John C. Stuart	...	Hick (voice: English version)
Hideyuki Tanaka	...	Bean Bandit
Kazumi Tanaka	...	Guard
Nobuo Tobita	...	Dick
Norio Tobita	...	Dick
Kei Tomiyama	...	Percy
Timothy J. Walsh	...	The Chief (voice: English version)
Yûsaku Yara	...	Chief

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:18 | Germany:16 (DVD rating)

Company:

Artmic

Trivia:

Parts of the chase scenes were rotoscoped from The Blues Brothers (1980).

Quotes:

Rally Vincent: [Twenty armed guards surround the car] My, my. All those nice men gathering around us. I wonder what they're doing when they're not so busy.
Bean Bandit: Drink, smoke, watch TV, and gamble. It's a tradition.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Gunsmith Cats (1995) (V)

"Eat, drink, smoke, watch TV and gamble. It's a tradition."

Based on the manga created by Kenichi Sonoda (who did the mechanical designs for the original Bubblegum Crisis and later created Gunsmith Cats in response to Riding Bean being canceled), this one shot OAV chronicles the antics, shenanigans and misadventures of the title character, [Riding] Bean Bandit.

Bean Bandit, AKA: the Road Buster, is a superhuman outlaw courier who transports pretty much anyone/everyone and anything/everything for the right price (except drugs). His partner in crime is Rally Vincent, a woman with a big gun and a sharp eye on their bank account. Naturally, they're not really villains, they're just good hearted people on the wrong side of the law. When Bean is asked to transport the daughter of a millionaire, he and Rally get framed for kidnapping by a child molester named Semmerling and her little girl slave Carrie. This begins a high speed conspiracy chase with Bean determined to settle the score and reunite the girl with her father. Relentlessly pursuing Bean is Percy, a deranged police officer who's obsessed with either capturing Bean any which way he can or killing him.

Good mindless testosterone fun. Bean's such a lovable goof-ball that it really breaks your heart that his antics were discontinued. A redesigned Rally later became the heroine of "Gunsmith Cats" and a slightly different looking Bean made a few appearances in her alternate universe books.

"My my my, all those nice men pointing guns at us. I wonder what they all do when they're not so busy." - Rally Vincent

"Eat, drink, smoke, watch TV and gamble. It's a tradition." - Bean Bandit