Animation maybe my first love but my second love is cars, so this time we have a special run of the top 25 vehicles of anime; rules this time are, all entries must have a real life counterpart and must be one car per series.
Updated with an honorable mention
Honorable Mention: Ford Sierra Cosworth from Goddamn!
This one off OVA has a number of big name rally cars most notable a 1986 Ford Sierra Cosworth driven by the main character.
25. Optimus Prime from Transformers
Rated low for being a hybrid American/Japanese cartoon. Most early carnations of optimus depict his disguise as a Peterbilt Truck.
24. Officer Jenny's Bike from Pokemon
For a series that glorifies walking & cycling, only the police force can hold onto such wheels in the form of a Harley Davidson Road Glide.
23. Seta's Van from Love Hina
A vehicle Ace Ventura himself would be proud of, a Subaru Sambar Campervan built for durability. Ken Akamatsu himself owned one.
22. Jeep from Saiyuki
Beats walking to India and you don't need to park it as it comes complete with cute dragon form.
21. 6-Wheel Tyrrell F1 from Moldiver
As part of the storyline of celebrating the 20th Century this one off race car becomes the centerpiece of one of the episodes.
20. T-74 Tank from Those Who Hunt Elves
The only way to travel an elven world is a Japanese Military tank possessed by a cat spirit.
19. Ban's Car from Getbackers
A cheapskate car for a cheapskate team, saying that this Subaru 360 has done decent mileage.
18. Hermes from Kino's Journey
A talking bike based on an early 20th century Brough Superior, the engine sounds beautiful.
17. See-Through from Panty & Stocking
The oddly named Hummer driven by the Anarchy Sisters, in true Barbie pink.
16. Lisa's Car from Ponyo
For a little Mitsubishi Minica it does the job when attacked by a Ponyo Storm.
15. Yui's Subaru Vivio from Lucky Star
The most epic scene you'll ever see on the road & she still managed to keep to the speed limit.
14. Lupin's car from Castle of Cagliostro
A Fiat 500 that has no trouble climbing cliffs.
13. Police Cars from You're Under Arrest
For just mere Honda Today, they certainly see a lot of action, although you can only brake with your feet in some of them.
12. Mach 5 from Speed Racer
Borrows many design traits from old Le Mans sports cars most notably the Ferrari 250 Testarossa. Replicas already exist.
11. Karts from Capeta
The most over dramatic scenes of turning a corner you'll ever see.
10. Road Buster from Riding Bean
A hybrid of a Porsche 959 & Corvette Stingray, some other sports cars may have even taken inspiration from it. See Gunsmith Cats Review for a picture.
9. Lorna Endou's Lotus Europa from Ex-Driver
In a world where A.I. drive every car, a team of drivers stops them from going rogue in style. The image near the top is a Caterham Super 7 from the same show.
8. Reiko's Motorcycle from Goldenboy
A sexy looking Bimota Tesi driven by an equally sexy lady, beaten by a pervert on a bicycle.
7. Misato's Car from Evangelion
A Renault Alpine A310 built to withstand the onslaught of angel attacks, still looks like a trash heap though.
6. Toyota Trueno from Initial D
Pity I don't rate the series but everyone will agree that the Trueno is the standout car from all the other cars in this show.
5. Rally's Shelby Cobra from Gunsmith Cats
Loved so much it even made the opening title sequence, admire this piece of American Automotive genius.
4. Celty's Bike from Durarara
A hybrid of a Yamaha V-Max and a Honda RCB, comes complete with dark aura, headless rider and horse noises.
3. Kaneda's Bike from Akira
It looks unreal but one officially approved by the author is doing the rounds in Japan for charity.
2. Haruko's Vespa from FLCL
For an Italian scooter it looks so much more awesome in the hands of guitar wielding Haruko.
1. Yukari-Mobile from Azumanga Daioh
But no car has ever been so terrifying than this one, a beat up Toyota Corolla E120 that has traumatized it's passengers to breaking point whenever it's mentioned. Stay away from this car.
To keep up with something I wrote a couple weeks back, my next review will be on Gunsmith Cats, a series I listed along with four others but included with this review is also Riding Bean as both series occur in the same universe and are short enough to be reviewed together, so here is the review for Riding Bean & Gunsmith Cats.
That is one sexy car
Kenichi Sonoda is a familiar face to anyone whose watched 80s anime Bubblegum Crisis and Gall Force as he is the character designer behind them, although he's a lot better at drawing cars than drawing humans, judging by how good the picture looks.
His first work Riding Bean is about a transporter called Bean Bandit who receives money for courier jobs on both sides of the law, in the OVA he's framed for a kidnapping which he responds by chasing down the real criminal using his custom made car, styled using a Porsche 959 chassis with a Corvette Stingray engine and a few small design features similar to a Honda NSX. The series is definitely 80s due to the ultra violence shown in some parts but all in all extremely toned down compared to it's predecessors, it's an extremely early dub as well, nothing special to look at but it can be forgiven for the time period it was dubbed. Not much else to say about it, creator Sonoda fell out with the production company so another series wasn't made, instead we got Gunsmith Cats.
Existing in the same universe and taking a character who was originally Bean Bandit's partner, Rally Vincent is a bounty hunter and Gunsmith who takes jobs much in the same way Bean Bandit did, her partner in crime is an explosive former call girl Minnie-May Hopkins who custom makes hand grenades which becomes a form slapstick in the first episode.
After the introduction were introduced to Natasha Radinov a former KGB and a juggernaut type character who takes a number of explosions and bullets to kill which is trademark to the series as Bean Bandit himself could take bullets to the head and chest and tear through a car's bodywork with his bare hands; the rest of the short series is Rally & May taking down Radinov with their trusty Shelby Cobra GT500, not much else to say, both series are exactly the same in content, all feature more stylized art on the cars & guns and both series contain Rally Vincent, okay one version is blonde hair & Caucasian and the other is black hair & Indian but both characters look exactly the same; you know that's all you really need. Most series and movies based on the typical Chicago police vs violent criminals don't always see it's audience as being smart, so you see a gun you fire it, you see a car you drive it, but both these shows actually tell you what cars & guns are and why they are effective for the current plot which is Sonoda's greatest strength as a writer.
Final Verdict: Cheap entertainment that was good for it's time that has a lot of style and will easily draw you into the manga, and also translates well for a western audience.
