Anime of Yesteryear Presents: “That little ol’ OVA: Bobby’s Girl”

So I’m back on this again, as I happen to dig deeper in the past, as far back as my binge drinking and obscure anime vhs collection can take me. When I came too, I found myself looking at some punk kid, who reminding me of what all of us seem to be at one part of our lives, that part where we don’t know what and where to go in life. Enter the world of 17 year old Akihiko Nomura, or what we’d like to call him, Bobby.

Bobby’s Girl (or “Bobby’s in deep”) is one of Madhouse early works from the 80’s, and this kind of anime just has the right heart and soul to go with it. From the quality of animation, a very simple story to understand, and very talented people all make this anime stand out for its time, only to fall into obscurity later. But, lets dive into Bobby’s world a bit and find what makes this unique.

The anime starts off with Bobby on his bike, because Bobby is all about his bike. He cleans it, tunes it and lives for it. He takes pictures of his ride one day and sends it to a motorcycle hobby magazine, which in turn gets a letter from a girl. The girl sends detailed and often romantic letters to Bobby, which he responds to answers that can be summed in one sentence, such as “My bike is blue” to answer the girls question about when she wants to see him again on the road. Bobby is just a simple guy, and answers like that are part of the binary response that guys use most of the time when answered a question. He’s not doing it to be rude or he’s shy, but I would have to say that is just his personality.

But things at home and life are different for Bobby. His grades are dropping due to the simple fact of “not-giving-a-crap” about school, and his dad is hounding him to get his act together and get his butt in gear for life, which Bobby just doesn’t seem to understand if it has nothing to do with bikes (I am sure there is some tech college in Japan where he can work on bikes, even in the 80’s). This causes him to drop outta school and get kicked out of the house to live with a friend. He then gets a job from a biker bar owner (and by coincidence the bar is named “Bobby’s”) who shares his passion for bikes too, and his past as a racer.

At one point Bobby’s “girl” stated she will call him on a specific date/time and wanted to make sure he is by the phone to talk to him, which has Bobby excited and waiting for the day. On that same day, Bobby’s boss takes him on a ride along the country side of Japan to a motocross track which it seems to give Bobby some options to his outlook on life, at least that’s how I looked at it. But then Bobby realizes that his phone call is coming soon and hops on his bike in a race against time. Can he make it back in time to talk to his mystery girl? You’ll just have to find out.

I’d have to give this OVA credit, despite its flaws. To sum up this OVA, its just a fun anime to sit back and watch, with no effort to put in any thought into trying to interpret the story or to look for anything further than what is provided. Its a simple cut and dry story about a boy who likes his bike and the events that unfold from there. What makes this OVA so special to me is the fact that it can relate to anyone. Everyone has been at a position like Bobby at one point in time, or multiple times. That is just how life is, even if it is unfair to us, and all we can do is learn and move on.

What steals the show on this is the animation by a long shot. This was Madhouse early works in the 80’s before they hit it big, and this was during the period that near infinite money was thrown into the booming OVA market where it seemed a lot of creative talent came from that we see today, both good and bad. The final scene to this anime can only be compared to breathtaking as the animation goes to stencil style as Bobby is riding on his bike to get to the phone in time with every detail to backgrounds, the bike, gear changing, you name it all. Its something out of a A-ha “Take on me” music video, minus the 80’s mullets sadly. There is also the attention to signs, logos and just American products in this show from cars to cigarettes.

I first heard about this anime from Gerald review of it on Anime World Order over a year ago along with his story on how he tracked this down, and I would recommend checking out that review. His review had me looking into this, which I’m glad I did. The anime is now online and finding a copy from those “sites” and the fansub group ToY-RC are the only accessible ways at this time. Your best bet to getting a physical copy is either by yahoo or amazon japan sites and to see if someone has it available.

All in all, if this is something you wanna look into, by all means please check it out. Its not perfect, but its definitely unique to see. But all in all, I wanna be Bobby’s Girl, because that is the most important thing to me: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xajs92_bobby-s-in-deep-ed_shortfilms

If you liked the review please leave feedback and to check out my blog at: http://animeofyesteryear.blogspot.com/. Well until next time.