Rideback - Episode 10

Well, there goes my prediction that some action-packed scenes must be coming soon after watching the last episode, as Rideback manages to squeeze in yet another instalment without a great amount of actual Rideback usage.

The main focus of the episode is on the protest against GGP organised by Rideback owners who have had their vehicles confiscated as part of the "anti-terrorist" crackdown, while the handful of people who have managed to hold onto their Ridebacks also get involved to lend their support. Of course, this includes Haruki, Suzuri and company, with the latter doing the riding as part of the protest.

Her appearance at the demonstration perhaps inevitably leads to some confusing her with "Rideback girl" (who is, of course, Rin), and before she knows it she's become an inadvertent cause celebre, and also the focus of GGP's attention (although you'd have thought they'd know what Rin looks like, even with a crash helmet on).


Speaking of Rin, she makes her way into the city while still in hiding, hoping to reunite with her friends at last thanks to the help of Tamayo, whose father and brother and meanwhile beginning to pay the penalty for their "terrorist" support. All of this occurs against a backdrop of the actual terrorists, with Tenshirou playing a large part, planning their next step in the fight against GGP.

While all of this amounts to plenty of slow build-up and not a lot of actual excitement, the final minutes of the episode suddenly pulls a no-nonsense, brutal sucker punch out of the bag to leave you feeling both stunned and drained by the end of it. While this episode ending was perhaps expected to some extent, I certainly wasn't expecting quite such a horrific turn of events. It's a brave and impressive way to save an otherwise slightly plodding episode, but it somehow succeeds in doing so while also shaking up the plot in terms of what might happen next yet again to do its part in jogging my expectations of Rideback in a positive direction once more.