RideBack End

I enjoyed the end of RideBack anime series. However, I feel that the story really needed two seasons to be told properly. Even one more episode might have helped as the final episode feels really cramped as the various subplots are wrapped up.

The GGP are never explained in sufficient detail so it is difficult to understand exactly how they operate as a world government. They came to power after a crucial attack on a base Arizona using RideBack prototypes, but not much detail is revealed about those events, except as it relates to some characters in the present. However, it is clear that the GGP are a typical post revolutionary government in that they are still highly militarized and quite corrupt. Events in the story eventually lead to changes in how the GGP operates, but it is all in the background and a little vague.

The main story focuses on Ogata Rin who has never come to terms with quiting the stage after her injury, and especially with how it affected her fans. The tragic events of episode 9 forces her face these issues, and she does some serious soul searching before she finally understands that she needs to perform as a way to find closure. She chooses her stage carefully and gives an absolutely brilliant performance on Fuego. Blending dancer and machine, she takes out a half dozen of the GGP's autonomous RideBacks. To most it looks like she is fighting, but the few who understand that she is dancing, are left completely speechless by her performance.

As is typical for anime sci-fi, the RideBack itself is really not very important to the story, and there are no techno babble explanations of how it all works. Obviously, a RideBack would require a complex control system to make it drivable. However, what makes Fuego special is that some of the control systems are turned off, so that an exceptionally skilled rider can get more out of the machine. There's a not so subtle hint here about how humans and machines need to complement each other to be effective.