Based on a manga of the same name by Sonoda Kenichi, Riding Bean provides an experience that is not unlike the Terminator in certain aspects. Good looking gunfights and chase scenes make up the entirety of this one-episode OVA, and action fans will certainly not be disappointed. Well, unless they want MORE Riding Bean. Then they'll be very disappointed.

Being just a forty-minute episode, Riding Bean feels like a single episode of Lupin III. Sure, there's some nice action in it, a bumbling cop that's after the main character, and plenty of boobies to go around, but in the end it doesn't really explain anything or provide any sort of character development. However, if you're a fan of Lupin III you'll probably enjoy this OVA quite a bit. It has everything but Goemon. Dang.

The action scenes in Riding Bean are very well animated and imaginative. The chase scenes that make up most of the episode are very well done and a lot of detail was used to create the cars in the show. From the Shelby Cobra to the Roadbuster, everything has so many little details that it's pretty cool just to look at the cars. However, the actions scenes involving gunfights are just downright unrealistic. Yes, this is an anime and it's usually okay to be unrealistic. It's just a little odd seeing a man take a bullet to the forehead, shake it off, get crushed by a car, shake that off, stop a speeding car with his bare hands (without him sliding backward at all), then flip it over.

The scenes like that really reminded me of the Terminator movies. I mean, the man is completely unstoppable and all believability is thrown out the window. It would have been pretty nice if, in the end, we're told that he's an android or something but nothing like that happens at all. I guess I should check out the manga sometime...