I’ve always liked the idea of riding a motorcycle. Then one day I see an anime all about girls riding motorcycles. Could this be the thing that inspires me to finally buy a motorcycle (or at the very least a scooter on facebook market place)? No it isn’t. I did think about it after watching this actually. But then I remembered I live in Sydney. And the chances of me getting T-boned are a lot higher than a seemingly rural town in Japan. Nonetheless it was an interesting watch. Here’s my thoughts on Super Cub.

Story
There isn't really much to this story. You get what's on the box. It's some high school girls riding on their Super Cub’s. It's an iyashikei show meant to not overwhelm you with anything too complicated. And as an iyashikei show, how well the story is executed usually relies less on the premise itself but how its characters engage within it. So how does it do?

Characters
The three main characters are Koguma, Reiko and Shii. Koguma is the most interesting to me. Her relationship to the Super Cub is one of healing. Similar to the viewers' relationship to the anime. Most of the anime takes place from her perspective, with the colours used reflecting her mood. Whenever she rides her motorcycle the world takes on a vibrancy that usually isn't there otherwise. She is shown to be a timid girl who finds it hard to express her emotions. That is until she finds her Super Cub. Through it she's able to form connections with people like Reiko and Shii who share her interests. She serves her role as a self insert well, likely reflecting the type of person who would watch this anime and is overall very grounded fitting the mundane premise. Many of my favourite moments of the show were just watching her riding around alone on her motorcycle finding a brief moment of solace among a seemingly bleak existence. After all she has no parents, no friends and no real interests outside of her motorcycle. That is until she meets Reiko and Shii.

Now Reiko and Shii. I cannot give them the same praise I did Koguma. These characters are the complete opposite of grounded. Reiko is introduced seemingly as Honda's poster girl. The first time talking to Koguma she literally says “When I’m sitting on my cub like this I feel like I can go anywhere!” completely unprompted.

I mean I get it connects to this anime’s themes of freedom. And this later leads to Koguma being able to spontaneously ride her Cub to the store. Which is nice character development. She’s finding the courage to try new things as new possibilities open up to her. But what this means for Reiko is very different.

This being most evident in her solo episode which was honestly just confusing, as she tries to climb Mount Fuji on her motorbike despite it being illegal for the sake of environmental preservation. You go girl. Disturb the natural ecosystem. And there doesn't really seem to be any point to this aside from displaying that the Super Cub is pretty versatile and can even climb mountains if you try hard enough! Sure it could be read as a story of perseverance. But it’s not really a very interesting one. She just brute forces her way up the mountain and it doesn’t feel like she’s growing as a character in any meaningful way. Because she’s already a flawless character who’s only personality trait seems to be liking Super Cubs. Along with this her chemistry with Koguma is pretty non-existent outside of their love for Super Cubs.

The same can also be said for Shii. Shii is obviously the helpless moe character but she also has this gimmick where her dad is German, her mother is American and she's Italian. Maybe it's to make up for how little else is going on with her character besides being helpless and moe.

I get it this is anime and there's going to be a few quirky moe characters in a show that's obviously CGDCT. But my problem more lies in how little they actually have in relation to the main premise of girls riding Super Cubs. Koguma is really the only character who has some kind of interesting relationship with what the Super Cub represents in the show. And that's pretty important when you're story is literally titled “Super Cub”. Also with most CGDCT shows there's usually at least some chemistry between the characters to make the viewer feel attached to them. But there isn't much going on here aside from liking Super Cubs. At least when it comes to Reiko and Shii. The scenes with Koguma alone are still a delight though and I found enough enjoyment in those to keep me interested most of the time.

Animation/Visuals
It's not bad. As previously mentioned, the use of colour to represent Koguma's mood was pretty interesting. They do use 3D animation for the vehicles and as usual CGI sticks out a bit. But I’ve seen worse and it’s never really distracting. So it gets a pass. The background are also pretty nice. Overall though it's pretty standard.

Music/Sound Design
This is also something I really liked about this anime. The attention to detail with the foley was amazing. Especially with the motorcycles. I don't know anything about motorcycles but I wouldn’t be surprised if the engine sounds were taken from real Super Cubs. But even small things like Koguma pouring barley tea into a glass really add to the simple atmosphere of the show. There is also the use of classical music which is always welcome.

The Episode 11 Rant (Spoilers)

Conclusion
The character writing is pretty surface level to be honest. And you might enjoy that. It isn't an anime that's here to challenge your perception of the human condition. It's a bunch of high school girls riding on motorcycles. They really only have enough of a personality as far is it justifies them riding motorcycles. Personally I would've liked if each of the characters had a bit more chemistry aside from their love for Honda Super Cubs™. But that's just me comparing this to Yuru Camp. That is to say for an anime with such a grounded premise I would've also liked to see some more grounded characters. For this reason my favourite parts of this anime were the most mundane parts. Stuff like Koguma simply riding her motorbike to and from school as the motorcycle engine rumbles in the background. It really captures the freedom of being alone. And my least favourite parts were anything involving Reiko and Shii.

Watch Yuru Camp and if you’ve already seen it and have some patience, sure Super Cub has some charm to it. If you’re more forgiving than me of moe anime logic I'm sure you might even feel right at home. But personally it’s not for me.
Or maybe you just really like motorcycles and are happy to see them in anime. Then sure who cares about any of that. Super Cub mentioned!

P.S. I don't know why Anilist makes 6/10 a shade of orange. That makes it seem more on the bad side. To me 6/10 is still more on the posititve side cause it's closer to 10 so my 6/10 is more like an off shade of greenish yellow. Anyway bye thanks for reading.