A surprise anime with a surprise plot.
Appare is an eccentric genius, inspired by the novels of Jules Verne, Appare builds a steam boat to achieve great feats of engineering in 1890 Meiji era, but when Appare's caretaker Kosame attempts to take him back, an incident triggers a unscheduled trip to Los Angeles. Having achieved an unbelievable feat already, Appare moves on to the next goal of competing in the Trans-America Wild race from Los Angeles to New York rebuilding his boat into a hybrid steam vehicle but with pro drivers and outlaws against the young inventor, Appare will need more than his brains to survive.
If you've seen Redline then you'll get a kick out of this late Victorian era take on the gumball rally plot, the cast are very colourful with each racer being larger than life, even characters who don't compete like Sophia manage to leave an impact, what really sells the series are the likes of Appare, Xialian and Crazy TJ who bring a unique mix alongside more common troped characters like Al Lyon, Dylan and Kosame, this also makes for a strong dub especially Appare who paints the perfect image of an inventor.
If I have a complaint is that the big bad guy is utterly bland and in a series that has such high standard of characters, that's a shame, also not a terrible amount of racing in this racing anime.
Final Verdict: A fun adventure with fun, memorable characters let down by a bland villain, if you want more racing you won't find it will quite scratch the itch but it's still good enough to warrant your time.
