RingoStarr1991

 ***THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW***

Prince of Stride is a show that seemed to have shown so much promise in the early episodes but soon driveled out into a bromance, low intensity “battles” anime. I was waiting for that super intense, heart pounding race to occur; maybe in the second season?

Story: 5/10

So the main thing you need to know about the show is this; highschoolers get together to run in “Stride” races against other highschools. The main characters Nana, Riku, and Takeru form the main core for the show to present itself with. The supporting cast is there and does a decent job but it's obvious that the show is appealing to a demographic that I'm not a part of. The bromance aspect of the anime is almost suffocating which would not be a huge issue IF it did not impede on the story of the anime. Literally after every race there is a plethora amount of bromance crap that clutters the closing minutes of every episode. Also the whole “We have to get better” aspect of the show was in my opinion not done very well. It seems like the Honan (main school) team just gets unbelievably awesome in the last 2 or 3 episodes out of nowhere.

I wanted to like the show because the other elements seemed so great but all I was left with was an uninteresting friendship story that had lots of running in it.

Animation: 6.5/10

I feel that I have to rate this harder than normal because it is MADHOUSE we are talking about. The studio that has brought us No Game No Life, One-Punch Man, Chihayafuru, and so many other breathtakingly beautiful anime have come up pretty short in the animation department. The scenes are fluid which is important in an action orientated anime but the art quality seems pretty disappointing. Character models and scenery seemed pretty lackluster especially when comparing it to No Game No Life (which I just finished re-watching). MADHOUSE can do so much better than this.

Sound: 8/10

The music, soundeffects, and voice actors are pretty good in this show. Music seemed to hit the mood right on the tee, voice actors did a pretty good job expressing their characters, and the sound effects were very impressive. The element of wind, running on different surfaces, and landing on platforms/rails was spot on.

Characters: 6/10

The characters melded well with each other but unfortunantly I just could not get myself to give any s***s for them at all. It's not that they were generic it's just the whole package of the anime just didn't hold my attention.

Overall: 6.38/10

It's an average anime to be honest. It has a very predictable outcome, average character development, and sadly average action scenes. I was hoping that the ending would blow me away but the final race is quite the disappointment. If you are expecting something great like with other MadHouse anime then I would skip out on this one.

Enjoyment: 4/10

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Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer