The Winter 2011 Anime Preview Guide

Carlo Santos

Born in a hospital named after a famous dead person, Carlo discovered his obsessive-compulsive powers at an early age and began to consume art, culture and technology at an alarming rate. This led to his current 6-year stint with Anime News Network where he contributes reviews, writes the Right Turn Only!! manga column and can sometimes be seen prowling convention halls with a camera in his hand and a violin case on his back. Heaven help those who have to be subjected to either of them.

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Rio - Rainbow Gate!

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Review:
New anime fans are often indoctrinated with the notion that "Japan can make a cartoon out of anything." But just because they can, doesn't mean they should. Case in point: Rio – Rainbow Gate! , which will probably be ed more for being "the anime based on a line of pachinko machines" than for any actual artistic merits.

Episode 1 begins by introducing the series' mind-boggling cosmopolitan setting, where the Vegas-like "Howard Resort" rises above a city dotted with San Franciscan cable cars upon a sun-kissed resort island. Sadly, this geographic mashup is about where the inventiveness stops, as the rest of the episode congeals into a fanservice-laden slop about the joy of gambling. The story centers around Rio, a curvaceous casino dealer who apparently cannot afford enough clothes to cover up her midsection and is rumored to bring incredible luck to those graced by her presence. However, Rio gets caught up in some action-thriller shenanigans when a skeevy guy in a Miami Vice-inspired outfit tries to accost a little girl named Mint and her teddy bear, Choco.

Naturally, this conflict of interest between a would-be predator and a watchful casino dealer forces Rio to resolve the issue in a manner befitting a gambling series: with a round of poker! The outcome of the game cleverly reverses the "everybody is impossibly lucky" trope that plagues other similarly-themed titles, but one poker match with a twist isn't enough to an otherwise flimsy plotline that fizzles out with a lightweight ending involving the teddy bear.

able but unspectacular visuals set the tone for this episode, where most of the animation budget goes into a fight scene between Rio and Miami Vice Guy's goons, plus a blatant CGI sequence where Rio enters a magical dreamspace to summon her luck. Character designs are bland and forgettable, even among the scantily-clad bunny girls that work the casino floor. At least the series comes with a big band jazz soundtrack to match the casino theme—but like most real Vegas productions, it's all just empty glitz and glamour.

Rio - Rainbow Gate! is available streaming on Crunchyroll.

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