sometaters

I don't watch too many shorts, but when I saw this was made by MADHOUSE I couldn't ignore it and decided to give it a shot. Story is simple - two older men bicycle racing across town. It starts off slow but they work the MADHOUSE magic gradually. It's quite nice how the progression of the race goes, from just biking harder to [spoiler removed :^) ]. Enjoyment gets 9 points Artwork seemed a little low-end, even for 2002, but I still liked it. It created an unusual aesthetic, as if we got to see a cool project before it got prettied up. The visual effects forwhen things get heated were well done and over-the-top (at least for bike riding) so they get an extra point there. Total of 8 points in my book. Music was an interesting choice. It was jazzy, which I think paired with the visuals pretty well. Music syncs with the events of the short very nicely, as the music gets more involved when the race gets heated. 7 points. Sound was very... stock. A lot of the effects are things that I'm sure you could find on youtube or some free sound-effect-DL site. They get the job done and are used effectively, but it was just weird to hear familiar sound effects in something like this. 5 points. Character - There is no dialogue. The only exchanges between the characters are when they pass each other, but I think that's all that needs to be "said". 6 points. TL;DR Overall, I gave it an 8. Five minutes for some cool, old animation from one of my favorite studios. Took something trivial like bike riding/racing and made it pretty interesting. Artwork is old but aged pretty well, music fit, sound effects are "lol" and there is no speaking.