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Poetry and publicity — if I had a habit so give subtitles to my posts, that would be my summary of Super Cub. This calm anime is widely hailed as the most underestimated anime of the season, and for me also this is a hidden gem. The beauty of the animation in particular is breathtaking, and just looking at it feels like mediation to me — if only not every second word were Super Cub... which at times mars the gorgeous atmosphere with the vibe of a cheap commercial.
Super Cub started out as a light novel, now in 8 volumes, which has been taken up in Manga format, neither of which have to my knowledge been translated into English. The anime adaptation followed this year.
An ultra-sweet, slow show around a young high-school student, Koguma. Koguma lives a lonely, uneventful life in Hokuto in the hilly Japanese country-side prefecture of Yamanashi, about 70 km north-west of Mount Fuji. Her existence changes one day when, bored with having to pedal up and down on her way to school, she decides to get herself a small used motorcycle, a Honda Super Cub. With each trip Koguma's horizon starts to grow... Her rides are animated with beautiful pictures of the stunning Japanese countryside around Hokuto.
Seemingly without family, Kaguma lives by herself in a small apartment, which she leaves little. While not ostracised in her class, she rarely interacts with her classmates and in turn is basically invisible to them. Her very face is shown to be almost blank, something that is brilliantly captured in the animation — her empty face mirrors her emotional void. This slowly changes when she decides to buy her used Honda Super Cub, a Japanese classic motorcycle / scooter that is produced since the fifties and in Japan every bit as iconic as the VW Beetle or the Citroën 2CV is in the west (the Cub is supposedly the world's most widely produced motor vehicle with over a 100 million units so far).
When Kaguma takes her first rides, her face lights up in rapture — a picture that makes it worth seeing the anime all by itself. The air and the scenery instil new life into her features, and a cautious smile livens her face. Not only here the anime's director Toshiro Fujii shows a fine eye for capturing emotions on Kaguma's stoic face, from the joy of riding in episode 1 to the fear of descending an iced road in episode 11 to the finale in episode 12.
Kaguma's scooter gradually increases not only her geographical, but also her social horizon — it is, as the anime itself explicates, a symbol for initiative and exploration. Her Cub builds a bridge to Reiko, one of her more outgoing classmates who's a Cub fanatic. The two girls sympathise around their common love for their super cubs and over time become fast friends. The cub forces Kaguma also out of her shell in other ways — being quite poor, she needs money for the maintenance of her scooter and assorted protective clothing. She takes up a summer job as a courier for her high school, making her first self-earned money. She also has to skill up to do system maintenance, with Reiko as her teacher. Over time a third girl, Shii, joins in the club, initially riding an Alex Mouton sports bike, later (you'd have guessed it) also switching to a Cup, a Honda Little Cub this time.
Other than this nothing much happens in terms of action — Super Cub is Kaguma's story of winning back her life and her independence. However, its animation and storytelling makes watching the series a poetry recital — if it were not poetry with ads.
Mid-term impressions from this spring session's anime series
Official Japanese website for the Super Cub light novel and manga
Official website of the Super Cub anime
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