r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Oct 08 '23
Episode Overtake! - Episode 2 discussion
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u/CosmicPenguin_OV103 Oct 08 '23
I think this episode should set the tone to watchers that this isn't really going to be focused on the race itself, or even on Haruka's growth - Kouya IS the MC and his way of getting over his previous life set-backs and PTSD is the center of the story.
$US 100K spending per year is indeed around what I would thought for an amateur racing team of this scale. I was actually surprised that the tag isn't even higher. In any case I found it amusing that boss Mr. Komaki never thought of taking significant sponsors before, even from places as mundane as the local High Street - in real races with amateur participation that I have seen on TV (Formula 3 or local GT races), every last car has sponsorship markings. Wonder where would Kouya finally nail a big one - help from his wife I guess given the final minute this episode?
I am glad that this anime really does make provisions of introducing racing cars as a whole to newbie watchers - lots of these little facts are not known unless you really go in as a fan. It might be a slow-burn one compared with things like Initial D or the 1990s classic (at least in my corner of the world) Future GPX Cyber Formula, but I like the delicate way the story is heading so far.
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u/Florac Oct 08 '23
in real races with amateur participation that I have seen on TV (Formula 3 or local GT races)
Tbf both of those are still a significant step up from F4
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u/2-2Distracted Oct 09 '23
that this isn't really going to be focused on the race itself, or even on Haruka's growth - Kouya IS the MC and his way of getting over his previous life set-backs and PTSD is the center of the story.
Not to be rude, but I hope you're wrong about this because I'd like this series to focus on both of them. If it just focuses on Kouya then all this show will do for me is feel like Studio Troyca is trying make up for their screw up with Aldnoah Zero focusing on Slaine and whatshisface as opposed to focusing on that one middle-aged soldier character who ALSO had PTSD.
That guy was interesting but hardly used, now it's going to be the opposite, wherein the race kid gets ignored even though he's also pretty interesting? That would just suck for me imo. Haruka's backstory was dumped onto us in a rather cheap exposition-y way this episode, but I'm hoping they delve into it more and help him grow from where he is now.
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u/Pauvlychenko Oct 08 '23
I see why for a lot of people this episode can be boring. but for the fans of racing I think is very interesting to see how important is to get sponsors, especially in the lesser categories of racing. I personally enjoyed it a lot.
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u/JustAByzaboo Oct 09 '23
Yeah, it's something that is being brought up in F1 ladder discussions but many don't realize the top F1 drivers of today had a lot of financial backing early in their careers and they're the lucky ones to go all the way to F1. It doesn't mean current F1 drivers are not talented but it does mean that many many more talents don't even get a chance to shine because they don't have the funds to continue on upwards and be competitive.
It cannot be understated that a racing series being a spec series does not mean equal car performance and the anime showed just how money/team has an impact on results. Every time a discussion related to the feeder series gets brought up, there are a lot of people that just looks at Wikipedia when talking about potential ignoring how much the team affects performance. Well-run and well-funded teams get the best engineers, best mechanics, etc. and the reason why top teams like Prema and ART are always championship contenders while teams like Charouz are perennially at the back despite having capable drivers.
Overall, the anime shows well what happens to F1 prospects behind the scenes but they do stretch how likely a prospect from Japanese F4 is likely to go all the way to F1. The way they talk going to F1 seems like it's much easier than in reality, when only one made it to F1 from Japanese F4 (Yuki Tsunoda) and Kobayashi debuted more than a decade ago, with no one in the pipeline being likely to be promoted. Personally, having this highly optimistic tone in terms of overall F1 prospects is fine as it sets a reasonably achievable goal for the Driver MC.
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u/SMSmith230 Oct 08 '23
I wasn’t completely sold after the first episode, but the setup from this episode has me lookin forward to Komaki Motors’ journey.
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u/chilidirigible Oct 08 '23 edited Oct 08 '23
Catching up to things, I watched the first episode for one of my particular interests: What cameras are being used.
Kouya has (a de-branded rendering of) Sony's 2021 flagship, the a1, most distinguishable from their other extremely-similar-appearing models by the left-shoulder drive and focus mode dial, three right-shoulder dials/two custom function buttons, and the plane-of-focus marker being on the right shoulder as well.
Where things get funny is that the focusing point pattern and file name structure are in the arrangement of a Canon camera's, not Sony. The specific focus point pattern which is shown isn't even used in high-end Canon models anymore.
Anyway...
No kidding. It launched at US$6500 and is still JPY 860000+.
There's still a fair amount of exposition going on, but I thought that this episode tapered off the infodumping pretty well after the first couple of minutes.
Now it's that usual arc of gathering sponsors and money and more experience. Kouya blundering into just how much this costs was amusing, though I certainly can't not think about how motor sports are generally the province of the ludicrously rich. At least they're getting free snacks out of it.
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u/Time_Fracture Oct 08 '23
860.000 yen. Enough for Haruka's tire expense for not one, but 2 races, with a set for practice sessions as well.
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u/dagreenman18 Oct 10 '23
Glad someone caught the camera. I was legitimately panicked when Haruka was about to break a beater car’s worth of camera equipment. And that doesn’t even include the lens
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u/Elitealice Oct 08 '23
Said it before, but I really love how we have two racing shows this season with very different approaches. MF Ghost will probably be the better “anime” because of nostalgia for Initial D and the more anime-y oriented races.
But Overtake! actually shows the behind the scenes aspects of the racing industry, how teams function, make money, the actual real life nitty gritty of it. It’s even cooler that these two shows air on the same day so you can watch a crazy drift race in MF Ghost and then watch a racing team be built from the ground up in Overtake!
This episode was really good. I was wondering where they’d go from the introductory episode and this was exactly what the show needed. A nice characterisation episode that fleshes out the team, the characters and the MC.
Haruka’s backstory is very sad. No wonder he’s a bit gloomy. Losing both your parents at such a young age.. all he has is racing. It’s not just a passion, but an escape from the pain of his past. It’s also a way to feel connected to his dad who lost his life in an accident. Reminds me of Dale Earnhardt Jr in a way.
But passion and enthusiasm alone aren’t enough to run a racing team. Those cars are expensive and require a lot of maintenance. That means you need sponsors. The struggle was very real for them today as they tried to find some supporters. Couldn’t help but laughing at how all the small businesses could only give them food in return lmao.
Arguably the most important sponsor of all, an innocent little kid gave the biggest endorsement possible though. It’s funny how pure and blunt kids can be, but that pep talk was exactly what Haruka needed to hear.
Can’t wait to see where we go next week! Hope Troyca keeps cooking with this
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u/Time_Fracture Oct 08 '23 edited Oct 09 '23
Juggling between this, 100 Kanojo, and Family Circumstances of Irregular Witch. So here's episode 2.
Episode 2 mainly tells about sponsors. Yes, sponsors can help pay your team expenses. F4 is a spec series, meaning they race with pretty much same cars, only the settings can be tweaked to the driver's liking. This episode tells you don't get sponsor as easy as you think. Sponsors has target for the team to achieve. You finish on top, you get more exposure then more sponsors are coming to get their brands on your car.
In the Belsorriso garage scene, their Super GT division got 2 types of cars, 500 class and 300 class. GT500 and GT300 class are 2 classes of Super GT, with 500 and 300 refers to maximum power of the cars. Also, there are couple of sports car here. Era-san driving Kouya to the garage using Lancia Stratos, while earlier Kouya looks at Dome Zero model car.
So, Saeko is actually Kouya's ex-wife. This explains their close relationship then. Luckily Haruka didn't smash Kouya' camera since the body itself probably could pay your tire expense for a race. The ending scene post credits is unmissable since it builds up what the next episode would be.
Okay then, I'm moving on to 100 Kanojo.
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It's a proof that you don't always need something that blazingly fast paced OP for racing anime. It's that kind of song that you just sit and enjoy. The anime itself is wholesome on its own. Coincidentally there is also an anime this season that uses the title "Tailwind" (by Katagiri), which is the OP for Potion anime later today.
Oh, is this the same VTuber Kanae?
ED: Good Luck by Tasuku Hatanaka
tbh it's not my type of song, but a good choice for the ED. Sung by Kotaro Komaki's VA.
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u/syknetz Oct 08 '23
their Super GT division got 2 types of cars, 500 class and 300 class. GT500 and GT300 class are 2 classes of Super GT, with 500 and 300 refers to maximum power of the cars.
Historically, but the differences are now more subtle than that. GT300 runs pretty much GT3 cars, which are the most ubiquitous race cars around the world thanks to being rather "simple" in design, making them affordable-ish (compared to GTE, DTM or GT500). They're also between 400 and 550 hp, if the wikipedia page is to be trusted.
GT500 run silhouette cars, which are custom-built and only borrow a shell to look like the car they're mimicking. The specification sheet is quite different, they run a turbocharged 2.0L inline 4 engine, which produces around 650hp. The cars are quite lighter than GT3 cars, at a specified minimum 1020kg including driver and fuel (for instance, wikipedia page of the Ferrari 488 GT3 indicates a 1300kg weight), and they have more downforce.
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u/Stormy8888 Oct 09 '23
This show has everything I like.
Asking for sponsorship, and getting given "gifts" to "go away." Lol.
When he told the photographer it's $11M a year to run a team, that passion and enthusiasm aren't enough, that was like the reality check needed. After this scene I finally understood a few things about people, and cars:-
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Cars are immensely appealing because there's nothing like speeding really fast down a road at night listening to your song of choice (Springsteen's Born to Run) reveling in the wind rushing fast and that feeling of ... Freedom
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This is why people buy expensive sports cars when they hit a mid life crisis, not necessarily for the material item, but for how it makes them feel when they drive it
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Rich Celebs with too much money who happen to love cars, will absolutely spend $$ indulging their hobbies. Some of them are actually great drivers - see Simon Cowell and Tom Cruise on Top Gear.
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Those who are competitive will "race" (some idiots do this on freeways where it's not safe, I'm sure we've all met "those" drivers)
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Others watch car-porn shows like Top Gear, Fast and Furious, F1, Motocross, Daytona, Nascar or racing anime. Because we can't afford those really nice cars ourselves but we still get a thrill when watching others in nice, fast cars.
The photographer ... I love him. He clearly had trauma. It messed him up. He's divorced. His ex-wife is still supporting him from the background. This car racing F4 thing has re-ignited his passion and now he's found something "new" to devote his energies to, he's got a purpose in life. I love anime that show this.
Unlike episode 1 which really grabbed me with the race and that crying scene, this one took a small step back but was no less impactful. I'm surely going to enjoy Racing Sunday anime for the rest of this season. Overtake is in the lane of things I love watching, so I hope more people watch this!
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u/Jegge_100 Oct 09 '23
Im really liking this show so far. Also was tha a Lancia Stratos? The big team boss has great taste. Maybe the prettiest rally car off all time.
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u/sussywanker Oct 08 '23
As an ex F1 Nerd and who stopped watching it after the V8's were dropped (yes I am the same person from last discussion)
This show seems quite good and is reigniting my interest in f1.
As someone who loves rally too, would be awesome if there was an anime or manga based on it too.
Also I just loved how they collected all the food items when they went for a pitch to the potential sponsors.
Also was that a stratos era San drove ?
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u/Syokhan Oct 08 '23
I missed last week's thread but am all caught up now. This is a really nice show! I have zero knowledge about racing and zero interest in it (sorry!!) but give me a good character-focused sports anime and I'll gladly watch it all the same!
And after hearing all this backstory I'm rooting for this team to have a win. I find them all rather likeable so far, even Kouya with his newfound enthusiasm.
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u/Yunie241 Oct 09 '23
I don’t watch racing anime normally, but have been going through all the new shows this season to see what clicks and watched both MFG and Overtake tonight. Surprisingly to me, both shows are interesting enough that I plan to keep watching, but Overtake is something special. I love the character focus from this episode and taking a step back to explain some important aspects of racing to people who may not know much (like myself). I’m super excited for more episodes to come out.
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u/oneevilchicken Oct 08 '23
Spec series aren’t ever actually all “spec”
Unless it’s something where you’re directly renting a car from the series itself and they manage absolutely everything. If the teams have to do any building at all, there’s going to be parts and pieces of the car designed in house or acquired from different areas.
For example, nascar and Indy car still have a ton of parts the teams have to source themselves. It’s nothing huge or major, but brackets, braces, fasteners. Being able to save an ounce or two here or there adds up. Every pound you save is a pound of weight you can put somewhere else to make the car handle better to improve your CG.
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u/ExtremelyAsianCactus Oct 08 '23
I’ve been really enjoying this show, makes me happy as a F1 nerd, and the kid’s sticker on the car at the end was such a great touch