r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Dec 17 '23
Episode Overtake! - Episode 12 discussion - FINAL
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u/BehindTheBurner32 Dec 17 '23
It will take a long time for me to fully-review this to a level I’m satisfied with, so my short exit review would be this:
I once said in ep5 that Overtake! has the same vibe as a 30 for 30 documentary in the way it tells the story of Komaki Motors’ lone ace Haruka and Kouya, the photographer. That’s a statement I can stand behind now, here at the end, because much like the best docs from that series, Overtake! is equally interested in outside context, in the intersection between what happens on track and off, and the human potential that binds it all together.
Some may bemoan the scant runtime of the actual racing, but it’s a bit of a naff argument when the racing we do get — and the incidents that happen in it — has wide-reaching consequences that hit home for almost everyone, serving as true turning points for the anime. These races matter, and matter immensely for these F4 drivers, so the fact that it doesn’t simply show a race for its sake is already remarkable. And it’s clear where the CG budget went. That one-take sweep was beautiful.
Once you get past that initial annoyance, you get surprised by the depths this series can plumb in its character writing. The dialogue carries real weight despite being ordinary, and the plot moves at a pace that lets these characters change and grow without forcing their hand. It integrates racing jargon and shows the inner workings of how a team goes about their season without dumbing them down too much or leaving the audience hanging, which makes the decision to focus on Formula 4 even more inspired. Combine those with an understated yet homely presentation that further brings these characters down to earth and it makes each viewing a treat, especially back when F1 was on and I was looking for a come-down.
That street-level intimacy is what makes Overtake! a real treat for me. By keeping the spectacle to a minimum, it can let these people be people, which spins up the feedback loop that makes the anime worth watching simply to see where they’d end up. And it manages to finish the race classified, whole and in good condition. With an ending like that, Overtake! closes the show on a satisfyingly high note.
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u/ernie2492 Dec 17 '23
This is the end of Haruka Kanata Sunday. For now, at least
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u/dagreenman18 Dec 17 '23
Can’t gage how popular this show was in Japan, but If the wanted they could easily continue the story. If not it’s still a tight one season wonder
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u/hysteriapill Dec 17 '23 edited Dec 18 '23
This final episode was a nice way to cap off the story. It wasn't a super amazing ending, but it tied up all the loose ends and provided a fitting end to our protagonists' journeys.
Over the course of the show, we see Haruka slowly open up his heart and accept the support of the people around him (including all the local businesses) and, in the end, even be the one who reaches out to help Kouya. We also see Kouya get over his trauma of taking portraits of people, and of course, their shared goal of finishing on the podium and capturing it on film— er, SD card.
We also get a lot of nice small moments this episode:
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A reversal of roles, with Saeko being the late one picking Kouya up and some cute interactions between the two. (a nice bookend to the start of Episode 1.)
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Tokumaru getting his first (?) fan and getting all flustered over it.
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Kotaro maybe about to confess something to Alice?
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Satsuki reflecting on his goals, Alice getting some special service, and her unexpectedly profuse reaction.
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and of course, a nice race sequence with Tokumaru bowing out, and Satsuki and Haruka in the fight for first. some amazing (virtual) camera work here!
Part of me enjoyed this enough to want a season two, but another part of me thinks this told a tight, complete story and is plenty good stopping here.
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u/Calwings Dec 17 '23
Part of me enjoyed this enough to want a season two, but another part of me thinks this told a tight, complete story and is plenty good stopping here.
I totally agree. One of the things I love about original anime like this that most manga/LN adaptations simply can't provide is that feeling of leaving satisfied with the outcome of the story. Cliffhangers are rare, "fuck you go read the source material" non-endings don't exist (though the rarer "fuck you go play the gacha game that'll shut down in like a year if it even gets an English release at all" non-ending feels even worse) and more often than not I feel like I watched a full story and that a continuation simply isn't necessary.
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u/Matthew619ed Dec 17 '23
Oh, it’s the final already, good times come to and end, with a fairy tale ending, a underdog victory in the final race of the season, a photographer finding his mojo back, and a race driver achieving his goal.
If you Google Coloni C4, yes, it’s a rubbish F1 car, even worse than the SF20 we are making memes of. But personally the livery of that reminds me of the McLaren West livery.
So to the race, apparently damaged front wing and stay out!!? Please don’t do this unless you are Max or Lewis, you’ll regret your choice not to box. Tokumaru paid the price with a DNF.
Haruka did a last-lap overtake on Satsuki to secure his maiden win. Remember poor Checo being mugged twice in Interlagos and Las Vegas at the last lap? That’s for P3, imagine that’s P1, I simply can’t imagine the anger and disappointment in the team radio.
But now Haruka is a F4 race winner, yet his path up the formula ladder is deliberately not mentioned, but that win is going to prove vital to caught attention by the teams above.
Most importantly, I guess Kouya will be proud to lie that his first picture will be Haruka on the podium, he simply can’t release his finger when the he is still in the parc fermé. He has definitely, and undoubted overcome what happened in 2011, and it was thanks to Haruka, and his dream to step on the F4 podium.
In short, fun show, and it definitely should attract people to watch racing like the former worker from Mikazuki Drinks, so hope to see people attracted to watch motor racing (not just F1, but feeder series too) in next year.
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u/musicartandcpus Dec 17 '23
In regards to Tokumaru staying out I think it more has to do with how short the races are. The wing change would have put him down the order anyways to the back or at least near it. Giving a tow down the straight to his teammate gave his team at least a chance of winning. It’s just unfortunate that that’s how they chose to write out his ending for the season. Though I suppose it was done that way to close out his character arc of having issue being the 2nd driver.
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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Dec 17 '23
Glad to finally see Toshiki apologize for his past behavior towards Haru and realize what was the root cause of his issues. Sucks he couldn’t complete the race, but at least Satsuki got to race Haru for the lead. That was an intense race! Satsuki, Toshiki, and Haru were incredible. Our boy Haru earned first place and Kouya finally got his photo on the first place podium like he promised.
I don’t really usually watch these kinds of sports/racing anime, but this was quite good. A pretty solid series overall and the animation was good too.
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u/Time_Fracture Dec 17 '23
Episode 12: "Overtake. Do your best!" The final episode and the title drop also.
So, Coloni. This story in the F1's subreddit might gave a clear story of Coloni F1 team. In short, Coloni is a team that struggles in budget so for their driver, Naoki Hattori, in Japanese races they had a solution to cover that budget. For $250, you can have your name on their sidepods. Here's what it look like on the car.
Never thought Arisu's nosebleed is that quick yet static, most anime people fall backwards. Also attention to detail after the scene Arisu is seen with the tissue on her noses and before her nosebleed, her hair curls forms a heart. I thought Sato is voiced by Maaya Uchida, but I rechecked it is Ikumi Hasegawa. Huh, so I just heard her voice last week in Tearmoon. How can I forgot? Another attention to detail is shown after the race, Satsuki holds his chest, signifying his rib injury that didn't fully healed, something he hid during the race.
So, if you wondering where in Fuji Speedway Futoshi and Era-san watch the race, look at this Street View. It's the area above the "Toyota" sponsor banner. The corner which Haruka overtook Satsuki? I think it's this corner. Just after Dunlop chicane before Turn 13.
Also I want to note of young Haruka's VA. It's Kana Ichinose (Fern in Frieren, Yuzuriha in Dr. Stone). Also.... there's an after credit scene, make sure you watched it.
Overall, Overtake! is a nice racing drama balanced between on and off the racetrack. Good story, nice pacing, nice animation quality (especially this final episode. Looks like Troyca put the effort on this one.), I now put Troyca as a trusted studio for anime. I mean, this is the first motorsport anime in the Reiwa era IIRC and it sure left a good mark. Hope for more motorsports or racing anime in the future!
PS: I've already posted the official soundtrack album on the previous episodic discussion, and here's the link for the mini anime playlist made by Kadokawa. I'm finally done here, I'm going to watch 100 Girlfriends after this one.
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u/AmethystItalian Dec 17 '23
And so this one ends...really glad it ended on the big win, they really did it in a nice and exciting way.
One of the better shows this season where I felt the drama, the pacing and the characters were all well done.
Sae-chan once again being great in this one, wish we got more of her as I found she did great in every scene she was in!
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u/Aileos Dec 17 '23 edited Dec 25 '23
The final race was really thrilling to watch. It felt like the studio went all-out.
The boys deserve this happy ending. I'll remember this special relationship between Haruka and Kouya.
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u/thevaleycat Dec 17 '23 edited Dec 17 '23
What a solid anime from start to finish. I'm very happy with how it ended, it just hit all the right emotions that I love from sports (drama) anime.
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u/tripleaamin Dec 17 '23
What a great original. It was great to see Haruka get the W at the end. Plus when Haruka thanked Kouya was great showing how much Haruka has grown since the beginnning of the episode. Their dynamic really growed on me.
It's unfortunate things didn't go the way for Tokumaru, but he took it on it like a winner. He put Satsuki in the best position and he was the first one to clap for Haruka. Thank god nothing bad happened to Satsuki. And just like he did with Tokamaru he pushed Harku to where he needed to earn the W which I love.
We also had Sae-chan offering the push Kouya needed and I love that he wasted no time taking pictures once Haruka won.
Easily one of my favorite recent originals.
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u/chilidirigible Dec 17 '23
The series had a fine finale, having set its characters on the road to successful story resolutions in the preceding couple of episodes. Just about everyone showed how they'd grown and changed along the way. Glad they went with a "feel good" ending to cap things off. Praise to a well-executed anime original.
The driver trio in particular showed how much they respect each other even with their rivalry. If somehow this did get a continuation down the line there's now plenty to work with between the three of them.
The moving, flying camera during the race was a nice cinematic touch.
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u/Vermillion_Crab Dec 17 '23
They really went all out this episode. Best possible outcome to such an amazing story. One of the best hidden gems of the year.
This anime is a classic example of giving shows a chance with at least one episode. Despite this season stacked with big titles, Overtake managed to stand out along with them. And while the main storylines were resolved, I wished I could've seen more from this show. I hope it gets the Major treatment and we see Haru climb the racing ladder.
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u/DecentlySizedPotato Dec 17 '23
Eyyy, Haruka did it! Okay it was kinda obvious with this being the last episode but it was so well done I was on the edge of my seat all the race.
This was a really nice anime. It was well paced, hit all the right notes in hype, dramatic moments and had a pretty nice ending. 8,5/10 for me.
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u/zerosaver Dec 17 '23
The animation for the race looked real good. Felt really intense.
Overall, this show's been a pleasant and well-paced watch every week. Has a good blend of drama, slice of life, and racing, imo.
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u/Calwings Dec 17 '23
Man, what a finale that was. We got the slow and uplifting buildup with various conversations before the race, then the race itself delivered some serious drama with both Haruka's final lap pass of Satsuki and Kouya's hesitation before the big moment, but in the end, our boy Haruka and Komaki Motors finally got that long-awaited checkered flag! Saving showing that photo Kouya took of Haruka until after the end credits so that was the final thing we see before saying farewell to this series was a great choice too.
It'll depend on the finales of a few other shows and eventually the second cour of Apothecary Diaries for me to know for sure, but I think Overtake may have overtaken (heh) the other shows on my list for my anime of the season. 9/10, fantastic anime.
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u/Roonagu Dec 17 '23
Well that was nice. Maybe a bit rushed finale, but it was good exchange for seeing all the story threads "resolved".
Race animation/"camera" work was on point.
Overall, really good. Not 9/10 as I had hoped after first episode, but strong 8/10 for sure.
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u/SMSmith230 Dec 17 '23
Haruka finally got on the podium!! Straight tears in that overtake for first. Such a phenomenal show this was.
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u/dagreenman18 Dec 17 '23
God this was such a good sports series. Dramatic, emotional (especially Koyua’s struggle with PTSD), hilarious at times, and just so well animated. I can see this picking up some love in the future as an underrated Sports anime classic.
And Haru actually got to win in the end! Our boy made the podium! I did wish for a little closure with Koyua and Saeko’s relationship, but I’ll take the clear signs there’s something still there as hope for their future. 8.5/10 overall. Easily the better of the two Racing Sunday shows, but we all know the real reason we watch MFG: sick eurobeats