Review: Super Cub(Anime)

Super Cub is a slightly unusual concept- a group of high school girls who ride scooters- told in a rather unusual style for an anime adaptation of a light novel series, but the anime does quite well on both counts.

Story

The series stars Koguma (known only by her surname), a lonely girl who has no family or friends and little spending money. She ends up buying a Super Cub scooter for an extremely low cost, and ends up befriending fellow scooter enthusiasts Reiko and Shii.

The anime is a slice of life series that covers the first year since Koguma's purchase of the Cub. Without spoiling too much, there isn't much of an overarching plot, although it ends on a relatively climactic note with a hint of what is to come.

There isn't a lot of action in the anime, since Koguma and her friends don't race on their scooters or go many places. In fact, with one exception that I won't spoil, they mainly use their Cubs for their daily commutes, going shopping or part-time jobs(for example, Koguma is a courier).

Characters

Super Cub's cast is relatively grounded and realistic, generally lacking the more over-the-top characteristics of other series. Koguma is a bit of a loner at first and relatively taciturn, but has a snarky side. 

Surprisingly, most of the characters are barely referred to by name, to the point at which Koguma's first name is never revealed. Even after Reiko and Shii have known Koguma for months, they still call her "Koguma-san," (roughly equivalent to "Miss Koguma,") even though they use first names on each other, and she uses first names on them.

While the characters don't change too dramatically over the course of the series, they undergo subtle but noticeable developments. At the start of the series, Koguma lets her Cub run out of gas because she doesn't think to check the fuel gauge, but by the end, she knows how to prepare her Cub for winter.

Art and Music

At first glance, Super Cub seems different from most other anime. While most anime use background music to set the tone for any given scene, Super Cub almost completely eschews music in its first episode and uses it sparingly for the next eleven. This, combined with the static and desaturated shots, sets a somber mood for the first few episodes. Even after this point, the relative lack of music persists, and, combined with the high quality of the art, helps establish a realistic mood.

Adaptation

One thing I've noticed in many anime adaptations of light novels (and, for that matter, any time a book is adapted into a movie, TV show or other visual medium) is that a lot of information is not adapted from the manga. This information tends to be provided by the narrator, whether it's done from a character's first-person perspective or a limited or omniscient third person perspective, and often includes background information or small details about the setting.

Super Cub is no exception. In fact, it embraces the limitations of the anime medium and chooses to play to its strengths. Instead of telling us that Reiko's boss at her part-time job at Mt. Fuji climbed mountains (hence why he knows about altitude sickness), it shows us a picture of the man with his fellow climbers.

Often, the removal of the extraneous background information helps the pacing. For example, at the start of the light novels, the narrator mentions that after Mr. Koguma died, Mrs. Koguma abandoned her daughter after squandering the inheritance. Improbably, Koguma herself feels almost nothing about her mother abandoning her, due to not getting close to others. The reasons why Koguma's parents abandoned her are less important than the fact that she has no family around, so removing this bit of exposition helps the pacing while not detracting from the experience.

The anime also uses small touches to its advantage. Instead of simply putting the title cards at the beginning of the episode, or just after the opening credits, the show often uses them at specific moments for greater effect. For example, when Koguma struggles to remember her classmate's name, the title card for that episode, "Reiko," shows up.

Conclusion

Super Cub is a somewhat unconventional anime as far as adaptations goes, but its generations from conventional wisdom of producing anime adaptations are generally a good thing.

Final Verdict: Recommended.