Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
livelovelily
This is such an underrated show!
This anime was incredibly well done. There was a nice balance between the sport itself and the development of the relationships between characters. There was a LOVELY found family aspect to it, and it was just so cute how haruka and kouya built an almost father-son relationship. It was so wholesome!
There was a very good balance of character development, sportsmanship, rivalry, and angst. The ending of the show was perfect, and had me cheering on haruka like I was on the sidelines watching. This was a lovely show, and I hope that more people can give it a chance!
Read at the sourcechumchummaru
I recently watched an older racing anime called Capeta, and since I like racing anime—as evidenced by Initial D and MF Ghost—I decided to give Overtake a try as well. I’d known about it for a while, but I didn’t want to watch it because of its drama genre. I’m not a huge F1 fan, but I actually enjoyed it, and the racing itself was fun to watch. I like original anime because they have their own distinctive art style and, at least in this case, good animation quality. The CGI animation of the cars didn’t bother me at all; in fact, I’d say it couldn’t have turned out better, and in the end, they nailed it. As for the plot, that’s where things get a bit mixed. On one hand, I liked the racing itself and enjoyed it, but on the other hand, there’s what I’d call unnecessary drama surrounding one c…
Read at the sourcek-0da
This review is written by 2 people; my friend's review is up top, and mine (the owner of this account's) review is at the bottom.
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Much like my previous recommendation, I picked up overtake as an act of self harm. I expected a very low budget sports anime that glazed formula 4 way too much for its own good. Somehow it was worse than that. It was mid.
Unfortunately, I keep up with formula 1. And my vague interest in seeing cars go in circles makes me reach out for formula related animanga, like Capeta. Ever since I laid my eyes upon the overtake poster, I knew it wasn’t going to be very good, just look at those 3D cars. I expected a “baby’s first motorsport” anime, where the industry would be very coddled and we would be explained every single little racing term so the laymen could be,…
Read at the sourceunderyourcouch
This anime was a pleasant surprise in more ways than one. When I started watching Overtake!, I expected a lighthearted and slightly above-average sports anime at best—one that I would’ve forgotten about a week after watching. Oh, how wrong I was! In fact, this show is one of the best anime I have seen so far.
In real life, I have zero connection to or interest in racing, let alone specifically Formula 4 racing. Yet, this anime got me invested in a sport I didn’t even know existed before watching the show, teaching me things about it in the process.
As also mentioned in its listing on MAL, this is a drama set in a racing environment, not the other way around. There are quite a few races, and they are exciting, but the focus is on the characters, their relationships, and how they face th…
Read at the source13ad
There is always an opponent on the main straight who will overtake you on the turn. Never look back. Rely on driving skill, not luck. A pilot may not have a second chance. Really fast racers never make mistakes. Go too fast? You'll crash. Don't reach the limit? Your rivals will overtake you. You need to stay on the edge, not go beyond it - that's how you balance. These races, of course, are not of an international level, but the intensity sometimes goes beyond the limits of what is acceptable and expected. The title can be regarded as a good drama with friendly get-togethers, life's difficulties and the burdens of the past. The problem is solved when someone is nearby, not when the nature of the disaster comes to realization. Understand and let go. Move on, no matter what.
Naturally, ther…
Read at the sourceLeopardonn
Really enjoyed the similarities between two characters and Niki Lauda and James Hunt. The writer recreated their rivalry and the respect they had for eachother really well. The main character being outside of the sport is a great way to introduce viewers to the sport without bombarding them with information.
The characters don't feel shallow, though the main action revolves mainly around a few certain places it never feels boring or repeated. Every episode manages to deliver a nice experience for the viewer.
The anime is not perfect. There are many small issues like plot holes, exaggerations or various plot devices that make no sense.
Great watch even if you are not into any sort of motorsports.
Read at the sourceskull_squadron
When you cheer for someone, aren't you really cheering for yourself? That's one of the themes examined in this surprisingly deep racing sports anime.
I don't have a lot of experience with sports anime so maybe this is pretty common, but I was surprised at how deep this story was on the characters and also how little racing there actually was. The focus is on two main characters, a photo-journalist (Koya Madoka) and a F4 racing driver (Haruka Asahina). The two become connected after Koya photographs Haruka in tears after losing a race. The photo attracts praise for Koya but Haruka is not so happy with it. Koya becomes inspired by Haruka's mission to win a F4 race.
From there, the story explores the two main characters and we learn some of their respective tragic back-stories and current i…
Read at the sourcebingusmingus
A racing anime not entirely about racing
I remember being excited about this anime, forgetting about it, and watching it a year later. I've since rewatched it and I enjoyed it both times. From the outside in, it seems like a regular racing anime, but something is amiss: the main character is a photographer and knows nothing about racing. He befriends the members of a small team and slowly gets sucked into the world of racing as he tries to support the team.
There are two main story lines: the improving career of the promising driver Haruka Asahina and the overcoming of Kouya Madoka's trauma associated with taking pictures of people. Where the racing itself can tend to be rather predictable, Madoka's emotional story serves as a real contrast to the on-track action. Some people do not like…
Read at the sourceReviewholic
Half about a photographer's Japanese trauma, half about racing. Overtake! is pretty solid overall. There are some stretched interactions. Like why is the photographer uncle so obsessed with the racing boy? Kinda sus, no? Well, not every action is reasonable. So we will let the uncle pass this far.
While the anime does talk a lot of technical stuffs about racing, like tires, parts and money, it does lack the heat in music and action. It's one of those anime that sets its theme on something popular like music band and sports, but ultimately spends most of its time developing characters. One anime that I begrudge doing this is Beck. There's more talking than music. Like... you gotta have at least 15% of the run time with stuff you advertised, you know? I wanna hear the sounds of engine rumb…
Read at the sourcenaxaroo
For anyone that's into motorsports like f1, you will enjoy this anime.
the show (at least the first season) is grounded in reality for the most part, and gives some insight on what goes on in the paddock in something like f4. while there is a bit of skepticism of whether or not its actually possible to have a competitive car that can compete in f4, maybe the cost is significantly lower in japan. you still need a significant amount of capital that is required to be able to compete even in f4 that tiny local sponsorships and hard work just cant cover. unless those sponsorships are giving thousands or tens of thousands of dollars each.
but those details are ultimately irrelevant anyway in the end, and is just nitpicking at this point. the animation is done relatively well, and there's no r…
Read at the sourceVichy974
"Overtake" is definitely a unique experience and adds its own unique twist to the genre. It's vastly interesting to see things from different viewpoints and it has deep emotions rooted in it also.
The story is great and rather straightforward we follow the path of a photographer who happens to discover motor racing and wants to help the team and pilot. It's very refreshing and while you still get some good racing it's definitely not the focus here. The characters and interactions between them are really what's the most important thing here.
The art is clean and the animation is decent. It's not the best for sure but racing is just one way for the author to convey his message. The animators still did a great job and we come across some good races and some nice moments. There are no flash…
Read at the sourceTheEtherea
In the end Overtake ended up not what I originally expected it to be and ironically it was for the best.
We have only just got an MF Ghost anime that clearly showed that cars go vroom without an idea isn't interesting to follow (where as in Initial D there was always an idea). Overtake takes an entirely different approach. It tells a story from an outsider's perspective who learns of F4 by chance and how both Main Characters each with his own problems came together to overcome their own ghosts (pun intended) and come on top each in their own regard.
Kouya a professional photographer who gets interested in F4 by chance is dealing with ghosts of his past that haunt him preventing him from escaping the personal trauma he has. The whole sequence of his background when actually explained and s…
Read at the sourceOneFaintingRobin
I'm a big fan of motorsports. In this coming year, I intend to follow, to some degree of commitment or another, at least seven different racing championships. I'm a little bit obsessed. So, hearing that one of my favourite studios, Troyca, and a director as respected as Ei Aoki, were making a series based around the Formula 4 junior category, I was pretty excited. I didn't really care what the show ended up being; I barely even cared if it was good. A proper anime about single-seater racing, sign me up.
I was expecting something a bit shouneny, to be honest. Big personalities, loud, dramatic, in-your-face action, a bit of quite abstract direction. Big and exciting and a little over-the-top. Something that attempted to capture a similar feeling to Netflix's Drive To Survive F1 series. What…
Read at the sourceCyanCheetah
It has been a while since I have sat down and straight-up binged a show. Maybe the last time was Gintama? I am not sure. What I can say though is I binged this one, and sat through 5 hours straight without breaks for this show.
This show was a roller-coaster of emotions. I had a blast, cried a little, and felt many mixed feelings all in between.
Overtake is about a guy who wants to win a race. Pretty simple premise, I will admit. But what's more, this season focused on the backstories of these characters. Kouya is one of the MCs, and he is a photographer. Before he photographed for a race, he never knew any racing terms. But instantly, he fell in love with a team. It was by accident. We then progress through these 12 episodes about how much he is willing to do for this team, and how much…
Read at the sourceWDUNE
"I've been fighting against myself the whole time"
Overtake! is a beautiful experience to have, whether you're a fan of Formula and racing in general or not. I won't tell you you'll have the enjoyment of your life watching it nor you'll regret it, but it's a decent anime full of emotions, ear-pleasing SFX, and dramatic competitiveness.
The anime takes a wild turn after 6-8 episodes and elevates on the dramatic side of the character building and writing which will explain things you've been wondering about since the first episode, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Although I didn't like certain things, I still loved and enjoyed the experience. I absolutely recommend it.
Ratings:
Plot 7/10: The plot of Overtake! is solid, even though you need 6-8 episodesto reach the full dramatic depth to charac…
Read at the sourceMrKessler
Barring Frieren, this is, by far, the most surprising show of autumn 2023, maybe even 2023 as a whole.
I came into this expecting just a fun show about Formula 4, which is something i'm not super into, but I wanted to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did because what I DID NOT expect was a fun show about formula 4 that is an expertly directed story that explores deep themes of PTSD, disasters, survivors guilt and how to move forward.
This show was directed by Ei Aoki, who directed Re:Creators, another HIGHLY underrated anime just like this one. And he does a phenomenal job. The entire production here is really good but I have to give special props to the direction. Those races utilize the cgi to their advantage to create super dynamic camera angles that make the races really exciting to wa…
Read at the sourceGreekie
Frankly my favorite seasonal of Fall 2023, by a mile. And that's saying something considering how great a show like Frieren is in Fall.
I feel like prefacing this by saying this completely clear, yet somehow still ignored, fact.
Overtake is NOT Initial D/MF Ghost, nor is it trying to be, and thus, it's not fair to compare them with each other, as both shows are completely different.
How, you ask? Well, here are some examples I can list off of the top of my head:
-Overtake's story is character driven, Initial D/MF Ghost's story is narrative driven, a very poor narrative, but a narrative nonetheless.
-Characters in Overtake have nuance and a dynamic relationship between others, as well as inhibiting well written themes that are relevant to the story. Initial D/MF Ghost...has none of that,…
Read at the sourceSmilomaniac
Full score.
A common complaint, that I've held myself, is that this is not *primarily* a racing show, it is first and foremost a story.
While it's not a full throated racing show it does give you some insight into racing and that it takes more money, data and drive than you might suspect to truly compete. As for the technical driving the shots seem competent to me, but I can't tell for sure.
Storytelling has changed over the decades and now it's common to try to make directed content that appeals to established but relatively niche markets - Romcoms, isekai, shonen and so on. Episodal shows that tend to focus on the now and try to tie everything into a neat bow at the conclusion, but these shows rarely escape the writer's room's tendency to try and one up the previous arc or episode.…
Read at the sourceMargs7
Whew boy. This was a ride. Haha, get it?
A great show. I found this on MAL before it was released and slapped it onto my PTW list not thinking much of it—thought it’d just be some short, sweet, but nothing special anime I would watch as the episodes came out—but oh man was I wrong.
First off, it just oozes good vibes, and the animation is actually pretty well done. Not a single moment I can think of where the animation dropped in quality. It’s an overall positive and lighthearted narrative compared to numerous others. There’s no crazy superpowers, no insane special moves that the characters do in order to win—just a good, classic underdog story.
The sport is secondary to the drama and emotional journeys of the characters, something that I am totally fine with. It actually got me crying…
Read at the sourceSkinnyBoyKitty
If you're looking for an intensive car race throughout series, this series might NOT suit for you (At least for last race has really good intensity).
But, if you're looking for how the characters solved their own problem and ego. It's a really good deal to watch then.
The main focus of this series is on their drama (It was obvious 'cuz the genre is Drama not SPORTS). Why I emphasized that point though (?) Well, it's because some people thought this series would focus on the race and guessed whose would win the next race. However, this is all about the interaction of each character who supports each other and ultimately changes their perspective to solve their problems. The F4 race only for a complement to brought the story more interesting.
Story (3/5)
└ "Interested story". Honestly, a…
Read at the source
