Many people in the blogosphere have been talking about Rio: Rainbow Gate, one of the shows some consider to be “so bad it’s good”. Do I agree with them? Not really since I watched the show with Roghek from the SCCSAV over Skype. Overall, my impressions about the show went south. The show was so bad it was terrible because there are so many fundamental problems with it, which I want to share.
Just to be clear, I am criticizing the show based on the two episodes I have seen, not bashing it.
First of, there is a little girl named Mint that seems to always hang around in a casino. When I saw her wondering around and hanging with Rio, it is so wrong on many levels. The people in the casino can give her such a bad influence, especially when some/many of the girls wear really skimpy outfits. In addition, we have mentioned the age restriction in casinos while watching the show. In the United States or any country that allow gambling, there are age restrictions that prevent anyone under 18 from going in the dealing area of a casino. The restriction is there to prevent children from becoming addictive gamblers. So basically, if this were real life, it would be technically illegal for her to go into the dealing area.
Most importantly, there is Rio, the main character of the show who has a charm of a perfect girl. So perfect that everyone want to see her in skimpy outfits when she doesn’t want to. No wonder Howard, the owner of the casino is so perverted that he uses her as his plaything. If it weren’t for the skimpy outfits he forced her to wear, he wouldn’t be so happy. In addition, her presence makes everyone win big. This makes me wonder, why would anyone hired her if everyone were going to win? The casino would lose a lot of money and go out of business! Probably the winning presence has to do with her attractiveness and nothing else.
In the second episode, we are introduced to Ania Helsing from Russia. Basically, she is an orange-hair, twin-tailed Mikuru, but with the clumsiness turned to sky-high. She is cute and all, but she is so troublesome when she trips with all the glass cups shattered on the ground. It gets worse when she makes a mess of the casino by toppling the big cup display, knocking into slot machines that becomes dominos and among other things. Boy, she has really bad luck! It makes me wonder, why isn’t she fired? She is a big liability for the company! I guess they can afford it I guess…
Another problem with Rio: Rainbow Gate is that it doesn’t have a real premise and most of the situations are completely random, which doesn’t make any sense. In the first episode, you have Mint looking for Rio, Rio dressed in a really short-skirted maid outfit fighting with the mafia and Rio dueling another man from the mafia in a wedding dress for starters. In the second episode, Rio trains a really clumsy girl that cause a big mess in the casino and then faces Elvis in a Gate Duel with random numbers floating everywhere on a huge roulette table, which is placed on a beach. Not just that, there is an imaginary volleyball match with these people with numbers popping up from the sand. With all the random things being thrown around in these two episodes, there is no wonder why the show can’t decide it’s identity and direction. There was an explanation about the so-called Gate cards, which 13 are only in existence. However, explaining the premise is not enough to patch up the randomness.
To be fair, the girls and the ferret are cute. Also, I liked the random Yugioh reference with the “Heart of the Cards,” the colorfulness of the animation and the catchiness of the opening/ending songs. Sadly, the negative outweigh the positive and I think the show is just so bad it’s terrible. I am completely honest that I watched this show with an open mind, but it still left me with a bad impression. If you like it, that is fine and I won’t criticize you for that. Just realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, even though they dropped it after two episodes. That saying, I dropped the show based on the criticism I had. So yeah, Rio: Rainbow Gate definitely changes my perceptions about casinos rather negatively. As a result, I can never view them the same way ever again.
Live Viewing Impressions
Overall, the live watching was pretty fun if you are just doing it with one person. We talked a bit during the episode and give our overall opinion at the end. So yeah, if anyone wants to live watch Hourou Musuko, just poke me on Skype or Twitter when subs are available.
I’m more trying to figure out why they keep Rio around when all she does is lose money for the casino…
The guys like her because she is so hot… Or maybe the owner is a pervert and doesn’t give a crap about losing a great sum of money… Since they could make it up through other means.
Profits outweigh the losses. Imagine, the idea that one dealer can improve your luck – publicity! Let’s go gamble! And then they win small windfalls, which they usually spend back inside the casino. Besides, prize money is just a small portion of casino operating costs. Free publicity, increased customers, increased profit – Rio stays.
You have a point there… Maybe the casino is pulling these wins by dragging in Rio… so they believe they are going to win big the next round…
Then again, casinos love to play this dirty trick to make people broke… such a dirty business practice right there.
I wholeheartedly agree with you here. Rio’s one episode I saw counts as one of the worst anime experiences I’ve ever had, if not the. Not only do I hate gambling and casinos in real life, of which I was immediately reminded the moment they stepped through the front door, but there was plenty enough to complement the overall negative impression. I thought at least the animation and cuteness factor might save the deal however it had the opposite effect – the whole setting with its the overly bright colors and jangle of money I found to be extremely unpleasant to watch and any cuteness the girls might have had was smothered by their shamelessly prominent sexuality and the molesting by the owner.
Perhaps…no, I’m definitely not the type of viewer to ever consider liking shows this bad. Even if the only fun thing about it is to mock them.
I don’t believe in gambling since its not a good habit. One of my relatives, a long time ago which is not around took most of my parents mortgage and gamble it away, thus lose it all. Of course my dad and mom is still mad about this… So yeah, gambling can ruin lives of your family most importantly.
Also, there are some hints of exploitation. This show reminded me of Showgirls, which I found out by watching the Nostalgia Chick at thatguywiththeglasses.com. It focused on female exploitation, abuse among other things even though the movie is so bad. While this show is a bit more lighthearted than Showgirls, there is a hint of exploitation from the owner, Howard who forces Rio to wear skimpy outfits and do other jobs she did not really want to do… So basically, the gambling city is like Las Vegas on it’s own.