In the not-too-distant future, Jet-Racing is the most popular extreme aquatic sport where teams of two race across waterways on high-speed jet skis while avoiding getting hit by the opposing team’s water guns. A team is composed of a Jetter and a Shooter—The Jetter controls a specially-designed jet ski across the waterways and the Shooter uses her water gun to deal damage points to their opponents by hitting the jet ski or the players themselves. Our story starts off with Namiki Rin, who transfers to Asakusa Girls’ High School in Tokyo to become a professional jet racer, race in the legendary Kandagawa River, and be like her mother who once conquered its deceptively calm waters and won the championship.
The Fall season 2019 has already kicked off with tons of interesting shows, and instead of checking out shows with compelling stories, tragic love stories, lung-crushing comedy, industry-defying production values, adrenaline-pumping action sequences, or relatable characters, we’re looking at shows that trigger our sexual instincts—ecchi shows. Hey, there’s nothing particularly wrong with turning off your brain to enjoy the blessings given to us by our Japanese overlords. For this particular topic, we’re going to talk about Kandagawa Jet Girls and give three reasons why it’s worth checking out. After giving the show the three-episode rule, Kandagawa Jet Girls seems promising with its combination of competitive sport, an all-female cast, and swimsuits that come off when they get wet (wet as in geting splashed by water). Interested? Read on, dear reader!
1. Two Car Meets Keijo!!!!!!!!
Before you freak out and drop Kandagawa Jet Girls because we committed the crime of comparing it to Two Car, no, Kandagawa Jet Girls just shares the theme of two characters participating in a unique form of two-man competitive sport. Rin and Aoi have their own motives for joining the jet races and it’s not about fighting over one guy. As of this writing, Kandagawa Jet Girls is Yuri-friendly and if you squint your eyes enough, there’s blooming chemistry between the two main characters. Now then, if you combine motorcycle sidecar racing from Two Car with an aquatic sport that involves teams avoiding getting knocked out into the water, a healthy dose of swimsuits, jiggling boobs, half-naked women, and a roster of female characters with different personalities and visual style, then you practically get Kandagawa Jet Girls.
And if you think about it, Kandagawa Jet Girls is more or less a superior version of Two Car because the girls are more focused on the competition than fighting each other for some guy’s affection. Oh and don’t get us wrong here, having male supporting characters is nice, but a story focusing on the battles the main characters face is far more interesting. Take Keijo!!!!!!!!’s main characters, for example; Nozomi wants to get rich and lift her family out of poverty, while Sayaka follows her dreams and goes with Keijo instead of inheriting her father’s judo dojo. Rin loves Jet Racing and wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps while Aoi, though it’s not fully explained, has a tragic past that made her stop jet racing. Motives like these make the characters endearing to follow. If their motives are to just win a guy’s affection, then, well… they should make a slice of life anime instead. It’s all about the action!
2. Yuri Fanservice
The general rule for any anime is, if a show has an all-girl cast, then it will have a form of yuri fanservice slapped in. Kandagawa Jet Girls features 6 teams of two, and each team has their own quirks—Team Weeaboo, Team Idols, Team Posh Ladies, Team Shrine Maidens (we think they’re shrine maidens), Team Gyaru, and, of course, the main characters, Team Genki Girl x Tsundere. From the first three episodes we saw, yuri fanservice is there, especially between main characters Rin and Aoi, and yet-to-be-introduced Team Shrine Maidens. Rin is a very energetic girl and loves to invade the personal space of the anti-social, but-actually-shy-and-cute Aoi. Ecchi yuri moments are currently sparse but we’ll see more and other ecchi goodness because…
3. Director Kaneko Hiraku Delivering the Goods
We’re not gonna lie, Kandagawa Jet Girls episodes 1-3 were not good. Subpar character designs, choppy animation, character proportions are off in some scenes, awful CGI, and very slow pacing. But as we said at the beginning of this topic: There’s particularly nothing wrong with turning off your brain. Kandagawa Jet Girls isn’t good at some things, but it’s good at one: ecchi. Kandagawa Jet Girls is directed by Director Kaneko, the man who directed Seikon no Qwaser and Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, shows that are infamous for having borderline hentai content. Currently, we only see boob shots, jiggly boobs, panties, scantily-dressed girls, hints of yuri, but we’re confident that Director Kaneko will deliver the goods and keep Kandagawa Jet Girls a show you solely watch for the fanservice. Yeah, we know, it’s wishful thinking we’ll get Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid-levels of lewd, but at this point, what’s the other reason to watch Kandagawa Girls? Uhm… so you can buy the game that’s coming out next year, maybe?
Final Thoughts
So those are the three reasons why Kandagawa Jet Girls is an ecchi show worth checking out this season. Apart from the ecchi scenes, the show holds some promise, especially when the anime introduces more of the teams and their blooming rivalry towards the main characters Rin and Aoi. As it stands, Kandagawa Jet Girls is probably the perfect ecchi show to follow. But that’s what we think at least! What do you think of Kandagawa Jet Girls? Please go ahead and share your thoughts in that good ole comments section below!
Author: Antoine Rizal
