Overtake!

Ever since he published a picture that sparked a wave of online harassment, freelance photographer Kouya Madoka has lost everything: his wife Saeko Yukihira, his confidence, and his courage to photograph people. However, years later, a job offer introduces him to the exhilarating world of Formula 4 (F4). A single fierce battle between the amateur drivers in the junior category of open-wheel car racing becomes enough to make Madoka unable to put his camera down.

When Komaki Motors' Haruka Asahina bursts into tears on the track, Madoka manages to capture this vulnerable moment. This photo eventually leads Madoka to an impulsive decision: he will help sponsor both the Komaki team and Haruka himself. But the unreasonable costs of the sport quickly cause Madoka to reassess his ambitions, and he seeks different ways to support the severely underfunded F4 team. Despite the uphill battle, Madoka's determination for Haruka to succeed may be the trigger that can propel the young driver straight to the top.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Asahina, Haruka Main

Furuya, Anan Japanese

Madoka, Kouya Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Komaki, Koutarou Supporting

Hatanaka, Tasuku Japanese

Mitsuzawa, Arisu Supporting

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Harunaga, Satsuki Supporting

Kawanishi, Kengo Japanese

Tokumaru, Toshiki Supporting

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

Yukihira, Saeko Supporting

Tsunematsu, Ayumi Japanese

Komaki, Futoshi Supporting

Sasa, Kenta Japanese

Satou Supporting

Hasegawa, Ikumi Japanese

Ena, Noritsune Supporting

Katou, Masayuki Japanese

Yamashita, Shinpei Producer

Higashi, Mao Producer

Nishimae, Shuka Producer

Ueda, Kiyoka Producer

Reviews

Dec 17, 2023

KANLen09

Recommended

Overtake!...it's not about overtaking in the literate sense, but rather about overcoming the difficulties in life, with some real-life situations thrown in for some realism.

Truth be told, after Studio TROYCA's last offering, which was the rather cumbersome Shinobi no Ittoki from last Fall, the fault doesn't square on the studio itself but rather on the people involved in creating the original series itself, which is, quite frankly, a mess. And if you have ANY reason to doubt the studio's offerings, look no further than the in-house studio chief director Ei Aoki, which this show is his 3rd directorial series after both Summer 2014's Aldnoah.Zero and ... Spring 2017's Re:Creators, which shows you that Ei Aoki is still the best man to represent the rather small studio that's still flowing with creativity, backed by IDOLiSH7's series composer Ayuki Sekine, with supervision from screenwriter Takayama Katsuhiko. Also, despite the Fall season having two sports (racing) series airing at the same time: this vs. Initial D's successor sequel MF Ghost, I would recommend this show in a heartbeat.

In its simplest form, Overtake! is the story of both young and old: an up-and-coming high school student aiming to be a driver in F4, and a freelance photographer who has an episodic slump of his own.

The said driver, Haruka Asahina of Komaki Motors, backed by owner Futoshi Komaki and best friend-cum-engineer of his son Kotarou Komaki, the small privateer team is as a clean sheet as it is with no sponsors at all, literally funding by the skin of their own earnings. And being an up-and-coming team, Komaki Motors had to work doubly as hard as compared to the other teams, especially the one team that's had it going for them: the Ferrari-like emblazoned Belsorriso team of lead drivers Satsuki Harunaga (being the ladies' man, backed by his skillful driving talent) and Toshiki Tokumaru (who's always considered as the former's support driver), as well as grid girl Alice Mitsuzawa (who has an interest with Satsuki, despite being Kotarou's childhood friend), with the team's owner, Kyousuke Ena. Also, if this is your first introduction to Formula 4 racing, then congratulations! You most likely know about Formula 1, but F4 is the starting point for aspiring, beginner drivers. With Haruka fighting to achieve victory for his rather empty team to rise up the ranks, this is as typical as it gets for professional racing, laden with the usual issues of self-confidence and support.

On the other hand, said photographer Kouya Madoka, along with his chief editor and ex-wife Saeko Yukihira, seems like the usual happy-go-lucky character doing his freelance work, but something beneath him lurks so much that it causes him to sync out of whack. Sure, he can take regular photos for the press, and whilst not knowing anything about F4, he decides to take the opportunity and plunge to overcome his trauma, which is solely referenced to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake incident, just for inspiration and nothing more.

Like as mentioned, both the young and old with rather different personalities and a generational gap that still manages to have common inklings between each other, I'd think that the formula may be simple for what both Kadokawa and TROYCA were going for, but it executes rather well for an easy-going series that always has to balance the intricacy between both sports and daily private lives, so you don't need to be an F4 connoisseur just to watch this show.

As expected, TROYCA delivers on their impressive animation as one of the show's strongest features, relying on smooth and well-animated 3DCG to show the realism of F4 racing, plain and simple. The music, on the other hand, is decent as well; I quite liked Vtuber Kanae's OP song, as much as Tasuku Hatanaka's ED song is just OK at best.

All in all, Overtake! is a rather simple show; while it may not have the "revolutionary revelation" story plot that it offers, what it has is pure adrenaline and simplicity, which I think is a smart move on Ei Aoki's behalf that's accessible for just about anyone interested in the show (compared to MF Ghost, where you definitely need to have some knowledge of the original prequel source material).

So, I'll say, go for it if you want some casual sports anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 1, 2024

Reviewholic

Mixed Feelings

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 everything 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 rumbling constantly every episode. Funny enough, as I am writing this, there is a seasonal anime named High Speed Etoile, that does exactly this.

I guess racing is a boring sports. More boring that football, I dare say. You really need more anime gimmicks to spice it up. Like Meteor Jam! Emperor Time! Kansai Drifto! Revol Bursto! But Overtake! has an try-to-be-real and mature approach, so those cannot fly.

Try to be real, but not real enough. Try to be fun, but limited by real. Overtake! could not overtake itself. It never went full throttle.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 17, 2023

IlTossico

Not Recommended

I'll be short. This isn't a racing anime. There is no motosport or racing moment.

This anime is categorized as Racing Anime, but there is no race in this story, the point is: someone that generally want to watch a racing anime, is because he/she is a car lover, and want to see real or fantasy racing, depend on the theme of the anime, but generally want to hear stuff related to motosport, engine or driving technique and skill. Take Initial D for example, for sure there is love and other things involve, to create more emphasis, but 9 episodes on 10, are people racing on ... the street, with different animation of people driving, and a lot of talking about engine technicalities or about driver's skill.

This isn't a Racing Anime, this is a Drama anime, a good one, no doubt; the story is actually nice, a solid 6, drawing and audio are fine, CGI not that much, but it's a low series anime; a lot of drama, but not racing involved. If it was categorized as Drama only, it would be a solid 6 for me.

But, the fact is, i couldn't care less for the photographer, yes, bad things append, but where are the car's moment, engine take apart, driving situation etc? Engine parts lying around on the shop, Haruka and Koutarou taking things apart and setting up, Futoshi talking about driving tactics and planning tires to use, watching weather for conditions, etc.
If my desire was to see a drama anime, i would choose a drama anime! Like anyone.

I'm not giving a 4, because i actually see worse stuff this season, and this one is watchable and nice, but not in point with the theme.
There is no problem with people giving a higher vote, they just need to understand that this isn't a racing anime, because if someone is watching for new stuff and searching for a racing anime, something like Initial D, Wangan Midnight and came across this one, he/she would be a lot disappointed after few episodes, thinking it would be similar, reading good stuff on the review or seeing a high number vote.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Overtake! Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 17, 2023	78 replies	by ELuck42 »» Dec 5, 8:23 PM
	Poll: Overtake! Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Nov 26, 2023	81 replies	by ELuck42 »» Dec 2, 7:26 PM
	Poll: Overtake! Episode 4 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 22, 2023	49 replies	by ELuck42 »» Nov 25, 7:09 PM
	Poll: Overtake! Episode 3 Discussion Stark700 - Oct 15, 2023	44 replies	by ELuck42 »» Nov 24, 1:18 PM
	Poll: Overtake! Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Nov 5, 2023	51 replies	by traed »» Aug 4, 10:38 PM