Back to TitanXL's Profile TitanXL's Profile

Watched all 6 episodes. Would give it a 3/10. Not kidding when I say it's one of the worst shows I've watched in the last few months. Outside of the music and the opening it's pretty awful in every way.

Like it's baffling how uninspired it was. Felt like they just smashed together a few tropes and called it a day. Stereotypical characters and non-existent characterization. Which is a shame because I did like what I saw from Yasuke as a character. If they didn't have someone obsessed with tossing as many tropes in as they could without caring about how they fit in and just ... stuck to stuff like that it would've been amazing. In order to fit in the tropey shit they took shortcuts that made the anime seem cheap like the copy paste sorcerers or 90s cg beam fights.

Rio - Rainbow Gate! takes place at the tropical casino paradise called the Howard Resort Casino. The plot revolves around a tournament where Casino dealers challenge each other to various casino games to win the title of being the Top Dealer. Basic, simple, but it works for what it is. The main character Rio is called the Goddess of Victory, as she has uncanny luck and the ability to make anyone win whatever game they're playing just by walking past them.

The writing is, as you would expect, not the focus of the show. The plot is basic for what it is, ... and crosses into silly far more often than not. One must also question why the casino would employee a woman whose abilities actually help the gamblers to win money form the casino, but we see Mr. Howard lecherously uses Rio's sexiness and fame to promote his casino, so one can assume it's an acceptable loss for all the business she brings to his casino. However, that's probably my own fault of taking this show seriously.

Technically speaking, Rio - Rainbow Gate! is a beautiful show; and I don't just mean Rio herself. All the backgrounds and visuals are full of vibrant colors that really capture the feeling of a tropical paradise. The glitter and sheen on the casino floor also do well to captivate the eye and give the show a very energetic and feel-good mood. Rio herself is also gorgeous, and since this is an ecchi anime, the show does well to remind us of this and give us various camera angles and outfits to admire Rio in. The poker game in the first episode between Rio and Orlin is told through a mix of dramatized hand and arm movements, dramatic stares and card drawing, and trippy, psychedelic dream sequences of Rio being bathed in light like this was a magical girl anime, and Orlin exploring a gritty forest of poker cards looking for the four queens to add to his hand. The show is eye-candy in every sense of the word. The music of the show is composed of jazzy, up-beat tunes which are quite catchy and do well to establish the tropical casino setting. Rio - Rainbow Gate! is a treat to both the eyes and the ears.

Overall, this show doesn't take itself terribly seriously, and neither should you. If you want a beautiful, feel-good, sexy anime with some stunning visuals and catchy music, then this anime is worth a look. The dramatized way Rio and Orlin played poker was enough to make me check out next week's episode; it brought a silly Yu-Gi-Oh! and Death Note vibe with how they dramatized such a mundane game Perhaps other casino games like blackjack, roulette, and craps will be incorporated into the show in future episodes.