Appare-Ranman!

Lore & Background

Set around the start of the Meiji era in Japan, the series centers on Appare Sorano, an eccentric inventor and second son of a merchant family, who dreams of adventure after reading Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. The samurai Kosame Isshiki is tasked with keeping Appare in check, but accidentally strands them both at sea. They are rescued by an American steamship and end up in Los Angeles with no money. To return to Japan, they enter the Trans-America Wild Race, where Appare builds a custom steam-powered vehicle and Kosame hopes to earn enough money for passage home.

Reader's Guide

Appare-Ranman! is significant as an original anime produced by P.A. Works, known for its high-quality animation and character-driven stories. The series blends historical fiction with steampunk elements, set against the backdrop of the American frontier. Its production was notably affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, causing a delay after the third episode; the series resumed in July 2020. The manga adaptation, illustrated by Ahndongshik, ran concurrently in Young Ace and was later licensed for English release by Yen Press. The series explores themes of friendship, perseverance, and cultural clash, with a focus on the unlikely partnership between the inventive Appare and the duty-bound Kosame. Its legacy lies in its unique premise and the challenges overcome during its production.

Did You Know?

• The series was announced by P.A. Works on October 12, 2019.
• Airing of episode 4 and onward was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The opening theme 'I got it!' was performed by Mia Regina, and the ending song by Showtaro Morikubo.
• The manga adaptation by Ahndongshik was serialized from April 2020 to January 2022 in Young Ace.

A Meiji Inventor Stranded on the American Frontier

Appare-Ranman! opens its story at the dawn of the Meiji era, following Appare Sorano, the restless second son of a prominent merchant household. Rather than preparing to inherit the family trade, Appare devotes himself to tinkering with gadgets and devouring scientific literature—a habit sparked in childhood by a copy of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. His lord, displeased with this disregard for social convention, assigns the samurai Kosame Isshiki to rein him in. What should have been a simple escort mission spirals into disaster: a chain of accidents leaves both men marooned at sea until a passing American steamship hauls them to safety. Now stranded in Los Angeles with empty pockets and no straightforward path home, the pair throws themselves into the Trans-America Wild Race. For Appare, it is a chance to design and build a steam-powered automobile of his own making; for Kosame, a way to earn enough coin to fund a return to Japan. Together they must navigate rival drivers, armed bandits, and the vast unknown of the American landscape.

A Cast Built on Rivalry and Redemption

The supporting cast of Appare-Ranman! is a tapestry of personal stakes woven into a single cross-country race. Hototo, a young Native American from a northeastern tribe, joins the duo after being rescued from thugs in Los Angeles, driven by the desire to track down the man with a snake tattoo who killed his father and scattered his family. Jing Xialian, a Chinese-American woman working as a general assistant for a racing team, is barred from competing because of her gender; she secretly pilots the team's machines after dark and eventually earns the owner's reluctant respect, receiving an old car to enter the race herself. On the competitive side, Al Lyon, a wealthy European scion of the Bright New Works auto dynasty, races to prove he deserves the family heirship. The field is further complicated by the legendary Thousand Three outlaws—Dylan G. Oldin, Crazy TJ, the Bad Brothers Tristan and Chase, and Richard Riesman, who hides behind the alias Gil T. Cigar and ultimately holds a train full of passengers for ransom. Each competitor carries a wound or ambition that makes the Trans-America Wild Race feel less like a sport and more like a reckoning.

Production, Pandemic, and the Road to Release

P.A. Works announced the thirteen-episode original series on October 12, 2019, with Masakazu Hashimoto serving as both director and writer. Character designs were handled by Yurie Oohigashi, building on Ahndongshik's original concepts, while Shiho Takeuchi crafted the mechanical designs and Evan Call composed the score. Mia Regina sang the opening theme "I got it!" and Showtaro Morikubo performed the ending. The series premiered on AT-X and partner networks on April 10, 2020, but the global pandemic quickly upended the schedule. On April 17, the studio confirmed that broadcasts from episode four onward would be postponed. After a brief restart announcement on June 9, the fourth episode finally aired on July 24, 2020, and the run concluded on September 25. In parallel, Ahndongshik's manga adaptation ran in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine from April 2020 through January 2022, collecting into three tankōbon volumes. Yen Press picked up English-language rights at Anime NYC 2022, extending the story's reach beyond Japan.

Prejudice, Trauma, and the Drive to Define Oneself

Beneath the spectacle of steam-powered racing, Appare-Ranman! threads a consistent concern with people fighting against forces that would define them for them. Appare chafes against the expectation that he will simply inherit his family's merchant business, choosing instead to follow the scientific curiosity that a single Jules Verne novel ignited in him as a child. Kosame, despite his skill as the head instructor of his dojo and his service under Lord Kuroda, carries PTSD from a past incident that makes it nearly impossible for him to strike another person—a vulnerability that complicates every confrontation the race demands. Jing Xialian confronts the blunt exclusion of women from the racing world, and her path to legitimacy comes not through permission but through demonstrating undeniable skill. Even the antagonists are shaped by external pressure: Al Lyon races to satisfy his family's expectations of an heir, while Richard Riesman exploits the race as cover for a kidnapping and ransom scheme. The Trans-America Wild Race becomes the arena where each character must either submit to the role others have written for them or carve out their own identity.