Rain City Rockers – Anime EP

If you were a child of the 90’s, then there’s a good chance you once rushed home after school to grab some Soda Licious fruit snacks and watch Pokemon while your totally cool mom poured a vitamin C rich cup of Sunny D (if I had to venture a guess, McConroy grew up watching The Zone on YTV).  Based on Rain City Rockers’ Anime EP, front man Andrew McConroy’s childhood likely encompassed such a routine.  The five-track EP amalgamates a collection of pop-punk anime theme songs featuring iconic series Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, Digimon and Sailor Moon, as well as an equally nerdy original tune.

The result is exactly as you might expect from a band consisting of members of Sum 41 and Gob (Tom Thacker), Die Mannequin (Anthony Bleed) and Goldfinger (Darrin Pfeiffer) playing geeked out covers of westernized anime theme songs.  The covers are true to their source and capture much of the energy that captivated kids awaiting the next adventure of Ash Ketchum, Goku or the Sailor Scouts in their ongoing fight against those menacing forces of evil.  The opening themes are every bit as brief as their original counterparts (a minute or slightly longer), and McConroy’s nasally, late 90’s-esque vocals (think Relient K, Nerf Herder, Bowling For Soup) feel right at home with the EP’s nostalgic subject matter.  There isn’t much to fault here aside from the obvious layers of cheese inherent in the originals.

The EP’s lone original offering, “If You Don’t Like Pikachu,” is somewhat of a prideful geek proclamation directed at the opposite sex.  Those familiar with Nerf Herder’s woeful “Mr. Spock” will note that the odds have improved for geeks and nerds over the past fifteen years.  “I said it goes both ways so remember these words… if you don’t like Pikachu, then sorry baby but I won’t choose you,” toys McConroy in this brief narrative response to the snobbish statement, “sorry honey but I don’t date nerds.”  It’s a catchy little number that highlights Rain City Rockers playful humour.

In theory, the Anime EP is successful at reimagining faithful covers, but it really begs the question: how necessary is it?  To be blunt: not very.  Like a very specialized Me First & The Gimme Gimmes EP, you might listen to it once or twice for a laugh, but other than “If You Don’t Like Pikachu,” the bulk of the songs are unlikely to appear on your future playlists.  At the low cost of free though, the Anime EP is worth a download for a laugh and a chuckle, but if you’re looking for a proper introduction to Rain City Rockers, you’re better off checking out their debut full length, Mayday.