Speed Racer

**Speed Racer** also know as **Mach GoGoGo** is anime about automobile racing, the anime aired in 1967 to 1968 by **Tatsunoko Productions**, its 52 episodes aired on Fuji TV, In the US, the show aired in syndication at approximately the same time. The anime was later re-broadcast on Tokyo MX from July 1 to September 25, 2008, The television series was very successful in the United States and is said to have defined anime in that country until the 1990s, being watched by a total estimated audience of 40 million viewers during the 1960s–1970s.

## More Info

### Licensed by

Trans-Lux (originally)Funimation (currently)

### English network

ABC, Network Ten (Australia) Syndication (North America)

## Plot

The Show is based around a boy named Go Mifune (Speed Racer), who loves racing and his family, they seem to get in a lot of adventures when automobile racing and also fighting bad guys called The Car Acrobatic Team.

## Media

With 52 episodes were produced from 1967 to 1968 the anime would become bigger success than the manga. In 1997, Tatsunoko produced a modernized version of Mach GoGoGo which aired on TV Tokyo, ABC lasting for 34 episodes. An English adaptation of this remake was produced by DiC titled Speed Racer X, which aired in 2002 on Nickelodeon. Only the first 13 episodes were adapted due to licensing disputes between DiC and Speed Racer Enterprises. Mach Girl was a web-based series by Tatsunoko Productions, created by Tatsuo Yoshida's daughter, Suzuka.

### **English adaptation**

The English rights to Mach GoGoGo were acquired by syndicator Trans-Lux (which originally was, and still exists as, an electronics manufacturer), and Speed Racer premiered on American television in the summer of 1967. In the series, Speed's full name was Go Mifune, in homage to Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune. His name, Americanized, became Speed Racer. His adventures centered on his powerful Mach 5 car, his girlfriend Trixie, his little brother Spritle, Spritle's pet chimpanzee Chim-Chim, and his mysterious older brother, Racer X, whose real name was Rex Racer.

For American consumption, major editing and dubbing efforts were undertaken by producer Peter Fernandez, who likewise not only wrote and directed the English-language dialogue but also provided the voices of many of the characters, most notably Racer X and Speed Racer himself. Fernandez was also responsible for a rearrangement of the theme song's melody, written and composed by Nobuyoshi Koshibe, and he subsequently also wrote its English lyrics.

A *Speed Racer* daily comic strip written and drawn by Mort Todd ran in the *New York Post* from 2000–2001. IGN ranked the original Speed Racer series at #29 on its "Best 100 Animated Series" list.

At Otakon 2015, Funimation announced that it had acquired the license to *Speed Racer* from Tatsunoko and would release it on Blu-ray for the first time. Funimation gave *Speed Racer* two separate home video releases: a standard release for the English version on May 30, 2017, and a collector's edition for the Japanese version with English subtitles on November 7, 2017, the first such North American release.

## Development

### **Name**

The large red M on the hood of the Mach 5, as well as on Gō's helmet, is the emblem of Mifune Motors, the family business, and an homage to Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune. In North America it was assumed to stand for Mach 5 and in the Latin American version for Meteoro. His given name, Gō, is a Japanese homophone for the number 5 (the number on his race car) which is also represented by the yellow letter G embroidered on his short-sleeve blue shirt. The tradition of symbolism on characters' shirts was also used on Michi (Trixie) and Sabu (Sparky), who had the letter "M" and "S" on their shirts, respectively.

### **Audience**

The overall purpose of the anime was to please a growing fan base worldwide with exciting stories that involved facing adversity on the race track and beyond. Review of the episodes in the *Speed Racer: Collector's Edition* of Japanese and English-language episodes reveals frequent changes to the sound-track (dialogue and the addition of an off-screen narrator) but very little editing of the image-track. Most significantly, the names of villains are often changed to be more cartoony, e.g. Professor Anarchy in episode 31 ("Lightning-Quick Ninja Cars" in Japanese, "Gang of Assassins" in English).

## Characters

### **Racer Family**

* **Speed Racer/Go Mifune-** (Voiced by **Katsuji Mori** in Japanese & **Peter Fernandez** in English): The protagonist of both the anime and the manga is Speed Racer, originally Gō Mifune. He is known for his love of racing and valuing his family. He drives the Mach 5 (as well as other cars, such as the Mach 6 in the movie) and always manages to wind up in extreme danger with either his younger brother or his girlfriend Trixie. Speed is shown to miss his older brother, Rex (secretly disguised as Racer X), in both versions, Off the track, he wears a blue shirt with an orange "G" (standing for his Japanese first name, Gō) with a white collar, a red racing bandanna around his neck, white pants, red socks, brown loafers, and yellow gloves. He is 18 years old, has a brown, almost black, pompadour, and his eyes are brown (in the anime version they are blue). In racing, he sports a white open-face helmet with an M (representing Mifune Motors) on top. In the anime, on special occasions, Speed wears a red blazer with a yellow "G" embroidered on it. In the live-action film, he wears a white leather racing jacket unzipped over his classic outfit. He wears his classic outfit (without the embroidered "G") in the first half of the Casa Cristo 5000. To strengthen the character's back-story continuity between Speed and his older brother Rex, Speed's red socks were considered "lucky socks.
* **Spritle Racer/Kurio Mifune (Chim-Chim)-** (Voiced by **Junko Hori** as Spritle and **Hiroshi Ohtake** as Chim-Chim in Japanese & **Connie Orr** as Spritle and **Jack Grimes** as Chim-Chim in English): Speed Racer has a younger brother named Spritle (*Kurio Mifune* in the Japanese original). Spritle has a pet chimpanzee, who responded to the name of Chim-Chim in the American version (Sanpei in the Japanese original). Their rebellious attitudes often lead them to trouble. Often in Speed's way, their mischief somehow aids Speed away from danger. Spritle and Chim-Chim dress in identical jumpsuits and striped hats and often perform identical physical actions. They both have an extreme appetite for candy and they are usually bribed with dessert or other presents. Spritle and Chim-Chim often use a slingshot to combat any threats that come to both themselves and/or Speed, According to Peter Fernandez's introduction in the American release of the *Mach GoGoGo* manga, Spritle got his name for being an energetic "sprite." Chim-Chim got his name because he was considered a chimpanzee.
* **Pops Racer/Daisuke Mifune-** (Voiced By **Teiji Ōmiya** in Japanese & **Jack Curtis** in English): Speed's father, Pops, (Daisuke Mifune) is a former wrestler-turned race car owner and builder. After quitting his job in a corporate car manufacturing company, he founded his own company, **Mifune Motors**. (In America, the company was changed to **Racer Motors**.) He is portrayed as a hothead who is overprotective of his family. His eldest son, Rex, ran away (although he would return as Racer X). In addition to Spritle and Chim-Chim, Pops' attitude is a running gag in the anime series as well as the live-action film. Overweight, he wears an athletic red shirt and a beige mechanic's cap. Despite his build, Pops is nearly unmatched in combat, as he was once a champion heavyweight wrestler. His design skills allow him to create powerful engines.
* **Mom Racer/Aya Mifune-** (Voiced By **Ryōko Kinomiya** in Japanese & Connie Orr in English): Speed's mother, Mom Racer (originally Aya Mifune), is a side character in the series. She rarely appears in the anime or manga, having limited dialogue, and many episodes of the anime did not feature her at all.
* **Racer X (The Masked Racer)-** (Voiced By **Kinya Aikawa** in Japanese & Peter Fernandez in English): The enigmatic Racer X (Fukumen Racer in the Japanese version) is a frequent recurring character, driving car number 9, the "Shooting Star". Racer X is a mysterious, selfless, sympathetic, and often brooding soldier of fortune whose secret identity is that of Rex Racer (Kenichi Mifune in Japan), Speed's older brother. Six years prior, Rex had a falling out with Pops after wrecking a race car that Pops had built. Pops had told Rex prior to the race that he was not prepared to compete at the professional racing level. With less than one lap to go, Rex was leading and cruising toward victory, but lost control of the car, wrecking it. Pops exploded with anger and berated Rex, and in response, Rex exiled himself, vowing to become the world's greatest race car driver, Pops and Speed always acknowledged that Racer X was the superior driver, and the greatest driver that they had ever seen; however, Speed still vowed to defeat Racer X. In the anime, Speed was often suspicious of Racer X's identity and motives, because Racer X would sacrifice winning races to protect Speed from drivers who tried to harm him. The assistance from Racer X nearly always led to Speed winning races, while Racer X came in second place. Racer X always left the scene unnoticed, receding into his secret life.

### **Supporting Characters**

* **Trixie/Michi Shimura-** (Voiced by Yoshiko Matsuo (Episodes 1-4), **Michiko Nomura** (Episodes 5-52) in Japanese & Connie Orr in English): Trixie, or Michi Shimura (named after actor Takashi Shimura, who collaborated with Toshiro Mifune on several films), is Speed's girlfriend. The "M" adorning her blouse stands for Michi. Trixie often flies around in a helicopter during a race, acting as Speed's spotter, a function she also serves in the live-action film during the Casa Cristo 5000. In the manga, it is mentioned that her father is the president of Shimura Aviation, which explains why she has her own helicopter. To add comic relief in the anime, Trixie becomes jealous if Speed pays too much attention to another girl or if she feels ignored, Unlike most female characters in cartoons at that time, Trixie is not portrayed as a helpless perpetual victim. Trixie often proves herself the equal of Speed when forced into physical altercations. While Trixie has been captured on occasion by the villains, she refuses to cower or plead for her release, more often giving the bad guy a serious tongue-lashing until she is either rescued or escapes on her own. On some occasions, Trixie has even been the one to rescue Speed or other male characters from their predicaments. In the spin-off *Speed Racer: The Next Generation*, she is assumed to be the mother of X and Speed Jr, Casually, Trixie wears a pink blouse with the aforementioned "M" on her left side. She also wears red pants. In racing events, she wears a white long-sleeve shirt underneath pink overalls, which also have the embroidered "M". During races, she also wears a pink cap with racing goggles. On special occasions, Trixie wears a blue hat and dress.
* **Sparky-** (Voiced by **Kei Tomiyama** in Japanese & Jack Grimes in English): Other regular characters included Sparky, whose full name revealed in the movie and in Speed Racer: The Next Generation is Wilson Sparkolemew (in the manga and anime, he is only called Sparky). In the Japanese original, he was Sabu, and he was Bujía in the Latin American version. He is the company mechanic, a quirky young man who is a best friend of Speed and knows everything about cars.

### **The Car Acrobatic Team**

The Car Acrobatic Team (or Car Acrobats) is one of the original set of characters appearing in both the manga and anime. The 16 racers' uniforms are embroidered with a letter from the English alphabet. All of the cars in the team (automobiles numbered 11 through 26), except for number 11, look and act the same. The cars sprout wings from both sides, making them capable of jumping large gaps and gorges. The most notable of the team are Captain Terror and Snake Oiler (the latter being a character exclusive to the anime):

* **Captain Terror**: the leader of the Car Acrobatic Team, is shown as an arrogant driver in the manga, sabotaging races for his own benefit. His arrogance gets the best of him, and he gets severely injured in an explosion after not heeding Speed's warning about his car leaking oil. He has a "Z" embroidered on his racing uniform, a face of skeletal features, and a lone feather atop his helmet. He drives the number 11 car, the only car different in appearance to the rest of the Car Acrobatic team, In the anime, Captain Terror's character exists, but many of his appearances are played by a new character, Snake Oiler. He replaces Captain Terror in terms of hotheaded attitude. Embroidered with an "S" on his uniform and tinted visor on his striped helmet, Snake Oiler drives the number 12 car, similar in appearance to the other cars in the Car Acrobatic Team. The role Captain Terror had in the manga was lifted onto the Snake Oiler character, therefore Captain Terror's role in the Alpine Race (and injuries from a crash related to an oil leak) was replaced by Snake. Although Snake did not exist in the original manga, he was notable in the West due to his appearance in the anime. Snake Oiler's name and acrobatic skills are an homage to Haro Bora.

## Vehicles

### **The *Match 5***

The Mach 5, Speed Racer's car ("Mahha Gō," or "Mahha," in the Japanese version), is a technological marvel, containing useful pieces of equipment. Gō Mifune/Speed Racer easily deployed these gadgets by pressing buttons marked "A" through "G" on the steering wheel hub (although there are buttons on the steering wheel in the manga, the letter designations are exclusive to the anime and the 2008 live action film). This uniquely designed car, built with a sleek Coke bottle bodystyle, has a white exterior with a large "M" on its hood, the logo for the family business, Mifune Motors (changed to Pops Motors in the anime and Racer Motors in the live action film). The two-seat car had a mostly red-colored interior. The number 5 is emblazoned on both side doors of the car. In the manga and anime this is the car's racing number; in the film, it is because it is the fifth car built in Pops' "Mach" series of racing vehicles. Although technically inferior to other racing vehicles such as the Mammoth Car and the GRX, the Mach 5 manages to win most races because of Speed's superior driving skills.

The Mach 5 has been stolen from Speed a few times, once when Cornpone Blotch took the car to add it to his car collection in the "Girl Daredevil" saga. However, Speed always gets it back at the end of the episode. At one point, the car was replicated, functions and all, by Dr. Nightcall. However, this replica included other new abilities that inspired later functions of the car in remakes of the show, one of which were the Aero-Jacks, used as a replacement for the Auto Jacks in *Speed Racer X*. In manga continuity, the Mach 5 was destroyed and rebuilt. See *Manga and Anime Differences* for more information on the Mach 5's manga continuity.

In both American comic and movie continuity, Pops is portrayed as having built a "Mach" Series consisting of other variants, such as the Mach 4 and Mach 6, in addition to Rex Racer's Mach 1 and the Mach 5.

### **The *Shooting Star***

The Shooting Star is Racer X's car, colored bright yellow with a black front bumper and numbered 9 on the hood and sides. The car's engine is located in the back, and it is a very agile machine, often displaying abilities akin to and even above those of the Mach Five. Many of its high-tech features allowed Racer X to keep an eye on Speed Racer, who is his younger brother.

### **The Mammoth Car**

Appearing only in the anime, it is supposedly the largest racing vehicle in the world. Similar in design to an extremely long trailer truck, the Mammoth Car is mostly red and is built by *Speed Racer* villain Cruncher Block. The Mammoth Car was built almost entirely of $50,000,000 in stolen gold bars. This amount of gold, however, would actually occupy only 74 cubic feet, based on the then price of gold of $35 per ounce. By entering it in "The No Limit World Race", Cruncher wished to smuggle the gold out of the country. The Mammoth Car's main engine has 7,500 horsepower (5,600 kW). Each wheel also has an engine with 1,500 horsepower (1,100 kW), giving it a total of 30,000 horsepower (22,000 kW). It can travel at 500 mph (800 km/h), on any kind of road or terrain. It makes screeching sounds reminiscent of Godzilla. It has magnetic brakes and is over 200 yards (180 m) long, making the Mammoth Car one of the most interesting cars in the series. It was destroyed after it crashed into an oil refinery and melted into its original gold form by the intense heat.

### **The *Melange* and the *X3***

The Melange was a roofless racing car numbered with a "3," driven by Flash Marker. When investigating the mysterious car, Speed recalls the name Melange was the name of Napoleon's horse, who saved his life several times in battles. (The name was actually Marengo but became Melange due to an erroneous transliteration from Japanese to English.) When Speed recalls his knowledge of French history, a rendition of Jacques-Louis David's painting of *Napoleon Crossing the Alps*, which depicts Napoleon riding Marengo, is drawn in the episode. Pops Racer, however, identified the name "Melange" as a car driven 15 years earlier by a young driver named Flash Marker. The Melange's chassis was colored with two shades of purple and had an exposed engine on its hood. During the "Race at Danger Pass", the Melange, along with Marker, was finally destroyed in a crash caused by the Three Roses Club.

Since then, Flash's son, Flash Marker Jr., had plotted revenge on the Three Roses Club by building a car with a sleek, black body marked "X3." The car was driven through remote control and a robot dummy was placed in the driver's seat, broadcasting the phrases "Melange still races" and "Melange is alive" to haunt the Three Roses Club. The X3 was used primarily to deliberately crash into and kill those affiliated with the Three Roses Club, leaving behind a card marked X3 to taunt the remaining members. Speed, who had volunteered to help the police, was chasing down the X3 when it narrowly avoided colliding with a train, leaving the robot dummy hanging over the level crossing's boom gate.

Speed noticed its robot "driver" and brought it back to the police for further investigation. Meanwhile, Flash Marker Jr. secretly brought back the damaged car and replaced its body with a replica of the original Melange, placing it over the X3 chassis in his secret underground car factory, to prepare for the next Race at Danger Pass. Since it is the same car with the chassis of the Melange, the car can still be controlled remotely. While the new Melange is still numbered "3", it has the ability to be changed through remote control to X3, which makes the drivers of the Three Roses Club realize that the "new Melange" is actually the X3. The car, controlled by Flash Jr. in his helicopter, was used to fatally crash into two Three Roses drivers before it was destroyed when it lost control and crashed into the final member of the Three Roses Club.

The first episode has been translated into Armenian, using the Western Armenian dialect.

### **The GRX**

The GRX was technically an engine, but it has become more identified with the gold-colored car that housed the engine in the series episode "The Fastest Car on Earth." The engine was designed by Ben Cranem, and it was responsible for crashes and deaths of four test drivers and its inventor due to the impossible speeds it could attain. Cranem died and the GRX engine was buried with him, but Oriana Flub and her men exhumed the engine and placed it into the car with a sleek, golden, and markless body.

Oriana convinced Speed to test drive the car with the GRX and Speed was sprayed with a special serum known as the V-gas to artificially sharpen his reflexes. The V-gas causes its driver to become extremely thirsty and if the driver consumed any compound containing water, they would develop a strong phobia of speed. The car got a new driver, Cranem's son, Curly. Curly was given the V-gas and soon experienced its side effects. The GRX and its engine were destroyed when he fatally crashed the car due to Curly drinking water during a pit stop.

The GRX episodes mark one of the few continuity errors introduced by the English dubbing. In the first episode the GRX's speedometer with a maximum speed of 400 kilometres per hour (250 mph) on it is shown in the beginning of the episode, however, due to a continuity error in the Japanese animation, as Speed drives it, the speedometer tops out at 440 kilometres per hour (270 mph) This would make the GRX *slower* than the Mammoth Car by the English dialogue.

## Manga and Anime Differences

Like most manga series adapted to anime, changes occur in both timelines of the *Speed Racer* series. Besides the obvious Americanization of the original Japanese characters' names, other changes include character's backstory and new characters.

### Continuity changes

* Most of the manga stories were slightly changed in the anime version. There are also stories never adapted into the anime series, thus making them manga exclusives.
* In the manga, Speed (Go Mifune) always wears his standard outfit, even on special occasions. In the case of the anime, however, Speed wears a special outfit, exclusive to formal occasions. The same is true of Trixie.
* The meeting between Spritle (Kurio) and Racer X occurs twice (once in each volume) in the manga, along with other scenes preceding and following it. However, several dialogue changes are present and the outcome of each meeting is extremely different.
* The manga has a dramatically different ending than the anime. In the manga, Rex Racer (Kenichi Mifune) reunites with Speed, revealing to him that he was the mysterious masked racer, Racer X, all along. In "The Trick Race," Speed confronts him, asking if he is his older brother, prompting Rex (as Racer X) to punch him in the stomach, knocking him unconscious, then declaring that he can never go home again. In both instances, Speed finally knows that his brother is Racer X.

### **Character Backstories**

* It is mentioned in passing that Trixie's (Michi) father is the president of Shimura Aviation (Shimura is Michi/Trixie's family name in the Japanese releases). This is not mentioned in the anime.
* Some characters, such as Snake Oiler, are exclusive to the anime, which also contains some original stories not found in the manga.
* Prince Kabala was considered a separate character in the manga and is in no way shown affiliated with Racer X (in the anime, Prince Kabala dies and his guise was used by Racer X to help maintain his homeland of Kapetapek). Racer X, on the other hand, disguises himself as another person in the manga.

### **Vehicle backstories**

* Although many of the Mach 5's special features are seen in the manga, including buttons on the steering wheel, they are not marked with letters, except for the large, central button, which is marked with an M (instead of G).
* In the manga, the Mach 5 is destroyed once. When it is rebuilt, the Mach 5 is fitted with gadgets that are technologically upgraded from the gadgets that were on the old Mach 5. The auto-jacks are superseded by the aero-jacks, which did not make an appearance in the original anime series (this idea was used in the 1990s Japanese remake, replacing the auto-jacks). This new Mach 5 is also fitted with regenerating tires, called the auto-spare, which did not appear in the original anime. However, the concept of regenerating tires is used in the 2008 live-action film. The new Mach 5 is also fitted with small aerodynamic wings, to assist Speed in longer and farther jumps. This idea was adapted to the original anime version, although the reason behind the upgrade is different from that of the original manga.
* At the end of the manga, Rex Racer is portrayed driving the Mach 5 — a scene that may have inspired the backstory of the car in the live-action film, in which it originally belonged to Rex, who relinquished ownership to his younger brother, Speed.
* A car, the E-RX, appears in a chapter of the manga, but does not appear in the anime. It functions similarly to the anime's GRX, being portrayed as the fastest car in the world. Although it does not appear in the anime, the E-RX appears in many of the American comics.

## See Also

* **Speed Racer (Manga)**
* **Speed Racer (2008 American Movie)**