''Speed Racer'', also known as , is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Tatsuo Yoshida. It was originally serialized in print in

Shueisha is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Shueisha is the largest publishing company in Japan. It was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The ...

's 1966 '' Shōnen Book''. It was released in form by Sun Wide Comics and later re-released in Japan by Fusosha. Adapted into

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

Tatsunoko Production and often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. The studio's name has a double meaning in Japanese: "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu is a nickname for Tatsuo) and " sea dragon", the inspiration for its seahorse logo. Tatsunoko Production was e ...

, its 52 episodes aired on

Fuji Television JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

from April 1967 to March 1968. In the US, the show aired in syndication at approximately the same time. The anime was later re-broadcast on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV (channel 9), branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent station, independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city and parts ...

from July 1 to September 25, 2008. Selected chapters of the

were released by

NOW Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic bo ...

in the 1990s under the title ''Speed Racer Classics''. These were later released by

Wildstorm Productions Wildstorm Productions (stylized as WildStorm) is an American comic book imprint. Originally founded as an independent company established by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi to publish through Image Comics, Wildstorm became a publishing imprint of DC ...

, a division of

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, as ''Speed Racer: The Original Manga''. In 2008, under its Americanized title, ''Speed Racer'', ''Mach GoGoGo'' was republished in its entirety in the United States by

Digital Manga Publishing Digital Manga is a California-based publishing company that licenses and releases Japanese manga, anime, and related merchandise in the English language. Digital Manga also owns and operates eManga, a digital publishing site for manga and l ...

and was released as a box set to commemorate the franchise's 40th anniversary, as well as serving as a tie-in with the 2008 film. 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 viewers during the 1960s1970s.

Media

Manga

''Mach GoGoGo'' was first created and designed by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida (1932–1977) as a manga series in the 1960s and made the jump to TV as an anime series in 1967. The actual manga was inspired by Yoshida's earlier and more popular automobile racing comics, ''Pilot Ace''. ''Pilot Aces main storyline formed the structure for ''Mach GoGoGo'', which followed the adventures of an ambitious young man, who soon became a professional racer. The characters' designs in ''Pilot Ace'' set the main ground for the character design in ''Mach GoGoGo''. Yoshida got his idea for the story after seeing two films that were very popular in Japan at the time, ''

Viva Las Vegas ''Viva Las Vegas'' is a 1964 American rock and roll musical film directed by George Sidney, written by Sally Benson, choreographed by David Winters, and starring Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova, William Demarest and Nicky Blair ...

'' and '' Goldfinger''. By combining the look of

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's race-car driving image, complete with neckerchief and black pompadour, and

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

's gadget-filled Aston Martin DB5, Yoshida had the inspiration for his creation. Soon enough, ''Mach GoGoGo'' hit shelves in the early 1960s. The central character in the anime and manga was a young race car driver named Gō Mifune (''Mifune Gō''). The name of the series, ''Mach GoGoGo'', has a triple meaning: is the name of the car; the name of the main character is Gō Mifune; and finally, it contains the English word "go". In the American adaptation, Mach 5 stems from the number 5 on the door. Although, in Japanese, is the word for the number 5, the Kanji character which is used in the car name actually means "item number" (i.e. it is an ordinal suffix). In addition, gogogo, is used as a general Japanese sound effect for rumble. Taken together, the program's title means, "Mach Number Five, Go!" The manga (compiled into two deluxe volumes for Fusosha's re-release) has several storylines, such as "The Great Plan", "Challenge of the Masked Racer", "The Fire Race", "The Secret Engine" and "Race for Revenge", that were adapted to the anime. However, minor changes occur between both the original manga and the anime series, such as differences between back stories of several characters and places. A few years after the volumes were released, Yoshida decided to release his manga series as an anime program, adding additional plots. Fifty-two episodes aired in Japan, each one emulating the fast-paced action of the manga. Selected chapters of the original ''Mach GoGoGo'' manga series were reprinted by NOW Comics as two volumes of ''Speed Racer Classics'' (1988–1989), and by

as ''Speed Racer: The Original Manga'' (2000). In 2008, a hardcover box set of the complete manga series was released by

as the two volume ''Speed Racer: Mach Go Go Go''.

Anime

The manga spawned an anime adaptation that actually became a bigger success. Fifty-two episodes were produced from 1967 to 1968. In 1997, Tatsunoko produced a modernized version of ''Mach GoGoGo'' that aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.DiC titled ''Speed Racer X'', which aired in 2002 on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

. 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-language adaptation

The English-language rights to ''Mach GoGoGo'' were acquired by syndicator Trans-Lux 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 was a Japanese actor and producer. The recipient of numerous awards and accolades over a lengthy career, he is widely considered one of the greatest actors of all time. He often played hypermasculine characters and was noted for his commandin ...

. 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, his father "Pops" Racer, and his mysterious older brother, Racer X, whose real name was Rex Racer. For American consumption, major

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

and

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

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 Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

'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 The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' from 2000–2001. IGN ranked the original Speed Racer series at #29 on its "Best 100 Animated Series" list. At

Otakon Otakon ( ) is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to the Walter E. Washing ...

2015,

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

announced that it had acquired the license to ''Speed Racer'' from Tatsunoko and would release it on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

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

Names

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

. 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 A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, a ...

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 / : :The

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

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. He is portrayed by

Emile Hirsch Emile Davenport Hirsch (born March 13, 1985) is an American actor. His portrayal of Chris McCandless in '' Into the Wild'' (2007) earned him acclaim and multiple award nominations. Other notable roles include '' The Girl Next Door'' (2004), '' ...

in the 2008 film, while his younger self is portrayed by Nicholas Elia. :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 A blazer is a jacket worn as part of a smart casual or business casual look. Similar to a sport jacket, a blazer is not part of a formal suit, and the terms "sport coat" and "blazer" may be used interchangeably in daily life. A nautical bl ...

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 / and : :Speed Racer has a younger brother named Spritle (''Kurio Mifune'' in the Japanese original). Spritle has a pet

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...

, 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 A slingshot or catapult is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two tubes or strips made from either a natural rubber or synthetic elastic material. These are attached to the upper two ends ...

to combat any threats that come to both themselves and/or Speed. :According 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. In the live-action film, they are portrayed faithfully to their characterizations in both the anime and manga. Spritle was portrayed by

Paulie Litt Paul Litowsky (born April 17, 1995), known professionally as Paulie Litt, is an American former child actor and producer. He is best known for his role as Justin Shanowski on the sitcom '' Hope & Faith''. Career Litt was raised in Freehold Bor ...

in the film. Pops Racer / : :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, especially his (in the film) prized "Mach" Series, giving the car the ability to travel at high speeds while sustaining maximum performance. He is portrayed by actor

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received List of awards and nominations received by John Goodman, various acc ...

in the 2008 film. Mom Racer / : :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. In the live-action film, however, she is portrayed by

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actor. With a career spanning over five decades, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to ...

as an encouraging parental figure. / Rex Racer / : :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 A secret identity is a person's code name, cryptonym, disguise, incognito, Cover (intelligence gathering), cover and/or alter ego which is not known to the general populace, most often used in fiction. Brought into popular culture by the Scarlet Pi ...

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. In both ''Speed Racer X'' and in the 2008 movie, Rex is thought to have died in that accident. In the film, he is portrayed by

Matthew Fox Matthew Chandler Fox (born July 14, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Charlie Salinger on '' Party of Five'' (1994–2000) and Jack Shephard on the drama series '' Lost'' (2004–2010), the latter of which earned him G ...

, while his younger self is portrayed by Scott Porter. :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 / : : Trixie, or Michi Shimura (named after actor Takashi Shimura, who collaborated with

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. In the 2008 live-action film, she is portrayed by actress

Christina Ricci Christina Ricci ( ; born February 12, 1980) is an American actress known for playing unusual characters with a dark edge. Ricci works mostly in Independent film, independent productions, but has also appeared in numerous box-office hits. She is ...

, while her younger self was played by

Ariel Winter Ariel Winter Workman (born January 28, 1998) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Alex Dunphy in the ABC sitcom '' Modern Family'' (2009–2020), for which she and her several costars won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Ou ...

. She had an auburn

bob cut A bob cut, also known as a bob, is a short to medium length haircut, in which the hair is typically cut straight around the head at approximately jaw level, and no longer than shoulder-length, often with a fringe at the front. The standard bob ...

with

bangs Bang, bang!, or bangs may refer to: Products * M1922 Bang rifle, a US semi-automatic rifle designed by Søren Hansen Bang * Bang, a List of model car brands, model car brand * Bang (beverage), an energy drink Geography * Bang, Central African ...

; in the anime, her hair was dark brunette. :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 A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

with racing goggles. On special occasions, Trixie wears a blue hat and dress. : :Other regular characters included Sparky, whose full name 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. In the live-action movie, he is portrayed as older than Speed, but is still his close friend. He wears a yellow shirt bearing the letter S. He is portrayed by actor Kick Gurry in the live-action film. He makes a cameo in ''Speed Racer: The Next Generation''. 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 Modern English is written with a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 Letter (alphabet), letters, with each having both uppercase and lowercase forms. The word ''alphabet'' is a Compound (linguistics), compound of ''alpha'' and ''beta'', t ...

. 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. :In the live-action movie, Snake has completely changed in appearance. Since the Car Acrobatic Team didn't exist in the film, he is instead leader of his own racing team, named "Hydra-Cell". He wears large sunglasses and sports a black pompadour. His racing uniform is made entirely of snake skin (complete with a yellow snake on his helmet) and his car is completely orange. Despite the change in appearance, Snake's car number and attitude are still intact in the film. He is portrayed by Christian Oliver. :In the next-to-last episode of the original series, the Car Acrobatic Team and Speed are tricked into racing against each other in a grudge race by a terrorist organization hoping to use the race as a means to kill Speed and Racer X. After the two sides learn of the deception (which involved planting time bombs in the Car Acrobatic Team's cars), they agree to a truce in order to foil the plan. The Car Acrobatic Team park their cars around the terrorists' secret headquarters and the explosion destroys the building and kills the leaders. After that, Speed and Captain Terror part amicably, with Terror wishing Speed the best of luck next time they meet. Snake Oiler does not appear in the episode. :In ''Speed Racer: The Next Generation'', Zile Zazic was seen wearing a racing outfit similar to Captain Terror's during the "Comet Run" episodes, implying that Zile was Captain Terror. Stan, Zile's main henchman, also noted that Speed Racer had raced against Zile's racing team at one point.

Vehicles

Many of the show's cars have special abilities in the series. *Note: The names of the cars that have appeared in both the manga and the original anime have been fitted with ''Italics''.

The ''Mach 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. In later comics written by

Tommy Yune Tommy Yune is a South Korean-born American comic book author who became known for his manga-style work on ''Speed Racer'', which was followed by a comic industry revival of classic anime shows such as ''Battle of the Planets'' and ''Robotech'' ...

, Rex acquires the car that he names the "Shooting Star" from Prince Kabala of Kapetapek. During his time training with the royal leader, Rex is informed that he is the ninth student of Kabala, hence the number 9. Rex also builds other cars numbered 9 with similar paint schemes and names them with variants like the "Falling Star." In the 2008 film adaptation, the car makes an appearance but is not named. The car was the only car built in addition to the Mach Five for the movie, and it features weapons like machine guns mounted above the cockpit and under the chassis. In addition to this car, Racer X also drives a car built for the competitions in the film, a T180. This car was titled the "Augury" in the film's video game counterpart. Like Racer X's unnamed street car, it features a number 9 and has the black and yellow color scheme, with a large black "X" on the front bumper. The T180 only makes one appearance in the film, when Racer X competes to protect Speed in the Fuji race after he has rejected Royalton's offer.

The Mammoth Car

Appearing only in the anime, it is supposedly the largest racing vehicle in the world. Similar in design to a

road train A road train, also known as a land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a semi-trailer used to move road freight more efficiently than single-trailer semi-trailers. It consists of one semi-trailer or more connected together with or wit ...

, 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 . Each wheel also has an engine with , giving it a total of . It can travel at , on any kind of road or terrain. It makes screeching sounds reminiscent of Godzilla. It has magnetic brakes and is over 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 Mammoth Car makes a small cameo in the 2008 film in the scene where Cruncher Block interrogates Taejo Togokhan (a character created for the movie) after he resists Royalton Industries in the race-fixing business. They were interrupted by Racer X, who battles the Mammoth and saves Taejo. The Mammoth Car in this movie is shown to have view ports for its drivers to shoot out of, just like in the original series, and it is shown to fire missiles from its grill. The Mammoth Car also makes an appearance along with Flash Marker Jr.'s X3 in ''Speed Racer: The Next Generation'' in the second and third episodes of "The Fast Track" saga, as an enemy program of the show's virtual racing track. Although the Mammoth Car is rendered in CGI after its original anime design, the car is missing its grill and many other details that had appeared in the original anime. The Mammoth Car in this episode makes the same sound as it did in the anime. It pays homage to the original series by using its signature attack of surrounding and circling a rival.

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 Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

'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 Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

'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 A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

'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 the 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 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 This would make the GRX ''slower'' than the Mammoth Car by the English dialogue. In the 2008 film adaptation, the name makes an appearance as a car developed by Royalton Industries and driven by Jack "Cannonball" Taylor. The car retains none of the back story from its anime counterpart. It is numbered 66 and colored purple and gold and was transformed from a two-seater to a single-seater. In the Grand Prix race that closes the film, the GRX is the main competitor for Speed in the Mach 6 and features a secret weapon called a "spear-hook" that is illegal in professional racing. After Taylor deploys the device against Speed during the Grand Prix, Speed uses the Mach 6's auto-jacks to flip the cars and reveal the hook to the track cameras, automatically disqualifying Taylor and aiding the case built by Inspector Detector against Royalton.

Speed Racer Enterprises

The show's mainstream success in the United States spawned an ongoing ''Speed Racer'' franchise. This ranged from comics, video releases, merchandise, a live-action film, and newer series either rebooting or continuing the original series . The franchise began in the early 1990s when a company, Speed Racer Enterprises, acquired rights to the original series. At the time when the series was originally released, very little merchandise was released in the United States. However, during the series' re-airing during the 1990s, Speed Racer Enterprises was responsible for the creation of actual ''Speed Racer'' merchandise, ranging from small collectible die-cast cars, to action figures, to home video releases of episodes from the original series. Speed Racer Enterprises was also involved in creating original American takes on the Japanese series such as ''The New Adventures of Speed Racer'' and ''Speed Racer: The Next Generation''. Due to Speed Racer Enterprises, the original 1967 series made a comeback through reruns on MTV, broadcast in the early morning hours. In 1993, the series was rebroadcast in syndication concurrently with a new American-created remake. Since all the rights were then under Speed Racer Enterprises, all references to the original rights holder, Trans-Lux, were removed. Therefore, the opening sequence included an entirely recreated logo, which most people are familiar with today; however when Speed Racer Enterprises authorized

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

to use Speed Racer in a July 1996 GTI commercial, J.J. Sedelmaier faithfully replicated the look of the original episode title cards, including the original logo. In October 2002,

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions, sometimes stylized as DİC) was a French American film and television production company that ...

acquired worldwide entertainment rights for the series, consisting of broadcast, merchandising and licensing. This is the version that later aired on the Cartoon Network in the late afternoon (and later on in late night/overnight) programming, and it was also the version of the series that was first released on Region 1 DVD. In December 2013, Tatsunoko gained all rights to the ''Speed Racer'' franchise, retroactively as to May 2011, as part of a settlement of lawsuits between Speed Racer Enterprises and the animation studio. Tatsunoko had claimed that SRE had exceeded its contractual rights in continuing to license the property after 2011.

American comic adaptations

launched an American ''Speed Racer'' comic book series in 1987. The series became a hit with the high production values of airbrush artist

Ken Steacy Ken Steacy (born January 8, 1955) is a Canadians, Canadian comics artist and writer best known for his work on the NOW Comics comic book series of ''Astro Boy (NOW Comics), Astro Boy'' and of the Comico: The Comic Company, Comico comic series of ' ...

. The comics continued for 38 issues and included a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

''Racer X'' series and crossovers. A miniseries adapting ''The New Adventures of Speed Racer'' was also released, which included art by

Oscar González Loyo Oscar González Loyo (11 April 1959 in Mexico City"Oscar González Loyo"
Kees Kousem ...

. In 1993, NOW Comics and Antarctic Press also published a four-issue

intercompany crossover A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders (known as intercompany ...

between Speed Racer and the characters of Ben Dunn's '' Ninja High School''. In 1999,

released a new ''Speed Racer'' limited series, which became the #1 pick of industry publication '' Wizard'' magazine. The manga style of writer/artist

recaptured the look of the original anime, which was soon followed by an industry-wide revival of comic adaptations of other classic animated series. The limited series was collected as the trade paperback ''Speed Racer: Born to Race'' , and a ''Racer X'' limited series featuring the artwork of Chinese manga artist

Jo Chen Jo Chen (; born July 4, 1976) is an American comic book artist and writer best known for her highly detailed painted comic book covers. In the Japanese comic industry she is also known by the pen name TogaQ and is known as Jun Togai ("Togai Jun ...

. In 2008, IDW Productions re-released the Wildstorm series as ''Speed Racer/Racer X: The Origins Collection'', and previously published issues from NOW Comics as ''Speed Racer Vol. 1–5''. A new limited series, ''Speed Racer: Chronicles of the Racer'', was also produced.

Seven Seas "The Seven Seas" is a figurative term for all the seas of the known world. The phrase is used in reference to sailors and pirates in the arts and popular culture and can be associated with the Mediterranean Sea, the Arabian Seven Seas east of Af ...

published an adaptation by Dwayne Alexander Smith in 2007 with art by Elmer Damaso. In 2025, Mad Cave Studios began publishing a new ''Speed Racer'' comic book series written by David Pepose and illustrated by Davide Tinto. Issue #0 was released on Free Comic Book Day on May 3, 2025. The first issue will be released in July 2025.

Latin American comic adaptation

Editorial Abril, an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

company established by César Civita, published a Spanish-language comic book in the 1970s. Soon after, his brother, Victor Civita, published a magazine in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

through Editora Abril. In 2000, Editora Abril published a series by Tommy Yune.

American TV series

In 1993, ''

The New Adventures of Speed Racer ''The New Adventures of Speed Racer'' is a 1993 update of the ''Speed Racer'' animated series. This new Americanized version was designed as a single 13-episode season (the first episode was entitled "The Mach 5's First Trial"), with the intent ...

'', an American-produced series, had a much more

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

style. It was not a direct continuation of the original series; therefore, it is considered a

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...

. While the original series had more realistic themes, such as gang violence and family ties, this series introduced science fiction themes, like robots and mutants. Tatsunoko did not authorize the production of this series, and it was off the air after only 13 episodes. For the original series' 40th anniversary in 2006, a

Flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

-based series of "webisodes" titled ''Speed Racer Lives'' was released. This series was depicted as a continuation of the original series, taking place many years after it. The series was made available on the Internet solely to promote a new line of toys made by Art Asylum. In 2008, '' Speed Racer: The Next Generation'', a new series, was released on

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

. Like ''Speed Racer Lives'', this series was conceived as taking place years after the original. It focuses on the sons of the original Speed Racer. Its premiere coincided with the live-action feature film in May 2008. Peter Fernandez voices a middle-aged version of Spritle, Speed's younger brother from the original Japanese series. The show's protagonist, also named Speed, and one of Spritle's nephews, is voiced by New Jersey native Kurt Csolak. Larry Schwarz is the creator of the TV series, which is produced by Animation Collective, the creators of ''

Kappa Mikey ''Kappa Mikey'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Larry Schwarz for Nicktoons Network. Despite airing on the channel, it was not a Nicktoon, being produced by Schwarz's production company Animation Collective. The ser ...

'' and ''

Three Delivery ''Three Delivery'' (also known as ''Chop Suey Trio'') is an animated television series inspired by kung-fu movies. It was created by Larry Schwarz, who also created similar series, '' Kappa Mikey'' and '' Speed Racer: The Next Generation''. It ...

''. Like the 1993 remake, this series was not authorized by Tatsunoko. Pangea Corporation has been working with Speed Racer Enterprises for over 20 years and has created several new show iterations. The original series was also revived on MTV for a short period of time in 1993, moved to Cartoon Network in 1996, and again to its sister network

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

until 2005. In May 2022,

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

announced that a live action television series from J. J. Abrams is in development with his company

Bad Robot Bad Robot is an American film and television production company founded on May 27, 1999, and led by Katie McGrath and J. J. Abrams as Co-CEO. Under its Bad Robot Productions division, the company is responsible for the television series '' Alia ...

. The series will be based on an unproduced script that Abrams had written in the 1990s.

''Speed Racer: The Movie'' (1993 film)

In 1993, the episodes "The Car Hater" and "Race Against the Mammoth Car" were combined into a feature-length film and briefly released in theaters. It was later released on VHS and DVD and has been available on

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

. The film also featured old commercials for Bondex ready-mix cementing,

National Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

(featuring

Smokey Bear Smokey Bear is an American campaign and advertising icon of the United States Forest Service, U.S. Forest Service in the Wildfire Prevention Campaign, which is the longest-running public service announcement campaign in United States history to ...

), Flit insecticide spray, and Pure-Pak milk cartons (featuring

Old King Cole "Old King Cole" is a British nursery rhyme first attested in 1709. Though there is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably as any historical figure. It has a Roud Folk Song Index numbe ...

), and a bonus cartoon, the

Colonel Bleep ''Colonel Bleep'' is a 1957 American science fiction animated TV series which was the first color cartoon series made for television. It was created and written by Robert D. Buchanan and Jack Schleh on June 8, 1956, and was animated by Soundac, ...

episode ''The Treacherous Pirate''.

Live-action film

The Wachowskis Lana Wachowski (born Larry Wachowski, June 21, 1965) and Lilly Wachowski (born Andy Wachowski, December 29, 1967) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women. Together known as the Wacho ...

wrote and directed a live-action adaptation of ''Speed Racer'', released on May 9, 2008. It was poorly received by most critics and was a

box office failure A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

, making just under $93 million worldwide against a production budget of at least $120 million (before prints and advertising).

One-act play

In 1994, Pangea Corporation wrote and produced a one-act play titled ''Spridle: A One Man Show'' ic which debuted at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

and was a huge success. It chronicled what happened to all the Speed Racer characters after the show was canceled, following the concept that the characters were real and had private lives. Spritle, Speed's younger brother, relates the tell-all confessional piece as a disgruntled grown-up who is now sour that his career floundered after his celebrity status on the show. It was cited by ''Wizard'' magazine as one of the top 10 best sessions at

Comic-Con A comic book convention or comic con is a fan convention emphasizing comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book Fan (person), fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events h ...

1994. The show was written by

John Schulte John Christopher Schulte (born 1959) is an American writer, director, and producer of animation, toys and entertainment properties. He has developed many iconic intellectual properties from the 1980s, 1990s and on into the 21st-century. Working ...

and John Besmehn, produced, directed and moderated by Cheryl Ann Wong.

Other appearances

Sequences from the original TV show were used for the entirety of

Ghostface Killah Dennis David Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang ...

's music video for "

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

Merchandise

Toys

The first major toy line of Speed Racer was developed in 1992 by Pangea Corporation for Ace Novelty Toy Company. Products focused on both the classic Speed Racer anime program from Tatsunoko, plus a whole new line based on the Fred Wolf series, ''The New Adventures of Speed Racer.''

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

released new Speed Racer construction sets to coincide with the release of the ''Speed Racer'' film. These include a 242 piece Speed and Snake Oiler set, a 237 piece Racer X and Taejo Togokhan set, a 367 piece Racer X and Cruncher Block set, and a 595 piece Grand Prix set, which includes Trixie, Pops, Speed, Spritle, Chim-Chim, 2 racers, and a racing announcer.

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

had the master toy license for the 2008 ''Speed Racer'' film, including

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game, television program, or sport; fictional or historical. These figures are usually ...

s, related vehicles, and accessories. Mattel's

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model model car, cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox (brand), Matchbox until Mattel bought ...

division produced miniature replicas of the Mach 5 called the Second Wind, and their

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll created by American businesswoman Ruth Handler, manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel and introduced on March 9, 1959. The toy was based on the German Bild Lilli doll, Bild Lilli doll which Hand ...

Collector division released a collector doll set featuring Trixie and Speed as they appeared in the film. Also, a Mattel product called UB FunKeys got a new patch, which included a Speed Racer zone.

Jada Toys Jada Toys, Inc. is an American manufacturer of collectible scale model cars, figures, radio controlled model vehicles, and dolls. It was founded in 1999 by Jack and May Li. Jada's products are predominantly aimed at the collectible market, and ar ...

held the rights to produce die-cast replicas of the Mach 5 from the original animated series. Playing Mantis released a wide range of the Speed Racer die-cast miniatures, including replicas of the villains' cars and mini-dioramas under their "Johnny Lightning" line. A limited-edition release of the Mach Four from the Wildstorm comic series remains one of the hardest-to-find collectibles to this day. In 1998 Playing Mantis acquired the rights to the "

Captain Action Captain Action was an action figure created in 1966, equipped with a wardrobe of costumes and facial masks allowing him to become Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom, The Lone Ranger (and Tonto), Flash Gordon, Buck ...

" action figure line, a vintage line about a crusading adventurer who disguises himself as famous super-heroes. Playing Mantis had planned to produce new costumes of Speed Racer, Racer X, and Captain Terror for the revamp of the line, but they were never produced. Control art for the Speed Racer costume appears on the packaging of some figures, and pictures of the prototypes are available online. Resaurus produced two series of five-inch (127 mm) action figures, rich with articulation and accessories; as well as a full-sized Mach V in 1999. A third series of figures and a full-sized Shooting Star were planned, but the line folded before this could happen. Toynami is currently releasing a large-scale version of the Speed Racer vehicles, including a Mach Five playset complete with all of its gadgets. The company Polar Lights is currently manufacturing two 1/25-scale (according to the box) model kits in standard "glue" and snap-together variations (though the scale of the model inside is closer to 1/32). These can be built with or without the waterproof bubble canopy at the modeler's discretion. The kits feature a homing robot and separate jacks; and a rear engine (possibly a tip to NOW comics, which illustrated the engine in the rear). RC ERTL has produced Speed Racer's Mach 5 in 1:18 Die Cast Form with many features of the animated car, including pop out saw blades, ion jacks, opening doors, hood and trunk. It includes Spritle Racer and Chim-Chim figures. Special variants were made with decals celebrating Racer X and other characters from the series as part of the 35th Anniversary Edition in 2001. A similar die-cast version of Racer X's Shooting Star was produced as well. It has now been retired from production and is a sought-after collectible.

Art Asylum Minimates are a block-styled miniature action figure originally created by Art Asylum in 2002, and released by Diamond Select Toys as of 2007. The basic Minimate figure design has a tall humanoid body with 14 points of joint, articulation. Release ...

made a line of toys consisting primarily of their block-figure

Minimates Minimates are a block-styled miniature action figure originally created by Art Asylum in 2002, and released by Diamond Select Toys as of 2007. The basic Minimate figure design has a tall humanoid body with 14 points of joint, articulation. Release ...

in 2006.

Video games

In 1992,

Accolade The accolade (also known as dubbing, adoubement, or knighting) () was the central act in the rite of passage Ceremony, ceremonies conferring knighthood in the Middle Ages. Etymology The term ''accolade'' entered English by 1591, when Thomas ...

published '' Speed Racer in The Challenge of Racer X'' for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

. Two years later, Accolade published '' Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures'' for

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

, which was developed by

Radical Entertainment Radical Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian video game developer based in Vancouver. The studio is best known for developing '' The Simpsons: Hit & Run'' (2003), '' Scarface: The World Is Yours'' (2006), ''Prototype'' (2009) and '' Prototype 2'' (2 ...

. In 1993, Pangea Corporation created and authored a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

title that featured game elements, a video clip creator that allowed players to make a classic Speed Racer mash-up moment, along with other themed interactive content. It was marketed under the name "The Compleat Speed Racer."

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

released a ''

Speed Racer ''Speed Racer'', also known as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuo Yoshida. It was originally serialized in print in Shueisha's 1966 ''Shōnen Book''. It was released in form by Sun Wide Comics and later re-re ...

arcade video game An arcade video game is an arcade game that takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. All arcade video games are coin-oper ...

in 1995. ''

'' was released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

. It was published in Japan by

Tomy (trade name, trading as Takara Tomy in Asia and Tomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama as , became known for creating popular toys like the B-29 friction toy and luck-based game Pop-up Pi ...

(1996) and in North America by

Jaleco was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being renamed ...

(1998). A video game based on the 1997 series, simply titled ''Mach Go Go Go'', was released by TOSE and Tomy for the

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

(with

Super Game Boy The is a peripheral that allows Game Boy cartridges to be played on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System console. Released in June 1994, it retailed for in the United States and in the United Kingdom. In South Korea, it is called the Supe ...

support) in Japan. In 2006, a joint production of enterthemonkey.com and blitinteractive.com, titled ''Speed Racer — The Great Plan'', was released as a Web browser game to Shockwave.com. The game has all the original voices, sounds, and Mach 5 controls from the original television show. The game features the operational steering wheel buttons from the original animated series. Each button activates a customized accessory to avoid obstacles and take on rough terrains. '' Speed Racer: The Videogame'', a game based on the movie, was released for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

platforms. Stars

(Speed),

(Trixie) and

(Racer X) reprised their roles. During an interview with ''

Siliconera The GAMURS Group, simply known as Gamurs, is an esports media and entertainment publisher. Established in 2014, the group operates multiple brands focusing on the esports and entertainment news markets, including the websites: ''Dot Esports'', '' ...

'',

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

producer Ryota Niitsuma commented that Speed Racer was considered for the roster of '' Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars'', but since he was purely a race car driver, making him fit in in a fighting game was unfeasible.

DVD releases

Artisan Home Entertainment/ Lionsgate Entertainment (through Family Home Entertainment) released episodes 1 through 11 of the original series in

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

format in the U.S. and Canada on April 22, 2003. This turned out to be the first in a series of five DVD re-releases of the show. The second volume, containing episodes 12 through 23, went on sale on May 18, 2004. The DVD came in a special package where one could push a button on the cover and the Mach 5's headlights would light up, while a portion of the show's English theme song played. Volumes 1 and 2 were re-released as a two-disc set on April 20, 2010. The third volume came out on May 24, 2005, with the discs packaged in a round metal box made to resemble the steering wheel of the Mach 5. It contains episodes 24 through 36. This volume was later released to promote the live-action film in a standard keep case. Lionsgate Family Entertainment released the fourth volume, which featured episodes 37 through 44, on March 14, 2006; this volume included a die-cast toy Mach 5. The last episode, "Race the Laser Tank", was time-compressed (in other words, sped up), similar to when Cartoon Network aired the series in the mid-1990s. Although nothing was removed from the episode, the higher-pitched voices of the characters and the diminished quality of the episode due to the time compression upset some fans. The fifth and last volume was released on October 31, 2006. This volume included episodes 45 through 52 and for a limited time it came with a miniature license plate with the inscription, "Go-Speed Racer-Go!" The entire anime series was released in Australia on April 30, 2008, and in the United States later that year, on October 7. The U.S. release of the entire anime series is a repackaging of all five individually released volumes into a comic book-style box set, in homage to the ''Mach GoGoGo'' manga. In addition, a bonus disc containing special features and an episode of ''Speed Racer: The Next Generation'' is included. These six discs were packaged in an exclusive die-cast casing modeled after the Mach 5. All previous DVD releases went out of print after Tatsunoko gained worldwide rights to the franchise. After Funimation garnered the rights, they released the English version on separate DVD and Blu-ray sets on May 30, 2017. On November 7, they released a Blu-ray + DVD Combo Collector's Edition of both the English and Japanese versions, as well as the Japanese version of '' Speed Racer X'', known as ''Mach Go Go Go: Restart'' on DVD. It has a bust of Speed Racer with sound effects, as well as a key chain and an exclusive interview with the voice actress of Trixie and Spritle, Corinne Orr. In 2024, it was announced that Shout! Studios had acquired the distribution rights to the series and the original Japanese series, which was released on digital streaming on June 1, 2024.

Footnotes

References

* Johnson, Glen
"Speed Racer"
Glen Johnson's 60's Anime. 3 April 2007. 19 October 2007. *

Patrick Macias Patrick Macias (born 1972) is an American author and co-author of several titles on pop culture fandom, specifically relating to Japanese culture and culture in America. Macias is also a correspondent for NHK World Television show ''Tokyo Eye' ...

and Tomohiro Machiyami. ''Cruising the Anime City: An Outer Guide to Neo Tokyo''. Berkeley, California: Stone Bridge Press, 2004.

External links

Speed Racer GoGoGo
(archived)
''Mach GoGoGo''
at Tokyo MX (archived)
Official digital manga publishing website
* {{Authority control 1960s Japanese television series 1967 anime television series debuts Animated television series about auto racing Japanese children's animated action television series Japanese children's animated adventure television series Japanese children's animated sports television series Asahi Sonorama manga Children's manga Digital Manga Publishing titles Fictional motorsports in anime and manga Fictional racing drivers Fuji Television original programming Funimation Fusosha Publishing manga MTV cartoons NOW Comics titles Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Tatsunoko Production franchises Television series by Lionsgate Television TV Tokyo original programming Westinghouse Broadcasting WildStorm titles