Speed Racer: the original anime phenomenon

 Ever since coming to this Huntington, I've met many of the other Dma majors, and many are fans of anime. However most of them talk about animes I've never even heard of or watched, most likely because although I love the art form of anime many of the storylines just aren't in my taste. The animes my fellow Dma majors talk about are fairly recent and when you ask them about "old" anime...then they'll probably talk about dragonball or something like that. That's all well and good, but when talking to one of my fellow animators(no names shall be mentioned so don't worry no one will know it was you Karli XD) it came to my attention that they did not consider Speed racer a legitimate anime. Such ignorance deserves education on the subject at hand. Originally created by cartoonist Tatsuo Yoshida and premiering in shonen manga in 1966, Speed racer was known in Japan as "MachGoGoGo." After the comic did well it was brought to Japanese television were it was fairly successful. Eventually a company called "Trans-lux" brought it overseas to American audiences and hired a young actor/writer named Peter Fernandez to give the series the American touch. This is when the craze started. This show had kids running home from school just to catch it on tv, it was THAT popular.
 

 
I was about 5 or 6 when my family brought home a speed racer vhs from a local blockbuster store of some sort. At first hearing the name "speed racer" my mind went the vision of actual car racing. I have never been so glad to be wrong. The basic premise of the show and manga is that a young 18 year old named Speed is blessed with amazing car driving skills. He lives with his Mom, Dad, younger brother and pet chimpanzee(called chim-chim). His older brother Rex ran away from home years before and now races masked under the alias "Racer X." He drives an incredible car called "the mach 5." It can deflect bullets, jump into the air, drive underwater, cut down obstacles with saws and more.


Speed, his father, his girlfriend Trixe, and his best friend Sparky make up the team Go. In treacherous races all over the world the team meets up with gruesome villains and robbers and thugs bent on doing evil. Thanks to his knack of escaping, driving, bravery and general martial arts skill, Speed sees it through each of his adventures and defeats them(though many racers aren't that lucky, there are many many car crashes and other deaths in the series). I've loved this series ever since I saw it all those years ago and I'd recommend it if you haven't seen it yet. Its known for its voice actors rushing through their sentences very, very quickly and for Speed's famous astonished gasps. These things and more are what make Speed racer a great watch. Go Speed Go!