Mach Go Go Go, better known in the U.S. as Speed Racer, ran for 52 episodes from Tatsunoko Productions. Based on a manga by Tatsuo Yoshida, the series was both released in Japan on Blu Ray in 2024, and the United States saw a Speed Racer Blu Ray in 2017 from Funimation.
I love the smell of an English adapted opening theme song, and while this may not be my favorite version, it is certainly a catchy tune. The inherent premise of 'guy who drives race cars and other racers keep trying to kill him' is sure to land with car enthusiasts, and the addition of a mysterious driver and a missing brother does raise this series above being just a racing anime.
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| An unpainted area of a scene in Episode 1 |
The ending credit sequence may not have an original song, but the series of classic cars is quite charming, and the use of a cliffhangers is still novel at this time. I did watch the third episode with the classic English dub, and it is easy to see why Speed Racer was why your average American (my boomer parents and television jokes) had a stereotype for decades about 'those wacky Japanese cartoons' sounding so stilted and repetitive.
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| A less refined American Blu Ray release screencap |
People of a certain era clearly have a lot of love for this series, and it has cropped up in a number of parodies. Genndy Tartakovsky in particular seems to have been partially influenced by the show, and with Genndy's influence on the American cartoon scene, Mach's influence still trickles through modern cartoons.
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| Dexter's Lab parodying Mach GoGoGo |
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