3 surprising facts about Speed Racer
If you’re a fan of Speed Racer, you’ll want to read this article for these 3 amazing facts. As you probably know, Speed Racer’s characters and story originated from the manga and anime series”Mach GoGoGo“Developed by the Japanese anime studio of Tasunoko Productions. What may surprise you is the carefully crafted symbolism, story, and characterization of the original series. The series is far from the nonsensical cartoon so typical today. After reading this article, you will have the insider information about Speed Racer.
Anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida created Mach GoGoGo as a manga series in the 1960s and it became an anime series in 1967. While Speed Racer fans assume the M on the hood of the Mach 5 stands for Mach 5, it is actually an emblem of the Mifune Motors Company, the family business of the central character of the original manga and anime named Go Mifune. This same emblem is found on Go’s helmet. The name Mifune was a tribute to Japanese movie star Toshiro Mifune. Also, his given name, Go, is a homophone of “5”, the same number found on his race car. The final piece of this pun is that Go in Mach GoGoGo obviously also means “to go” in English. Thus, the name of the series is a triple meaning that can be translated as Mach 5, Go Mifune, Go!
The plot origin of Mach GoGoGo is surprising. The history of Mach GoGoGo has its roots in the western culture of Elvis Presley and James Bond. Young Go sports a black pompadour and neckerchief as Elvis Presley’s sleek race-car-driving image in Viva Las Vegas. The Mach 5 car was inspired by James Bond’s gadget-laden Aston Martin in the movie Goldfinger. While traditional Japanese anime usually involves a teenager passing trials, Speed Racer’s roots are more decidedly Western in influence.
More than the plot of Speed Racer was influenced by Western culture. The appearance of the characters is also surprisingly Western. The characters have fair complexions and wear Western clothing. While this westernization of the characters in Speed Racer was not uncommon in anime at the time, Tatsuo Yoshida used the concept of mukokuseki (having no nation) a bit differently than other producers. This surprising complexity is what sets Speed Racer apart from other cartoons of its time.
Now that you know the 3 amazing facts about Speed Racer and Mach GoGoGo, you are ready to see the new Speed Racer movie with a different perspective. While you may be dazzled by the high-definition green screen effects, you’ll learn about the film’s roots in Japanese manga and anime, and Tatsuo Yoshida’s thought-provoking symbolism. Sprinter, GoGoGo!