Speed Racer Shorts
Description: peed Racer, also known as Mach GoGoGo (Japanese: マッハGoGoGo, Hepburn: Mahha GōGōGō), is a Japanese media franchise about automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print in Shueisha's 1966 Shōnen Book. It was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics and later re-released in Japan by Fusosha. Adapted into anime by Tatsunoko Productions, its 52 episodes aired on Fuji TV 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 from July 1 to September 25, 2008.
Description: Racer X is a heroic, mysterious, flamboyant, selfless, sympathetic and often brooding soldier of fortune. His true identity is Rex Racer (三船 研一, Mifune Ken'ichi), the eldest son of Mom and Pops Racer and the older brother of Speed and Spritle. His 'Racer X' moniker is actually a play on his own first name Rex. Years before the start of the series, when Rex was 18 years old (Speed's current age), he had a falling out with Pops after wrecking the Mach One (the first car Pops ever built) at the end of his first race as a professional driver (seen in flashbacks throughout the series). Racer X drives the number 9 car, the Shooting Star.
Description: Speed Racer premiered on 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.
Description: 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.
