Speed Racer is the title of an English adaptation of the Japanese anime Mach Go Go Go which centered around automobile racing. The series is an early example of an anime becoming a successful franchise in America. It was also notable for being the first to use the bullet time effect, in the shot at the end of the title sequence: as Speed leaps from the Mach 5, he freezes in mid-jump, and then the camera does an arc shot from top to sideways.
Background
The characters and storylines originated in Japan as the manga and anime series Mach Go Go Go (マッハGoGoGo) from the anime studio Tatsunoko Productions.
Mach Go Go Go was first created by anime pioneer Tatsuo Yoshida (1933–1977) as a manga series in the 1960s and made the jump to TV as an anime series in 1967. The central character in the anime and manga was a young race car driver named Gō Mifune (三船剛 Mifune Gō). Yoshida selected the names and symbolisms in his creation very carefully. The M logo on the hood of his race car and the front of his helmet stood for his family name Mifune, an homage to Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune (and not "Mach 5" as the dub would suggest). His given name Go is also a Japanese homonym for the number 5 (the number on his race car). This is also represented by the letter G embroidered on his shirt.
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