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The Long awaited release of Speed Racer!
-The return of the “Mach Go Go Go,” The Legendary Anime for Car-racing Fans-

The Japanese animation series “Mach Go Go Go,” aired from 1967-68 in Japan. Capitalizing on the car-racing theme, the animation series enjoyed great popularity due to the intense races among cars like the one featured in Batman, equipped with every feature imaginable for romantic death rides. The live-action film, Speed Racer will be released in May.
Speed Racer is a popular animation series produced in 1967 by Tatsunoko Production of Japan under Tatsuo Yoshida, pioneer of Japanese animation. This title was distributed here in the United States and received well by a large following of passionate fans even today. Rumors of it’s live-action release was anticipated for a long time.
The plot of the story is the following:
Go Mifune competes in car races worldwide. His favorite race car is the “Mach,” a ‘super-machine’ created under the minutest care of his father Daisuke, C.E.O. of Mifune Motors, Inc. Using the center steering wheel and buttons positioned next to his seat, Go freely controls miniature rockets for communication, along with 8 other special features during his races. Go never fails to arrive when he is needed by his family, his girlfriend, or Go. As he is rescued by a mysterious masked racer, Go challenges himself through harsh races and confrontations with pirate groups, as he strives to live up to the achievements of his brother and genius racer Kenichi, whose whereabouts are unknown.
To be released in May, Speed Racer is a story about Speed Racer’s efforts to win the championship title in a car race in an effort to follow in the footsteps of the legendary racer, Rex Speed, who died in a car race. Partnering with Racer X, whose identity is unknown, and his favorite race car “Mach 5,” Speed challenges the Royalton Industry, guilty of committing frauds during major races, to revenge the death of his brother in the Cross Country Race “Crucible.”
The film adaptation of this anime series was first initiated by Warner Brothers, who owned the film adaptation rights from 20 years ago since 1989. When the film adaptation rights were obtained, the film was rumored to star Johnny Depp as the lead actor, but never materialized. (Personally, I would’ve loved to see Johnny Depp play the role of “Speed.”)
The film adaptation sparked interest in casting for the popular characters in the original anime series. Emile Hirsch stars as the lead role “Speed,” while Christina Ricci stars as “Trixi,” Speed’s girlfriend. Speed’s greatest rival “Racer X,” whose identity is unknown and helps Speed, is starred by Matthew Fox. John Goodman stars as Speed’s father, while Susan Sarandon stars as Speed’s mother. Artist Ji Hoon Jung, popular not only in Korea, but in Japan and China as well, stars as “Taejo,” while Hiroyuki Sanada stars as “Mr. Musha,” a luxurious cast sure to please long-time fans.
Director and screenwriter of Speed Racer is Larry and Andy Wachowski, brothers who created The Matrix. Speed Racer is the latest film they’ve co-directed in five years. All backgrounds were filmed using the Computer Graphics processing method, “300/Three hundred,” promising the latest and revolutionary presentation of footages to anticipating fans.
Susan Sarandon, starring as Speed’s mother, said, “They (the Wachowski brothers) create footages that we’ve never seen before using the latest technology available. Like animation, the footages are in focus both in the foreground and the background of the screen. Also, two-dimensional and three-dimensional footages are mixed together, featuring nothing short of an extraordinary miracle in motion graphics. We actors have to perform to a level that doesn’t fall short of the high expectations set by such extraordinary background visuals.”
As Susan Sarandon stated, the Wochowski brothers created a miracle of motion graphics evident in the background visuals. According to Sarandon, the Wachowski brothers arranged a room for 300 workers to work together simultaneously. Although her lines in the film weren’t many, Sarandon kept busy everyday preparing pancakes as breakfast for the workers.
As for the production of this film, the main lead Emile Hirsch explained in an interview for a film industry magazine, “The entire filming was done using the green screen. There were no sets, and I just acted in front of the green screen the entire time. So I have no idea what to expect from the final product. I thoroughly trust the directors, but I felt like I was going crazy at times. I felt like a monkey.”
Perhaps, acting without a set demands more acting skills from an actor than an ordinary film shoot. Filming was done by David Tattersal, whose previous works include Green Mile and Star Wars. The directors must have felt comfortable due to his mastery of SFX (Special Effects). Speed Racer is scheduled to be released in major movie theaters on May 9. Fans should look forward to witnessing a “miracle of motion graphics.”

The growing interest in Japanese animation
The latest trend among major Hollywood studios and producers showing interest in Japanese animation and original manga is largely due to the internal circumstances inside Hollywood, which creates this demand.
Until recently, the production of live action movies from numerous Japanese animation titles made headlines in the news. However, it is rumored that only several of these cases are covered by the media, and that many more projects are underway behind closed doors.
It is often said in Hollywood that only a few out of a hundred projects actually materialize into a final product. Since Japanese animation continues to lead the industry in terms of quality, perhaps in a few years, we can look forward to a major Hollywood studio releasing an original Japanese animation film?




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