This will officially be the oldest anime I've ever reviewed circa 1967.
Speed Racer is a racing driver with a desire to be the best in the world, driving the gadget filled car the Mach 5, but every race brings it's own challenge as many unscrupulous characters stop at nothing to prevent Speed from winning, joined by a close family of Mom, Pops, Spritle and Chim Chim along with close friends Trixie and Sparky along with Racer X who is secretly Speed's older brother who ran away from home as the anime would like to remind you, watching over Speed.
There's alot to bear in mind when watching something this old, the animation is choppy, the voice acting is suspect and dated, the actual show is bonkers, so really you have to view this with a pinch of salt.
But for what is a 60s anime it's actually really well made.
So we got a breakdown of things it does right.
1. The depiction of motor racing being dangerous is accurate to the time period considering that an average motor racing discipline in the 60s always had a fatality, all the deaths although not explicit is kept in the English version and the death toll is higher than quite a high number of more famous anime titles.
2. Trixie is a strong female character and one of the earliest examples of the independent female character in anime.
3. The speed of the English speech just adds to the charm of the show and is incredibly meme worthy, keep in mind, four voice actors did everything.
So does it have any faults?
Spritle has too much screen time, the plot tends to repeat itself too much, it doesn't always let Trixie be a strong character, too much shouting and screaming and Speed Racer himself being remarkably dumb.
On it's own merits, it's far better than it ever has any right to be.
Final Verdict: A curiosity, a piece of history and a meme worthy cartoon, Speed Racer more than earns it's reputation.
