[MANGA REVIEW] Mach Go Go Go

In a recent manga review by Yoshida Tatsuo for the Daily Yomiuri, Yoshida wrote, “Just in time for about-to-be fans of the new Speed Racer movie, which comes out here this summer, DMP Platinum has released a beautiful new hardbound two-volume boxed set that will look chicly kitsch sitting on your bookshelf.”

“Inside you will find a classic children’s adventure story that has everything a kid’s comic should have: Frequent races to the death, child abuse, flagrant violations of the law, kids taking food from strangers, corporate sabotage and a couple of attempted coups.”

“Yet many of us who grew up in the late 1970s and early ’80s have fond memories of the daily cartoon, which was taken from the Japanese series Mach Go Go Go by Tatsuo Yoshida, the genius behind Tatsunoko Productions, which has produced hits such as Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets) and Super-Dimensional Fortress Macross (which was incorporated into Robotech). In retrospect, though, I’m not sure why this particular series was popular enough to justify a movie. There is little, if anything, of redeeming value about these original Speed Racer stories.”

“Perhaps the most bizarre thing about the races in which Speed partakes are how similar they are to Ultimate Fighting, with each race being perilous for the drivers and their machines. The courses are extremely dangerous. In the Alpine Race, the drivers draw straws to jump a treacherous ravine, and most of them end up dying in the process; a tropical island race sees Speed having to race 600 kilometers through a hot lava tunnel that will be open only for five hours.”

“Add to this that many of the races, much like the world of professional wrestling, have “bad guys,” each with their own special evil power. The Car Acrobat Team can stack their cars on top of each other. This somehow makes them bad. Others, such as The Executioner, who shoots electric bolts into his opponents’ cars, really are bad.”

“As are the foreign carmakers who, in two of the stories, try to steal the “best engines in the world,” painstakingly crafted by the story’s Japanese heroes–a rare appearance of overt patriotism in recent Japanese popular culture. (This is not inherently a bad thing, just odd.)”

“Meanwhile, Spritle, Speed’s androgynous little sibling, and his pet monkey Chim-Chim find themselves the recipients of both child abuse (Speed throws them out of a plane for stowing away) and gifts of food from total strangers. They accept the food with no retribution. A positive lesson for little kids–the original target audience–to learn.”

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