!GO SPEED GO!

[Kevin]

Speed Racer is an encompassing, enveloping, imaginative, powerhouse of racing imagination. With its bright colors, and simply compelling plot, Speed Racer is remeniscent of movies such as Dick Tracy. Where the cartoon failed in spades, the movie brings you up to Speed! You don't need to have any blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

GO SPEED GO!

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Yeah, I'm hoping to see it on I-Max.

I wasn't thrilled at the idea of American actors portraying Japanese characters, but when I heard the Wachowski's (who are HUGE fans of classic Anime) were making it, I got excited to see it.

BTW I still think the live-action Akira (if they stick with their current plans to Americanize it) is going to suck!

And, yes, Go Speed Racer,

[Kevin]

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

Hey, I'm looking forward to seeing it (Did, I mention I'm even going as far as to catch the I-Max version).

My "this will suck" comment was directed at the upcoming Akira flick, (Speed Racer, and Astro-Boy could take place anywhere, but Akira is one anime that should never-ever have it's setting changed. And, that's what those Hollywood hacks have planned for it). I mean, that's like making a .

Though, as a matter of personal taste, I'd have preferred if the "Racer" or "Mifune" family were depicted as a world-traveling Japanese family, but, in this case, it doesn't make that big a difference.

As for whether they were Japanese in the original version, well their surname was "Mifune".

As for Astro-Boy, I'm also pretty sure that it's mentioned in the manga that it takes place in Japan, but It's a very modern futuristic Japan that could just as easily stand-in for anywhere else.


Anyway, I'm glad to hear you really liked it, because that's a really good sign that I'll enjoy it too. Besides, from what I've seen, the visuals look AMAZING!

[Kuririn]

[Kevin]

[cmoon]

Don't know if it is worth mentioning, but I noticed you always root for the underdogs Kevin. People are already calling this one--well not a flop, but a disappointment. Not a statement about the film, but it seems you always call our attention to the films that have financial difficulty

[Kevin]

;D

Well, that's just my taste I guess. I enjoy films that other people seem to hate.

I'll take that as a compliment since I'm not mainstream. YEAH BABY!

But, I would like to point out, the Golden Compass made an absolute killing at the box office throughout its entire run. So, that one might have been an underdog during the first weekend out, but it sure came up from behind!

The character of Speed Racer has routinely been called an underdog too, but he's won quite a few races with the help of Racer X!!!!!!!!


;D So maybe this movie will make some good cash by the time it finishes its run!

cmoon I do think you'll like this movie even if you didn't like the cartoon. I hated the cartoon, but the movie was lots of fun. ^_^


Edit: Yes, Iron Man did beat out speed racer, but we all expected that. However, Speed is #3 for box office takes this weekend.

1. Iron Man - comic book marvel hero movie 50 mil
2. What Happens in Vegas - a tongue in cheek chick flick 20 mil
3. Speed Racer - a kid show from a 60s cartoon 18 mil

I don't think that's too shabby, especially for "Mother's Day" weekend. It probably would've done better had it opened a week later or on memorial day. But let's see what happens from here on out!

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

[Kevin]

Mifune is just another instance I believe where a japanese name was tacked onto an american or european family in order to make it accepted by japanese society.

Least you forget, japanese society even TODAY is very -- I don't want to say bigoted, but it's definitely astranged from anything foreign. Yeah, Macross was a world entity, sorta like Voltron, but still everyone had a japanese name? I don't think so.

You have the Mifune family which adorns their car with a giant latin: M.

here are other instances:



Now, I may not be an expert on Japanese fashion, but you see the dress worn by mrs racer? That's a very american/italian chic mid 60s outfit. I do not recall japanese women wearing that type of clothing.

I've got a book on 60s styles on my shelf, however, which is filled with pictures like that for American Advertisements (I use the book for my short stories and novels between 50s-60s, I buy these types of catalogs all the time).

Now, Trixie, she does kinda look Japanese, but the rest, not so much.

Then you have this picture:

Edit: Please click the link for this picture, it was far too large for me to resize it. I am sorry -_-
http://www.hikawa.com.br/img5/rex_racer.jpg

No way in hell is Rex Racer japanese.

You could NOT have a more european looking face than that picture right there. If Speed is somehow Japanese, then maybe Rex was adopted. But Rex is definitely got the skull features of a very european descent. American/British/Italian -- could be any one of those. But he isn't Japanese.



Thing is, while I can't make the claim that EVERY single anime or manga which came out in the 60s had europeans with japanese names, it's pretty safe to assume many, such as the Racer family, were indeed meant to either be from the American (north/south not just USA) or European continents. How can I say that? well, I can't think of any anime from Japan that openly used non-japanese names until recently even. I honestly can't. I don't have a major library, and probably have only seen or know about half the mainstream anime produced, but I'm pretty sure it's indicative of the japanese culture.

The average viewer would not have accepted a family with a european name. Pure and simple. Hell, I had to tag "Akira" onto my name for my japanese translation of my board game - Tora.

But, they would accept a very European looking family with a Japanese name.


Clothes, Hair, Situation - in all truth it screams Italian to me. Italian sports of the 60s were hot into the racing situation. You had a LOT of independent racers. They'd race from italy to spain or to the autoban, or to africa. Porche, Lamborghini, Ferrari -- These are names of ITALIAN Car Moguls who created an entire industry out of RACING. People who were independent who came out on top.

Italian Racing was the big THING in the 50s and 60s. It was what revitalized the entire European continent after WW2 reconstruction. All of the huge wartime plants, ball bearing plants, engineers -- they went from producing tanks, guns, weapons, into cars with racing SPEED!

Japan didn't.

While I sometimes like to pretend that Speed is American, he was probably more modeled after the Italian racing boom than the American Nascar/Grand Prix.

American racing during the 60s tended to be an illegal sport (drag racing, tricking out the odometer, all those beach boys songs were about illegal races), except on certain circuits.

In either case, Speed is clearly not Japanese. His name was just a tack on japanese name used to sell to the average japanese viewer.



well, whatever you believe it was fun chatting ^_^ I do hope you see the show. It was loads of fun.

PS: Thank you for that info on Voltron. I did not know that. You know, I think that adds some legitimacy to both versions of Voltron. The same writer worked on both japanese and american version. That's kinda cool. It's like having a parallel universe. ^_^