Many a child has grown up with Speed Racer in one incarnation or the other, but now, courtesy of Funimation, the original anime series from 1967 is making its way to Blu-Ray and DVD!
The 2nd anime series to debut in the United States, courtesy of Trans-Lux, Speed Racer (MachGoGo in Japan) chronicles the story of a racer named Speed and his super charged Mach 5 who always has something to prove, despite his father’s apprehension to his driving. This highly popular anime has spawned a fair share of adaptations, most notably the live action movie in 2008. The series is also most famously known as the basis for the first Anime Music Video, courtesy of the Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, Raekwon and Cappadona‘s music video for Daytona 500 from the Ironman album in 1997.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkKxsYgv12M
Announced at Otakon 2015, Funimation picked up the license from Tatsunoko, and would be issuing the Blu-Ray release in Japanese with English Subtitles. However, as indicated on the Speed Racer website, this release will include all 52 episodes of Speed Racer with English Audio, with digitally remastered video and audio tracks, preserving the original.
Speed Racer: The Complete Series is currently available for pre-order via Funimation, and will release on May 30th, 2017.