| Ōban Star-Racers | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action |
| Format | Animation |
| Created by | Savin Yeatman-Eiffel |
| Starring | French: Gabrielle Jéru Thomas Guitard Jérôme Keen English: Chiara Zanni Sam Vincent Ron Halder Japanese: Junko Noda Keiichirou Satomi Unshou Ishizuka |
| Opening theme | Chance To Shine - AKINO (Japan) Never Say Never - After Midnight Project (America) |
| Ending theme | Waratteta - Sukoshi |
| Country of origin | France Japan |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Editor(s) | Takeshi Seyama |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | France 3, Jetix Super RTL NHK BS2, Jetix Jetix (2006-2009) Disney XD (2009) YTV |
| Original airing | 5 June 2006 - 11 December 2006 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Ōban Star-Racers (オーバン・スターレーサーズ Ōban Sutā Rēsāzu) is a French/Japanese animated television series created by Savin Yeatman-Eiffel of Sav! The World Productions. It aired in more than 90 countries including Japan. In the US the series aired on ABC Family and Jetix/Toon Disney.
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Ōban Star-Racers is a co-production between France and Japan. The creative team behind the project (Paris based indie company Sav! The World Productions) moved to Tokyo and worked hand in hand with the teams of manga studio Hal Film Maker for almost three years.[1]
Dissatisfied with his previous experiences as a screenwriter in the animation industry, Savin Yeatman-Eiffel wanted to create a distinctive kind of show, one that would revive the type of emotions he had felt as a kid watching the classic Japanese anime series of the 70's. To put it short, he wanted to stress the emotional side of his characters and story, something that he felt had totally disappeared from Western animation productions [2]. Working on that idea, he created his own company "Sav! The World Productions", which released in 2001 a short movie entitled "Molly, Star Racer", produced in part by Sparx Animation Studios and set to a Y&Co. remix of Ayumi Hamasaki songs. The trailer already showed a mix of 3D and 2D though at the time 3D was still predominant. It featured many of the characters with unfinalized designs including Jordan, Don Wei, Maya, Aikka, Satis, Toros, Sül, Ondai, Ning & Skun, Furter and of course, Molly racing across various places in the Oban landscape featured later in the series. This short movie won the 2001 LEAF Awards and was nominated for best editing in the 2002 Imagina Awards.[1]. Leaked on the internet, it quickly became extremely popular among animation fans, generating hundreds of thousands of downloads on various sites - a rarity at the time.
In spite of the success of the trailer, the search for financing for the series was a long process since Yeatman-Eiffel had a clear vision of were he wanted to take the show - more realistic and more emotional than the original trailer - and refused to negotiate with a party that would have tried to bend or change the artistic choices at a later stage (including, as was offered to him by an important North American production company to change the main character into a boy)[3]. Savin was also dead set on producing the series in Tokyo in collaboration with Japanese animators. This was the best choice according to him technically and a logical one too in view of the inspirations that had fuelled the creation of the series.
Savin Yeatman-Eiffel succeeded in the end, involving major financial partners like Disney and Bandai without surrendering his control of the artistic elements. But it took him a total of nine years to complete the series from initial idea to delivery of the final episode (the concept was created in 1997, with initial production having begun in Paris is 2000, later moving to Tokyo in 2003).[1]
While this is Sav! The World's first TV series, the company has previously existed as a maker of various short films (including the aforementioned Molly, Star Racer).[1]
In the year 2082, Earth has been invited to compete in the Great Race of Ōban, an intergalactic race whose winner can be granted any wish in the world — even bringing back a loved one. The invitation comes from the Avatar, a mysterious entity who ends hostilities between Earth and the sinister race of the Crogs, in return for Earth's entry into the race. Eva Wei, an Earth student, escapes boarding school to find her father, Don Wei, president of Wei Racing and the best race manager in the world. Having left his daughter in the care of the boarding school for many years without ever visiting, Don Wei does not seem to recognize Eva as his daughter. Unable to tell her father who she really is, she lands a job as a mechanic in his team under the name "Molly", a name chosen from a convenient poster on a crate in the hangar. When Wei Racing is ordered by the government to represent Earth at Ōban, Molly stows away as they are taken to a far-off planet. During the first race, the Whizzing Arrow, the Earth Star-Racer ship, crashes due to sabotage. Its star pilot, Rick Thunderbolt, becomes unable to race. After finding that the gunner, Jordan Wilde, makes a miserable pilot, Molly steals the ship and enters the next race. Don Wei grudgingly decides that the only one who can replace Rick is Molly. Haunted by the death of her mother — a famous star-racer — and the harsh "reunion" with her father, Molly is determined to win so she can be with her parents once again.
The following characters play a primary role throughout the series.
The main protagonist of the series. An ambitious 15 year-old Earth girl who often subverts her school studies to improve her mechanical skills. Upon escaping from her harsh boarding school, she travels to find her father, Don Wei. But when he doesn't recognize her she ends up landing a job as a mechanic for his company. Lacking in self-confidence and intimidated by his harsh demeanor, Eva is unable to tell Don Wei who she really is, and assumes the name "Molly" after reading it on a convieniently placed poster. Eva soon becomes the lead pilot for the Earth Team after their star, Rick Thunderbolt, is injured during the first race. Since she is too short to pilot the Whizzing Arrow herself, she modifies the controls to be based on her scooter, which she is an expert at handling. Molly soon meets the other contenders of the Great Race Of Ōban and develops a (mutual) attraction to Prince Aikka of Nurasia. Her life soon becomes more complicated when she learns that the reward for winning Ōban is any wish her heart desires, including bringing her dead mother back to life.
A 17 year-old rambunctious army soldier who is hired by Don Wei to be the gunner for his racing vehicle. He is a good shot, although he tends to overdo it. Jordan is very protective of his racing partners. As seen throughout the series, Jordan has an intense hatred of the Crogs because his grandfather was attacked by Crogs on an exploring mission [Seen in Episode 1]. He doesn't approve of Eva's interest in Prince Aikka, as the Nourasians have an alliance with the Crogs. While he acts more like an overprotective brother toward Eva while they are on Alwas, on Ōban he starts to develop more serious feelings for her (though it is unclear if Molly feels the same way about him). Jordan helps Eva fight their way to the Temple of the Heart to stop Canaletto from regaining his Avatar powers. Just when Canaletto is about to capture the sphere containing the avatars powers, Jordan tells Molly he loves her and jumps into the sphere, therefore becoming the new Avatar. He and Molly have a brief conversation right after he becomes the new Avatar, in which he tells her goodbye and kisses her. He is last seen on Oban, watching the team leave for Earth (though they don't see him), with a single tear escaping from his eye.
Eva's father and owner of Wei Racing, a successful Earth corporation that manufactures vehicles and sponsors races. Uptight and arrogant with an openly hostile view towards female pilots, he often hides his true feelings through formalities, as well as pride. When his daughter finds him, not only does he not recognize her — he even mistakes her for a boy at first. The death of his wife and the following separation from his daughter shaped him into the uptight man he seems to be. Due to several events while on Ōban, he finally discovers that Molly is his daughter. Afterwards, he becomes very concerned for Molly's safety due to the increasing danger of the grand finals — even attempting to withdraw the team from the competition to prevent her from racing. Near the end of the series, he reveals to her that he knows she's his daughter, and doesn't want what happened to his wife to happen to her. Although yelled at by Molly, he continues to watch over her without the others knowing about their relationship. Finally before Eva leaves to crown herself Avatar, Don confronts her by her real name in front of the team and Prince Aikka and tells her he loves her. At the end of the series, he returned to Earth to live with Eva as a family again.
Eva's mother and Don's wife, one of the best racers on Earth who was lost in a race ten years before the start of the series. Her sudden death appears to be the reason for Don Wei's current behavior. It originally appeared that Spirit, one of the pilots racing on Alwas, caused her to crash, which was later shown to be false — the crash was caused by Maya's ship leaking fuel from the engine causing it to explode. Eva is determined to win The Great Race of Ōban in order to bring Maya back to life and reunite her family. However, Eva later learns the truth about the "Ultimate Prize" and that the Avatar's power would not bring back her mother. Later, she discovers that her mother was actually "killed"; it was Canaletto who caused the crash. After returning to Earth, she and her father pay their final respects at Maya's grave.
A Minor League Racing Champion and one of the best racers on Earth, Rick is chosen to accompany Don Wei as the Earth Team's original pilot. He is seriously injured in the team's first race, and is later told that he can never race again, a fact that he learns to slowly accept, since racing was "his whole life". Cool and confident, he seems to appreciate Molly's enthusiasm, and affectionately calls her "Little Mouse." He seems to be the first to see her potential as a pilot, playfully asking Don Wei if he took her along as a backup pilot in the second episode. Eventually, Rick becomes Molly's personal coach and begins to discover that Molly is hiding a secret from the team. During the race against Spirit, he finally determines Molly's true identity but doesn't reveal it to anyone else. After the team qualifies for the Grand Finals on Ōban, Rick returns to Earth, but only after he encourages Molly to tell Don she's his daughter and try to work things out.
The Earth Team's co-mechanic and electronics specialist. Originally working at Miguel's Garage, he is hired by Don Wei as part of the Earth Team. Shy and non-combative by nature, he prefers to avoid conflicts, but his quick thinking has saved the Earth Team on many occasions. It was his idea for the 'clustered turbine' hyperdrive that allows the team's new racer, the Whizzing Arrow III, to be much faster than their previous racers. They affectionately call the Arrow III their "baby". After returning to Earth, he goes back to work for Miguel.
The Earth Team's co-mechanic and hardware specialist. Originally working at Miguel's Garage, he is hired by Don Wei as part of the Earth Team. The polar opposite of his fellow mechanic Koji, Stan is very direct and combative, and doesn't hesitate to speak his mind, especially when the safety of a teammate is at stake. Stan feels that Don Wei is putting too much pressure on Molly to win on Ōban, and that Don is too prideful and concerned with his own feelings to consider the feelings of the rest of the team. This is seen the most when the team reaches Oban, as they are usually the spectators of the drama the team faces and are seen having brief conversations about Don Wei's behavior. A recurring theme is Stan telling Koji that Don Wei is heartless and a robot - an idea Koji usually rejects. After returning to Earth, he goes back to work for Miguel.
The Prince and Knight of Nourasia who races on the back of a giant flying beetle named G'dar, which acts as his vehicle. Noble, chivalrous and skilled in martial arts, he is a rival of Molly's, but also a close friend — since Molly finds him cute and the attraction seems to be mutual. Molly and Aikka promise each other that during their race they would not use weapons against each other, but near the end Molly is unable to prevent Jordan from firing. Aikka feels betrayed and gains a distrust of humans. It is later shown, however, that Aikka still cares for Molly and would even come to her defense if he felt she was threatened, such as in her race against Spirit (when she crashes and Spirit seems to want to harm her further, Aikka leaps from the spectator stands and flies to her on G'dar, ready to shoot at Spirit if he tried to hurt her). Aikka is one of the nine Ōban finalists, and appears to have forgiven Molly's "betrayal," but still holds a grudge against Jordan. Once on Ōban, Aikka is pressured by General Kross to cut ties with the Earth Team and eliminate them, as the Crogs have invaded his world and hold his family. He finally succumbs and disables the Arrow III during a race in the mountains. Although he begins to drift from the Earth Team and lose their trust, he later abandons a race and goes looking for Molly after the Arrow III crashes. During the final race, he confronts Molly and Jordan and apologizes, and suggests they defeat Kross together. At the end of the series, he promises to show Molly his kingdom one day.
A small, eccentric being who proclaims himself to be the Avatar's loyal servant. He mysteriously appears whenever Molly needs some encouragement, or when things aren't going her way. He also has a second persona, Super Racer, and competes against her in the playoffs on Alwas. Satis becomes even more mysterious, when on Ōban, another grand finalist pilot reveals that he was on all three preliminary planets at the same time. Just prior to the final race, it is revealed that Satis is not the Avatar's servant, but the Avatar himself. Satis was the previous winner of the Great Race 10,000 years ago. It is also revealed that as the finish of the race approaches his power and health have begun to weaken. After Molly refuses to accept the powers of the Avatar, Satis destroys the Pyramid of Power in the temple to prevent Canaletto from stealing the powers. Canaletto defeats him, and Satis is last seen in the hands of Aikka, disappearing into a cloud of lights.
An enigmatic, seemingly omnipotent entity who organizes the "Great Race of Ōban" every 10,000 years, and grants the winner their wish, or so the competitors were led to believe.
In "Revelations", the origins of Ōban are revealed. The planet is the first creation of almighty beings known as the Creators, who then went on to create the rest of the universe. However, they chose to give up their immortality, and so organized the great race of Ōban every 10,000 years, the winner of which would prove themselves as the strongest, fastest and most fit to be leader. The winner would not get one wish from the Ultimate Prize — they would instead become the new Avatar, the new guardian of the Creators' creation, until the next race.
The main antagonist of the series. Also known as "The Timeless One". A dark, sinister being that first appears as a shadow with flaming red eyes and a raven-like head. It is shown that he once went on a crusade to destroy all life and create universal purification, thinking that life is a weakness, a mistake made by the Creators. Canaletto was the Avatar before Satis, but he refused to give up the title and so was imprisoned by the Great Beings. Feeling that he was wrongfully removed from his rightful throne, he intends to become Avatar once again. Rick discovers a crest with his insignia, since he knew it was linked to the crash of his teams' star racer that left him unable to race again. He eventually tracks down Canaletto with the help of a shaman, but after his encounter, Canaletto erases all of his memories related to himself and all of the information he told him. Molly then finds the crest when Rick leaves it behind. Canaletto has been using Molly as his pawn for some time, killing her mother to give her motivation to participate in the Great Race, destroying the Whizzing Arrow I and injuring Rick so that she has to race in his place. He does all this because he knows she is the only racer that, if she won, would not want to be crowned as the Avatar, giving him the time to escape from the chains Satis put him in 10,000 years ago and reclaim his power.
The following characters play a supporting role during the first half of the series...
The following characters play a supporting role during the second half of the series.
Whizzing Arrow I — Prototype racer built at Miguel's Garage by Miguel, Stan, and Koji. Purchased by Don Wei for the Great Race. It has very powerful engines but unsteady and untested. Rick Thunderbolt pilots the Arrow I in the Earth Team's first race on Alwas. Near the end of the race, the port engine explodes causing the racer to crash in a flaming wreck across the finish line. The Arrow I cannot be salvaged.
Whizzing Arrow II — Sister ship to the Whizzing Arrow I. Purchased by Don Wei for the Great Race. Subtle advances over the Arrow I make the ship more stable. The Arrow II also boasts an orange and red flaming paint job, along with the addition of a sharp-toothed rabbit that Molly painted on in 'Surprising Like SuperRacer', compared with the Arrow I's flat green color. The Arrow II serves as the Earth Team' primary racer during the preliminaries and most of the semi-finals on Alwas. It suffers severe damage throughout the competition numerous times but is constantly repaired by Stan and Koji. During the semifinal race against the Fill Ambassador, Spirit, the Arrow II is damaged beyond repair when a crash literally tears it to pieces.
Whizzing Arrow III — New racer built on Alwas by Stan and Koji with the help of native Skrub mechanics to replace the lost Arrow II. The Arrow III is far more advanced than both Arrow I and Arrow II but maintains the same overall shape of the previous racers. Major upgrades include it being safer, more stable and a good deal faster than the Arrow II while in cruising mode. Also, a new Hyperdrive developed by Stan and Koji back on Earth but not implemented until after the Arrow II's crash which uses 'clustered turbines' for a far greater thrust that allows the Arrow III to far exceed the Arrow II in speed. The new Hyperdrive is physically very different from its predecessor too, forming numerous turbines and wings all around it. A larger fuel supply also allows the Hyperdrive to be used for longer periods of time. In addition to the much greater Hyperdrive, mechanics Stan and Koji also added in the "Booster Drives" A grouping of five extra turbines that extend from underneath either side of the star racer's main engine blocks, proving to be a massive boost to the racer's speed. In the series, these drives add a much needed edge to some of the more punishing races.
The opening and ending theme songs of Ōban Star-Racers are composed by Yoko Kanno (of Macross Plus, Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop fame), and the musical score is composed by Taku Iwasaki. The series has one official soundtrack only available through the official site which include extended versions of "Chance To Shine" and other songs.
In the US broadcast, the opening theme song was replaced by an original rock oriented theme song entitled "Never Say Never", which will be packaged with the international broadcasts (except for UK and France) when Disney XD launches in February 2009. The closing song had also been replaced during the first broadcasts, but now features "Waratteta", the original closing song composed by Yoko Kanno. This is the first song to retain its original Japanese lyrics to be featured on Jetix USA. Jetix UK retained the original Japanese opening theme, albeit slightly remixed, but replaced the ending theme with an instrumental version of the opening theme. Oddly, ending credits on Jetix UK-run episodes still show "Waratteta" (roughly meaning "I was laughing" in Japanese) to be the ending theme. Stranger still, Jetix US-run episodes show the ending theme to be "Watnatteta." The French broadcast also has the original theme, but only plays the part that's in French.[4]
Chance To Shine - AKINO (International broadcast)
Never Say Never - After Midnight Project (U.S. broadcast; will be fitted into remaining Jetix countries upon launch of Disney XD, notice that the instrumental of this song will also be played as the ending theme at launch time)
Waratteta - Sukoshi
Thomas Guitard, Alexandre Coadour and Rémi Caillebot are actors of the French dubbing association Gotohwan. Gabrielle Jeru and Sarah Bouché de Vitray joined it after working on Ōban.
The English voices were recorded by Airwaves Sound Design in Vancouver, Canada. Voice director for the series is Michael Donovan.[5]
| Character | French | English | Japanese |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eva | Gabrielle Jeru | Chiara Zanni | Junko Noda |
| Jordan | Thomas Guitard | Sam Vincent | Keiichirou Satomi |
| Rick | Alexandre Coadour | Michael Dobson | Jun'ichi Suwabe |
| Don Wei | Jérôme Keen | Ron Halder | Unshou Ishizuka |
| Toros / Avatar | Mathieu Barbier | Paul Dobson | Banjou Ginga |
| Stan / Satis | Nicolas Mead | Dexter Bell / Brian Drummond | Keisuke Fujii / Masashi Hirose |
| Prince Aikka | Rémi Caillebot | Kirby Morrow | Hiroaki Miura |
| Koji | Vincent Latorre | Alessandro Juliani | Yoshinori Fujita |
| Maya | Sarah Bouché de Vitray | Nicole Oliver | |
| Flint | Laurent Maurel | Michael Dobson | |
| Groor | Omar Yami | Brian Dobson |
Molly Star-Racer (pilot film)
Oban Star-Racers
A very complete art book including a presentation of the Oban universe & characters, as well as a long interview of the creator on the development and production process of the series in Paris and Tokyo, was published in France in march 2009 by publisher Carabas. An English version of the art book was released by Titan Books in November 2009. A novel adaptation was also published in France at the end of 2008 by publisher Hachette. [6]
A vinyl collector figure of Molly (8 inch) has been released by Muttpop in June 2008. Several special limited editions have followed since.
Two volumes of French-language DVDs have been released by WildSide Vidéo long with a limited edition full series box set. In the United States the series has been released on DVD by Shout! Factory and the first episode appeared as a bonus sneak peek on the company's DVD release of Medabots season one. The US release contains the uncut episodes in English, similar in content to those found on the French DVD release (several edits where made for the US Jetix TV release). The series has also been released on DVD in the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands by other companies. [7]
Volume 1 of an original soundtrack for the series is also on sale, as well as two series of three collectible t-shirts available from the Oban Fan Shop[8] The full version of "Waratteta" was included on Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts's album, "Space Bio Charge", released on May 27, 2009.[9]
A mobile phone game, produced by Sav! The World, was made by award winning game studio Devalley Entertainement. According to the series' official fansite, there was to be a video game based on the series to be made for the Nintendo DS by an unnamed developer, but the project was later cancelled due to artistic differences.
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