Here's the title sequence from the iconic 1960s series "Speed Racer" as it was originally seen in Japan! ( --Though over there the show is called "Mach Go, Go Go!")
Very sad news to report: Nobuyoshi Koshibe, who wrote this famous anime theme (among many others!), passed away on 21 November 2014. :( A true pioneer in the anime scene in terms of music, too.
The name has several meanings. 1. "Go" is Speed's name in Japanese. 2. As you said, the car has "5" on the side (though it wasn't named Mach 5 in Japan), and Go is 5 in Japanese. 3. Fairly obvious, the exclamation "Go!" So it can mean: "Go, go, go!" "Go, Speed, go!" "Go, 5, go!" "Speed, (number) 5, go!" "Speed, speed, speed!" And so on.
Trans-Lux, the original American TV distributor, kept the basic theme, but the English lyrics were written by Peter Fernandez, who adapted the scripts (and was the voice of "Speed Racer"). That version was performed on the soundtrack by Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass.
Shamaninja14 Having watched the subtitled version, I don't think the American lyrics are anything like the Japanese. It's just the same tune, and ours is a little shorter.
***** Well, I didn't really mean it like that. I haven't listened to these lyrics well enough to know, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing about 'Here he comes, Here comes Speed Racer' in there. I was just impressed that they kept the original melody, even if they changed the meaning of the lyrics entirely.
Me too as well speed racer ( Mach GO! GO! GO!) was the first anime I ever watched before I even watched or was ever into anime. I also watched bakugan, a little bit of pokiemon , and beyblade (metal fusion).
What the Japanese version is that Speed Racer went to the jungle with elephants and other wild animals, yet he also cross the desert the Japanese opening is so unique yet Japanese kids has all the fun with this. Just like Toys R Us, the Japanese kids have all the fun.
@@EddieVBlueIsland TV watching WAS a lot of fun back then. You either really loved something or you just trolled the hell out of it, talking back to the screen, and so on. How about a drinking game every time Speed cries for his life as he's about to crash (again).
KAZ well imagine the worst kind of flashy, epileptic warning, shit from the depths of hells deepest part of its anus then eaten by kim jong un then fired through a nuke landing on japan where in that pile of dust, poop, and rubble they found the one piece of 💩 that contained it... it contained the secret to making an anime style that was so bad that it gave everyone and anyone watching an epileptic seizure... soo yeah thats how bad it got.
I saw around 15 years ago that they were showing Speed Racer X on Cartoon Network. Tuned in just to see what it was like and turned it off after about 10 minutes. I had the same reaction to the Speed Racer movie. Just couldn't finish either of them.
Watching these intros as an adult, I can't believe how that went right past me as a kid. Can remember having an overall sense of danger, such as that time that he is exposed to scorpions, but the idea that just happens and the intro goes right on is kind of amazing.
Mach Go Go Go Kaze mo furueru hair pin curve Kowai mono nado go go go White Body Mach go Makeji damashii oya yuzri Hashiri dashitara ato niwa hikenu Yukuzo shohri no goal made
The American version did have the exploding car. However that version is much shorter and didn’t have the stuff with the animals and the pistol guys and stuff
It's actually kind of surprising when we remember so many dubbed anime changing its themes (Cardcaptors, Digimon, literally everything 4kids dubbed, every PlayStation Mega Man game just to add that) that earlier shows like Speed Racer and Sailor Moon actually kept the gist of their songs intact, even if the lyrics got a complete overhaul. I'm not saying any of the changed ones are bad, far from it, I'm just saying it's fascinating that some of these shows pretty much kept their intros when you'd assume anything released before the late 2000's would've been top-to-bottom replaced. It was only when I saw Funimation's entire TV channel when I'd see a lot of dubbed shows consistently keep their intros.
Be aware that the American version, _Speed Racer_ , evidently excised some of the violence/explosions AND that the scripts for the English version were written by Speed's voice actor, Peter Fernández, who didn't know Japanese and had to write the English scripts with whatever bare-bones information they gave him. Generally this involved plot points, but occasionally there was a big reveal early on of some recurring-character information they forgot to tell him about the first time, so it doesn't appear in the English script until the character has come back a second or third time. (Fans of the show can guess the character I have in mind, but I don't want to spoil it for you if you've never watched.) So if you have some option to watch the original, go for it.
Was just saying in a different comment that although I had no idea as a little girl (early 1970s) watching intently, I learned that fact so long ago in my adulthood that I really don't remember where or when or how I found out it was adapted from Japanese.
As an american saying, I think I like this opening a lil better than the US rendering of it. It has to me more of a groovy 60s sound to it. A lil more hip:)
I remember I saw that intro in an interlude shown in Cartoon Network in 1993...beautiful, I was eleven years old by this time. Greetings from Argentina!
I would like to think there is some guy born in 1966 (57 1/2 at this point) in Japan that was as big a fan as I was somewhere in Japan. Why can't that be a fan club?
My three brothers and I watched this as tykes in the 60's, and still dribble the tune at family gatherings. I'm over 50 now, and it's nice to see it's found a new following...It was one of our favourite Saturday morning cartoon ablutions. But wow - this Japanese version of the theme tune is much more epic in the sound! Full orchestration, and a longer opening. Gotta' love vintage Anime. BTW - the recent "movie" version sucked, not a thing nostalgic for the real fans.
It's a good thing that car can jump when it needs to, or he'd have become an elephant's suppository. "Here he comes, here comes Speed Racer/Up an elephant's butt"
The Japanese intro released over in Japan the series was based on the Mach 5 and all the features it had when it was released in Japan Mach Go Go Go. When it was released here in the United States it was called Speed Racer it was more based around Speed Racer and his adventures.
@@Simon_Electric In the original Japanese series Speed's name is Go Mifune. So the Go Go Go in the title refers to his Japanese name, the number 5 and the English word "Go!" Very clever if you ask me.
This Japanese animation was conceived and created to be marketed overseas. Therefore, the pictures are drawn with a touch of foreign animation. It is different from original Japanese animation like today's.
One major difference between the versions I like is how the plot is different, like in the US version its centered around the character, however in japan the show is about the car, the mach 5
The buttons in the steering wheel hub that activated the Mach 5's special equipment were likely inspired by those found on the '58 Edsel ("Teletouch" transmission).
This is an epic intro, the US one sounds too hokey, despite it being the same tune (just much, much shorter). Japan takes it's anime seriously, they take their anime intros just as seriously it seems.
I like this version! It's more lively than the American version... The graphics and the theme song are both cool, even though I can't understand it, except "Mach A GO! GO! GO!" 😆😆😆
¡¡¡ WOW !!!. La versión japonesa tiene una orquesta completa y me gusta ese solo de batería al principio, ¡suena como la apertura de una gran producción de Hollywood de los años 50! ¡Mucho más elegante que la versión americana y mucho mejores músicos tocando en esta versión!
As someone who grew up on the English version of this theme, I can safely say that I cannot decide if I like this version or the English version better.
Unusual -- original animation intended (I guess) just for the credits. IIRC, none of this ever appeared in an actual episode (save maybe for a few flashes of the stock track scenes). Usually, intros and outros are composed of out-of-context clips taken from regular episodes -- just like Jonny Quest's. Guest cost was no object ito them in making the product look kewl.
0:08 SFX ignition --> 1st gear engaged --> full throttle sounds take me straight back to the pleasure of my 8 years of age, tears included. Any shrinks around?
