Crush Gear Turbo
Crush Gear, known in Japan as Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo, is a Japanese anime television series created by Sunrise. It aired from October 2001 to January 2003, with 68 episodes.
A standalone sequel titled Crush Gear Nitro aired from February 2003 to January 2004.
Premise
Crush Gear is a fictional sport where two pocket-sized cars called "Gears" go head-to-head in a match. The players are somehow able to drive the Gears at will which eliminates the need of RC control. The object is to either knock the opponent's Gear out of the arena, flip over the opponent's Gear in such a way that it does not get back on its wheels on time, or, controversially, shatter the opponent's gear to pieces. When not in a match, the Gears appear in traditional animation as with the series itself. But when the vehicles are in a match, the Gears appear in CGI.Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo tells the story of Kouya Marino, an eleven-year-old boy who is a member of the Tobita Club, a Japanese Crush Gear team led by his late older brother, Yuhya Marino—the Asian Cup champion who was qualified for the World Cup finals—, who died in a tragic accident four years ago. Kouya's skills are nowhere near his brother's, and is nearly disqualified when he arrived late at the clubhouse for an elimination match. Yuhya's former teammate, Takeshi Manganji quits the team and forms a club of his own, forcing the rest of the members to join his new group, the Manganji Club. As the Tobita Club is facing the threat of extinction, Kouya refuses to give up and comes to inherit a Crush Gear from his late brother, the Garuda Eagle. Kouya must find a way to reinstate the Tobita Club back to its former glory. With the help of his new teammates, he eventually develops his techniques in Gear Fighting and comes to feel that Crush Gear is an important friend, leading him to victory. By recognizing the same feelings in his opponent, he becomes friends even with his rival.
Characters
Main characters
;Kouya Marino;Jirou Oriza
;Kyousuke Jin
;Kuroudo Marume
;Kaoru Hanano
;Takeshi Manganji
;Lilika Tobita
Recurring characters
;Yuhya Marino;Marimo Marino
;Tateo Marino
;Gou Manganji
;Shinnosuke Gomano
;Daikichi Momita
;Nobiru Koike
;Chota Aida
;Futoshi Harano
;Fuuko Nagidori
;Shingo Nagidori
;Burning Octopus
;Eddie Kobayashi
;Taki Hiroomi
;Kishin Ōkawa
;Satoru Todoroki
;Ichidou Takekura
;Mitsuki Ohmori
;Kazuya Shishigawa
;Hiroshi Washida
;Sougen Manganji
;Kurosaki
;Wang Hu
;Lan Fang
;Ma Liang
;Li Chun
;Ming Wu
;Dan Midou
;Rai Shinomiya
;Rin Shinomiya
;Brad Fincher
;Alex Borg
;Gallen Connellheim
;Gina Firestein
;Carlos Ferrein / U-YA
;Takaya Tobita
;Shane Firestein
;Crusher Kane
;Heinrich Gang
Other characters
;Taikan Mizumori;Ryouichi Ebata
;Q
;Kouji Hanano
;God Voice
;Taka Shibuya
;Momo Yamanoki
;Koume Aida
;Crush Mary
;GFA-kun
;Kim Yong-dae
;Kim Yong-sun
;Tomba Giriran
;Lennard Firestein
;Steve Douglas
;Crush Gordon
;Alberto Schweiger
;Ralf Wenders
;Rudolf Steiner
;Michael Steiner
;Mohamed Ramzy
;God Mama
;Richard Firestein
;Nina Maier
Film-only characters
;Jake Groundstein / Gear Emperor;Gear God
Production
Planning for Crush Gear Turbo began in March 2001, with intent to begin airing in October 2001. Naotake Furusato, producer of Crush Gear Turbo, received a toy car prototype that used two AA batteries and a motor. The toy car operated in circles instead of straight lines, and operators could cause them to collide with one another. Furusato used this concept to develop Crush Gear Turbo. According to Furusato the show was the first Sunrise production to "genuinely adopt the use of 3D graphics". Furusato added that the 3D rendering allowed the animators to "brilliantly express the stage presence of the Gear Fights" and incorporate effects not in real-life toy gears such as fireworks and smoke. According to Furusato 3D Production Chief Mitsuo Fukuda told Furusato that, because there are some elements that may only be expressed in 3D, the series ought to use 3D "to full effect". Furusato concluded that this caused the battle scenes to appear "a little bit unique". Furusato credited the customization and element attributes in each gear to Sunrise's "already well-established know-how". In addition the producer credited his own experience on Gear Fighter Dendoh and director Shūji Iuchi's experience on Mashin Hero Wataru in the formation of Crush Gear Turbo.Furusato intended for the creators of the series to "encourage children to think and place on value on things like friendship and trust in others" and for the series to express deepening human relationships. He added that the series "got kind of a Heisei Era "Kyojin no Hoshi" and "Ashita no Joe" feeling to it" and that the current generation of children "are fundamentally a more cheerful lot and go in for a bit of a slapstick flavor".
Media
Anime
Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo, directed by Shūji Iuchi and produced by Sunrise's internal "Studio 10" division alongside Tokyu Agency, premiered in Japan on October 7, 2001, and concluded on January 26, 2003, after 68 episodes on Nagoya TV and TV Asahi. Atsuo Tobe is the character designer for the anime series, with Shinji Aramaki, Susumu Imaishi and Mitsuru Owa as the mechanical art designers. The musical score is composed by Kenichi Sudo and Yogo Kono. The series features two pieces of theme music and one insert song, all performed by JAM Project: the opening theme is "Crush Gear Fight!!", and the ending theme is "Ai dayone!! -Gear wo Tsunagou-", while the insert theme is "Kaze no Eagle" featuring Hironobu Kageyama. A Filipino dub of the series premiered on ABS-CBN in the Philippines on April 21, 2003.Film
Crush Gear Turbo the Movie: Kaiservern's Ultimate Challenge is a 20-minute short film that was released in Japan on July 20, 2002, as part of Toei Animation Summer 2002 Animation Fair. In this movie, Kouya and Manganji team up against a Gear Emperor who is controlling the world's first gear, Kaiservern. JAM Project performed two pieces of theme music: the insert song is "Get Up Crush Fighter!", and the ending theme is "Alright now! " featuring Rika Matsumoto.Manga
The manga adaptation is illustrated by Hisashi Matsumoto. The manga version featured original elements and unique developments, and the Gear Fighting is slightly more realistic than in the anime. It was serialized in Kodansha's magazine, Comic BomBom from October 2001 to January 2003, and released in tankōbon format in four volumes from February 2002 to March 2003. The manga also included three bonus chapters.The English-language version was licensed in Singapore by Chuang Yi.