Crush Gear, known in Japan as Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo (Japanese: 激闘!クラッシュギアTURBO, Hepburn: Gekitō! Kurasshugia Tābo), 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 (クラッシュギアNitro, Kurasshugia Naitoro) 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.
The series' protagonist and the captain of the Tobita Club, Kouya is a young Gear Fighter who aims to be the number one in the world of Crush Gear.
Naotake Furusato, producer of Crush Gear Turbo, said that the creators "lost a lot of sleep over" trying to name the main character. Furusato credits director Shūji Iuchi with the final naming. The creators decided to use "Kouya" as the name "had a ring to it like brothers would have and that made it kind of realistic" and that the name literally means "wilderness" and "sounded right for a main character". Furusato added that the name "Kouya" made him want to see the character "grow up big and strong".[1]
Jirou Oriza (織座 ジロウ, Oriza Jirō)
Voiced by: Michael Shitanda
Gear: Raging Bull ⇒ Raging Bullet
A Gear Fighter and member of the Tobita Club, Jirou is a former baseball pitcher who likes to eat red-bean buns. He is Kouya's closest teammate and friend. Jirou also has a crush on the team's deputy owner, Lilika.
A Gear Fighter and member of the Tobita Club, Kyousuke is known as a genius Gear Master, a mechanic with superior skills in tuning, maintaining and customizing Crush Gears. He was Kuroudo's former teammate in Team Griffon.
A Gear Fighter and member of the Tobita Club, Kuroudo is a kendo swordsman with an excellent sense of hearing. He was Kyousuke's former teammate in Team Griffon.
Furusato said that Kuroudo's name originates from a samurai in the Edo period.[1]
The leader of the Manganji Club and Kouya's rival, Manganji is a powerful Gear Fighter who comes from a wealthy family that runs their own business company.
Furusato described the name "Manganji" as having "an image of wealth" – He added that "Japanese people are suckers for names that end in "ji"! (laughs)"[1]
A genius Gear Fighter and Kouya's deceased older brother, Yuhya was the late former captain of the Tobita Club and former champion of the Asia Cup tournament. Four years prior to the start of the series, he was killed in an unfortunate accident just before the final match of the World Cup tournament. Yuhya often appears in flashbacks.
Furusato said that Yuhya's name was decided on early in the production.[1]
A team of mischievous Gear Fighters from the Kansai region, consisting of quadruplet brothers Tarou Takoyama (多古山太郎, Takoyama Tarō), Jirou Takoyama (多古山次郎, Takoyama Jirō), Saburou Takoyama (多古山三郎, Takoyama Saburō), and Shirou Takoyama (多古山四郎, Takoyama Shirō).
A snooker player and underground Gear Fighter who is a member of the Mighty Gears, a team by the Manganji Club consisting of Gear Fighters exceling in their own field in sports. Eddie is Kuroudo's rival.
A cheerful, outgoing Gear Fighter and member of the Si Xing Hu Tuan, a team consisting of Chinese Gear Fighters. Wang Hu is Kouya's close friend and rival.
A Gear Fighter and member of the Manganji Dreams, an elite team by the Manganji Club consisting of gifted Gear Fighters with special training from the Manganji Laboratory.
A young Hollywood movie star and the arrogant Gear Fighter of the Star Brad team, who becomes Jirou's arch-nemesis.
Alex Borg (アレックス・ボーグ, Arekkusu Bōgu)
Voiced by: Hiroaki Ishikawa
Gear: Beo Fenrer
A Gear Fighter and former member of the Tobita Club during Yuhya's generation, and Jirou's mentor and old friend. Alex is also a Gear Master (mechanic) who was responsible for creating Garuda Eagle and Raging Bull.
A mysterious Gear Fighter and member of Quo Vadis, a team consisting of Brazilian Gear Fighters. Carlos is the boy who was saved by Yuhya Marino before his death four years ago.
Takaya Tobita (飛田 タカヤ, Tobita Takaya)
Voiced by: Hitoshi Bifu
The coach of Quo Vadis team and Lilika's father. He was originally the founder and former coach of the Tobita Club during Yuhya's generation.
A 22-year-old Gear Master (mechanic) who befriended Kouya in San Francisco, and Kane's mentor. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Shane is Gina Firestein's older brother and the legendary Gear God.
A gifted Gear Fighter and former champion of the Europe Cup tournament, Heinrich was a former member of the Weiss Ritters, a team consisting of German Gear Fighters. Four years prior to the start of the series, he quit from Gear Fighting after his rival Yuhya Marino died in the day of the World Cup finals match.
The coach of Team Kim and Yong-dae's older brother. Four years prior to the start of the series, Yong-sun was the opponent of Yuhya Marino in the finals of the Asia Cup tournament for 23 rounds.
Tomba Giriran (トンバ・ギリラン, Tonba Giriran)
Voiced by: Takayuki Fujimoto
Gear: Tradisi
A Singaporean Gear Fighter and member of Team Kemenangan.
Manganji's old friend and the son of the president of the Groundstein Group, a rival company of the Manganji Group. Jake is responsible for stealing the Kaiservern, the first Crush Gear created in the world.
A mysterious man at the GFA headquarters who holds a golden front weapon, Goldblade.
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 (福田 己津央, Fukuda Mitsuo) 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.[2]
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 [1989-2019] "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".[2]
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-" (愛だよねっ!! ～ギアをつなごう～, lit. "It's Love!! ~Let's Connect Gears~"), while the insert theme is "Kaze no Eagle" (風のEAGLE, lit. "Wind Eagle") featuring Hironobu Kageyama. A Filipinodub of the series premiered on ABS-CBN in the Philippines on April 21, 2003.
Film
Crush Gear Turbo the Movie: Kaiservern's Ultimate Challenge (激闘！クラッシュギアTURBO カイザバーンの挑戦, Gekitō! Kurasshugia Tābo Kaizabān no Chōsen) is a 20-minute short film that was released in Japan on July 20, 2002, as part of Toei Animation Summer 2002 Animation Fair.[3] 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! (Movie Re-mix ver.)" 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 (book) 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.
Two video games have been produced based on the series, both published by Bandai and released only in Japan. The PlayStation version of Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo was first released on July 25, 2002. Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo: Gear Champion League was released for WonderSwan Color on August 10, 2002.
DVD release
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In Australia, the English dub of Crush Gear Turbo was released by Magna Pacific. Volumes one and two of the series were released on July 1, 2004;[8][9] volumes three and four were released on September 8, 2004;[10][11] volume five was released on October 6, 2004;[12] volume six was released on November 10, 2004;[13] and volume seven was released on January 19, 2005.[14]
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