Ōban Star-Racers

Synopsis

In the year 2082, Eva Wei, a girl whose mother Maya died in a tragic race accident ten years prior, flees boarding school to see her father, Don Wei, who is heralded as the greatest race manager on the planet. When Don doesn't recognise her due to their long absence from each other, Eva takes on the name of "Molly" to hide her identity and becomes his mechanic. It is then that Don's team is chosen as Earth's representative in an intergalactic racing competition known as the Great Race of Ōban, with the planet's survival depending on Wei's team winning the "Ultimate Prize" that can supposedly grant any wish before the evil Crog Empire can. When the Earth team's star pilot Rick Thunderbolt is unable to race following an act of sabotage, Molly ends up becoming the pilot of the team's ship, Whizzing Arrow, alongside gunner Jordan Wilde. Thus Molly becomes determined to win the competition, not just to save Earth from the Crogs, but also to win the Ultimate Prize and potentially bring her mother back.

Characters

Main characters

Eva "Molly" Wei

Voiced by: Chiara Zanni (English), Junko Noda (Japanese), Gabrielle Jeru (French)

Eva is an ambitious 15-year-old Chinese-American human 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 conveniently 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 Nourasia. 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.

Jordan C. Wilde

Voiced by: Samuel Vincent (English), Keiichirou Satomi (Japanese), Thomas Guitard (French)

Jordan is 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 Avatar's 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.

Alwas Cycle

Grooor

Voiced by: Brian Dobson (English), Jin Horikawa (Japanese), Omar Yami (French)

A biomechanical racer who, along with his ship, seems to run on steam power. Violent and quick to anger, he does not suffer losing gracefully. After losing to the Earth Team, he seeks out Molly and starts a fight, intending to kill her. Though Jordan comes to help, it is Prince Aikka who defeats him (to save Molly). His sleek, Podracer-style craft is described as a "piece of junk", but is very resistant to damage, thanks to its polarised titanium exterior. It's also heavily armed, with a pair of missile launchers/projectile cannons on the fronts of the engines and a rapid-fire laser gun mounted on the cockpit. Grooor speaks about himself in third person, and has an odd tendency to shout his own name in battle.

Flint (フリント, Furinto)

Voiced by: Michael Dobson (English), Hitoshi Horikawa (Japanese), Laurent Maurel (French)

A pilot from Alwas, the host planet of the Great Race's preliminary matches. Somewhat arrogant and not quite as good as he seems; the judges fix the races for him, since he's the hometown favorite. He and his gunner, Marcel, pilot the Flying Fortress, a green star-racer that resembles a steam-powered train or tugboat. The two of them later confront Stan and Koji, who are looking for spare parts, and show them the location of a star-racer "graveyard". Flint reasons that if he can help the Earth Team reach Ōban, then he will have lost to the best team in the galaxy and that this would "restore" him in the eyes of his fans.

Ceres (セレス, Seresu)

The last surviving member of the Mong, a very ancient race. He resembles a hieroglyphic carving come to life, and his ship is a bizarre tangle of pipes that apparently functions via an unknown form of planetary magnetism. He could use this force to reflect enemy attacks back at them and also used a flute to create hallucinations. He could also use his staff to tap on the hollow pipes of his ship, creating destructive sound waves to use against enemies. Ceres was able to trap Molly within a hallucination during their race, until Rick was able to turn on her CD player, the loud rock music caused the illusion to shatter and Ceres to lose concentration and ultimately crash into a wall on the race track. He survived though, somehow, and is briefly glimpsed in Make Way!, waiting in line to return to his homeworld.

Ōban Cycle

Sul

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese)

A 'magician' known across the galaxy with telekinetic superpowers that are rumored to equal those of the Avatar himself. Sul shows little emotion and rarely reacts to the other pilots unless attacked. He does not actually use a star-racer during the competition, instead he surrounds himself with glowing, diamond-shaped energy fields conjured and controlled by his mind. He states that he desires the Ultimate Prize because as the "master of space, time, and even the course of destiny", there is nothing else for him to wish for. He dominates the first four races on Oban before being eliminated by Canaletto as his ability to alter destiny threatened to ruin his carefully laid plans. It is possible that he still survived; Canaletto wasn't strong enough to kill him, instead arranging for the powerful being to be drawn through an inter-dimensional portal, where he possibly continued to exist.

Ning and Skun

Voiced by: Jillian Michaels and Colleen Wheeler (English), Ai Orikasa and Tomoko Hiratsuji (Japanese)

Two very proud and aggressive creatures from the destroyed planet Inna; their race is made up of females only. Their star-racer is distinctive in that it is actually two ships that fly in tandem, but are capable of combining to form a more powerful craft. After combining their ships, they gain the ability to use an extremely powerful heat-seeking plasma cannon. Their star-racers are rectangle-shaped, red with a black border and, when it is two separate racers, are driven like motorcycles. The short-haired of the two, Skun, can make her fingernails grow into very long claws. She is also extremely strong, tearing a hole in the Arrow III's hull with her bare hands in the episode Nervous Like Ning & Skun. They want the ultimate prize to reunite their people, who are scattered throughout the galaxy. In the episode "Canaletto's revenge" the sisters challenge Kross for the last gate. Although it is never seen, the battle is witnessed from afar by Molly, and the fact Kross emerges victorious, emphasizes their demise. This proves to be false when in the final episode both are shown to have survived. Though Ning and Skun are known to be fierce, they also have a deep bond of loyalty to each other, as shown when deciding to compete to be the next Avatar, they didn't want to be separated. And when they were about to ambush Kross, told each other they had no regrets and that "whatever happens, I'm glad it was with you". In the Ōban Star-Racers artbook, it's said that Ning and Skun are close like lovers.

Development

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 70s. In short, he wanted to stress the emotional side of his characters and story, something that he felt had totally disappeared from Western animation productions. 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. 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. The pilot is produced using Alias Wavefront Maya 3D software.

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 where 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). 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 in 2000, moving to Tokyo three years later).

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). Yeatman-Eiffel originally wrote the show's scripts in English and would adapt them into French, with that audio track being recorded first. The English version was recorded by Airwaves Sound Design in Vancouver, Canada - the voice director for the series is Michael Donovan. Yeatman-Eiffel flew to Vancouver and was directly involved in its production.

Music

The musical score is composed by Taku Iwasaki. The series has one official soundtrack consisting of 20 tracks available only through the official site which include extended versions of "Chance To Shine" and other music. The 15th Anniversary Blu-ray Kickstarter project rewards included downloads for 50 tracks of the soundtrack, which released for download to backers April 5, 2022. The full soundtrack of the series comprises 85 tracks.

The opening and ending theme songs were composed by Yoko Kanno (of Macross Plus, Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop fame). In the US broadcast, the opening theme song was replaced by an original rock oriented theme song entitled "Never Say Never", which was also used for international broadcasts outside of Europe when Disney XD launched in February 2009. The closing song had also been replaced during the first broadcasts, but now features "Waratteta", the original closing song is composed by Yoko Kanno. This is the first song to retain its original Japanese lyrics to be featured on Jetix USA. European broadcasts feature a remixed version of "Chance to Shine", but replaced the ending theme with an instrumental version of the opening theme. The German and French broadcast used respectively a German and a French version of "Chance to Shine". The lyrics of the French version, titled "Envole-toi vers l'infini", were written by Oban creator Savin Yeatman-Eiffel.

Opening Themes

"Chance To Shine" (or "A Chance To Shine") by AKINO - Used for most international broadcasts and the Blu-ray-Disc release. A French version performed by Christèle Labonne, titled "Envole toi vers l'infini" (Fly to Infinity), was used in France, and a remixed version of the Japanese version was used for European broadcasts outside of France.

"Never Say Never" by After Midnight Project - Used for the North American broadcast.

Ending Theme

"Waratteta" (笑ってた; lit We Were Laughing) by Sukoshi and Yoko Kanno - International and U.S. broadcast

Instrumental of "Chance To Shine" (Remix) - European broadcast

Awards and nominations

Molly Star-Racer (pilot film)

LAEF AWARD - London Animation and Effects Festival 2001

Nominated for Best editing - Imagina Awards 2002

Ōban Star-Racers

Animeland Award of the Best non-Japanese Animation Series of 2006 – Grand Prix Animeland 2007 (awarded by the readers of France's biggest animation/manga magazine, Animeland).

Grand Prix du Divertissement Eurojap Award – Polymanga 2007 (awarded by one of Europe's largest anime convention, Polymanga)

Nominated for Best Animated Series – British Academy Children's Awards 2007 (BAFTA is essentially the UK equivalent of the American OSCARS and Emmies combined)

Media & merchandise

An art book including a presentation of the Ōban universe & characters, as well as an 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.

A vinyl collector figure of Molly (8 inch) has been released by Muttpop in June 2008. Several special limited editions have followed since.

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. The full version of "Waratteta" was included on Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts's album, "Space Bio Charge", released on May 27, 2009.

An Ōban Star-Racers flash based panEuropean multiplayer game was created by Little Loud in 2006 and was a Flash Forward Finalist. A mobile phone game, produced by Sav! The World, was made by award-winning game studio DeValley Entertainment. A PC game developed by Sky Isle Studios, titled Ōban Star-Racers: Chance to Shine, is currently in development. The studio previously released an Ōban Star-Racers-themed game titled Ōban Dreams within the Dreams game creation software for PlayStation 4 on December 4, 2021, which attracted Oban's creator's Attention.

During Ōban Star-Racers's 15th Anniversary event held in Paris on December 4, 2021, Sav! The World announced it would launch a Kickstarter campaign for a region-free Blu-Ray release of the series.

The campaign ran between February 1 and March 8, 2022, meeting its initial target of €30,000 within an hour and raising a total of €377,056 (approximatively 410,000 US dollars).

The blu-rays were released at the beginning of 2023 in both regular and collector editions. Both versions include all 26 episodes restored in their original 1080p, 24 frames per second, 4/3 format (never released until now); 11 original dubs (French 5.1, English 5.1, Japanese, German, Russian, Latin Spanish, Latin Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Turkish and Polish); English and French subtitle, and numerous bonuses. The collector Edition presents the 5 discs in a 5 panel Digipak together with a 120 pages hardcover mini artbook, collector cards and a poster. A limited numbered edition also included additional digital rewards as well as a pin and a collectible 15th anniversary medal.

Home media

Two volumes of French-language DVDs have been released by WildSide Vidéo long with a limited edition full series box set.

In the United Kingdom, the series was released by Liberation Entertainment, and was split into two two-disc DVD sets based on each arc - The Alwas Cycle, released on July 30, 2007, and The Oban Cycle, released in 2008.

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 were made for the US Jetix TV release). The series has also been released on DVD in the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands by other companies.

Possible sequel and spin-off

During a series of Ōban Star-Racers related events at the Japan Tours Festival at the end of February 2017, creator Savin Yeatman-Eiffel indicated he was working on a potential sequel and spin-off with co-director Thomas Romain. In a Twitter post on March 2, 2017, Yeatman-Eiffel later posted concept art showing the characters of Molly and Prince Aikka as young adults.

During Oban's 15th Anniversary Event was held in Paris on December 4, 2021 Savin Yeatman-Eiffel presented for the first time the stories and designs of the sequels currently in development and discussed them with the audience.

A featurette of the 2023 Blu-ray describes in more details the different paths explored by the team.

The secondary objective of the successful Blu-ray Kickstarter campaign launched in February 2022 was to secure funding for more development for these new "Oban related projects" as well as show potential investors the support of the Oban community for these projects.