ying_ko_4

A two volume box set reprinting the original manga series as created and drawn by Tatsuo Yoshisa.  The packaging is very nice, two hardcover books printed from left to right, in a slip covered box.  The art work was restored, or most of it was.  There are places where the digital reconstruction wasn't done very well.  I'm guessing that was in places that were colored at one point.  Most manga is printed in B&W, with only a few pages of color at the beginning of a story, or two tone printing.  The first story has some color, then is B&W for the rest of the series.  The Japanese covers are included from the 2000 collections as they were originally issued in their native country.

The series itself is a bit different from the TV show as the focus is much more on Speed Racer than the Racer family like the TV show.  Their is also more violence than the US viewers remember, as Speed is quite the fighter.  Racer X turns out to be working with the police,  We see very little of Spritle or Chim-Chim as well.  The Americanized names we are all familiar with were retained in this edition.   Even though they have little to do with the Japanese version of the same characters.  (for more information about that, click here...)  So, while we get the stories as they originally appeared, they have the nostalgic Americanized names.  I'd bet it's to capitalize on the Adults who watched the series more than kids today who read manga.

Ah...the stories.  What can I say about them?  They were created to generate interest in the TV series, and they are middling at best.  The art is servicable, and even recycled in one instance.  Seven pages, dialogue and all to be exact!  Continuity is not apparent, as the stories just sort of leap about.  Racer X comes and goes, get introduced in the same way both times (the recycled pages) and the quality of the stories never rises about adequate.  Truly disposable entertainment.  Without the phenomenon that is Speed Racer, this series would be forgettable and forgotten.  And it's just that phenomenon that makes this collection worth buying and reading, or at least reading.  Fun, but not great.  Seeing a B level manga from that era alone is worth the cost of admission as most manga that comes over here is the cream of the crop.  There is so much that we just don't see, and that's probably a good thing.