History Anime / SpeedRacer

* PopTheTires: Attempted on the Mammoth car. [[spoiler: It has so many tires that it didn't have any effect.]]

* FantasticDrug: The car with the GRX engine from "The Fastest Car in the World" is treated as such, with Speed apparently getting high from going so fast, and later experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

* CaveBehindTheFalls: The episode "Girls Daredevil" shows that there is a secret cave behind Niagara Falls, filled with gold.

%%* LargeHam: SWEET JE-SUS.

%%* ProtagonistTitle

%%* SloMoBigAir

%%* SpeedStripes

* Bowdlerise: Surprisingly averted for the most part in the English dub. Despite airing in UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation, when MoralGuardians held absurd power over animation studios, ''Speed Racer'' still had most of the dark elements of ''Mach Go Go Go'', including physical fighting, gunfire, explosions, and even characters being killed.

* JackieRobinsonStory: This was the plot for the first two episodes. Speed wants to be a professional racer, but Pops doesn't want him to, mainly because he think he's needs a lot of practice, and doesn't want him to act like Rex. Eventually, Pops lets Speed be one after "The Mysterious Masked Racer" after Trixie and Sparky convinced him.

''Speed Racer'' is remembered by Americans for its goofy character designs, limited animation and a ''very'' low-quality English localization, courtesy of Trans-Lux and Zavala-Riss Productions, as well as its memorable characters and over-the-top sensibilities. The show is both fondly remembered and reviled by many anime fans not for introducing anime to a wider audience, but for coloring its general image at the time. Speed's effeminate look, the way the dubbing actors have to race through the dialogue and narration to fit in all the exposition, and the long sequences without movement all combine to create a style that defined not only this show, but the view of [[AnimationAgeGhetto anime in general for generations of Americans]].

%%* EpicRace

** "Race for Revenge" has the show's first explicit on-screen death. The arc's antagonist Flash Marker [[LaserGuidedKarma accidentally crashes his helicopter in the process of getting his misguided revenge on the Three Roses Club for crashing his and his sister Lily's father]], and when Lily along with the Racer family examine the wreckage, it's all but stated that [[KilledOffForReal he's dead.]]

* LightIsGood: TheHero races in the white-racecar, the March 5.

** Every car in the Car Acrobatic Team sprouts little wings that let it stay airborne longer when making a jump.

* ChickMagnet: Speed.

* ManOfAThousandVoices: The dub cast was made up of four people (one of which--Peter Fernandez--is uncredited for his voice acting role. The studio would only spring for three actors so writer/director Fernandez threw in his voice for free).
* MotorMouth: The dub is infamous for turning almost ''everyone'' into this. Whenever somebody does a Speed Racer parody, this is always a necessary component. Though this helps as the series is about racing.

As of late 2016, the series can be viewed on Creator/{{Hulu}}.

* TheScrooge: Baron von Vondervon.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The episode "The Car Hater" features Mr. Trotter, a father who reacts to losing his son in a car crash by [[EvilLuddite deciding cars are so dangerous they should all be destroyed]]. He then proceeds to interrupt a race by riding his horse into the track and hires a bunch of goons to sabotage cars throughout the city in an attempt to prove his point. It isn't until his daughter is almost killed in one of the sabotaged cars and the Mach 5 being the only immediate means of transport to help her to the hospital that Mr. Trotter realizes that he messed up big time.

* AdaptationInducedPlothole: At the beginning of every episode there's a weird unexplained five-second freeze frame; this was where the original version included its title cards, while the American version included its own between the theme song and the episode itself.