Line #3 YMMV/ObanStarRacers


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** What does Canaletto mean with his rhetoric of "a world of purity"? He states all life is flawed, but is he referring to his own xenophobic worldview or the idea that life as a whole is amoral and ungrateful of the Avatar's protection? It should also be noted that he chose ''Eva'' of all pilots as a means to achieve his plan. Considering how humans are apparently seen as the weakest species, it's possible Canaletto on some level related to Eva's anger at her own perceived helplessness. His desire for an unchanging world may also suggest he experienced loss and tragedy ''himself'' in the past, and [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery wants to create a new world where that can't happen.]]
3	** Did Spirit recognize Eva during their match at first, or did he only find out when they connected telepathically? It's notable that he was quite vicious before that, as he aggravated Eva into crashing, as he probably would for any random competitor. If so his SingleTear may have been a reaction to [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone unknowingly hurting the daughter of his late opponent Maya Wei]].
4	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The background art for Oban Star Racers is breathtaking and stands as one of the best arguments for why there needs to be more collaborations between the western and eastern animation. The character designs are unique and well done too for both the humanoid characters and the more alien ones.
5	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Jordan Wilde. While many fans see him as a lovable oaf who develops into a genuine hero, others accuse him of being a trigger happy moron with a noticeable sexist streak [[WhatDoesSheSeeInHim who doesn't justify being Eva's love interest.]]
6	* CultClassic: While not as mainstream or well-known as other shows from the era, Oban still has a devoted fanbase and is attracting a larger audience nowadays. The successful Kickstarter to get it a Blu-Ray release cemented that.
7	* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Canaletto]] is a scheming, self-concerned ex-god who [[GambitRoulette orchestrates]] the ruinous events in Eva's life to assure his own return to godhood. Formerly the Avatar, Canaletto embarked on an {{omnicidal\|Maniac}}, planet-destroying crusade to wipe out all life in the galaxy and restart it according to his flawless designs, before being sealed away by the next Avatar Satis. Canaletto patiently and seamlessly [[ManipulativeBastard manipulates events]] in his favor for the next 10,000 years, using Eva as his pawn by causing the accident that killed Eva's mother and fractured the relationship between her and her father, ruining Rick's racing career and murdering his own servant after Rick learns of it, and personally killing Sul to place Eva as the lead of the Oban Cycle. Once he eventually frees himself, Canaletto reduces Oban to a life-deprived desert, before trying to claim the powers of the Avatar. Though Canaletto claims himself as "the Lord of Purity," his definitions of "pure" are twisted, a fact which Satis calls Canaletto out on before Canaletto tortures him to death in fury before moving on to restart his omnicidal agenda. A callous, selfish, and arrogant demon of a deity, Canaletto remorselessly ruins the lives of everyone he manipulates to further his own ascension and spares no pity to the many who ultimately die at his hands.]]
8	* CreepyAwesome: Being a giant Mayan-Deityesque monster with the power to ''obliterate planets'' and the mind of a twisted chessmaster, Canaletto makes for a terrifying and memorable villain.
9	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
10	** Spirit, for his CreepyAwesome abilities, mysterious nature, and genuinely noble side.
11	** [[CatGirl Para-Dice]] is also a fan favorite, despite being a one episode character. Than again,what would you expect for a cute, fun-loving, high-tech cat alien who drives her ship ''with a [[Videogame/DanceDanceRevolution Dance Pad?]]''
12	* EvilIsCool: [[TheAntiGod Canaletto]],[[ProudWarriorRace The Crogs]], and any of the more outright antagonistic alien racers who aren't [[LaughablyEvil Lord Furter]] or [[HateSink Groor.]]
13	* HarsherInHindsight:
14	** The passing of Creator/UnshoIshizuka, Don Wei's Japanese voice actor, is this. One of the most important plotlines of the original series is about Molly/Eva's relationship with her father, but his Japanese voice actor passed away over a year after the announcement of a sequel series potentially being in development.
15	** Prince Aikka and Eva part ways at the end of the series, both hoping to meet again. With the untimely passing of Creator/KirbyMorrow (Aikka's english VA) in 2020, this can feel even sadder. And this came not long after a sequel series with both Eva and Aikka was announced to be in development.
16	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Creator/ColinMurdock mostly does voice work for lighthearted children's fare, such as the title character in the 2015 series of ''WesternAnimation/BobTheBuilder'' and Wiggles the Alligator of ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012''. He was also the hammy Texas accented Quickstrike in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. Here he's the dead-serious, malevolent Canaletto, and his performance is absolutely ''spine-chilling.''
17	* HilariousInHindsight:
18	** At the beginning, when Satis welcomes the Earth Team, Don Wei says he didn't expect the Avatar. The real Avatar? [[spoiler: It's not like it's hard to guess or anything.]]
19	** The show often gets compared to ''Franchise/StarWars'' Podracing. It all comes full circle years later, when WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance has an entire episode that's admitted to be based on Oban, complete with a redhead pilot girl.
20	* MoralEventHorizon:
21	** Canaletto may have crossed this eons ago with his crusade to "purify" the galaxy by destroying whole planets, but the reveal that he murdered Eva's mother solely to manipulate her into being his puppet to free him is just ''so'' despicable on a more personal scale.
22	** President [=McMullen=]'s response to finding out the true "Ultimate Prize". He tells Don Wei to keep Eva in the race so she can become a human avatar, meaning he intends to force a ''15-year old child'' to become a being of pure power and use her as a weapon for human supremacy. His dismissal of Don Wei fearing for his daughter is especially callous. If that isn't enough, he later has Earth's armies violate a ceasefire and nearly plunges humanity into war with the Crogs again, all out of sheer paranoia and pride.
23	* {{Narm}}: The shot of [[MissionControl Don Wei]] running to [[GivingSomeoneThePointerFinger point dramatically at the audience]] in the opening credits looks uncharacteristically silly.
24	* NightmareFuel: The series has quite a few creepy moments.
25	** [[spoiler:Canaletto in general. Everything about him is unsettling from his creepy Mayan deity influenced design to his role as KnightOfCerebus to his demonic sounding voice.]]
26	** Spirit was this due to his unnerving design and creepy theme. Before it was [[spoiler: revealed that he was actually a nice creature all along and attempted to prevent Maya's death]].
27	* OlderThanTheyThink: The show appears to be the concept of "[[Franchise/StarWars Podracing]]" spun out into an anime series, right down to the designs of several of the racers. However, Oban's racers were developed in 1997, two years before ''The Phantom Menace'' came out.
28	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Spirit is introduced as a creepy being who is suspected of having caused the death of Molly's mom. However, it was later revealed that Spirit not only wasn't the culprit of Maya's accident, but that he tried to help her and deeply regrets his inability to save her. With this, you have a character who was thought evil at first but turned out to be honorable, who also could have been a good future recurrent opponent or even ally for Molly and was also aware of the true circumstances behind the death of her mother. However, upon his loss against Aikka in the Alwas cycle, Spirit is promptly forgotten and he's not seen again in the series.
29	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Several of the racers have sympathetic backstories and motivations. In particular Ning and Skun are driven by their love and dreams of rebuilding their world, while Ondai just wants to experience human feelings. In a story of forgiveness and redemption, this could lead them to becoming Eva's allies against Canaletto, but instead their subplots go nowhere, and they're treated as little more than obstacles to the protagonists' goals. The only racer who does help in the finale is O, who is essentially a living prop with very vague backstory and no personality.
30	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Don Wei can come off as this in some regards. His loss was definitely tragic, but that certainly wasn't an excuse to outright abandon his only daughter just because she reminded him too much of Maya. And that's not even getting into his casually sexist attitude and the way he often treats his team, actually firing one of his mechanics [[KickTheDog just because the guy had to miss work while his wife was in labor.]]
31	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Theres a reason it took nearly a decade for this show to be made. The racing scenes have some stunningly well animated cgi that has aged great in comparison to most of the cgi of its time.
32	* TheWoobie: Pretty much ''everyone'' involved in the Great Race(unless they're Canaletto, Kross, Toros, or Groor) is this at some point, especially Eva and Muir. [[TearJerker Yeah, It's one of those shows.]]

Context YMMV / ObanStarRacers