"In the year 2049, the Immortal Grand Prix has become the biggest sport in the world..."
In this anime drama, Team Satomi is suddenly promoted to the major leagues after a lucky win in the minor leagues’ championship. The team consists of Takeshi Jin, a rookie hotshot, Amy Stapleton, who at thirteen is a prodigy, and who is techno-telepathically linked to her creme-and-red van cat co-pilot Luca, and Liz Ricarro, a hotheaded martial artist. They are coached in racing and at life by Andrei Rublev, a retired IGPX pilot.
The sport IGPX combines car racing with old-fashioned roller-derby, via teams consisting of three
Humongous Mecha and their pilots. Race courses are 60 miles in length, with much of that length suspended hundreds of feet in the air in loops, tunnels, turns, and diverted side-tracks. Traveling at around 350mph (565kph), the teams consisting of a forward, a mid fielder, and a defender actually use their mecha to disable or slow down the mecha of the other team.
Originally rejected as a series when pitched to Cartoon Network, the Microseries was released in 2003 as a replacement in Toonami's Total Immersion Event.
Ratings were high enough, and viewer response good enough, that it was picked up as a 13-episode series airing in 2005. A second series began airing in 2006, but got moved to Friday at midnight instead of their regular time which was on Saturdays at 10:30.
- The Ace: Takeshi's hero, an enigmatic pilot from decades back called "The Rocket," although since his personality is never explored in this time frame, he might not necessarily qualify. Later, it turns out The Rocket is team coach, Andrei Rublev, who is allowed to prove his past as The Rocket after Amy is injured in an on-course incident and Andrei steps up to take her place temporarily.
- Ace Pilot: See The Ace, although pretty much all the teams would qualify as one type of Ace Pilot or another.
- Alternate Continuity: In the original IGPX Microseries, the IGPX was a three-against-three armed mecha battle, not a race. Takeshi Noa was a pilot for Team Suzaku.
- Anime First
- Character Exaggeration
- Chick Magnet: Takashi, if how the girls from other teams act toward him are any indication. He even hooks up with Skylark's leader, Fantine.
- Combat Commentator: Benjamin Bright is the announcer for the IGPX races, notable mainly for being almost a caricature in both personality and the style in which he’s drawn.
- Combining Mecha: Team White Snow's "Operation Snowman."
- Conspicuous CG: Though expertly cel-shaded, scenes of the race are computer-generated.
- Dark Skinned Redhead: Liz Ricarro, though her hair is a darker red than most.
- False Camera Effects: Especially Lens Flare.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: Jesse and Liz look like they can cook, but a few accidents ruins their preparation. Two scenes later though, they seem to have put it all together nicely.
- Gratuitous French: Done by Fantine, along with an accent this troper can't place. But hey, in Real Life, Karen Strassman really does know how to speak French.
- Heel Face Turn: Halfway through the series, an underhanded team called Team White Snow is introduced and presented as the obligatory villains of the rest of the series until its very end, where it's revealed that White Snow's leader only admired Team Satomi and did what she did to see if the then-rookie team, now defending champ in its sophomore season, really was deserving of its champion status.
- It's one massive Wall Banger if that's the case, considering the stuff they did while supposedly admiring them. I mean, Kimi Räikkönen's fans wouldn't sabotage his ride and beat the shit out of his pit crew just to see if he could still win despite a disadvantage. No wonder many fans hate White Snow's guts.
- Heir To The Dojo: Mark the mechanic is actually the heir to a conglomerate.
- Hey Its That Voice: Other than the presence of well-known V As pervading the dub, Haley Joel Osment is Takashi, Michelle Rodriguez is Liz, Mark Hamill is Yamma and Tom Kenny (aka Spongebob Squarepants) is announcer Benjamin Bright.
- Les Yay: Just a bit between Amy and Liz, especially in one scene in the second season that looked kinda like they were going to kiss.
- Lonely At The Top: Cunningham was blessed with talent that allowed him to become practically a God Mode Sue, but he found no contentment with being at the top so easily and without challenge.
- The Man Behind The Man: Zanak isn't White Snow's leader, it's Max.
- Multinational Team: Though in the American version, the various members of Team Satomi speak perfect American English, they are in fact from all over the world. Takeshi, Mark and Michiru are Japanese, Amy is Irish, Liz is Puerto Rican, Andrei is Russian; Luca is, of course, a domestic shorthair.
- The Power Of Friendship: Discussed and played straight. Especially with Liz and Amy.
- The Rival: Cunningham and River to Takashi. Also, Sola to Luca.
- Scenery Porn: Almost anything that isn't a race has massive amounts of scenery porn.
- Screw The Rules, I Have Plot!: Subverted; in two separate cases a team had a certain technique banned for being stupidly overpowered and incredibly dangerous.
- Team Pet: Luca for Team Satomi and Sola for Team Edgeraid.
- Team Shot
- Team Spirit
- Teen Genius: Max
- Tournament Arc
- Wall Banger: So White Snow did all of their cheating and sabotage because they were fans of Team Satomi? C'mon! What kind of a fan would so such a thing?! And how are some of their more overt cheats not noticed? The Puppeteer isn't exactly a subtle attack! And their glee in taking their underhanded wins don't really convince viewers of the sincerity of their actually being fans.
