Trivia / Dash! Yonkuro

• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The series was quite popular in Malaysia in the mid-90s as it received a decent dub (the original Dash! Yonkuro ran from start to finish- an impressive feat given the fact that Malaysian TV stations like screwing most anime and western animation series alike over). This was probably because the show was sponsored by the local Tamiya distributor, who also aggressively marketed the Mini 4WD models in hobbyist stores, toy shops and even bookstores in the country- which resulted in the toy line having a cult status among grade school students of the time. They even worked out deals with schools to hold tournaments and sales on school grounds during school breaks and special days like the annual school carnival. Unfortunately, the sequels were completely skipped over in favor of Bakusou Kyoudai! Let's & Go!!, which did prolong the interests in Mini 4WD cars until the the start of The New '10s, but caused the distributor to reduce the importation of Dash! Models in favor of Let's & Go ones.
• No Export for You:
  • Both manga and the TV anime adaptation barely, if ever, saw a release outside Asia. This also applies to the ongoing Hyper Dash! Yonkuro manga.
  • Because it contain the word 'God' in its name, the God Burning Sun Mini 4WD car was never imported by Tamiya USA in the US possibly in a similar vein to Nintendo's Hays Code-esque content guidelines, with third-party importers picking up the slack.
• Outlived Its Creator: With Hyper Dash! Yonkuro, the late Zaurus Tokuda is credited as the original creator, while Hiroyuki Takei writes the manga.
• Schedule Slip:
  • On January 28, 1992, Zaurus Tokuda suddenly fell severely ill and was hospitalized. He was unconscious for the next 35 days, and is in critical conditions for the first 20 days. He later get recovered (but with his left leg paralysed) and resumes his work on Dash! Yonkuro on May 5 of the same year.
  • Hiroyuki Takei had once fell sick and take a medical hiatus for about 8 months. This not only affect serialization of Hyper Dash! Yonkuro, but also the serialization of Shaman King The Super Star as well.
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to the semi-biographical manga short Dear Zaurus Tokuda, Hiroyuki Takei, who is still a middle-schooler at that time, submitted his Mini 4WD design to a design contest that was held in Coro Coro Comic magazine. While Zaurus Tokuda doesn't use Takei's design for Yonkuro Hinomaru's machine, he found it very interesting, so he ask Takei to use his design as Shinkuro Minami's machine. After the clean-up by Tokuda, it become the Dash-3 Shooting Star everyone knows.
  • Originally the Burning God Sun (Tankuro's car in Hyper Dash! Yonkuro) mini 4wd car was going to be release under its original name, but Tamiya couldn't due to possible trademark problem with said name so they release it under the name of God Burning Sun.