Crush Gear Turbo

Crush Gear Turbo (Japanese: 激闘!クラッシュギアTURBO, Hepburn: Gekitō! Kurasshugia Tābo), also known just as Crush Gear, is an anime and manga series about people who throw mechanical vehicles into a large ring to fight and "crush" each other. The 68-episode anime series produced by Sunrise aired across Japan on Animax from October 7, 2001 to January 26, 2003. Magna Pacific released Crush Gear Turbo dubbed in English in Australia.[1] It was followed on by a spin-off series, Crush Gear Nitro, which has also been aired across Japan by Animax.

Crush Gear Turbo
Logo from show opening
激闘!クラッシュギアTURBO
(Gekito! Crush Gear Turbo)
Anime television series
Directed byShūji Iuchi
StudioSunrise
Original networkAnimax, NBN, TV Asahi
Original run October 7, 2001 – January 26, 2003
Episodes68
Anime film
Gekito! Crush Gear Turbo – Kaizerburn no Chousen!
Directed byNobuhiro Kondou
StudioSunrise
ReleasedJuly 20, 2002
Anime television series
Crush Gear Nitro
Directed byTetsurō Amino
StudioSunrise
Original networkAnimax, NBN, TV Asahi
Original run February 2, 2003 – January 25, 2004
Episodes50

In the Philippines, Crush Gear Turbo was dubbed in Filipino and originally premiered on ABS-CBN in April 2003. The anime was also aired on Cartoon Network Philippines with an English dub.

The manga was published in English by Chuang Yi.

Plot

The story revolves around Kouya Marino, a fifth grade boy who loves Gear Fighting. His older brother, Yuhya Marino happens to be the Asia Cup Gear Fighter Champion and is qualified in the World Cup tournament when he died four years ago because of an accident.

Kouya's skills are nowhere near his brother's, and is nearly disqualified after arriving late for an elimination match in the Tobita Club. Most of the team members shift into the Manganji Club – a team created by the club's former member, Takeshi Manganji – causing his brother's Crush Gear club facing the threat of extinction from the rival team.

Refusing to give up, Kouya offers up a challenge to Takeshi. Kouya has to find a way to reinstate the club back to its former glory.

Characters
  • Kouya Marino (真理野 コウヤ, Marino Kouya) – Megumi Matsumoto
    • Naotake Furusato, the producer of Crush Gear Turbo, said that the creators "lost a lot of sleep over" trying to name the main character. Furusato credits Shūji Iuchi, the director, with the final naming. The creators decided to use "Kouya" as the name "had a ring to it like brothers would have and that made it kind of realistic" and that the name literally means "wilderness" and "sounded right for a main character". Furusato added that the name "Kouya" made him want to see the character "grow up big and strong".[2]
  • Takeshi Manganji (万願寺 タケシ, Manganji Takeshi) – Akira Sasanuma
    • Furusato described the name "Manganji" as having "an image of wealth" – He added that "Japanese people are suckers for names that end in "ji"! (laughs)"[2]
  • Jirou Oriza (織座 ジロウ, Oriza Jirou) – Masato Amada
  • Kyousuke Jin (迅 キョウスケ, Jin Kyousuke) – Chika Sakamoto
  • Kuroudo Marume (丸目 クロウド, Marume Kuroudo) – Naomi Shindoh
    • Furusato said that the name originates from a samurai in the Edo period.[2]
  • Kaoru Hanano (華野 カオル, Hanano Kaoru)- Akemi Kanda
  • Lilika Tobita (飛田 リリカ, Tobita Ririka) – Michiko Neya
  • Yuhya Marino (真理野 ユウヤ, Marino Yuuya) – Kenji Nojima
    • Furusato said that Yuya's name was decided on early in the production.[2]
  • Shinnosuke Gomano (胡麻野 シンノスケ, Gomano Shin'nosuke) – Kanako Tateno
  • Daikichi Momita (揉田 ダイキチ, Momita Daikichi) – Mika Matsuoka
  • Eddie Kobayashi (エディ小林, Edi Kobayashi) – Kousuke Okano
  • Kishin Ōkawa (大川 キシン, Ōkawa Kishin) – Makiko Ohmoto
  • Taki Hiroomi (滝ヒロオミ) – Yuu Asakawa
  • Mitsuki Ohmori (大森 ミツキ, Ōmori Mitsuki) – Yumi Kakazu
  • Wang Hu[3] (王虎, Wan Fū) – Sayaka Aida
  • Lan Fang (蘭芳, Ranfang) – Akiko Nakagawa
  • Ming Wu (明呉, Min Ū) – Hidenari Ugaki
  • Ma Liang (馬良, Māryan) – Takehiro Murozono
  • Li Chun (李春, Rīchun) – Kanako Tateno
  • Dan Midou (御堂 ダン, Midō Dan) – Hiroki Takahashi
  • Rai Shinomiya (篠宮 ライ, Shinomiya Rai) – Takayuki Yamaguchi
  • Rin Shinomiya (篠宮 リン, Shinomiya Rin) – Kanako Tateno
  • Carlos Ferrein (カルロス・フェラン, Karurosu Ferran) – Omi Minami
  • Takaya Tobita (飛田 タカヤ, Tobita Takaya) – Hitoshi Bifu
  • Marimo Marino (真理野 マリモ, Marino Marimo) – Chiharu Tezuka
  • Tateo Marino (真理野 タテオ, Marino Tateo) – Ken Narita
  • Fuuko Nagidori (凪鳥 フウコ, Nagidori Fūko) – Sanae Kobayashi
  • Shingo Nagidori (凪鳥 シンゴ, Nagidori Shingo) – Tomohiro Tsuboi
  • Alex Borg (アレックス・ボーグ, Arekkusu Bōgu) – Hiroaki Ishikawa
  • Gina Firestein (ジーナ・ファイアスティン, Jīna Faiasutein) – Akiko Nakagawa
  • Shane Firestein (シェーン・ファイアスティン, Shēn Faiasutein) – Tetsuya Iwanaga
  • Heinrich Gang (ハインリッヒ・ガンク, Hainrihhi Ganku) – Yōko Matsuoka

Staff
  • Director – Shūji Iuchi
  • Series Writer – Fuyunori Gobu, Shūji Iuchi, Hiroaki Kitajima, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Noboru Kimura, Shin Yoshida, Shino Hakata
  • Character Design – Atsuo Tobe
  • Mecha Designer – Kunio Okawara & Kimitoshi Yamane
  • Music Composer – JAM Project, Kenichi Sudo, Yogo Kono

Theme songs
  • "CRUSH GEAR FIGHT!!" by JAM Project
  • "Ai da yo ne!! ~Gear wo tsunagou~" by JAM Project
  • "Kaze no EAGLE" by JAM Project

Production

Planning for Crush Gear Turbo began in March 2001, with intent to begin airing in October 2001. Naotake Furusato, the producer of Crush Gear Turbo, received a toy car prototype that used two AA batteries and a motor. The toy car operated in circles instead of straight lines, and operators could cause them to collide with one another. Furusato used this concept to develop Crush Gear Turbo. According to Furusato the show was the first Sunrise production to "genuinely adopt the use of 3D graphics". Furusato added that the 3D rendering allowed the animators to "brilliantly express the stage presence of the Gear Fights" and incorporate effects not in real-life toy gears such as fireworks and smoke. According to Furusato 3D Production Chief Mitsuo Fukuda (福田 己津央, Fukuda Mitsuo) told Furusato that, because there are some elements that may only be expressed in 3D, the series ought to use 3D "to full effect". Furusato concluded that this caused the battle scenes to appear "a little bit unique". Furusato credited the customization and element attributes in each gear to Sunrise's "already well-established know-how". In addition the producer credited his own experience on Gear Fighter Dendoh and director Shūji Iuchi's experience on Mashin Hero Wataru in the formation of Crush Gear Turbo.[4]

Furusato intended for the creators of the series to "encourage children to think and place on value on things like friendship and trust in others" and for the series to express deepening human relationships. He added that the series "got kind of a Heisei Era [1989-2019] "Kyojin no Hoshi" and "Ashita no Joe" feeling to it" and that the current generation of children "are fundamentally a more cheerful lot and go in for a bit of a slapstick flavor".[4]

Media

Anime
See also: List of Crush Gear Turbo episodes and List of Crush Gear Nitro episodes

DVD release

In Australia Volumes 1–2 were released on 1 July 2004.[1][5] Volumes 3 and 4 were released on 8 September 2004.[6][7] Volume 5 was released on 6 October 2004.[8] Volume 6 was released on 10 November 2004[9] Volume 7 was released on 19 January 2005.[3]

References
  1. "CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 1 DVD Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine". Magna Pacific. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  2. "Interview Side B". Sunrise Animation. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  3. "CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 7 DVD Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine". Magna Pacific. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  4. "Interview Side A". Sunrise Animation. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  5. "CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 2 DVD Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine". Magna Pacific. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  6. "CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 3 DVD Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine". Magna Pacific. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  7. "CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 4 DVD Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine". Magna Pacific. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  8. "CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 5 DVD Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine". Magna Pacific. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
  9. "CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 6 DVD Archived 2009-02-08 at the Wayback Machine". Magna Pacific. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.
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