''Crush Gear'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series produced by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

. It aired from October 2001 to January 2003, with 68 episodes. The series is about people throwing mechanical vehicles called "Gears" into a large ring to fight and "crush" one another. The story centers on Kouya Marino, a young boy who loves Crush Gear and dreams of becoming the world champion. A spin-off series, titled ''Crush Gear Nitro'', aired from February 2003 to January 2004.

Plot

Crush Gear is a fictional sport of battling machines that can be customized for maximum impact. Opponents meet at games where they Gear Fight, and the winner is determined when a fighter's Gear is able to push its opponent off the battlefield. ''Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo'' tells the story of Kouya Marino, an eleven-year-old boy who is a member of the Tobita Club, a Japanese Crush Gear team led by his late older brother, Yuhya Marino—the Asian Cup champion who was qualified for the World Cup finals—, who died in a tragic accident four years ago. Kouya's skills are nowhere near his brother's, and is nearly disqualified when he arrived late at the clubhouse for an elimination match. Yuhya's former teammate, Takeshi Manganji quits the team and forms a club of his own, forcing the rest of the members to join his new group, the Manganji Club. As the Tobita Club is facing the threat of extinction, Kouya refuses to give up and comes to inherit a Crush Gear from his late brother, the Garuda Eagle. Kouya must find a way to reinstate the Tobita Club back to its former glory. With the help of his new teammates, he eventually develops his techniques in Gear Fighting and comes to feel that Crush Gear is an important friend, leading him to victory. By recognizing the same feelings in his opponent, he becomes friends even with his rival.

Characters

Main characters

; : :The main protagonist of the series and the captain of the Tobita Club, Kouya is a young Gear Fighter who aims to be the number one in the Crush Gear world. : Naotake Furusato, producer of ''Crush Gear Turbo'', said that the creators "lost a lot of sleep over" trying to name the main character. Furusato credits director Shūji Iuchi 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".Interview Side B
. ''

Sunrise Animation , previously and still famously known as Sunrise Inc., is a Japanese animation studio founded in September 1972 and is based in Ogikubo, Tokyo. Its former names were also Soeisha, Nippon Sunrise and Sunrise Studio. Its primary division, , is re ...

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Tobita Club, Jirou is a former

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher who likes to eat red-bean buns. He is Kouya's closest teammate and friend. Jirou has a crush on the team's deputy owner, Lilika. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Tobita Club, Kyousuke is known as a genius Gear Master, a mechanic with superior skills in tuning, maintaining and customizing Crush Gears. He was Kuroudo's former teammate in Team Griffon. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Tobita Club, Kuroudo is a

kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords ( shinai) as well as protective armor ( bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spre ...

swordsman with an excellent sense of hearing. He was Kyousuke's former teammate in Team Griffon. :Furusato said that Kuroudo's name originates from a samurai in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

. ; : :Kouya's childhood friend and the young manager of the Tobita Club team, Kaoru often provides informations about various Gear Fighters to her teammates. ; : :The leader of the Manganji Club and Kouya's rival, Manganji is a powerful Gear Fighter who comes from a wealthy family that runs their own business company. :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)''" ; : :A key member of the Tobita Club serving as the team's deputy owner, Lilika is managing the group alongside Kaoru and she is watching over the members.

Recurring characters

; : :A genius Gear Fighter and Kouya's deceased older brother, Yuhya was the late former captain of the Tobita Club and the former champion of the Asia Cup tournament. Four years prior to the start of the series, he was killed in an unfortunate accident just before the final match of the World Cup tournament. Yuhya often appears in flashbacks. :Furusato said that Yuhya's name was decided on early in the production. ; : :Kouya and Yuhya's mother, who owns a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-c ...

called La Mére du Marino. ; : :Kouya and Yuhya's father and Marimo's husband. ; : :Manganji's father, who is the president of the Manganji Group corporation. ; : :Manganji's loyal sidekick and a member of the Manganji Club. ; : :Manganji's loyal sidekick and a member of the Manganji Club. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Central Club, a team consisting of Gear Fighters from central Japan. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Central Club team. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Central Club team. ; : :Shingo's younger sister and Kouya's classmate. ; : :A Gear Fighter and former member of the Tobita Club during Yuhya's generation. ; : :A team of mischievous Gear Fighters from the Kansai region, consisting of

quadruplet A multiple birth is the culmination of one multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such bir ...

brothers , , , and . ; : :A

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

player and underground Gear Fighter who is a member of the Mighty Gears, a team by the Manganji Club consisting of Gear Fighters who are excelled in the field of sports. Eddie is Kuroudo's rival. ; : :A

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...

and one of the Gear Fighters of the Mighty Gears team. Taki is Jirou's best friend and former baseball catcher. ; : :An intelligent

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, '' chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and ''janggi''. ''Shōgi ...

(chess) player and one of the Gear Fighters of the Mighty Gears team. Kishin is Kyousuke's arch-nemesis. ; : :A GPX

kart racer Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on ful ...

and one of the Gear Fighters of the Mighty Gears team. ; : :A kendo master from Hokkaido. ; : :A Gear Fighter and the captain of Team Griffon, who is a former teammate of Kuroudo and Kyousuke. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of Team Griffon. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of Team Griffon. ; : :Manganji's grandfather, who is a renowned

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

. ; : :Manganji's trusted bodyguard. ; : :An outgoing, cheerful Gear Fighter and member of the Si Xing Hu Tuan, a team consisting of Chinese Gear Fighters. Wang Hu is Kouya's friend and rival. ; : :A Gear Fighter and the only female member of the Si Xing Hu Tuan team, Lan Fang is Wang Hu's adoptive older sister. She is also Kyousuke's love interest. ; : :The antagonistic coach of the Si Xing Hu Tuan team and Wang Hu's adoptive father, Ming Wu is ambitious, radical, and manipulative. ; : :A Gear Fighter and the captain of the Si Xing Hu Tuan team. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Si Xing Hu Tuan team. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Manganji Dreams, an elite team by the Manganji Club consisting of gifted Gear Fighters with special training from the Manganji Laboratory. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Manganji Dreams team, who is Rin's twin brother. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Manganji Dreams team, who is Rai's twin sister. ; : :A Gear Fighter and former member of the Tobita Club during Yuhya's generation. Alex is a Gear Master who is Jirou's friend. ; : :A young Hollywood movie star and the arrogant Gear Fighter of the Star Brad team. ; : :A Gear Fighter and the captain of the Euro Griffon team, Gallen is a strict coach whose training methods pushes the team members too hard. ; : :The current

chairwoman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

of the Gear Fight Association (GFA). ; : :A mysterious Gear Fighter and member of Quo Vadis, a team consisting of Brazilian Gear Fighters. ; : :The founder and coach of Quo Vadis team and Lilika's father. He was originally the founder and former owner of the Tobita Club during Yuhya's generation. ; : :A 22-year-old Gear Master who befriended Kouya in San Francisco. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Shane is Gina Firestein's older brother and the legendary Gear God. ; : :A Gear Fighter who participated in Gear Pancratium, an illegal underground competition that focuses on the destruction of Crush Gears in battle. ; : :A gifted Gear Fighter and former champion of the Europe Cup tournament, Heinrich was a former member of the Weiss Ritters, a team consisting of German Gear Fighters. Four years prior to the start of the series, he quit Gear Fighting after the untimely death of his rival, Yuhya Marino in the day of the World Cup finals match.

Other characters

; : :An arrogant member of the Manganji Club. ; :A

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative t ...

at the zoo where the father of Nagidori siblings works. Q knows how to play Gear Fighting. ; : :Kaoru's uncle, who lives in Hokkaido. ; : :The host of the Illusion Cup tournament. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of Club 4649 (Yoroshiku). ; : :A Gear Fighter and the captain of Pink Lips, a team consisting of all-female members. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Pink Lips team. ; : :A female Crush Gear sportscaster. ; : :The official mascot of the Gear Fight Association. ; : :A South Korean Gear Fighter and member of Team Kim, who is Yong-sun's younger brother. ; : :The coach of Team Kim and Yong-dae's older brother. Four years prior to the start of the series, Yong-sun was the opponent of Yuhya Marino in the finals of the Asia Cup tournament for 23 rounds. ; : :A Singaporean Gear Fighter and member of Team Kemenangan. ; : :The founder and former chairman of the Gear Fight Association (GFA), who is Shane and Gina's father. ; : :A member of the Star Brad team and Brad's friend. ; : :The host of the Crush Gear World Cup tournament. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Weiss Ritters team. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Weiss Ritters team. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Weiss Ritters team, who is Michael's older brother. ; : :A Gear Fighter and member of the Weiss Ritters team, who is Rudolf's younger brother. ; : :An Egyptian Gear Fighter and member of the Heliopolis team. ; : :The host of the illegal Gear Pancratium competition. ; : :An old mechanic who lives in the woods of

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is ...

with a pet dog called Zeus. Richard is Shane and Gina's grandfather. ; : :Heinrich's personal maid.

Film-only characters

; : :Also known as the , Jake is Manganji's old friend who is the son of the owner of the Groundstein Group, a rival company of the Manganji Group. He is responsible for stealing and using Kaiservern, the first Crush Gear created in the world. ; : :A mysterious man at the GFA headquarters who holds a golden front weapon, Goldblade.

Production

Planning for ''Crush Gear Turbo'' began in March 2001, with intent to begin airing in October 2001. Naotake Furusato, 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 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 is a mecha multimedia franchise originally created by Sunrise and Red Entertainment. The first series aired on April 15, 1988, replacing the 17:00–17:30 timeslot used for '' Transformers: The Headmasters''. Sunrise credited "Hajim ...

'' in the formation of ''Crush Gear Turbo''.Interview Side A
. ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009. 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 989-2019"

Kyojin no Hoshi is a Japanese sports manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Noboru Kawasaki. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1966 to 1971. It is about the actual baseball team Yomiuri Giants using fic ...

" 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".

Media

Anime

''Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo'', directed by Shūji Iuchi and produced by

's internal "Studio 10" division alongside Tokyu Agency, premiered in Japan on October 7, 2001, and concluded on January 26, 2003, after 68 episodes on

Nagoya TV JOLX-DTV, virtual channel 6 (UHF digital channel 22), branded as is the Chūbu region flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network, owned by the , with its headquarters in Nagoya. It is broadcast in Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, and ...

and

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...

. Atsuo Tobe is the character designer for the anime series, with

Shinji Aramaki is a Japanese anime director and mechanical designer from Fukuoka Prefecture. He graduated from Fukuoka Prefectural Fukuoka High School and Okayama University. He was a member of Artmic and is currently the Chief Creative Officer (CCO) at SOL ...

, Susumu Imaishi and Mitsuru Owa as the mechanical art designers. The musical score is composed by Kenichi Sudo and Yogo Kono. The series features two pieces of theme music and one insert song, all performed by

JAM Project JAM Project ("JAM" standing for "Japan Animationsong Makers") are a Japanese anison band founded on July 19, 2000 by anison singer Ichirou Mizuki. The band is composed of many vocal artists well known in the anime music industry. Aside from the m ...

: the opening theme is "Crush Gear Fight!!", and the ending theme is , while the insert theme is featuring

Hironobu Kageyama is a Japanese singer and composer prominent in the soundtracks for anime, video game and tokusatsu productions. He is sometimes called Kami (Kei) by his fans. Kageyama got his big break at age 16, as lead singer of the rock band Lazy. By the ea ...

. The Filipino dub of the series was premiered in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in April 2003, on

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

Film

is a 20-minute

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

that was released in Japan on July 20, 2002, as part of Toei Animation Summer 2002 Animation Fair. In this movie, Kouya and Manganji team up against a Gear Emperor who is controlling the world's first gear, Kaiservern.

performed two pieces of theme music: the insert song is "Get Up Crush Fighter!", and the ending theme is "Alright now! (Movie Re-mix ver.)" featuring

Rika Matsumoto is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer who was born in Yokohama, Japan. Her name is also sometimes romanized as Rica Matsumoto. She was one of the founders of the anison band JAM Project. After early stage work, she began both voice ac ...

Manga

The

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

adaptation is illustrated by Hisashi Matsumoto. The manga version featured original elements and unique developments, and the Gear Fighting is slightly more realistic than in the anime. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', '' Afternoon'', '' Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' ...

's magazine, ''

Comic BomBom was a monthly Japanese children's manga magazine published by Kodansha. It was first published on October 15, 1981, and ceased publication in 2007. A web version of the magazine has been published on Pixiv Comic since the end of July 2017. Simi ...

'' from October 2001 to January 2003, and released in ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' (book) format in four volumes from February 2002 to March 2003. The manga also included three bonus chapters. The English-language version was licensed in Singapore by Chuang Yi.

Volume list

Video games

Two video games have been produced based on the series, both published by

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine ...

and released only in Japan. The

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

version of ''Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo'' was first released on July 25, 2002. ''Gekitou! Crush Gear Turbo: Gear Champion League'' was released for

WonderSwan Color The (ワンダースワン) is a handheld game console released in Japan by Bandai. It was developed by Gunpei Yokoi's company Koto Laboratory and Bandai, and was the last piece of hardware Yokoi developed before his death in 1997. Released ...

on August 10, 2002.

DVD release

In Australia, the English dub of ''Crush Gear Turbo'' was released by

Magna Pacific Magna Home Entertainment was an independent home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand. As of February 2009, Magna Home Entertainment became a fully owned subsidia ...

. Volumes one and two of the series were released on July 1, 2004;CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 1 DVD
". ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 2 DVD
". ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009. volumes three and four were released on September 8, 2004;CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 3 DVD
". ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 4 DVD
". ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009. volume five was released on October 6, 2004;CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 5 DVD
". ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009. volume six was released on November 10, 2004;CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 6 DVD
". ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009. and volume seven was released on January 19, 2005.CRUSH GEAR TURBO VOLUME 7 DVD
". ''

''. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.

References

External links

Sunrise's official website for ''Crush Gear Turbo''

Sunrise's official website for ''Crush Gear Turbo''

Sunrise's official website for ''Crush Gear Turbo the Movie: Kaiservern's Ultimate Challenge''

Sunrise's official website for ''Crush Gear Turbo the Movie: Kaiservern's Ultimate Challenge''
*
Animax's official website for ''Crush Gear Turbo''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crush Gear 2001 anime television series debuts 2001 manga 2003 anime television series debuts 2003 comics endings ABS-CBN original programming Animax original programming Animated television series about children Anime with original screenplays Bandai Namco franchises Children's manga Comedy anime and manga Comics based on toys Fictional motorsports in anime and manga Japanese children's animated action television series Japanese children's animated science fantasy television series Japanese children's animated sports television series Shōnen manga Sunrise (company)