If you recall, some time ago, Cartoon Network announced plans to begin co-producing original anime series with some of the top production companies and animation studios in Japan. Cartoon Network wanted to take a more active role in the creation of new series due to the fact that anime has become a huge chunk of the network’s success. The goal was to create quality anime series that would premiere new episodes almost simultaneously on Japanese and American television. When Immortal Grand Prix (IGPX) premiered in October 2005 on TV Asahi in Japan and November 2005 on Cartoon Network’s Toonami in the United States, it marked the beginning of a new era of anime not just in America, but worldwide.

IGPX is the first of these Cartoon Network endeavors. Cartoon Network has teamed up with Production I.G and Bandai Entertainment to create this new anime series. Production I.G is one of the top Japanese animation studios, and known for their many successful anime series and movies. You might know their work from “Ghost in the Shell,” “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex,” “Neon Genesis Evangelion,” and “FLCL.” With a resume such as theirs, it is obvious that Cartoon Network has made a wise decision by choosing to work with Production I.G on this project. The series is directed by Mitsuru Hongo, who has also directed “Outlaw Star” and “Pilot Candidate.” Going into the project, Hongo brought with him a huge feeling of optimism needed for a project of this scale. This is the second time that Cartoon Network and Production I.G teamed up. The first time they worked together was during the microseries that has become the predecessor to IGPX. The IGPX microseries premiered on Cartoon Network back in summer 2003, and was a collection of five 5-minute long shorts. The new IGPX series takes some of the racing elements of the microseries, but it is a completely new series with new characters, a new story and setting.

The new series takes place in the distant future in the year 2049. The Immortal Grand Prix has become the world’s most popular sport, and an entire city, named IGPX City, has been built to host the competitions. The competitions take place on a huge, 60-mile track called “The Big Eye.” Each race is three laps long, and contested between two separate teams. Each team fields three pilots in their three individual Mechs, one forward, one midfielder, and one defender. The Mechs travel at speeds greater than 350 mph around the track, and the idea is to have more individual top-finishers than the opposing team. Points are awarded dependent on the individual pilot’s final placing in the race. The points are then tallied for each team, and the team with more points wins the race. The Immortal Grand Prix is divided into different circuits with the professional circuit called the IG-1. The other circuits act as minor leagues for the IG-1. Teams can qualify for the IG-1 by advancing through the lower circuits.

The story follows Team Satomi and their quest to win the IG-1 circuit championship. Team Satomi has just won the IG-2 championship, which is a minor league to the major IG-1 circuit. As a result of winning the IG-2, Team Satomi has qualified to compete on the big stage of the IG-1 circuit, and must now face-off against the most skilled and ruthless pilots in the world. Experts and fans view the team as young and up-and-coming, and they are led by their manager Michiru Satomi. She acts mostly as the inspirational leader of the team, and the coach Andre Rublev acts as the tactician. The major players on the team are Takeshi Jin, Liz Ricarro, and Amy Stapleton. These three make-up the starting lineup for Team Satomi.

Takeshi is the starting forward, and considered by many to be the newest phenom in the sport. He has a lot of natural talent as a pilot, but lacks the tactical background needed to become one of the best in the world. The constant praises from fans and experts give Takeshi quite a large ego, and as a result, he continually disobeys his teammates during races. He fails miserably in the teamwork category, and has an on-going rivalry with fellow teammate and backup forward River Marque. Now, don’t take this the wrong way, Takeshi is still a loveable character, and through guidance from Team Satomi’s head engineer, Mark Ramsey, he is working hard to become a better pilot.

Liz Ricarro is the starting midfielder, and has a tough as nails personality. Liz doesn’t take shit from anybody, and this becomes evident immediately in episode one of the series. She isn’t the most talented person on the team, but she is probably the most determined of the group. Through her will and determination, the team gets through some tough times and overcomes some tough opponents. She does have a bit of a hot temper, and frequently gets frustrated with Takeshi’s selfishness and lack of work ethic. The two of them quarrel often, and it is up to the other members of Team Satomi to calm them down. Though Takeshi and Liz have their fair share of disagreements, they are still loyal teammates and friends. Liz appears to be developing a crush for Takeshi, which I am sure will develop further as the series continues.

The final member of the Team Satomi starting lineup is defender Amy Stapleton. Amy was always a neglected child growing up, as her parents were work-a-holics. As a result of having a secluded childhood, Amy found salvation in performing well in school and her best friend Luca. However, Luca is not human; he is a cybernetically enhanced cat that communicates with Amy. When Amy pilots a Mech during an IGPX race, Luca aids her in the cockpit. The two make a great team, as they are both tactical geniuses. Luca will often make suggestions during the race to help Team Satomi, and the suggestions usually pay off. Amy’s excellent schooling background makes her the perfect candidate to be the brains of the team. She spends most of her time studying opposing teams’ tactics, and looking for ways to help Team Satomi improve their execution out on the track. Although she is very soft-spoken, she is the glue holding together the starting lineup.

The IG-1 consists of six teams with each of their own unique collection of characters. Besides Team Satomi, there are five other teams from all over the globe. Each team is labeled by their own individual set of racing tactics. The reigning IG-1 champions are Team Velshtein, known for their superior racing abilities and the best pilot in the world, Cunningham Hume. Cunningham is extremely arrogant and talks a lot of trash, but he always backs up his trash talking on race day. The ruthless aggressive team that also appeared in the microseries is Team Sledgemama. They are led by Yamma, an old school styled pilot that loves to physically brutalize his opponents. Team Black Egg from Argentina uses an ultra-defensive racing style, and lives by the motto “the best offense is a good defense.” The Team Skylark of France and Team Edgeraid of Switzerland round out the remaining teams in the IG-1. The different personalities amongst the teams makes for very interesting races filled with much drama.

Though the series is essentially a sports racing anime, it leans heavily on the interactions between the characters. The story allows the members of Team Satomi to develop as individuals and a group. While some of the development is on the track, most of it is off the track as a team and learning to trust each other before going into battle together as a team. Though the story seems to be pretty basic at the moment, the focus on the characters gives me hope that the story will become more interesting as the series progresses. The writers took the time to develop the main characters very well in the first handful of episodes, and usually the story begins to move forward quickly after a solid character development.

Even if the writers put together an earth-shattering script with characters that rival Shakespeare’s, it would all go to waste without good voice acting to bring the writing to life. When I had seen the English voice acting cast list a few months before IGPX’s premiere, I had high expectations for the quality of the dub, but in the back of my mind, I had a feeling that my expectations would not be met. I was lucky enough to get a hold of a few episodes of IGPX in Japanese in order to make a comparison between the English and Japanese voice acting. Both dubs feature excellent voice acting that really fits the personalities of the characters. The English voice acting features some of the best voice actors in the United States. Haley Joel Osment (yes, the kid from “Sixth Sense”) does a good job with his portrayal of Takeshi. I personally believe that Kouzou Mito does a better job as the Japanese voice for Takeshi, but Osment delivers a suitable English voice that is comparable to Mito’s. Michelle Rodriguez (actress from “The Fast and the Furious” and other movies) gives a decent performance as the voice of the spunky Liz Ricarro. Her delivery definitely fits the personality of the character, but she does come off a little flat at times. Perhaps Rodriguez’s voice acting may improve as the series progresses. Nevertheless, I feel that the Japanese voice actress Akeno Watanabe (voice of Anna Heart in “Kaleido Star”) offers a much more stern delivery that lands Liz’s fiery personality much better than Rodriguez does. Hynden Walch (voice of Starfire on “Teen Titans”) voices the final starting member of Team Satomi, Amy Stapleton, perfectly. All too often, a character such as Amy is portrayed in English dubs as annoying and over-the-top, but Walch finally shows us all how it should be done. Walch’s voice is very soft and gentle, exactly like Amy’s character. I absolutely love the job that Hynden Walch delivers, and I would even say that it is just as good if not better than Ryoko Ono’s Japanese rendition of Amy Stapleton. Other voice acting standouts are Mark Hamill as Yamma of Team Sledgemama and Steve Jay Blum as Cunningham Hume of Team Velshtein. You probably all recognize these two voice actors, as they both have impressive resumes in the world of voice acting. I personally rate these two as the best voice actors in America. Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker and voice of the Joker from “Batman: The Animated Series”) is a genius voice actor, who always nails every role perfectly. Hamill has brought so many characters to life, and he does it again with the diabolical Yamma. Steve Jay Blum is better known as the English voice of Spike Spiegel of “Cowboy Bebop,” and of course the voice of Tom the Toonami mascot. Blum has received plenty of jobs as a result of his superb work as Spike, and I am a huge fan of his work. I do believe that he is a bit overworked, as it seems he does a voice in every single new English anime dub. But I guess that is just another example of how amazing his voice acting skills are. Blum’s calm, cool, arrogant portrayal of Cunningham fits the character’s persona to a tee. I know that I am supposed to be annoyed and dislike the Cunningham character, but I find myself loving him due to Blum’s excellent skills. You will know exactly what I mean when you watch this series. The remainder of the English cast does a very good job as well. Kari Wahlgren is solid as the voice of Luca the cat and Michuru Satomi, and Dave Wittenberg lends his talents to three different characters; Jan Michael of Team Velshtein, Timma of Team Sledgemama, and Frank Bullitt of Team Edgeraid. Wendee Lee (English voice of Faye Valentine in “Cowboy Bebop”) does a fine job with the voice of the cybernetically enhanced dog Sola of Team Edgeraid. The English dub does have its fair share of flaws, some of the characters seem to mispronounce Takeshi’s name by stressing the wrong syllables. But don’t worry, it is nowhere near as bad as the pronunciation of Naruto’s name in that English dub. The English voice acting by Stephanie Sheh for Yuri, Yakeshi’s younger sister, is rather annoying. Sheh delivers her typical ditzy, airhead female cartoon voice for Yuri. It really takes away a bit from a rather enjoyable dub. On a whole, the English voice acting has definitely met my expectations, and goes down as one of the better English anime dubs I have seen. The Japanese voice acting still surpasses the English voice acting, but the difference is small and both fit the series very well.

I was extremely impressed by Production I.G’s animation work on this series. The racing sequences are jaw-dropping, and really show that the praise the studio receives is not without merit. I found myself rewatching episodes immediately after finishing my first viewing. I rarely do such a thing, as I am constantly watching the newest anime series from Japan and older series that I have purchased on DVD. For a series to give me the urge to rewatch episodes, that says a lot about the quality of the animation. The racing sequences are three-dimensional CGI, but the characters are two-dimensional. This is a delicate situation as the transitions between three-dimensional CGI and two-dimensional animation must be seamless in order to keep the viewer believing in this world. I believe that Production I.G really nails these transitions, as they are utterly perfect and work really well. IGPX showcases some of the best animation that I have seen in a rather long time. The animation in this series is so beautiful that it can compete with some theatrical anime movies. With IGPX, Production I.G has really put together an impressive case to be considered the best animation studio in Japan today.

The series features some generic electronica music provided by the Ninja Tune label. Ninja Tune also provided the music for the microseries back in 2003, and they continue their contribution with the new series. Though the music is nothing to write home about, it does fit the series well and compliments the visual action without diverting attention away from it. There probably will not be any rush by fans to buy the soundtrack of the series, but I do not believe that was the motivation with the music selection. The music remains the same in both the English and Japanese versions of the series, and this works well as it is not necessarily a style of music branded to either heritage. The opening and ending theme in the Japanese version are different from the English version. The Japanese version features songs by Japanese artists Gran Rodeo and exige, while the English version features some of the generic electronica used in the background of the episodes as the ending theme. I really could not tell you what the English opening theme sounds like, as Toonami has never aired the opening yet. Every week Toonami plays a background introduction video of the series before each episode, and then it is followed by a recap of the previous week’s episode. Then the new episode just begins without an opening theme or anything. So I guess we will have to wait for the DVD to see the English version opening.

Sticking with the changes between the English and Japanese versions, I must say that I was very happy with what I discovered. There were few changes made between the two versions. As I mentioned earlier, the opening and closing themes have changed between them, but I was kind of expecting this to happen. The other major change comes with some of the character names. The majority of the characters’ names remained the same in both versions, but some simple changes were applied. For example, Takeshi’s last name in English is Jin, while it is Jinno in Japanese. Some of the other name changes are major, but the main characters have essentially the same names in both versions. The team names remain the same in both versions, as well. The episodes also need to be edited in order to air on Toonami, as they have to meet the desired TV ratings. I personally did not catch anything major that was cut out of the Japanese version in the Toonami version, but I have only seen the first five episodes of the Japanese version. I can only assume that all of these changes are due to the series airing on Toonami, and Cartoon Network wants the series to be accessible to viewers of all ages. If any of these changes both you, I would suggest buying the uncut DVDs as they are released. Volume one of the uncut IGPX DVDs will be released on February 21, 2006.

There are also some pretty cool Easter eggs thrown into the episode entitled “Cat vs. Dog” by the guys at Production I.G. In one of the scenes, there is a man who looks exactly like Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. The man sits with his hands crossed over his face, which was first done by Gendo and has been done in many other anime series. I won’t tell you exactly where to find him, but this is definitely worth looking for when you watch the episode again on DVD. The other Easter egg that I caught in the episode was that the Mechs for Team Edgeraid have “GITS” painted on their arms. This is probably an acronym for “Ghost in the Shell.” So continue to be on the lookout for additional Easter eggs from Production I.G in future episodes.

I must say that I have been really enjoying watching IGPX ever since its debut. The series is not as good as fellow October 2005 premieres such as “Blood+” (also from Production I.G), but it is definitely one of the best to premiere this past fall season. I highly recommend every single anime fan in America to support this new series. This series marks a milestone in the history of Anime in America, as it shows that Japanese production companies and animation studios can work hand-in-hand with American production companies to produce new, successful, quality anime series. This could very well be the future of Anime in America and worldwide, as this could result in more Trans-Pacific projects to be developed. With our support, we can show Cartoon Network, Bandai Entertainment, and Production I.G our appreciation for not only producing together a high quality anime, but for doing it while keeping their fans in mind. So, please take the time and watch IGPX on Toonami, and buy the DVDs when they are released. New episodes of IGPX premiere weekly on Cartoon Network’s Saturday night Toonami block. Check the programming guide on Anime3000 for the episode titles and air times.

Japanese Dub: B+

English Dub: B

Animation/Art: A

Music: C+

Story: B-

Overall*: B

* not an average