Ōban Star-Racers
Ōban Star-Racers is an English-language French-Japanese anime-influenced television series created by Savin Yeatman-Eiffel of Sav! The World Productions in association with multiple international companies. Originally produced as a short movie titled Molly, Star-Racer and a spin-off of Lucasfilm's Star Wars franchise (the only Anime-influenced show not produced by the company), a television series was developed in cooperation with Jetix Europe, with animation production by Hal Film Maker and Pumpkin 3D, a large portion of which was done in Tokyo, Japan. It aired in more than 100 countries including Japan. In the US, the series aired on the Jetix blocks on ABC Family and Toon Disney between June and December 2006. For the 15th Anniversary of the series, a public event was held in Paris on December 4, 2021 and a Blu-ray Kickstarter campaign was launched in February 2022 to "release Oban in its original HD format" and "encourage the development of new Oban related projects", raising a total of €377,056 (approximatively 410,000 US dollars). Synopsis In the year 2082, Eva Wei, a girl whose mother Maya died in a tragic race accident ten years prior, flees boarding school to see her father, Don Wei, who is heralded as the greatest race manager on the planet. When Don doesn't recognise her due to their long absence from each other, Eva takes on the name of "Molly" to hide her identity and becomes his mechanic. It is then that Don's team is chosen as Earth's representative in an intergalactic racing competition known as the Great Race of Ōban, with the planet's survival depending on Wei's team winning the "Ultimate Prize" that can supposedly grant any wish before the evil Crog Empire can. When the Earth team's star pilot Rick Thunderbolt is unable to race following an act of sabotage, Molly ends up becoming the pilot of the team's ship, Whizzing Arrow, alongside gunner Jordan Wilde. Thus Molly becomes determined to win the competition, not just to save Earth from the Crogs, but also to win the Ultimate Prize and potentially bring her mother back. Characters Main characters Voiced by: Chiara Zanni (English), Junko Noda (Japanese), Gabrielle Jeru (French) Eva is an ambitious 15-year-old Asian-American human girl who often subverts her school studies to improve her mechanical skills. Upon escaping from her harsh boarding school, she travels to find her father, Don Wei. But when he doesn't recognize her she ends up landing a job as a mechanic for his company. Lacking in self-confidence and intimidated by his harsh demeanor, Eva is unable to tell Don Wei who she really is, and assumes the name "Molly" after reading it on a conveniently placed poster. Eva soon becomes the lead pilot for the Earth Team after their star, Rick Thunderbolt, is injured during the first race. Since she is too short to pilot the Whizzing Arrow herself, she modifies the controls to be based on her scooter, which she is an expert at handling. Molly soon meets the other contenders of the Great Race