Crush Gear Turbo

Crush Gear Turbo (激闘!クラッシュギアTURBO), also known just as Crush Gear, is an anime and manga series. The anime series, produced by Sunrise, spanned 68 episodes, aired across Japan on the anime television network Animax, from October 7, 2001 to January 26, 2003. It was followed on by a sequel, Crush Gear Nitro, which has also been aired across Japan by Animax. Crush Gear Turbo was about people who threw mechanical vehicles into a large ring to fight and "crush" each other. Magna Pacific released Crush Gear Turbo in English in Australia.

Japanese Cast

 * Kouya Marino (真理野 コウヤ) - 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."
 * Yuya Marino (真理野 ユウヤ) - Kenji Nojima
 * Furusato said that Yuya's name was decided on early in the production.
 * Takeshi Manganji (万願寺 タケシ) - 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)"
 * Jirou Oriza (織座 ジロウ) - Masato Amada
 * Kyousuke Jin (迅 キョウスケ) - Chika Sakamoto
 * Kuroudo Marume (丸目 クロウド) - Naomi Shindoh
 * Furusato said that the name originates from a samurai in the Edo Period.
 * Lilika Tobita (飛田 リリカ) - Michiko Neya
 * Kaoru Hanano- Akemi Kanda
 * Mitsuke Ohmori - Yumi Kakazu
 * Wang Hu (王虎) - Sayaka Aida
 * Eddie Kobayashi (エディ小林) - Kousuke Okano
 * Taki Hiroomi (滝ヒロオミ) - Yuu Asakawa
 * Kishin Ōkawa (大川 キシン) - Makiko Ohmoto
 * Carlos "U-YA" Williams - Omi Minami
 * Sean Firestone - Tetsuya Iwanaga

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) told Furusato that, because there are some elements that may only be expressed in 3D, the series ought to use 3D to "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.

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-present] “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."

DVD release
In Australia Volumes 1-2 were released on 1 July 2004. Volumes 3 and 4 were released on 8 September 2004. Volume 5 was released on 6 October 2004. Volume 6 was released on 10 November 2004 Volume 7 was released on 19 January 2005.