Wayback Wednesday Series - Crush Gear Turbo

Gear Fighters, set up!

Many years ago, my brother collects some of the Crush Gear models (the local ones though) and my favorite though was Gaiki. As I witnessed to watch Crush Gear Turbo on the tube, I feel really amazed when I watched the first episode. The most celebrated anime of the 2000's, Crush Gear Turbo (Gekito! Crush Gear Turbo), is running from October 7th, 2001 to January 26th, 2003, with a total of 68 episodes and its directed by the man behind the Mashin Hero Wataru series, Shuji Iuchi. The anime is produced by Sunrise and it's broadcasted by TV Asahi and Animax. It has a sequel called Crush Gear Nitro, that is aired a month after Turbo ended.

The famed Crush Gear known as the Garuda Eagle.

The anime revolves around a 5th grader who loves Crush Gear named Kouya Marino. Kouya then comes to inherit his late brother's (Yuya Marino) Crush Gear named Garuda Eagle (later Garuda Phoenix). Yuya happens to be an champion of the Asia Cup and is qualified in the World Cup tournament before he died four years ago. Kouya's Crush Gear skills are nowhere near Yuya. After he arrives late for an elimination match in the Tobita Club (in which was owned by Lilika), Kouya is nearly disqualified. In addition, most of the team members shift into a team that is created by Takeshi Manganji, one of the club members that is causing Yuya's Crush Gear Club faces the threat of extinction, and that is called the Manganji Club. Refusing to raise the white flag to surrender, Kouya offers a challenge to Takeshi. Kouya then has to find a way to reinstate the club back to its former glory before the club and Yuya's reputation as well. His determination and passion soon earns him the respect and companionship of three new allies: Jirou Oriza, the closest friend of Kouya and a former pitcher of his school's baseball team, Kyousuke Jin (aka Gear Master Jin), a skillful but brilliant Gear Master and a former member of Team Griffon, and Kuroudo Marume, another one of Team Griffon's former members together with Kyousuke and a formidable swordsman - all reputable Gear Fighters in their own right. There are several story arcs throughout the anime, but the most celebrated of all was the World Cup arc.

Megumi Matsumoto, who was known as the one who played Kazuhiro Mitogawa in Ga-Rei Zero and Kazuki Shibasaki in Rozen Maiden (bonus points as the one who played the young Haruka Nanase in Free!), plays Kouya Marino. Yuya Marino was voiced by my favorite voice actor, Kenji Nojima, who is known as the voice actor of Lu Xun (Rikuson) in the Dynasty Warriors franchise and his current role: Mamoru Chiba (Tuxedo Mask) in Sailor Moon Crystal. One of the most popular voice actors from today, Akira Sasanuma, who played Takeshi Manganji, is known for his roles including Austria from Hetalia, Dearka Elsman and Martin DaCosta in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, and of course the sadistic tattoo artist who inked Koujaku that is Ryuuhou from DRAMAtical Murder. The one who played Agumon from Digimon Adventure (and of course Shoutmon from Digimon Fusion aka Xros Wars), Kou Yaten (Sailor Star Healer) in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, Nuriko from Fushigi Yugi, and Aren from Shaman King, Chika Sakamoto plays the Gear Master. Although I do love the ever popular Naomi Shindou, she is known for such roles besides Kuroudo. She is known as the one who played Cagalli Yul Athha from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mai-Hime's Shizuru Fujino, Hokuto Kusanagi in Gear Fighter Dendoh (her debut role in 2000), and of course she got two roles in Samurai Warriors (aka Sengoku Musou): Nobunaga's squire Ranmaru Mori, and the thunder lady Ginchiyo Tachibana. Other voice actors that starred in the show including Michiko Neya (Hungary in Hetalia and Melissa Mao in Full Metal Panic!), Akemi Kanda, Masato Amada, Yumi Kakazu, Sayaka Aida, Kousuke Okano, Yu Asakawa, Makiko Okano, Makiko Ohmoto, Omi Minami, Tetsuya Iwanaga and many more.

Relive the epic vehicle fighting that has ever seen before. This is Crush Gear Turbo!