Future GPX Cyber Formula
新世紀GPXサイバーフォーミュラ, Fyūchā Guranpuri Saibā Fōmyura
Welcome, race fans, to Future GPX Cyber Formula! It is a Japanese futuristic motorsports anime television series produced by the advertising agency Asatsu-DK, the Tokyo-based entertainment producer VAP (Video & Audio Project), and the animation studio Sunrise (today Bandai Namco Filmworks). The series originally aired between March 15 and December 20, 1991 on Nippon TV and was later followed by four OVA (Original Video Animation) series, respectively titled: Double One, Zero, Saga, and Sin. These OVAs are collectively known as Future GPX Cyber Formula 2 (新世紀GPXサイバーフォーミュラ2, Fyūchā Guranpuri Saibā Fōmyura Tsū). The series has also been adapted into multiple games, art books, toys, audio dramas, and novels. An English-subtitled DVD box set of the TV series was also released by Bandai in 2003, but the anime series is not available on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hulu.
Some time in the near future, Cyber Formula, an automobile race in a different category from Formula One, is gaining popularity. It features cars equipped with pollution-free engines such as hydrogen engines and room-temperature superconducting motors, and artificial intelligence for navigation. A young driver, Hayato Kazami (Kanemaru Jun’ichi, the same seiyuu behind Sonic the Hedgehog’s titular character), is accidentally registered as a driver of Asurada, a Cyber Formula machine developed by his father. He enters the Cyber Formula Grand Prix, and in seasons one and two, a cycle of setbacks and triumphs present obstacles.
The TV series, which aired in 1991, is set in 2015, and the sequel OVAs 11 (Double One) through SAGA is set in the years 2016–2020, mainly from the perspective of Sugo Asurada (later Sugo Grand Prix and Sugo Winners), one of the teams competing in the 10th-15th Cyber Formula World Grand Prix, with Hayato as the main character.
The OVA SIN is set in the 16th–17th Cyber Formula World Grand Prix in 2021–2022, and features Bleed Kaga (Jōtarō Kaga; Toshihiko Seki) as the main character in a fierce life-or-death struggle with Hayato, who has come to be known as the young emperor of the circuit.
Although non-canon, the 18th (2023) Cyber Formula tournament can be played in the game Future GPX Cyber Formula: Road to the Infinity 2 for PlayStation 2, and in Future GPX Cyber Formula: Road to the Infinity 3, in addition to the 18th tournament, the 19th (2024) tournament can be played in the Scenario Mode. Although the production staff of the original anime cooperated in the creation of these games, the publisher, Sunrise Interactive, has adopted the stance that these games are “non-canon sequels”.
The anime series’ official website is still up, but we won’t see it on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hulu. The TV series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix in 1991.