Future GPX Cyber Formula



"A computer-based navigation system race machine: the Cyber Formula. It has taken the place of F1 as the new race machine of the 21st century, bringing excitement to people all over the world."

- Opening Narration of the TV series

Future GPX Cyber Formula (新世紀GPXサイバーフォーミュラ), Shinseiki GPX Cyber Formula, lit: New Century Grand Prix Cyber Formula) is a 1991 anime TV series produced by Sunrise. It is an anime series about Formula racing in the future, a time when race cars are equipped with computer support systems called "Cyber Systems". The beginning of the series takes place in 2015, and continues on to 2022 in the OVAs.

The story focuses on a 14-year-old named Hayato Kazami, who one day uses a Cool Car which is equipped with his father's creation, Asurada (the most advanced cyber-navigation system in the world), to escape from would-be thieves, whose leader wanted to steal the the supercomputer machine to use it for military purposes. The machine was attacked during a delivery to the race track in Fujioka, where the qualifying rounds for the Japan Grand Prix (in which the racers would have a chance to compete in the 10th Cyber Formula World Grand Prix) takes place. He manages to escape from the thieves and retrieves the car to the Sugo team, but there's only one problem: Asurada is an AI supercomputer with a unique security feature equipped within a car, which is programmed to only one person per driver. And because Hayato was the first person who got into the car, he's the one who uses it, so the Sugo team has no choice but to make Hayato the main driver of the team due to the previous main driver (Akira Hiyoshi) leaving the team. After obtaining the "Super License" to compete in the Grand Prix, he became the youngest racer in the history of Cyber Formula, at the time. Hayato now must struggle with being on top of his game and overcoming all obstacles both on and off the race track, while meeting rivals, friends and enemies along the way.

Cyber Formula was originally planned to be a 50-episode series, but due to lackluster ratings and a sponsor withdrawal, it was cut down to 37 episodes. However, the show became popular enough with fans to win the Animage Grand Prix and gain 4 Original Video Animation sequels, which are: 11, ZERO, SAGA and SIN, as well as an extra 2-episode OVA called Early Days Renewal, a compilation of the TV series. It is director Mitsuo Fukuda's breakthrough series, and he went on to direct GEAR Fighter Dendoh and Gundam SEED. Mechanical designs are made by Shoji Kawamori of Macross fame and the conceptual character designs are from Mutsumi Inomata Tales Series.

There are a number of drama CDs and games based on this series only in Japan, although the SNES game based on the TV anime was brought into the West as Cyber Spin, albeit with most of the references to the anime removed.

The title of the series actually is based on furigana: although the series is normally known as Shinseiki GPX Cyber Formula, the title is actually Future Grand Prix Cyber Formula; the title comprised of "fyūchā" (フューチャー), the English transcription of "Future" and GPX is pronounced "guranpuri" (グランプリ), or "Grand Prix", hence the official title.

Also has a character sheet.

This series contains examples of:

 * The Ace: Shinjyo, who is a 2-time European F-3 champion and Randoll, who excels at every sport and endeavors.
 * A Boy and His X: In this case, a boy (and later, man) and his AI computer-equipped Cool Car.
 * Accidental Athlete: Subverted. While Hayato got into Cyber Formula racing completely by accident, he was skilled in motorcycle racing.
 * AI Is a Crapshoot: Al-Zard. Al-Zard is a bio-computer in which the computer makes their own judgement, decide the best route for the driver by the system. Phill uses it in SAGA and it controls him like a puppet.
 * Always Someone Better: Shinjyo, Randoll, Osamu, Kaga, even Hayato himself.
 * Americans Are Cowboys: Gudelhian.
 * Animal Motifs: Some of the racing teams have this, the Sugo team has the winged mystical creature Pegasus as their logo, and Albatross has the...albatross as its logo.
 * Arc Number: The number 11, which in the series is called Double-One. The story takes place at the 11th CF World Grand Prix, Asurada is upgraded into the Super Asurada AKF-11 and it's the title for 2 consecutive championship wins.
 * Art Evolution: The car and character designs improves significantly in the OVAs.
 * Art Shift: The last 2 OVAs. Backflashes keep the old art style, so it can be a bit confusing for some audiences.
 * Artificial Intelligence: The race cars are equipped with AI supercomputer systems, which are used for navigation, diagnostics and among other things.
 * Artificial Limbs: Bootsvorz gained a cybernetic arm and modular eye after he lost his left arm and eye in a crash during a test run. Later in the series, he has natural-looking implants.
 * Badass Driver: Kaga, as he's skilled in field racing. In fact, any driver who has a spotlight on can be badass. For instance, Shinjyo's Character Development, and Hayato and Randoll during the 8th race in Spain.
 * Banana Peel: Leon slips into Henri's banana peel traps in EP 3 of SAGA.
 * Beach Episode: Sort of, in episode 4 of SAGA.
 * Beta Couple: Shinjyo & Miki, Osamu & Clair and to some extent Shiba & Rena from the PlayStation video game are the Beta Couples to series Alpha Couple Hayato and Asuka.
 * If there's anything to add about Shiba & Rena, they are alpha couple in their game. The rest are secondary characters and are already lovey-dovey couples.
 * Bifauxnen: Sera Gallagher.
 * Big Brother Mentor: Kaga, Osamu and Johji all serve as this to Hayato. Also, Lope to Hiyoshi.
 * Big Fancy House: Randoll's house is like this, complete with extensive grounds and it even has its own racing track.
 * Big Ol' Eyebrows: Johji, Randoll and Bootsvortz.
 * The Big Race
 * Bittersweet Ending: Sin's ending.
 * Blind Idiot Translation: The English subtitles for the US release have several grammatical errors (like "loosing control of the car").
 * Think that was bad enough? Just wait until you see the HK subs of the last 2 OVAs, which the subtitles looked like as if those translators are doing their jobs while having a hangover. This is probably because the fan translator for the previous 2 OVAs left after the completion of the fansubbing of ZERO.
 * Blood Sport: The Fireball race. There's also episode 13 where Bleed and Hayato participated in a crash race.
 * Blue Blood: Randoll. He is from a extremely wealthy family in his native Austria.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Kaga and Gudelhian.
 * Break the Haughty: Happens to several characters during the series.
 * Brought to You by The Letter "S": The "S" in later Asurada models stands for "Sugo", the racing team the main character, Hayato is in. Shoemacher/Osamu in 11, also has the letter "S" in his racing suit. And Kaga's racing suit has the letter "Z" in it, as he belonged to Aoi ZIP formula.
 * The team logos also has letters, like the "S" for Sugo and "Z" for Aoi ZIP.
 * But Not Too Foreign: Bleed Kaga (half-Spanish) and Aya Stanford (half-American).
 * Calling Your Attacks: More like calling your car commands, like Hayato's "BOOST ON!/SPIRAL!", Shinjyo's "PEACOCK/PHOENIX/ICARUS WING!" and Randoll's "MESSER WING!"
 * Can't Catch Up: Compared to Hayato and Kaga, most of the racers (especially Randoll and Shinjyo) are clearly in disadvantage.
 * Canon Immigrant: Seiichirou Shiba, Rena Yuuki and Sera Gallagher from the PS1 game later appeared in the final ending credits of Sin.
 * Aya Stanford first appeared in the first Saga Drama CD, she was later was put into the final OVA, Sin.
 * Car Fu: Bootsvorz does this with his Missioner VR-4 to ram through Smith's helicopter in episode 21, following Asurada, with Hayato driving, hitting said chopper.
 * Celibate Hero: Kaga. Although he cares for Kyoko (as evidenced in EP 5 in SIN), he is too much focused on his rivalry with Hayato.
 * Cerebus Syndrome: The TV series has some dramatic parts to the show, but remains fairly lighthearted, but by the time the OVAs were released, the series gets more and more dramatic.
 * Char Clone: Knight Schumacher exhibits almost everything this trope has. An ace in driving? Check. A rival to The Hero? Check. Younger sister emotionally involved with the hero? Check. Drives a white and red formula car? Check. Secret Identity? Check. Wears impossibly Cool Shades? check.
 * Cheaters Never Prosper: Bootsvorz (pre-Heel Face Turn), under Smith's orders, tried to crash Asurada to obtain the computer system. Obviously, it didn't work.
 * Also happened to Phill in SAGA, as Kyoko and her team exposes the truth of Nagumo's schemes.
 * Childhood Friends: Hiroyuki and Kojiro, who are Hayato and Asuka & Osamu's fathers, respectively.
 * Childhood Friend Romance: Asuka and her relationship with Hayato, . Rena's relationship with Shiba is this as well in the PlayStation game.
 * Combat Commentator: Checker Sugimoto provides commentary throughout ZERO along with Jun Nakazawa and Dave Lombard provides it from SAGA onwards.
 * Cool Car: EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. The most notable ones, though, are the Asurada series and Ogre AN-21. See the entry for more info on this.
 * Other cool cars graced the series, such as the Garland series, the Steel/Stil series, the Misssionel series, the Superion series, the Issuxark series, the Spiegel HP-022, and so on.
 * Cool Helmet
 * Cool Shades: Osamu, Randoll and Shinjyo, Osamu in particular.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Kyoshiro Nagumo in Saga. As the team president of Aoi ZIP Formula, he used unethical practices which includes These events resulted in
 * Cyborg: Bootsvorz. After all, he has a cybernetic left arm and eye.
 * A Day in the Limelight: Some of the episodes (in both TV and OVAs) has a character (like Shinjyo, Osamu and the others) focused on them. The final OVA, SIN, focuses on Kaga.
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Hayato has made friends with Kaga, Shinjyo, Osamu and some others after he defeats them several times.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Kyoko, later in the series.
 * Demoted to Extra: Most of the characters are hit with this throughout the series, but especially Randoll in the last 2 OVAs and SAGA drama CDs and Johji in the second half of the TV series.
 * Determinator: Some of the racers are like this, but Hayato is the best example of the trope in the series.
 * Don't forget Shinjyo. His Fire Superion's engine slows down and ran out of gas in the very near end of the African Grand Prix in episode 32 in the TV series, and then he pushes the car into the finish line. He also once did the same in his F-3 era.
 * Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: While not a villain, in 11 Osamu (as Schumacher) does use "dirty tricks" to get racers angry and try to make them defeat him, especially to Hayato and Randoll.
 * Disappeared Dad: Hayato's father, Hiroyuki.
 * Down to the Last Play: Hayato does this a lot (in the first three series) with his last-minute "winning runs" in races.
 * Dual Mode Unit: A non-video game variant of this, although it does appear in video game adaptations. For example, the Super Asurada 01 has 3 modes: Circuit Mode, Aero Mode and Rally Mode. The OVA sequels remove the off-road events upon the introduction of Super Asurada AKF-11, but the Rally Mode function appears on-screen.
 * Eagle Land: Jackie Gudelhian, as he is a mix between both types.
 * Every Year They Fizzle Out: Some of the racers (like Henri, Gudelhian and Shinjyo) won their championships, then they never win another one again.
 * Expository Hairstyle Change: Asuka started out in the series as a long-haired Moe girl, but after feeling the aftereffects of breaking off her engagement to Hayato (and getting back together again with him) in Zero, she cuts her hair to a boyish look. In Saga and Sin, Her hair grows a bit longer and has kept it that way ever since. [[media:Asuka_Sugo_3436.jpg|This image shows her side-by-side comparisons by seven years.]]
 * Expy: Character designs from the games are very clearly used again in Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome. This is because Hirokazu Hisayuki is the character designer for both the Mai series as well as the games and last 2 OVAs for Cyber Formula.
 * Some of the characters were actually modeled after real-life Formula One racers. The most notable is Knight Schumacher, who is modeled after Michael Schumacher. Also Leon Earnhardt, whose last name is taken after the late Dale Earnhardt, Sr.
 * Eye Scream: Bootsvorz. See Artificual Limbs.
 * Falling Into the Cockpit: During a delivery en route to the Fujioka circuit, the truck carrying Asurada GSX is atttacked and Hayato has to drive Asurada to the Sugo Asurada team and get himself out of the mess. Unfortunately, the system locks Hayato's driver data and Hiyoshi, the original pilot can't get himself to drive it because of that, which led to him quitting the team and Hayato being the main driver of Sugo Asurada.
 * Five-Man Band: The Sugo Asurada team (in the TV series):
 * The Hero: Hayato Kazami
 * The Lancer: Miki Jounouchi
 * The Smart Guy: Shinsuke Maki
 * The Chick: Asuka Sugo
 * Tagalong Kid: Ryohei Sumi (but he's not the youngest of the team)
 * The Mentor: Tetsuichiro Kurumada
 * Team Pet: V-8
 * Sixth Ranger: Knight Schumacher/Osamu Sugo
 * Fun with Acronyms: The governing body of FICCY, or the Federation International Cruise of Cyber Formula.
 * The letters "AKF" in later versions of Asurada stands for the initials of Asurada, Kazami, and Fortran.
 * "HG" in Steel/Stil's (and later Spiegel's) models is taken from the initials of Heinel and Gudelhian.
 * Genki Girl: Asuka, before her genki-ness was toned down in the OVAS. Johji, Gudelhian and Kaga are male versions of the trope, although Kaga loses it in ZERO.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Asuka does this to Hayato in episode 35 in the TV series after he got into a fight with Ryohei stemming from Hayato wanted to destroy Asurada for making Ohtomo retire early from racing after Ohtomo's accident in the 9th race. Then Hayato realized that he had no one else to blame but himself.
 * Kurumada also does this to Miki in episode 7 when Miki is angry about rescue efforts for Ryohei are stopped due to a typhoon. Also, to Hayato more than once, albeit verbally.
 * Let's not forget Osamu, who does this to Henri in the final episode of Zero, when Henri tried to quit his chances of being world champion.
 * Osamu himself gets slapped by his father in a backflash of the TV show before he leaves his home to England. To think about it, this series have a lot of slapping for shonen anime.
 * Go-Karting with Bowser: Hayato has this with some his rivals. One minute they are competing against each other, the next they have a bit of conversation and fun, and it's back to the tracks again.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Kaga has his trademark crescent-shaped scar on his forehead. He got that scar as the result . Randoll has one on his left cheek since ZERO.
 * Gratuitous English: Gudelhian sprouts out a bit a this throughout the series.
 * Hayato's seiyuu, Junichi Kanemaru, works part-time in an Eikaiwa school (a type of school where students can use English language conversations) as an instructor.
 * The ending song for Double-One (for the first 5 episodes) is full of this.
 * Handsome Lech: Gudelhian again, and Leon.
 * Heel Face Turn: Bootsvorz. Both he and Osamu got better.
 * He Knows Too Much: Osamu survived, however,  setting up for the storyline for 11.
 * Heroic BSOD: Hayato has this more than once, particularly in episode 22 of the TV series, where he is found out by his mother
 * Hospital Hottie: Asuka is one in training.
 * Hot-Blooded: Hayato, as well as Shinjyo and Leon.
 * Hot Scoop: Aya Stanford.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The last 2 OVAs and the previews for ZERO uses the word "Round", referring to stages of a sports competition.
 * Improbable Age: Not only Hayato became a Cyber Formula Racer at the age of 14, . Randoll also entered the Cyber Formula world at age 14.
 * Karmic Death:
 * Large Ham Announcer: Checker Sugimoto and Dave Lombard.
 * Last-Name Basis: Except for a few, most of the racers are rarely called by their first names.
 * Lethal Chef: Asuka. Parsley and durian juice, anyone?
 * Loads and Loads of Characters
 * Luke, I Am Your Father:
 * Make It Look Like an Accident: How Smith does this to  when he made the car crash into the tree, so he can get the briefcase that contains the prints of Asurada.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Henri in ZERO and Nagumo in SAGA.
 * Mid-Season Upgrade: Most of the cars get upgrades with each entry in the series.
 * Mood Whiplash: The series have these from time to time, although much less in the OVAs.
 * My Hero Zero: Hayato uses the Zero Realm (along with Kaga and Shinjyo), in which is the main plot point in Zero.
 * In SAGA and SIN, Hayato drives the v-Asurada AKF-0 and in the PlayStation game, Shiba drives the AKF-0/1B Nemesis, a variation of Asurada which has the same chassis, but it has a different Cyber System.
 * My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Before the start of the Spanish GP, Asurada asked Hayato what a kiss is and detects his heart rate, which has increased by 1.2 times.
 * Names to Know in Anime: Lots of them, as the voice actors are covered on the series' character page.
 * Nitro Boost: The cars, specifically Asurada, uses quite a lot throughout the series, including the car's Spiral Boost in SAGA and SIN.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Also a Shout-Out. In the final 2 episodes of the TV series, Osamu wears a racing suit that greatly resembles that of the Benetton Formula (now Renault) racing suit, the team Michael Schumacher was in at the time of the TV series' production.
 * No One Could Survive That: on the first episode of Zero. This also happened to him in the TV series as well when the GSX was totally destroyed.
 * Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: The names of the sequels after the TV series ended are as it follows: 11 (Double One), Zero, Saga and Sin.
 * Off-Model: The characters in the TV series look off when certain scenes are shot in angles. Not even the OVAs, although visually improved, are safe from this.
 * Only I Can Make It Go: Hayato is the only one who can drive Asurada.
 * "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase: "The fun level is in the red zone!" In Zero, "I'll be waiting for you in the Zero Zone."
 * Opposing Sports Team: More like Opposing Racing Teams, for that matter. Although this is somewhat an aversion of this, as most of the teams are fairly sympathetic.
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Kaga, towards Hayato.
 * Ordered to Cheat: In the TV series, Bootsvorz was ordered by Smith to crash Asurada. However, it's a subversion: he was ordered to crash Asurada to steal its system.
 * Played straight in SAGA, when Al-Zard's bio computer ordered Phill to cheat in several races to win.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: Randoll in Zero, under his alias "Prince Rosenkreuz", and Shinjyo and Miki in episode 6 of Saga.
 * Osamu (as Knight Schumacher) was initially this, but once the sunglasses broke apart, it's been revealed it is him.
 * Pinky Swear: Hayato does this to a girl in a wheelchair named Lita. Her legs have been cured, but she's afraid to walk, so Hayato does a pinky swear that if he gets third place, she will stand up.
 * Phenotype Stereotype: Clair, Gudelhian and Randoll.
 * Pit Girls: Asuka, who doubles as the general agent for the Sugo team. Later in the series, Megumi and Satsuki fills her role, and Rena from the games as well.
 * Pose of Supplication: There are 2 instances of these in the series:
 * In episode 14, Miki and then Ryohei does this in front of Hayato when they apologize to him for not checking close enough to find the cause of Asurada's understeer (it was caused by a dust on the lens).
 * In episode 35, Hayato himself does this when he realized that it wasn't Asurada's fault for causing Ohtomo's crash at the German GP.
 * Ramp Jump: Episode 29 of the TV series.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Hayato and Kaga.
 * Rich Bitch: Kyoko in the TV series.
 * The Rival: By the truckload. Notable are Kaga, Osamu (as Knight Schumacher), Shinjyo and Randoll.
 * Rousseau Was Right: Other than Smith and Nagumo (the latter became somewhat of an ambiguous character in Sin), there are no real villains in this series.
 * Say My Name: HAYATOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
 * Serious Business: Racing, as it is set in the future. To be fair though, racing is already Serious Business in real life, so not much has changed.
 * Shout-Out: Asides from the aforementioned No Celebrities Were Harmed example, the series has some shout-outs:
 * Asurada's cars (especially in its later incarnations) have the same 6WD as the Tyrrell P34, a formula car made in the 70's.
 * The 2 people that appeared from the cheering crowd in the last 2 episodes in the TV series are from another Sunrise series called Mado King Granzort.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Osamu & Asuka and Heinel & Lisa.
 * So Last Season: In Double-One the Super Asurada 01 can't catch up to the other cars' upgrades due to Sugo not having enough money to do a proper upgrade. A similar thing happens to the Super Asurada AKF-11 in SAGA, in which the aging of the machine causes him to lose the title and forces him to use the less powerful Garland SF-03.
 * Something About a Rose: Randoll. He first does this when he threw a white rose at Asuka in episode 28 in the TV series.
 * Speed Stripes
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Knight Schumacher is often spelled as "Shoemach" in the series.
 * Spoiler Ending: The final shot in the ED of the TV series the same one.
 * Spot of Tea: Sera drinks tea, as seen in the ending of Sin.
 * Stock Footage: Clearly uses it a lot.
 * Stop Helping Me!: Asurada, earlier in the TV series. Somewhat justified as Asurada was just trying to teach Hayato how to drive properly.
 * Super Mode: The Zero Realm. The Zero Realm is the state where a driver can read other drivers' minds, in which the user can see a bit of the future and predict their movements. However, going beyond the limit of power can be an mental burden. Make one mistake and you are either dead or crippled for life. Hayato learned this all too well when he first discovered the Zero Realm and nearly got killed.
 * Kaga was first one to go Zero.
 * Super Prototype: The Ogre AN-21, the prototype to the Asurada in Sin.
 * Team Pet: V-8, for the Sugo Asurada team.
 * Technician Versus Performer: Shinjyo and Randoll are the technicians to Hayato's performer. In episode 33 of the TV series, this was lampshaded by Asuka when she had a conversation with Randoll.
 * Ten-Minute Retirement: Hayato, more than once, especially in Zero,.
 * To Be a Master: After all, this is a racing anime...
 * Tournament Arc
 * Training From Hell: Hayato goes through this to improve his racing skills.
 * True Companions: The Sugo team, very much so in the TV series.
 * Tsundere: Asuka is a Type B Tsundere (meaning that she's usually a really Nice Girl unless something gets her angry), at least in the TV series.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future: The TV series takes place in 2015, and continues from 2016 to 2022 in the OVAs.
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: Hayato throws up with half of his face covered up while Asuka held him in EP 3 of Double One after he drove recklessly on the test course.
 * And in EP 9 the TV series, Asuka gets seasick on a ship and she throws up off the ship's deck.
 * Wacky Racing: In the TV series, the courses are ridiculously wild, including a course set on ice and a course surrounded by an ocean. This aspect, however, was largely abandoned in the OVAs.
 * Wham! Episode: Episodes 21 and 22 of the TV series serve as these. The former reveals and the latter also reveals.
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue: The final ending included in the DVD release of EP 5 of Sin takes place a year after the 2022 season.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Henri.
 * With Friends Like These...: Gudelhian and Heinel.
 * Wrench Wench: Miki.
 * X Meets Y: Speed Racer meets Knight Rider.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Kaga and his green/orange hair with a black braid tail.