The influence of Japanese animation, or Anime, throughout the world of animation is not insignificant. Even Disney has adopted some of Anime's storytelling techniques for its animations.

Ironically, it was the early, pre-World War II Disney animations, featuring animals with over-sized heads and large, expressive eyes, that helped to inspire the simplified Anime / Manga look.

Some are quick to dismiss the stripped down, featureless faces as goofy, saucer-eyed charicatures, but it's the very lack of facial detail that creates a blank canvas to display emotion. And where American studios were playing it safe with animation, the Japanese studios were experimenting with complex storylines and adult themes.

American audiences were first introduced to Anime in the 1960's with cartoons such as Astroboy, but it wasn't until Speed Racer debuted in the late 60's that the Japanese style exploded world wide.

On the surface, Speed Racer is a simple cartoon about a boy and his suped up race car. Beyond the simple premise, Speed Racer was about complex plotting and character developments. The show may seem simplistic by today's standards, but at the time, American kids had seen very little like it. It was a show of intrigue and danger. In fact, some markets refused to carry the show due to its violent content (although now it seems rather tame).

For any boy growing up during the 60's or 70's, his dream car was the Mach 5. It was more than just a race car, it was machine of exquisite complexity, containing gadgets to make James Bond jealous and able to outrun anything on the road.

Part of the appeal of Anime is the willingness to experiment and break new ground in visual storytelling. Until very recently, animation has been able to show us things that were impossible for traditional filmmaking and Speed Racer was no less a pioneer.

Take, for instance, the opening credit sequence. The Mach 5 races toward the viewer and screeches to a stop. Speed Racer jumps out and strikes a pose. But the scene doesn't end there. Speed is frozen in time and the "camera" rotates around for a side shot of the Mach 5. No doubt, such visual tricks were the inspiration for the time stopping techniques seen in The Matrix and other films. It took nearly 40 years for live action film to accomplish was Anime took for granted.

The disc offers up the first 11 episodes of the classic series. One of the major differences between Speed Racer and American cartoons is that Speed Racer really made an effort to create a contiguous world for its characters in inhabit. Events from one episode often foreshadowed later adventures. Many episodes ended on a cliffhanger. Although 11 episodes are offered up on this disc, there are really only 5 individual stories: The Great Plan, The Challenge of the Masked Racer, The Secret Engine, The Race Against the Mammoth Car and The Most Dangerous Race.

The stories are certainly corny at times, but there is something infectious about Speed, Pop, Mom, Trixie, Sparky, Spritle and Chim-Chim and, of course, Racer X. For many Anime fans, this is where it all started and it was certainly fun to revisit these old friends.

As a final note about this disc, Artisan has released a limited number of Collectors Edition versions that feature a rubber tire slipcase. I would imagine that when these run out, production will revert to standard packaging, so you'll want to grab this disc fast!