Shout! Studios Rescues 1967 Speed Racer Anime

Shout Studios! has quietly announced that it has acquired and rescued the 1967 Speed Racer TV anime from Tatsunoko Production after the series fell out of print after being previously held by Funimation following the Sony acquisition of Crunchyroll in 2021 and the merging of the business entities in 2022, which left a large swath of Funimation licenses in limbo, including Speed Racer.

Funimation previously licensed Speed Racer in 2018 to great fanfare with two distinct releases: a conventional Blu-Ray/DVD complete collection and a limited edition collector’s set featuring the complete series enclosed in a storage case shaped like Speed Racer himself, to great comic effect, as seen above.

The series is also enjoying a contemporary spike in visibility thanks to the recent theatrical screening of the 2008 live-action Speed Racer adaptation and newly released 4K Blu-Ray release of the film, on top of the 1967 series forming a key part of the programming lineup for the MeTV Toons over the air broadcast network, having been broadcast since the network’s debut last July in a late-night block also featuring the Marine Boy anime series.