Capeta

Japanese title: カペタ

Some info:
1) ANN
2) Wiki
3) Official Site (Japanese)

Just saw that this series was completed by a certain group though I’ve finished this 52 episode series quite long ago. It shouldn’t be of any harm sharing my 2 cents on this series, would it?

Anyways, one look at the picture on the left and you know that this anime will related to racing, particularly F1 racing. Well of course, such a small kid can’t possibly race in F1, but rather the main focus will on kart racing (which coincidentally is getting popular in Singapore due to the F1 craze. hohum), and in later part of the show something bigger than that (but still smaller class than F1. argh forgot the term).

Though it’s supposed to be of different type of racing from shows like Initial D or Wangan Midnight, there are still references to the former which I have been able to spot a few here and there, though it isn’t a lot (maybe I missed out quite a bit). And of course, there’s still some kind of drifting featured in the show, but yeah it’d be different for karts.

The story is also a little different from typical anime series. Our main character (in picture) while is talented in racing, is often hindered by financial difficulties due to his poor background and he actually isn’t the best around since there’s an older, but more reputable rival who definitely have more resources to practise his driving (racing) and having a better track record.

Due to age restrictions in different categories of racing, Capeta can only furiously try to chase his arch rival while trying his best to win races with an old kart as compared to other teams’ new karts etc. Pretty interesting in some sense, though sometimes I thought the races stretched a little too long. Hehz. Well at least I appreciated this anime before Karting became a fad.

Even though there’s quite a lot of serious stuff when it comes to racing, there are also comedy elements in the show, which adds some laughter to an otherwise very serious anime which isn’t all that great at times. Overall, the mixture is not bad, and is definitely watchable. Probably one of the more under-rated anime titles around.