Highspeed Etoile

Lore & Background

Highspeed Etoile was announced on July 15, 2022, as an original anime television series. It was created in collaboration with the Japanese Super Formula Championship to celebrate its 50th anniversary, and later collaborated with Formula E's Tokyo ePrix and Formula One's Japanese Grand Prix. The series aired from April 6 to June 22, 2024, on the Animeism programming block on MBS, TBS, and their affiliates, as well as BS-TBS.

Reader's Guide

The series is notable for its direct collaboration with real-world motorsport events, including Super Formula, Formula E, and Formula One. A spin-off manga titled Highspeed Etoile: L'Entrée de Towa et Kanata, illustrated by Chiaki Misono in cooperation with the Suzuka Circuit, began serialization on October 23, 2023, and was collected into a single tankōbon volume as of April 2024. A video game, Highspeed Étoile Paddock Stories, was released for the Nintendo Switch on November 21, 2024. On November 25, 2024, Takuya Fujima revealed that a new anime project for Highspeed Etoile is in production, indicating continued interest in the franchise.

Did You Know?

• The series was originally created as a collaboration with the Japanese Super Formula Championship for its 50th anniversary.
• The opening theme song 'ADRENALIZED' is performed by Nana Mizuki, who also voices a character in the series.
• A new anime project was announced on November 25, 2024.

Racing Roots & Real-World Partnerships

Highspeed Etoile did not emerge from a vacuum of pure fiction. Its genesis is tied directly to the world of real motorsport: the series was conceived as a creative collaboration with the Japanese Super Formula Championship to celebrate the competition's fiftieth anniversary. That foundational partnership set a tone of genuine racing culture that permeated the project from the start. The series' connection to live racing events did not stop there. It subsequently extended its collaborative reach to Formula E's Tokyo ePrix and to Formula One's Japanese Grand Prix, effectively weaving the anime into the promotional and cultural fabric of three distinct top-level racing series operating in Japan. This multi-tiered relationship with actual championship bodies is rare in the anime landscape and positions Highspeed Etoile as something closer to a shared cultural ambassador for Japanese motorsport than a standalone entertainment product. The Suzuka Circuit's involvement in the spin-off manga further cements this bond between the fictional story and the physical circuits where real drivers compete.

Creative Vision & Production

Behind the wheel of Highspeed Etoile sits a production team that brought a focused, collaborative energy to the project. Studio A-Cat handled the animation work, while Keitaro Motonaga took the director's chair and Takamitsu Kōno penned the screenplay. The visual identity of every character was shaped by Takuya Fujima, whose original designs gave the cast a distinctive look. First Call Music composed the score, and Yasunori Ebina oversaw sound direction, ensuring the audio experience matched the high-octane subject matter. The series was officially announced on July 15, 2022, and after a period of development, it found its audience from April 6 to June 22, 2024, broadcasting on the Animeism programming block across MBS, TBS, their affiliate stations, and BS-TBS. Nana Mizuki delivered the opening theme, "ADRENALIZED," while the rock band Scandal closed each episode with "Fanfare." For international viewers, Crunchyroll carried the stream, and Medialink secured licensing for the broader Asia-Pacific region (excluding Australia and New Zealand), making the series available through the Ani-One Asia YouTube channel.

A Global Cast of Drivers

The character roster of Highspeed Etoile reads like a grid assembled from multiple racing nations. Japanese drivers such as Rin Rindō, Kanata Asakawa, and Towa Komachi anchor the cast, but the lineup deliberately stretches across borders with Sofia Bryant Tokitō, Liu Youran, Alice Summerwood, Richard Parker, and Lorenzo M. Salvatore, suggesting a truly international racing series. The voice cast mirrors this diversity of talent, pairing established names with rising voices. Nana Mizuki lends her voice to Alice Summerwood, Yui Horie brings Sofia to life, and Yoko Hikasa voices Kanata. Supporting roles are filled by Fūka Izumi, Shiori Izawa, Ayaka Suwa, Kenichirou Matsuda, Kohsuke Toriumi, Yurie Funato, and Shu Uchida. The ensemble is rounded out by Marina Inoue as Chitose Kagura, Yukari Tamura as Ami, and Tsuyoshi Koyama as Genjirō Hinata. Tōru Furuya, a veteran of the industry, steps in as the series' narrator, lending gravitas to the storytelling. This layered casting approach gives the show a rich human texture that extends well beyond the drivers themselves.

Beyond the Screen – Franchise Growth

Highspeed Etoile has never existed as a single, isolated product. Even before the anime premiered, a spin-off manga illustrated by Chiaki Misono was already in motion, serialized on Akita Shoten's Manga Cross platform starting October 23, 2023. Titled L'Entrée de Towa et Kanata, the manga was produced in cooperation with the Suzuka Circuit, further tying the franchise to Japan's motorsport infrastructure. Its chapters were collected into a single tankōbon volume by April 2024. The franchise then expanded into interactive media with Highspeed Étoile Paddock Stories, a Nintendo Switch title released on November 21, 2024, offering fans a way to engage with the world outside of passive viewing. Perhaps most excitingly, on November 25, 2024, Takuya Fujima publicly revealed that a new anime project for Highspeed Etoile is already in production. Given Fujima's track record with other original anime properties like Warlords of Sigrdrifa, this announcement signals that the franchise is far from reaching its final lap.